Food for your inner athlete!

Paleoindians hunting a Glyptodon

What is the ‘Paleo Diet’?

It is a diet based on the lifestyle of our Paleolithic ancestors. It is a time commencing some 2.5 million years ago and ending around 12,000 years ago when agriculture was introduced into the evolutionary timeframe.

During the Paleolithic era humans hung around in small groups and ate whatever was available to them at the time depending on season and location. Being primarily nomadic they would have a varied diet consisting of meats, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruit, berries, mushrooms, etc.

Basically anything you could kill, gather, pick or find in the wild was eaten.

It is argued that until the Paleolithic era came to an end and Neolithic and modern era foods were introduced by agriculture and industry virtually none of today’s chronic diseases existed.

Coronary heart disease, type-two diabetes, hypertension, obesity, colon, breast and prostate cancer were not the killers they are today. Being eaten by a woolly mammoth was probably the number one back in those days.

Salt and preservatives, sugar, flavourings and colourings were not around then, so no such thing as a Mammoth burger with relish and fries. It could have been called a Big Mam or something similar and made someone a fortune if money had been invented.

Using the Paleo concept, the quantities of each food source is up to you. You can eat more meat or more veggies and fruit if you like. One thing they say about the fruit is, in those days fruit would have been smaller and tart so may not have been eaten in large quantities.

Oils for cooking/dressing should be restricted to those from fruits or tree nuts . Olive oil and walnut oil being two examples.

As everything was produced naturally, organic is the name of the game today

Organic food is probably the best we can achieve to get food free from modern day pollutants.

Seeds may have been used but not to the same extent as other foods. Sunflower seeds probably were eaten but fruit seeds which have a protective covering to discourage animal consumption most certainly were not eaten.

Eating a variety of foods is recommended as our predecessors probably ate anything and everything they could.

Salt should not be added to food. I think we all are aware of that, but some foods just cry out for a little salt. Fish and chips for example cry out for oodles of salt and vinegar.

There is some good news and bad news about beverages. The bad news is that the only true Paleo beverage is water. And not your everyday tap water. The best is spring water which is free from pharmaceuticals with no added chlorine or fluoride.

If you have a need for caffeine stick to organic green tea.

The good news (for some) is that alcohol in the Paleo diet is o.k. sort of!

Our ancestors would have eaten fermented fruit and danced all night round the flickering disco lights coming from the fire.

Unfortunately no Paleo diet plan includes alcohol and you are restricted to watered down fermented fruit juice.

Paleo foods are full of nutrients so taking supplements is not necessary, with one exception. Vitamin D supplements are needed if you don’t live your life outdoors or you don’t eat plenty of liver,

If you don’t eat fish you may want to add another exception and take some omega 3 fish oil capsules.

Where does the athlete come into this equation?

It was in answering this question that led Paleolithic nutrition expert Dr Loren Cordain to join forces with top triathlon and cycling coach Joe Friel.

Persuaded by Cordain to try the diet, Friel, who initially was sceptical about the diet came to the conclusion that, after an initial period of around 3 weeks feeling “tired, grumpy and slow” the end result made it all worthwhile. He said “I was able to train at a higher workload after making the switch and I recovered faster”.

As a result of their partnership the book: The Paleo Diet for Athletes was created. The book sets out to explain how even top level athletes can benefit from natural eating.

Whilst not strictly adhering to everything Paleo, they are prepared to bend the rules slightly to optimise the athletes before, during and straight after training needs.

If you think you are ready to eat like a caveman you can check out the book yourself. There are some good deals on Amazon at the moment.

 Paleo Diet for Endurance Athletes