The Myth: Examining The Inaccuracies Of The Paleo Diet

McLean Turner
48650503
ANTH2302
Spring 2023
Unmasking the Myth: Examining the Inaccuracies of the Paleo Diet The paleo diet is a commonly practiced diet in modern day, often used as a reference to the diet used by our Paleolithic ancestors. Many people think that the diet is a representation of what our ancestors ate because that was the only thing they had available; the diet is also sometimes referred to as the “caveman diet.” However, this is not the case. The concept that the paleo diet is a direct representation of what our Paleolithic ancestors ate is both an oversimplification and a fallacious one. Not only are some modern foods considered acceptable in the paleo diet processed after harvest, in which our ancestors did not process,

The diet does not account for the newer evolution of traits allowing humans to properly consume foods that our paleolithic ancestors could not. Not only does the diet not allow new additions to the diet, it also allows foods in the diet that were not even consumed by our ancestors, like the avocado. The avocado was not made available to our ancestors during the paleolithic era, as avocados were not geographically available, and they were also not at all desirable to eat based on their taste and their attributes. Modern avocados are also nothing like they were during the paleolithic era, even if they were available to eat to our ancestors. In modern day, avocados are harvested with lots of pesticides and lots of genetic alterations in order to be more appetizing and

This is made clear when breaking down what the paleo diet is all about: eating like our paleolithic ancestors. The foods that are allowed in modern day in the paleo diet are not accurate representations of what was made available during the paleolithic era, as the foodstuffs have drastically changed and are nothing like what they used to be. The paleo diet criteria/allowed foodstuffs is also inconsistent with history, which most clearly proves that the paleo diet has nothing to do with history, but rather, a general outline for health - not history.
Works Cited
Harkness, Jane. “Can We Really Eat like Our Ancestors? What Paleo Companies Don't Want You to Know.” Peaceful Dumpling, 6 Dec. 2022, https://www.peacefuldumpling.com/paleo.
Lavigne, Bonnie. “A Brief History of Milk.” Homestead.org, 21 July 2020, https://www.homestead.org/homesteading-history/a-brief-history-of-milk/.
Maestri, Nicoletta. “What Scientists Have Learned about the History of the Avocado.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 3 July 2019,