Caveman Stone Age Diet
Paleo, Paleolithic & Neanderthal Diets
Dark Age Club Sandwich Recipes

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Caveman & Stone Age Diets

In recent years, the trend of society tends to be returning back to the basics of life - from diet to home decorating. Stone age diets generally support fruit, protein and vegetables and omit dairy products, foods high in fat and carbs - which include most anything edible that is white.

The theory appears to stem from the 'possible bounty' presented to cavemen in days of old. Just the basics, ma'am.

Do these diets work?

The Atkins and South Beach Diets are very closely related to caveman-type diets. Many people have achieved great weight loss success and were able to maintain their new weight over time.

These types of fat loss plans make it quite easy for the average dieter to track 'what to/what not to' eat by categorizing foods into simple slots that the dieter can quickly relate to. The obstacle is this....

The Vitamin Pyramid's Connection to Metabolism

When we eat, some foods depend upon other foods for processing and in the storing of certain vitamins that are necessary for optimum health. Omitting certain foods, more specifically entire food groups from the daily menu can create a potential for digestive problems - as well as other functions performed by the body.

Our bodies are much like cars. The key turns over the engine, just like food starts our metabolism. But without water, oil, a battery, and air in the tires, the car won't run efficiently - and sometimes not at all.

And that's how fad diets are - sometimes they work, and sometimes not at all. Simply put, not all weight loss plans will work well for all people.

Two of the most popular stone age type fad diets are the Paleo - also known as the Caveman Diet, and the Paleolithic also known as the Neanderthal Diet.

The Paleo Diet

In the interest of conquering disease and increasing life span in humans, an endless search ensued a few short decades ago to find the perfect diet that would render eternal life, eternal good health and eternal youth in many cases.  

Under the microscope is a scratched slide which displays a controversial 'perfect' diet - commonly known as the Caveman Diet, a plan for Modern Day Gatherers.  You have just entered the Diet History Zone....

Upon further examination of the Paleo Diet, it has been determined that it lacks flavor but most importantly, lacks carbohydrates.

Carbs, the Energy of Life Force

Without carbs, the caveman doesn't feel like skipping through fields of dino droppings to chase three-winged, two-beaked pink butterflies. Nor does he feel like trolling for fish or even trolling for folly that will produce caveman offspring.

Many experts feel that the average cave person lived a life of leisure filled with little pleasure. Perhaps so. And you'd be tired too if you had to sew your own clothes with no pasta in sight. But that's another chapter in the Diet History Zone....

The Basics of the Paleo Diet Plan

The overall vision of the Paleo Diet is for society to revert to a revised stone age manner of eating based on archeology information and the foraging preferences of the modern day gatherers.

The theory of the Paleo Diet is based on human genetics which have shown little change since the inception of time.

Energy, Wellness & Healing Factors

This plan is also reported to quicken recovery from illnesses and many chronic diseases. In addition, dieters are believed to achieve overall health benefits.

The Paleo Diet also touts astonishing success and boasts healing properties achieved through a diet of raw plant and raw animal food sources.

Higher levels of energy, vitality, stamina and attainment of normal body weight for both overweight and underweight individuals on the Paleo Diet are just a few of the examples of what the Paleo Diet claims the dieter will achieve if they closely follow the plan.

The controversial Paleo Diet has drawn a line of fire in the Free Diet World, with the attackers riddling the theory which is supported by what little is known from the stone age era.

The Paleolithic Neanderthal Diet

The Paleolithic Diet is also known as the Neanderthal Diet, the Gatherers Diet and the stone age diet.

The Paleolithic Diet consists of unprocessed foods with the belief that the closer one eats to nature, the better. In fact, the Paleolithic Diet also encourages eating 'live' nature, even insects by some of the more fierce-minded Gatherers. More mosquitoes anyone? Gnats? Perhaps a live scorpion or two? Benadryl? Yes, please..... Two.

Food Offenders Thrown Into Paleolithic Slavery

The Paleolithic Diet is based on the foods that our stone age forefathers may have eaten. Taboo foods include grains, refined sugars, spuds, milk, beans and Blue Bell ice cream. What a shame. And those Blue Bell cows were so happy....

The Food Defenders: Foods Boasted by Gatherers & Crowned King In the Paleolithic Diet Realm

The Paleolithic Diet permits nuts, berries, fruits, vegetables, meats and possibly insects as mentioned above, depending upon how staunch the stomach of the eater might be OR how fierce they support the plan. Basically, it's a raw diet type of plan.

Fire wasn't discovered until years later - a few centuries before the wheel. Simply put, it could not be placed on the backyard barbie. Therefore, if a food cannot be gathered, it's not going to cut the mustard and make the Paleolithic Diet food list.

Modern day Paleothicians blame modern day health woes on food processing methodology that advanced with technology, which is true on many levels.

Lingering thought.... Although the modern day digestive system is one smart cookie, modern medicine tells us that it is oblivious to the types of foods that an individual introduces into the body.

Mr. Digestive System is only concerned with the nutrients found in the foods. And what the body needs at the end of the day is one filled with nutrition and balance. The foods on this plan are certainly that, but even so, who can live well without the Staff of Life?

The Caveman Diet

It was the time when chefs were made, not born. It was a 'wheel-less world', one filled with uncertainty and many Bush-Tasters. And woe to the Bush Taster who bit into a forbidden fruit, for it was the last bush the Bush Taster would ever taste.

Other than bush goodies, just what did the average cave person eat? Some prehistoric experts might insist that stone age people grazed on grass, just like sheep. As time progressed, they began smoking it.

Green stains on the teeth could only be removed via 1 part quicksand and 1 part poison ivy. Woe to the clumsy cave person. Rash-around-the-mouth was almost as bad in those days as ring-around-the-collar is, now days.

Wild, isn't it - just like the Caveman's diet. And of course, Today's Wise Man knows that poison ivy is indeed, poison and should never be eaten. But back in those days, Cavemen and Cavewomen dined on most anything they could get their hands on.

This may have included anything from freshly picked berries to non-homogenized dino milk. Nonetheless, when pickings went well, the mainstay of the Caveman Diet was fish, fruit, berries and nuts galore!

The main problem that they experienced with nut gathering was the gathering itself. It's not easy after that first frost, collecting nuts in nothing more than a flimsy loincloth or a sketchy garment of fur that's been plastered together with who-knows-what, but gather they did.

Other foods that were incorporated into the early Caveman's Diet may have included fresh greenery, such as dandelions, wild onions and wild garlic. Before Transylvanian times, garlic was renown for scaring away T-Rex's and other evil dinosaurs. Generally, one good yawn would do the trick. And of course, garlic was perhaps one good reason why the stone age world was lacking in dentists...

Caveman Diet & The Life Span Factor

True or False? 'Modern Day Man has a longer life span than his/her predecessors'. Actually, that's false.

Modern Day Man has the same life span expectancy as Cave people did BUT with increased medical technology and safer methods of doing things, Modern Day Man lives longer because of these things.

If it were possible to go back in time like Doctor Who and provide these same niceties to cave people, they would likely have the same life span as Modern Day Man. Excluding accidents and injury [i.e. getting underfoot of an angry dinosaur].

In other words, our odds of living longer have increased due to technology.

Unfortunately, the average Joe is under the belief that they will live years longer - that their longevity is now redefined in Today's World. A person's odds of living longer is only because of discoveries that cure prior health threats, or because we now live in a safer world.  

Modern Man and Cave person alike, are on a level playing field - it's just that in Today's World, we have so many ways to save life, to prevent death, and methods which make the world a safer place in regards to performing a job or task. To define the world as a 'safer place' is perhaps going a bit over the edge....

Note however that adding more natural foods to our day is a very good thing. If they are raw foods - we will likely see an improvement in our digestive functions. So there are some very positive things about these types of plans. However, without total nutrition the body will not be in the best of health, and ironically - achieving a healthy body is the basis of these plans.

Current Day Caveman & Cavewomen?

Take away all the tweezers, hair trimmers, makeup and hair dye and what would the face of Modern Day Man look like? No doubt, we live in a manicured world, our daily diet not excluded....incognito.

Think about it. If we-humans avoided haircuts, makeup, tanning potions and trimmers - we'd look much like cavemen. And keep in mind that cavemen have pearly white, even teeth - only on the silver screen. They lived in Toothache Hades.

Although our friend Betty may look like a million bucks, in true form those beautiful red locks are actually a mix of browns and grays, and sometimes snow white - and we're not talking about fairytales.

Those smooth legs might otherwise look in need of a bush-whacker if not for her new-fangled hair remover cream which also works well in removing Betty's unsightly mustache, particularly if she's over forty.

And that cute hair-do would be streaming down her back rather than nicely framed around her pretty face - also transformed by the illusive powers of make-up.

And let's not forget those manicured nails which would otherwise be rough and jagged. Finally, thank goodness for the tweezers that killed her unibrow.

And if we feel that Betty is a fright, what about her husband Joe? His beard is so long that it's touching his curled toenails. His hair is also long, like Betty's. And those nose and ear hairs aren't pretty.

As we journey back to the future, it's clear to see that everyone around us - including us, is a model that meets the standards of Acceptable Society. If it were not for all our modern day conveniences, we'd mirror the face of prehistoric man and woman.

And just as we slowly altered our appearance, we have slowly altered our foods - as well as our daily diets.

Can you even imagine a caveman and cavewoman sitting down for breakfast, lunch and dinner? It just didn't happen. The prehistoric way of living went something like this: Ug finds a peck of berries and brings them back to the tribe - not his family.

Back then, survival was all about sharing. If a tribe member wasn't hungry, he or she would tuck away their portion to enjoy later. None of this 'eating because it's there' stuff. Sustenance was a precious, vital commodity not to be taken for granted.

What if the berry bush suddenly withered and died or succumbed to Ug's wild garlic breath? What if a big prehistoric bird gobbled up all the remaining unripened berries from the bush? What if the bush suddenly caught on fire and began to speak - but then again, that's another story.

The point is that our current mode of living was established by our ancestors in an effort to create a more efficient world - a more productive world filled with more enjoyment.

Meal times were established to revolve around another creation: The Workforce.

Unfortunately, our bodies would operate more proficiently if we returned to the old ways - when men ate only when they were hungry AND when men ate foods that were closest to their natural state. Those foods are low in calories and contain minimal fat - or no fat. But let's face facts. It's not going to happen.

So the next time that you glance at our beautiful friend Betty munching on her lunch at 12 pm sharp, keep in mind that she is merely a figment of your imagination forced to 'enjoy' her food at a set time at a real table.

If we could actually see Betty - as well as the over-processed cheese nachos she is munching on as they actually appear, we'd run back into our.....cave.

Caveman Diet & Exercise

When a Caveman wasn't running rabidly from a T-Rex, he was chasing down a potential Cavewoman Love Interest (a CLI). Cave dudes got so much exercise that if they'd had modern medicine around, they would have probably lived to be 200 years old, or more.

Cavemen didn't have the sports toys enjoyed in today's world, just round rocks - more like boulders. There was no such thing as an exercise ball. Maybe an exercise boulder? Furthermore, there wasn't any golf, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, or kickball. Just a lot of running. From T-Rex's.

Another source of activity that burned up monstrous energy was Fire-Building and Food Gathering. Massive trees were sawed down very slowly via jawbones of deceased mother-in-laws, and sometimes via jawbones of deceased Triceratops. When those jawbones weren't available, a fresh piranha may have been used.

Speaking of fishing, can you imagine how strong a Caveman had to be in order to lift one of those big prehistoric fish from the sea?

Speaking of 'big', there were some big birds as well back in those days. Some may have even been yellow with orange legs. It must have been extremely difficult to shoot down a pterodactyl without a catapult. But then the lever was discovered and all was well.

So the next time that you get to thinking that exercise is awful, it's still eons better than running from viscous man and woman eating dinosaurs.

Diet & Weight Loss Activity Tips

Some of the best tools for weight loss are simple tools such as the jump rope, hopping, skipping, running and walking.

Modern Day Man has learned to rely on newfangled machinery to get the weight loss job done quicker and faster.  

But there is something to be said for exercising in the Great Outdoors. It's hard to catch a sunset while on an iron bike, but oh so easy when one walks near dusk. And those beautiful morning rays!

Of course, always get the thumbs up from your doctor before attempting any exercise plan. There may be a hidden condition, or your doctor may suggest some useful tips on how to lose weight at a faster rate, safely....

The History of Dieting

Long ago when the Age of Man began, there weren't many choices when it involved food. Whatever could be foraged was breakfast, lunch and often dinner.  

Before there was fire, it was mostly a sushi/coconut event. There were no whiners, only diners.  

If you didn't eat, then you became a favorite among the tribe because that meant more for them.

Then Came Fire for Delicious & Healthy Fire Roasted Vegetables

Then came fire....

The moral of this Caveman Discovery moment is that it is our human duty to continue to discover new and exciting methods of food preparation.

The hot dog, the wrap, the taco - all of these foods were little inventions in the kitchen of modernized cave people.

When experimenting, keep in mind that new, healthy concoctions are the best concoctions.

If you're tired of the same old fruit, try to discover some of the exotic fruits such as pomegranates, star fruit, dragon fruit and kiwi. Look up some new beans such as black beans and lima beans. Try purple sweet potatoes. Or have your taste buds investigate new varieties of apples.

You'll be not only discovering potential new favorites, you will be having fun while losing those unwanted saddlebags.

Once the cavemen discovered fire, cooking took off like a flash in the pan. One of the easiest, and most tasty recipes for weight loss is Fire Roasted Vegetables. The added perk is that they are naturally low in calories and fat. We coated ours with a touch of extra virgin olive oil which is a health-wise cooking oil.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn on the cob also make great veggies for fire roasting purposes but contain more calories than the following suggested mix of veggies: 4 cups any of the following vegetables - sliced and quartered: broccoli, cauliflower, onion, bell pepper, turnips, carrots, cabbage + Olive Oil for coating + Salt & Pepper + Crushed Dried Rosemary + Garlic Salt

To Prepare: Coat vegetables using a minimal amount of olive oil. Sprinkle on seasonings and pop into a foil lined baking pan.

Place vegetables into a 400 degree oven until tender. About 35 calories per cup of Fire Roasted Vegetables.

The Stone Age Caveman Diet

Well, it had to start somewhere, I suppose. Long ago, before crème filled cupcakes and cheese-covered broccoli were invented, Cavemen & Cavewomen enjoyed a diet rich in protein, the omega 3-s, vegetables, fruits, nuts & berries.

Or did they?

Nonetheless, as we have learned, a raw diet was king and queen. In time, when fire erupted on the scene, cavemen progressed to the fatted dinosaur diet - but were satisfied nicely by the raw diet and all the gifts that Mother Nature had to offer at that time in history.

Needless to say, it was a very wild raw diet. There were no donut shoppes to be found, or even bakeries for that matter. How, oh how, did they survive?

And how did the Cavemen know what foods to eat in their diet? Many things might appear tasty, only to end up poisonous or even deadly. Woe to the taste tester of the unfamiliar raw foods.

And what about nutrition? How did the Cavemen know what their bodies needed in order to maintain energy and vigor so that they could pull women by the hair and run from dinosaurs, some with massive horns sticking out of their heads and backs?

Did they enjoy a balanced diet? Or, was the Caveman diet the means of an early fate? Or did the cavemen end up as the dinosaur's diet?

Forging for Healthy Food

We wake up with the urge to forage for our food. It's normal and it's how we were originally programmed.

But something has happened since the cave days. It is easy now to get food. No more berry picking or fishing or chasing giant flying birds for food. It is readily available. Therein lies the problem.

Like....Bruce awakens in the morning, heads to the kitchen in search of his morning meal. Like...how difficult is it to locate [gather] a box of cereal? If he desires eggs, he doesn't even have to go outside and find a nest.

The Human Body Prefers Natural Foods

In the event you find yourself lost at the supermarket these days in search of healthy finds, gather foods that are as close to their original, raw state as possible.

Organically grown food is also a great choice, but it tends to cost more as most good things in life generally do.

Consider growing a garden filled with your favorite things. And think about putting in a few fruit and nut trees. Fruit trees actually begin producing very quickly - generally within a couple of years of planting for most fruits. Berry bushes are even faster.