Many of us have heard of the Paleo diet, a diet that focuses on eliminating foods that were not available for our ancestors while promoting those that were. We know that our modern diet, filled with processed foods and added sugars, has taken a large toll on our health. The oldest, if not one of the oldest, processed food is bread; with beer, wine, and cheese following. Processed foods have been with us for tens of thousands of years however, how could they be bad for us now? I think it is worth saying that I am not skeptical that processed foods are not healthy and should be largely avoided. My skepticism is whether or not eliminating foods like legumes, salt, and cereal grains will have a beneficial impact on our health, or even any effect!

I believe that there is one thing that the diet gets right: eliminating processed foods from our diet. It seems like a stretch to avoid legumes, since they are an excellent source of protein. I think the kind of diet that is healthy, factual, and sane would be a whole food diet that eliminates added sugars and processed foods and limits meat consumption. Basically, a Mediterranean diet that puts an emphasis on whole foods, cuts sweets, and lowers meats. After all a Mediterranean diet has perks like preventing heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. All of this is scientifically backed while the Paleo diet has close to no citations backing its claims.

So if we are going to focus on losing weight, or even improving our health, let’s not choose fad diets that burn our cash instead of our fat.