The Diet That Works, Great Lessons from Caveman
What is one thing cavemen knew much better than we know now? How to survive in the wild? Yes. But more importantly, they knew how to survive in the healthiest way possible. There were no diet programs in those days nor were there shelves full of diet books. What cavemen knew instinctively was exactly what the best diet that works for them.
Let’s all take a quick lesson from our ancestors and see which elements of their diet are tips we can begin to incorporate right way to lose unwanted body fat and improve our health.
- Cavemen only ate what they could kill or find in the wild. By no means am I suggesting you begin to kill and hunt for your own food (we do have grocery stores now a days, thank goodness) but we still would benefit greatly by following this method in our own 21st century kind of way. If the food on your plate is not something your fellow caveman friend could have hunted, gathered and found himself, chances are you shouldn’t be eating that food. For example, a plate of lean hamburger and vegetables, followed by fresh fruit is perfect (for you and your new friend) but add a piece of bread or some pasta and now you have confused your fellow cave friend. These are not foods that existed during those times and are foods we are much healthier without.
- Cavemen only drank what they could find. Do you know what people have been able to find for centuries? That’s right, good old fashioned H2O (water that is). Water is truly the magic potion to weight loss and increased health. Unfortunately a great majority of people are walking around severely dehydrated and suffering from many negative side effects which could all be easily resolved by drinking more water. Hunger, headaches, constipation, and digestive discomfort are just a few of the many symptoms that can easily be resolved by a few cups of water. Make sure to drink half of your bodyweight in ounces of water each day (i.e. 200 lbs should drink 100 ounces).
- Cavemen stayed active for a majority of their day. I know this isn’t exactly part of their Best Diet but it is an essential and integral part of fat loss and optimized health. Tell your new caveman friend that he has to sit in an office chair all day and then go home and sit on the couch for the rest of the night and he will look at you like you are crazy (not that he doesn’t already think you are crazy but this would make matters worse). Move, move, move. Movement doesn’t always mean formal exercise. Take the stairs to your office, walk the parking lot a few extra times, get up and walk around the office a minimum of once per hour, anything to prevent you from sitting all day long. Today if modern man even tried to keep up with the daily activity and regimen of a caveman, they would quickly fall over in exhaustion.
The Best Diet and the Best Lifestyle plan can be easily established by just modeling the daily activities and food choices of cavemen. Use this question today to establish your own caveman habits “Is this food or drink something I could have found in the wild thousands of years ago?” If the answer is no, don’t eat it and find yourself a food that is more natural. Of course, don’t forget to share with your new caveman friend!
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I agree with MOST of what you say here, but there is one problem. Eating something like lean hamburger and vegetables is perfect – but followed with fruit? It has been a well-known fact for decades that fruit after a meal is a bad idea. I remember first seeing it in the fit-for-life plan in the 80′s, but it has popped up all over since then and most nutritionists are aware that fruit after a meal is a BAD idea. Why? Simple – fruit digests in literally minutes – within 20-30 minutes it can be pretty much fully digested. Eating fruit after a meal that will take HOURS to digest, the fruit basically sits stuck behind the meal and basically starts to ferment in the intestinal tract. This is NOT healthy – causing damage and often gas and bloating and other problems. On the other hand, eating fruit BEFORE a meal is perfect – it gets the digestive system moving and many fruits have enzymes that aid in digesting the other food – such as pineapple and papaya. So, if you are truly interested in good health, I hope you will clarify this for your readers!
I Disagree with the first comment by Elliot in regards to the fruit after a meal. As a diebetic, eating the fruit before the meal may burn faster, but it also introduces high levels of simple sugars into the body. By introducing the fruit (or salads like most of the healthiest European Countries) after the meal, it allows the body to bind the higher sugar contents with the other foods that are higher in protiens and fats, allowing them to digest together at a much slower introduction of glucose into the system. This also allows the Dietary Fiber of the fruit to help “Clean Up” the system getting rid of the extra undigestable mass, flushing the system. Also in regards to the enzymes that are introduced into the digestive tract via fruit before the meal is conter productive as it has already started being processed ahead of the meal, it cannot fully interact with the foods it is supposed to help in digesting! Remember, most meats and fatty foods take longer to digest and breakdown, so by the time our body has broken down the food to allow for those enzymes to help, the enzymes are already heading down the fast lane t the finish line with the high simple sugars to be of any good use to our system…
Thanks for letting me put my two cents in!
Dan
totally agree with Daniel D! that’s why most people in Europe don’t have weight problems, lots of quality protein and carbs and fruit for dessert!
I have to agree with Elliot – it has been proven that fruit on an empty stomach is better for you and you digest more of the nutrients then eating after you – after a meal it has a harder time digesting and more or less firments in your stomach the being digested – yes it can be hard for diabetics to do this as the natural sugar can cause problems – but there is hardly any benifit to eating a fruit after your meal
I think that if everyone were to follow this we would have less people with Diabetes, and Obisity(I don`t know if i spelled it right).
…..)
I on one hand think I should follow this because I am 13 and I weigh 97.6 ( I am under weight
I like that this gave an exact amount of ounces of water to drink per day, instead of just saying “Drink more water”. I think half your body weight in ounces is a good rule of thumb.
most cavemen also died in thier 30 most of us have the body we want untill 30 cave men diet
make some sense ,however the prove is the result! the problem is our life stile with transportation,elevators and plenty of food around. moderate your food intake be more active!!!!!!
I AM A OVERWIEGHT PERSON BUT UP UNTIL NOW I WAS REALLY OVERWEIGHT I LOST WEIGHT (SLOWLY) BY JUST EATING THE RIGHT FOODS FOR MY BODY AND BY NOT EATING ANY PASTRIES AND SWEETS LIKE CANDY BARS. IT TAKES AWHILE BUT BEFORE YOU KNOW IT THE WEIGHT CAME OFF. FOR ME IT TOOK ME 5 MONTHS TO LOOSE 60 POUNDS. I KNOW THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LONG TIME BUT IN THE END IT WAS WELL WORTH THE WAIT. TRY IT JUST STAY AWAY FROM SWEETS LIKE CAKE PIES CANDY AND ETC. HOPE THIS WORKS FOR YOU. REMEMBER CAVEMEN HAD NO SWEETS.
I find not all Europeans eat healthy. But I did find the healthiest diet in the world is Greek food. The recipies have been passed down from the Ancient Greeks and they are one of the longest living peoples. Women about 95, men about 85. They’ve been using olive oil in all their dishes and sweets for about 12 thousand years and the benefits are only understood today. Ingredients like olive oil, cinnamon, walnuts and honey in their sweets all have nutritional value as well. Greeks eat meat once a month, fish and chicken once a week, and every other day vegetable dishes and soups, emphasizing lentil and bean dishes 2 times a week. And that marvelous feta cheese, which is cholestoral free. I have gone totally Greek now, look into it!!!!
i agree….i lose more wieght by snacking on raw fruit, veggies, and meats during the day than eating actual meals….after high school i couldnt afford to buy much at the regular grocery store…. so i said forget the diet cause those things on the list were super expensive, and just ate what i liked and could find at the local organic market called Trader Joe’s, which was the only store within walking distance of the house…fruit and veggies…no breads, pastas, candies/cakes/ice cream….i had always been around 180 lbs even at my peak physical condition for the sports i played….i dropped down to 118 lbs within 2 months!!! i have been able to stay below 150 lbs and drop weight more easily ever since….
look into the studies done on Aboriginal peoples and you will see great health benefits from following this type of meal plan including decreased weight, decreased cholesterol and decreased blood glucose levels and corresponding hA1c’s
wow. it’s great to see a lot of debate going on. there’s so much info out there that it can be hard to know just what to follow. I’ve been using these tips and they’ve been working for me. thanks for the post!
To Elliot and Daniel, I had to read both articles several times, back and forth, with my thoughts and theories changing as I read. I have severe digestion problems due to total colonic inertia, causing me to loose my entire large intestine and rectum. But recently I was told that a new enzyme was found (actually reintroduced maybe to new technology) either way, the articles I’ve read and Dr.s I’ve consulted with don’t seem too sure where this enzyme did most of it’s work. (very controversicial) My concern now is for my father, just pushing so hard on that border line of diabetic. Elliot I believe towards the end of your comment makes more sense, yet I was told some fruits, although will cause gas, actually helps with propulsion of slower food, ie: the papaya (i assume this would only be helpful with high protein meals) But I know my sister was on a diet where she ate her salad last due to the water weight helping the food along. I don’t remember the outcome, just thought I’d throw that in, I suppose since it wasn’t fruit. Daniel, your info seemed to be helpful re: the diabetic portion of this debate. I’m very familiar with Chrons and IBS since this is what I was told I had, so much research was done, plus I just found a site explaining this new enzyme called “Science Daily” it seemed extremely helpful. One study found a linkage between the meprin gene (this newly ‘refound’ debated enzyme) and vulnerability to diabetic nephropathy. If someone familiar with diabetes could please look at this Science Daily info, or inform me of other helpful sources, It would greatly be appreciated. And with so many things changing from day to day on the do’s and dont’s I’m hoping to find someone who has been borderline and been able to pull out of it and stay away from ever hearing the word diabetic again. Thank you so much to anyone who takes the time to read this or do research to help me (us-my Daddy) God Bless
Love the article on cavemen and their healthy life style.
Elliot was right and Daniel wrong (Daniel coming from his bias as a diabetic). The fruit rots and ferments and almost all the nutritional value is lost.
The Cave man argument is a bit disingenuous from an Anthropological/Darwinian perspective. Cave men had no idea what they were doing. They ate what was available and those that survived that diet became adapted to it. This diet became very hardwired into our genes, and the advent of agriculture and eating lots of meat (it has now been proven that early man was a very poor hunter who rarely ate meat) 10,000 years ago is what came into conflict with our previous genetic adaptation that had occurred over a half million years. We still haven’t adapted to this new diet very well.
Hey, thanks. After living in Sardinia, Italy 3 years, we agree with you about the Greek and Italian eating and the cuisine! Healthy and great! J-
Hi Isabel,
My wife and I are trying your three suggestions for 14 days, no wheat, only water, and nothing white… is oatmeal ok to eat on that particular plan?
Thanks 1,000,000!
-Joe
Two points:
1. The question about fruit being eaten before or after meat depends on the individual.
Fruit doesn’t truly “ferment” significantly if eaten second. There’s not enought time.
Meanwhile the “meat first” helps tame the sugar/insulin “hit” of the fruit, and is better for you, if you can do it (some poeple have digestive trouble with it, but for me, no problem at all).
I’ve lost 45 pounds so far on the Diet Solution, and have kept them off.
Fruit has been a great help to me in quelling the vague carb cravings of a lower carb diet.
2. How much cave men knew or didn’t know about nutrition is irrelevant.
Even the “evolution” aspect of it is beside the point.
The point of The Diet Solution is found in the title of the article, “The Diet That Works”.
And it’s healthy to boot
According to The Enzyme Factor by Dr. Hiromi Shinya, he recommends eating fruit 30 minutes before meals, as fresh fruit abundant in enzymes digests well and by eating it before meals, it helps the functions of the gastrointestinal system and raises the blood sugar level, thus preventing you from overeating.
ok….all the caveman diet info is very accurate. the human body has not evolved in only a couple thousand years to eat highly processed foods. who ever posted about the Greeks eating the way they do for over 12 thousand years…i’d be interested to know where your getting your info cause ancient Sumeria is the oldest known civilization and that only goes back 6000 years. Beyond that we have 1 thing we know for sure…there were no processed foods back the…we didn’t eat pasta, breads, soda and a ton of other junk. As far as the fruit issue…your body will absorb what it needs no matter whether you eat it before or after….except in the case of diabetics…I just started Vic’s program and the caveman diet 10 days ago and have already lost 7lbs….and i haven’t even started the exercise part of the program yet…its so easy a caveman can do it and it works…Thanks Vic and Isabel
I cannot and will not certain fruits -oranges, nectarines etc on an empty stomach as they iritate my stomach. I will however have them after I have had other food in my system like beef or chicken.
Regardless of what the science says I humbly beleive you have to find out what works for you.
I have been following a whole foods diet for a while now and think it’s fantastic! I feel great… The approach in this article seems very similar to the “paleo diet” I have been reading about over the internet… anyone have any thoughts on this system? I just started reading up on it but did come across articles related to intermittent fasting, which is the opposite of what the diet solution program encourages (5-6 small meals a day)… I’m wondering if intermittent fasting is a bad idea, I’ve read it was a natural occurrence for our ancestors and cavemen friends… any thoughts?