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A Primal Diet for Modern Times, part 1



Nora Gedgaudas used to believe a plant-based diet was the healthiest. That belief got turned upside down when she spent a summer studying wolves near the North pole. “We are fundamentally ice-age hunter-gatherers,” states the nutritionist and author of Primal Body, Primal Mind. She points out that our genes are 99.9% the same as our ancestors – they haven’t yet adapted to the relatively recent agriculturally-based lifestyle based on grains. As a result, our bodies have no need for dietary carbohydrates. By contrast, “Fat, to us means survival…. Dietary fat is the most nutrient-dense thing we can consume, rich in fat-soluble nutrients, and essential for the functioning of our brain and nervous systems.” Episode 260. [primalbody-primalmind.com]

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37 Comments

  1. "You can pay someone to slaughter living creatures or you can eat beans, nuts, lentils, spinach, dehydrated leaves, etc. to get the protein – you prefer to pay someone to slaughter a living creature because eating beans, nuts, lentils, spinach, kale, etc., is beneath you." BEST QUOTE FROM THE COMMENT SECTION

  2. DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, STUDY WOLVES CONNECTS TO HUMAN VEGANS? WE ARE NOT THE SAME ANATOMY AS KANINES THIS IS REDICULOUS TO ANYONE WITH AN UNDERSTANDNING OF BASIC BIOLOGY. OUR METABOLISMS ARE SO DIFFERENT THEY CAN'T SWEAT AND HALF THE FOODS HEALTHY FOR US CAN MAKE THEM SICK. WHAT A STUPID STUPID WOMAN. HUNTER GATHERERS ARE PEOPLE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE AFTER A COLLAPSE THAT HAVE NOT FORMED A CULTURE YET AND ARE STRUGGLING TO KNOW WHAT TO EAT. THEY GOT GOOD AT THINGS BUT IT WAS A STRUGGLE, MEAT EATING OBSESSED CULTURES STRUGGLES WITH DESEASE NO MATTER THE CENTURY. MOSTLY ANIMALS DIET WITH TOO MANY CARBS MANY WARS FOUGHT OVER STUPID THINGS. MEAT EATING CULTURES RUN TO PLANT MEDICINES WHEN THEY GET SICK BUT CAN NEVER AVOID GETTING SICK CAUSE THEY EAT MORE MEAT THAN PLANTS. TRUTH. YOU PEOPLE NEED TO REALIZE WE ARE NOT CHOOSING TO BE VEGAN, OUR BODIES CAN ONLY SURVIVE CANCER ON THIS DIET! YOU PEOPLE HAVE FUN WITH YOUR RADIATION AND FLESH CONSUMPTION. NATIVES WOULD REALIZE IN OLD AGE MEDICINE PLANT DIETS SAVE THEM FROM EARLY DEATH AND THEY TRY TO TEACH OTHER TRIBES SO THEY ARE NOT FIGHTING OVER HUNTING RIGHTS! THAT IS ENOUGH PROOF AS WELL, FROM NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN CULTURES! PERSONALLY, I THINK ITS AMAZING HOW MANY WAYS PEOPLE PREPARES THEIR FOODS AROUND THE WORLD, i THINK ITS ALL GOOD. IF WE ALL EAT THE SAME THINGS, THERE WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH ANYTHING TO GO AROUND. VEGNISM DENIERS ARE THE PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO LEARN ABOUT THE HUMAN BODY HEALTH AND PAST OR MODERN PRACTICES. ITS NOT A COMPETITION, THE MINDSET OF DWARWINISM AND MEAT EATING ITS JUSTIFYING CANNABILISM, ITS GROSS. PEOPLE SHOULD JUST EAT WHAT THEY WANT STOP KNOCKING A HEALING DIET BECAUSE YOU FEEL INSECURE ABOUT YOUR OWN. EATING ANIMALS IN THE NORTH IS EMERGENCY FOOD REALLY, THAT IS HOW IT WAS CONSUMED HISTORICALLY! TO THINK EATING MEAT EVERY MEAL AND BLAMING VEGANS! JUST INSANE! THAT IS NOT EVEN HOW PEPLE ATE MEAT BACK IN THE DAY, NOT THE LESS VIOLENT LESS SUBMISSIVE GROUPS! THE REASON MANY HISTORICAL DISHES LACK FRESH PLANT FOODS ASWELL IS BECAUSE PEOPLE JUST ATE THEM RAW WHEN WALING PLACES BACK IN THE DAY! NOW, PEOPLE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT FOOD IS, AND TRYING TO USE IMPERFECTS HABBITS OF THE PAST TO ATTACK PEOPLE HEALING HEALTH WITH A PLANT BASED DIET.

  6. What if you don’t want to lose weight, and are allready just the right weight.. wil this diet change that gor sure or just balance me so I stay on the good weight for my health? I have crohns or ibs and I belive this might help me

  7. Nora, if you are still monitoring questions on this page… I have a question. To first say, I am aware of the clinical results that Dr Zsofia Clemens presents. So this to say, I am a believer of this fat/meat diet. But that being said, my question is another way of commenting about how our DNA has not changed much for the past from our ancestors. Is it not generally true that within the animal kingdom, carnivores usually have pronounced incisors for teeth. Why then do not modern humans have teeth more like vampires? This is just an interesting theoretical point of discussion I am interested to get some insights into.

  11. Her luscious hair and her amazing, smooth skin at the age of 50 is enough to convince me that whatever she recommends works! I don't understand why she hasn't been interviewed more. Amazing!

  17. This false dichotomy of meat vs carbs is misleading. A vegetable-based diet with nuts and seeds, and some tubers like sweet potatoes is neither, nor is it low fat, and is shown to be the basis of all long lived populations.

  20. I was brought up with having cereal or bread every morning for breakfast.
    Look at all the commercials for breakfast cereals. it's bombarded on us that we HAVE to have grains.

    I have a autoimmune disease, chronic pain and fatigue and i have been eating gluten free for a year hoping it would help me. There has been only a minor improvement so I've been thinking I need to cut out more. Maybe all grains entirely and dairy.

    Just this week I decided to start
    my mornings with an egg or fish with some stir fry vegetables.
    I have had a lot more energy and felt satiated with the protein breakfast.
    I'm going to find more Paleo friendly recipes so I can have a variety.
    The good thing is I like fruit and veggies and have no problem with eating animal protein though I'm going to be more conscious of the source and buy organic and grass fed when I can.
    One time I went vegetarian for a whole year.
    It didn't help my health condition at all.
    Maybe a modified Paleo way would work for me personally.
    I like quinoa. And it is a seed. But I've read it's a pseudo grain and not encouraged on the Paleo diet though some people do eat it.
    I think having some quinoa and some beans once a week is something I would do.
    The thing with these "diets" or "lifestyles"
    That come out in the media.
    People become obsessed and want to be super strict with the "rules" and leave no room for compromise somewhere.
    Listen to your body. Take note of how you feel when you eat certain foods. What works for one may not work for another. I do not think there's a one size fits all.
    We are like birds. not all birds eat the same thing to survive but they are still a bird.
    Flamingoes eat shrimp and an owl eats a mouse and a house sparrow eats seeds.
    That's us.

  21. Honestly, high fat diets have always seemed to work better for me. My brain runs like complete shit on a mostly carb diet. Having a veggie omelette cooked in coconut oil with a small dish of blueberries or a banana on the side for breakfast is fine, but if I just do just a fruit smoothie, or a waffle, or something of that nature, I eventually crash, and become light-headed, weak, even irritable. 

  26. Great content… HORRRRRRRIIIIBBBBBBLLLE camera work. Please learn to use a tripod. You made great content and a very beautiful speaker, extremely uncomfortable to watch. I can imagine the uncomfort Nora experienced while the camera operator kept moving the camera around her face. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!!!!

  27. Nora's stance on a primal diet is odd seeing how anthropologists feel that the data they've collected thus far shows primal man survived mainly on a plant diet. Look at the recent study on early hominids and tiger nuts.

    On the other hand, whichever stance one takes, I don't think they have enough samples to offer a complete picture yet. Despite these findings, a meat-based diet is destroying our planet by using massive amounts of resources, harming wildlife and indigenous populations.

  29. Isn't it nice that you have been validated. Eating the primal diet, going back and back and back in time, living more naturally. I got a dead possum over here. give me your address and I'll mail it to you.

  30. Speaking of myths . See nutritionfacts latest video on phytates anti cancer properties & the established fact that it does not leach minerals from the body or bones & actually displays a protective function.

  31. So, I realize that for alot of northern hemisphere cultures (which is most); that plants were unavailable in the quantity needed to be a dietary staple and that these ancestors got most protein from meats and fish and the sacred oil that you mention, which is most of the time a fermented animal oil. But to say that all wild plants are toxic or contain anti-nutrients makes me sad as a plant person, what about nuts such as hazelnuts and walnuts eaten in China. Here where I am from in Washington State on the west coast the native people lived on fish and shellfish, but native wild plants were also a central and significant part of that diet. They ate Lilies (Camas root, tiger lily), wild carrots, fern roots which they ground into a flour type of consistency, and of course the wapato…a marsh dwelling starchy tuber similar to a potato that the natives ate regularly. 
    Not saying that these wild plants could have sustained the people in a climate like this, but it felt a bit like you skipped over the significance of native ecology and the relationship that humans had with plants in their diet…as they were an integral part of the culture of food surrounding these ancient tribes. And, as the macrofauna disappeared and climate changed they began to lean more heavily and even to cultivate these things…which led to the beginning of agriculture.
    One more thing about grains. The way that grains were traditionally harvested actually made them easier to digest through slight fermentation. The stalks were gathered in cone-like piles and left to dry out in the sun for three or four days…the sun would cause the oils in the grain to slightly ferment, making them easier to digest. We don't do that anymore to our grains. 
    Life is a story of change and adaptation, we have adapted from our highly carnivorous roots and we did so long ago. The only thing wrong with what people eat today is that it's highly processed, not actually food 'food like subtance', and/or it's been raised in an uphaulingly degraded state in filth, muck, and antibiotics like so much of our animal product today. 
    All that being said and me still being a child of agriculture and loving my bread and butter. I have had a vast improvement in energy from cutting out alot of gluten…and that has continued to be a dietary direction for me is less gluten. period. So, Thanks for all the info…Love it and thanks Peak Moment!!!

  33. Not to dismiss the experiences of Janaia and her guest, I have to wonder.  Wonder if an ancient diet without the remainder of the ancient lifestyle is a good balance. Have to wonder if this diet without balance in time reveal it's shortcoming.  Also wonder how this diet would fit in a post peak world.  CAFO would still be needed to supply a carnivorous diet, their output  probably is unlikely animal fats and proteins that the ancient diet provided.

  34. Thanks for your excellent commentary, BionicStarchild!
     
    To ignore tens of thousands of legitimate studies demonstrating the very clear health-compromising effects of grains in favor of one or two epidemiologically-based ones (notorious for lending to misleading conclusions) is patently absurd.  One or two limited epidemiologic population studies cannot erase thousands of volumes of quality peer reviewed evidence (far from all being “laboratory based”) or 100,000+ generations of human evolutionary history. 
     
    The fact is that epidemiological studies such as those you mention are generally considered poor for making clear determinations about the nearly infinite range of factors that go into influencing large population trends.   They don’t really ever prove anything. About all they can ever do is generate hypotheses.  Who knows how much longer or better Okanowans might be living if they avoided grains entirely?  One thing we can know for certain, however, is that there is no such thing anywhere as a "grain deficiency"–and grains and legumes are far more likely to cause us harm or compromise than support optimal health. 
     
    To what do we attribute the greater longevity of Okinawans?  Apart from the low-stress, community based lifestyle they are known to lead, their diet (also lacking in processed junk food, btw) is overall readily definable as calorically restricted and is actually highest in fish and vegetables.  They also do eat some meat.  They are not vegetarians.  They actually eat less rice (grains) than other Asians.  See the following study:
      
    Caloric Restriction, the Traditional Okinawan Diet, and Healthy Aging,  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 1114, Healthy Aging and Longevity: 3rd International Conference, p 434–455, October 2007 

    The authors in it stated:

    “Findings include low caloric intake and negative energy balance at younger ages, little weight gain with age, life-long low BMI…and survival patterns consistent with extended mean and maximum life span.”

    They concluded:

    “This study lends epidemiologic support for phenotypic benefits of caloric restriction (emphasis mine) in humans and is consistent with the well-known literature on animals with regard to caloric restriction phenotypes and healthy aging.”

    I write extensively about the benefits of caloric restriction in my book, "Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life".  It turns out a fat-based ketogenic diet mimics the beneficial effects of caloric restriction perfectly, without resulting feelings of hunger or deprivation while maintaining the kind of neurologically supportive nutrient density and rich fat-soluble nutrient content of the evolutionary diet to which humans are essentially (as in, of necessity) adapted.  Nothing that provides you with so much foundational benefit could be more sustainable or even affordable!  My particular approach is more moderate (optimizing) with respect to protein intake than many other Paleo approaches. 
     
    Grains such as rice, wheat, spelt, rye, have exceptionally high levels of "defensive" (endocrine-disruptive plus neurologically and immunologically compromising) glycoproteins known as lectins. Proteomes in most grains (gluten being the granddaddy of them all) are not even digestible by humans.  The continual hybridization of these plants and selection for ever-more gluten in grains, coupled with commercial practices such as deamidization have led to increased intolerance and literally increasingly reduced adaptation to these foods.  According to Harvard researcher and expert in celiac disease, Alessio Fasano (as previously mentioned here), no human on earth can actually even digest gluten—which basically takes this substance out of the realm of being a potential food source for anyone and right into the realm of being a bonafied contaminant.  As a species we are becoming LESS adapted to grains and not more adapted, as one might otherwise expect.  The trend is unmistakably clear. According to this study in the Annals of Medicine in 2010, “The prevalence of Celiac Disease has increased five-fold overall since 1974. This increase was not due to increased sensitivity of testing, but rather due to an increasing number of subjects that lost the immunological tolerance to gluten in their adulthood.”  Ann Med. 2010 Oct;42(7):530-8
     
    A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine (Jan 17; 346(3):180-188 – listed 55 “diseases” that can be caused by eating grains/gluten. These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, and rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). It has also been heavily linked to autism. Since the publication of that article in 2002 these disease numbers have exploded. Today more than 200 adverse health effects associated with grains/gluten consumption have been documented. Additionally, information published by world-class, immunologist, Dr. Aristo Vojdani lists no fewer than 80 identified autoimmune diseases, currently, along with 40 additional diseases thought to have an autoimmune component. Gluten is known to have an either initiating or exacerbative factor in all of them.  The implications of this are vast and the effect is epidemic…and growing at a disturbing rate.

    Gluten sensitivity creates inflammation throughout the body, with wide-ranging effects across all organ systems including (especially) your brain, heart, joints, digestive tract, and more.  You may think you haven’t heard much about this but the fact is you hear about it all the time—every day—It just goes by all these different names you may not have associated with the root of the problem.  It can be the single cause behind many different “diseases.”  Also, it s possible to live with "silent" inappropriate antibody production for years before symptoms ever manifest.  Autoimmunity is seldom diagnosed before it is in its end-stages.
     
    A recent large study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and “latent” celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer. 
     
    More studies related to paleolithic nutrition involving "real people".
     
    -Cassidy CM. Nutrition and health in agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers: a case study of two prehistoric populations. in Nutritional Anthropology. Eds Jerome NW et al. 1980 Redgrave Publishing Company, Pleasantville, NY pg 117-145
     
    -Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC, Jr., Sebastian A: Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. Eur J Clin Nutr 2009
     
    -O’Dea K: Marked improvement in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in diabetic Australian aborigines after temporary reversion to traditional lifestyle. Diabetes 1984, 33(6):596-603.
     
    -Mellberg, C., Sandberg, S., Ryberg, M., Eriksson, M., Brage, S., Larsson, C., et al. (2014). Long-term effects of a Palaeolithic-type diet in obese postmenopausal women: a 2-year randomized trial. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2013.290 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24473459.
     
    -Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg S, Watkins BA, O’Keefe JH, Brand-Miller J. Origins and evolution of the western diet: Health implications for the 21st century. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:341-54
     
    -L Cordain, S B Eaton, J Brand Miller, et al.  The paradoxical nature of hunter-gatherer diets: meat-based, yet non-atherogenic European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2002) 56, Suppl 1, S42-S52. DOI: 10.1038/sj/ejcn/1601353
     
    – L Cordain, B A Watkins, G L Florant, et. al.  Fatty acid analysis of wild ruminant tissues: evolutionary implications for reducing diet-related chronic disease   European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2002) 56, 181-191. DOI: 10.1038/sj/ejcn/1601307
     
    And just for the heck of it:
     
    -Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double-Edged Sword –   http://www.direct-ms.org/pdf/EvolutionPaleolithic/Cereal%20Sword.pdf
     
    -Evolutionary Aspects of Diet:  Old Genes, New Fuels   https://s3.amazonaws.com/paleodietevo2/research/Evolutionary+Aspects+of+Diet+Old+Genes%2C+New+Fuels+The+Paleo+Diet.pdf
     
    And here's research pertaining to stable isotopic anaylysis and the work of Professor Michael Richards at the Max Plank Center for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany and some related work:
     
    Michael Richards’ publications:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/richards/publications.htm
    Katzenburg MA (2008) Stable isotope analysis: a tool for studying past diet, demography, and life history. In Katzenburg MA, Saunders SR (eds) Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. (Hoboken, Wiley-Liss) 2nd Edition pp 413-441
    Schoeninger MJ, DeNiro M (1984) Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals.  Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48:635-639.
    Schoeninger MJ (1995) Stable isotope studies in human evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology 4(3): 83-98.
    van der Merwe, NJ (1982) Carbon isotopes, photosynthesis, and archeology. American Scientist 70: 596-606.
     
    The advent of agriculture was also the beginning of the rise in what we recognize now as the diseases of modern civilization.  We lost stature, bone density, significant brain volume, dental health and this led to much more uncontrolled population growth and ruling class hierarchies.  Good deal!  It has been previously supposed that agriculture led us to the “gift” of civilization but we now know this not to be true.  Newly discovered and even more ancient and very highly civilized, highly technologically advanced and spiritually based societies such as that of Gobekli Tepi in ancient Turkey were still hunter-gatherers.  It is in ancient Sumeria and Mesopotamia where this all changed…and unfortunately for us, NOT for the better.
     
    Agriculture—particularly in the manner in which it is practiced today—does massive environmental damage.  It is the #1 source of demand for fossil fuels, which are used in agricultural cultivation and distribution.  It is also the #1 source for deforestation in the Amazon.  It wastes massive amounts of fresh water, degrades the soil and sterilizes the land of every living thing save the monocrops—most of which are now genetically modified– which are planted on them.  It also makes us humans that much more vulnerable to mass famine, not to mention many of the diseases of modern civilization.
     
    I am strictly opposed to any manner of livestock industry that is dependent on this corrupt and unsustainable means of food production.
     
    Our dependence on grains, corn, canola and soybeans gives a very small handful of misanthropic, sociopathic, multinational corporate giants near total dominion and control over every political government and financial institution on earth.  The so called "foods" they produce destroy our health and environment. Soybeans are the #1 source of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest right now. Avoid these Big Agribusiness crops and crappy, inhumane feedlot meat and buy your humanely and sustainably raised, fully pastured fed meats and fresh organically grown produce from your local farmers and ranchers working hard to do the right thing.  Ask for these foods in every grocery store and restaurant you frequent and don’t relent.  Avoid eating grains (for SO many reasons!)
     
    It’s almost as good as giving Monsanto the finger!
     
    I am pressed for time right now with numerous deadlines and won't be able to comment further on this thread.  For those willing to take an objective look at the data this should suffice.  For those unwilling to do so, no amount of evidence and commentary is likely to help anyway.
     
     

  37. This paper explores the ages the hunter gatherers, foragers and Swedish farmers (1750s) typically die. They are all reasonably similar. These are considerably lower than recent statistics from the USA, who are far from a best example of current longevity. From this it would be difficult to make a case for the diet suggested by Nora to have any benefits in terms of longevity or resistance to degenerative disease. Naturally this does not mean someone might not feel better on a different diet for a while, however, this feel good factor is consistent whether raw food, macrobiotic, vegan, food combing, blood type, juicing… (It is easy to find advocates of all these who will attest to amazing life changes) and therefor it may just be that we react well to a change of diet every now and again, regardless of what that diet is. http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2007pdr.pdf

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