I have been eating “mostly paleo” for about five years now, and can offer anecdotal support for every one of its touted benefits. For example, I noticed an immediate and dramatic change in my energy levels and overall mental clarity the moment I stopped eating wheat.
I have eliminated grains and legumes, and reduced dairy to an occasional condiment. I eat a lot more meat than I used to, most of it either grass-fed or wild. I found that I have a real affinity for buffalo and wild boar. Four-season cold-frame gardening keeps me supplied with fresh organic greens year-round.
Food is important, but it is only one part of an authentic human lifestyle. We are also being forced to engage in artificial “processed” behavior and to participate in unnatural forms of interpersonal interaction that leave us socially and emotionally malnourished. Civilized life engenders a perpetual state of emotional need—a state of need that is easily exploited.
The increasing popularity of the paleo diet might simply reflect a point in the natural life course of yet another consumer fad. But maybe, just maybe, some of those who choose to eat from an undomesticated plate might start to wonder what it would be like to think with an undomesticated mind.
Dairy, grains, and legumes today. Oil, smartphones, and the international monetary fund tomorrow.
