Over 40 years old – maybe you should be on the paleo diet
.
If you are over 40 according to a professor who studies longevity you might want to make a switch to a paleo diet.
You have all probably heard of the paleo diet in which you return to a pre-agriculture diet. No grains, no dairy (depending on the exact version of a paleo diet you choose to follow) and you stick to fish, meat, vegetables, fruits (but not huge amounts), and nuts. The is the diet more or less.
But now comes an interesting hypothesis about why if you are over 40 you might have to even more seriously consider a paleo diet. I say hypothesis since I couldn’t find any science backing it up even though it is being suggested by Michael Rose a professor from University of Irvine California.
Dr Rose’s logic is:
…for people of Eurasian ancestry, he disagrees with the age a paleo diet should be adopted as advised by main proponents of the paleo diet, such as evolutionary nutrition researchers Loren Cordain and S. Boyd Eaton. He said that young people of Eurasian ancestry have actually adapted well to new environments brought on by the agricultural revolution.
“But at later ages,” he added, “you will lose that adaptation to a novel environment and you will revert back to a condition to which you are better conditioned to a long ancestral environment.”
He explained that after age 40, the physiology of people of Eurasian ancestry appears to return to a pre-adapted state with age to one that is better off with the same foods our pre-Neolithic ancestors ate: meat, seafood, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
It is not just over 40 Eurasians that he is advocating a paleo diet actually he thinks if your non-Eurasian you might need to start the diet earlier.
Adopt a hunter-gatherer lifestyle after 35 to 40 if Eurasian, earlier if ancestry is less Eurasian.
I have been experimenting with a paleo diet over the last couple months before coming across this article and can report positive results, at least observationally. And since I am over 40 maybe even more reason to continue. However, as with most things you have to exercise some caution as there is a concern it you eat a misguided paleo diet and only concentrate on meat consumption and forgo vegetables and fruits it might be bad for your health. So if you choose to try a paleo diet do it correctly.
And you could say that if you are going to do caveman training you might as well be on a caveman diet.
Lots more nutrition and fueling articles to come in the coming weeks.
