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Beyond Paleo: Moving from a “Paleo Diet” to a “Paleo Template”

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These dairy products may not fit in a strict Paleo diet—but there’s room for them in a Paleo template.
Dairy foods may not fit in a strict Paleo diet—but there’s room for them in a Paleo template. iStock/bit245

Over the last couple of years, as the popularity of the Paleo diet has expanded, a lot of controversy has emerged over exactly what a Paleo diet is.

Part of the problem is that there are now a number of authors and bloggersfrom Mark Sisson to Kurt Harris to Robb Wolf to Paul Jaminet to myselfthat advocate what might generally be called a Paleo diet, but with slight variations in each case. This has unfortunately led to some confusion for people new to the Paleo diet.

It has also spawned new terminology in an effort by each author/blogger to clarify the differences in their approach, such as Mark Sissons Primal diet, Paul Jaminets “Perfect Health Diet,and Kurt Harris’ former PaNu or Paleo 2.0 and current Archevore concepts.

So whats the controversy or confusion all about? It usually revolves around the following questions:

  • Is the Paleo diet low-carb or low-fat? Is saturated fat permitted? If so, how much?
  • How much protein should someone eat on a Paleo diet?
  • Does the Paleo diet include dairy productsor not? Which kinds of dairy?
  • Are any grains at all permitted?

In the early days, following Loren Cordain’s book, The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat, the Paleo diet was considered to be moderate in carbohydrate and low in saturated fat (though monounsaturated fat wasn’t restricted).

Then, as low-carb diets rose in popularity and many low-carbers switched over to Paleo, it seemed that the lines between low-carb and Paleo began to blur. For these folks, the Paleo diet is high in fatespecially saturated fatand low in carbohydrates, with a moderate amount of protein.

More recently, some authors/bloggers have advocated a diet based roughly on Paleo principles but that also may include dairy products and even certain grains like white rice and buckwheat, depending on individual tolerance. Still others have suggested that a high carb, lower fat dietprovided the carbs come from starchy vegetables and not grainsmay be optimal.

So what is a Paleo diet? Is it low-carb? Low-fat? Does it include dairy? Grains?

Were Not Robots: Variation Amongst Groups and Individuals

The answer to that question depends on several factors. First, are we asking what our Paleolithic ancestors ate, or are we asking what an optimal diet for modern humans is? While hard-core Paleo adherents will argue that theres no difference, others (including me) would suggest that the absence of a food during the Paleolithic era does not necessarily mean that its not nutritious or beneficial. Dairy products are a good example.

Second, as recent studies have revealed, we cant really know what our ancestors ate with 100 percent certainty, and there is undoubtedly a huge variation amongst different populations. For example, we have the traditional Inuit and the Masai who ate a diet high in fat (60 to 70 percent of calories for the Masai and up to 90% of calories for the Inuit), but we also have traditional peoples like the Okinawans and Kitavans that obtained a majority (60 to 70 percent or more) of their calories from carbohydrate. So it’s impossible to say that the diet of our ancestors was either “low-carb” or “low-fat,” without specifying which ancestors we’re talking about.

Third, if we are indeed asking what the optimal diet is for modern humans (rather than simply speculating about what our Paleolithic ancestors ate), there’s no way to answer that question definitively. Why? Because just as there is tremendous variation amongst populations with diet, there is also tremendous individual variation. Some people clearly do better with no dairy products. Yet others seem to thrive on them. Some feel better with a low-carb approach, while others feel better eating more carbohydrate. Some seem to require a higher protein intake (up to 20 to 25 percent of calories), but others do well when they eat a smaller amount (10 to 15 percent) while still others need a diet for diverticulitis.

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The Paleo Diet vs. the Paleo Template

I suggest we stop trying to define the “Paleo diet” and start thinking about it instead as a “Paleo template.”

What’s the difference? A Paleo diet implies a particular approach with clearly defined parameters that all people should follow. There’s little room for individual variation or experimentation.

A Paleo template implies a more flexible and individualized approach. A template contains a basic format or set of ancestral health general guidelines that can then be customized based on the unique needs and experience of each person.

But here’s the key difference between a Paleo diet and a Paleo template: following a diet doesn’t encourage the participant to think, experiment or consider his or her specific circumstances, while following a template does.

The only way to figure out what an optimal diet is for you is to experiment and observe. The best way to do that is to remove the “grey-area” foods you suspect you might have trouble with, like dairy, nightshades, eggs, etc. for a period of time (usually 30 days is sufficient), and add them back in one at a time and observe your reactions. This “30-day challenge” or elimination diet is what folks like Robb Wolf have recommended for a long time.

As human beings we’re both similar and different. We share the same basic physiology, which is why a Paleo template makes sense. There are certain foods that, because of their chemical structure, adversely affect all of us regardless of our individual differences.

On the other hand, each of us is unique. We grew up in different families, with different dietary habits, life experiences, exposures to environmental toxins and lifestyles. Many of our genes are the same, but some are different and the way those genes have been triggered or expressed can also differ.

For someone with an autoimmune disease, dairy products, nightshades and eggs may be problematic. Yet for others, these foods are often well-tolerated. This variation merely underscores the importance of discovering your own optimal diet rather than blindly following someone else’s prescription.

I think it’s a complete waste of time and energy to argue about what a Paleo diet is, because the question is essentially unanswerable. The more important question is, what is your optimal diet?

Finding Your Own Optimal Version of the Paleo Diet

In my book, The Paleo Cure, I provide a simple—yet powerful—three-step approach for helping you to discover your own ideal version of the Paleo diet. Click here to learn more about it and pick up a copy.

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177 Comments

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  1. The question is methodology. You might chose to believe or not to believe in the “Paleo mythology” but in the end everyone relies of some paper or study. I mean poor Kitavasn never had a chance to make any coin from all the references.

    The troubling point is that we are so bad in decoding our own reactions and are cursed with always relying on some outside authority. And that method is less than perfect and always involves some motif of the author.

  2. I think you’re somewhat missing the point. Not every paleo culture was as healthy as the others, and there’s crearly evidence that there’s things we are more adapted to than others. It’s ok to think for oneself, but that can’t just go against sound evidece. What Don MAtez has shown about humans eating a high carb lo fat diet for most of their evolution (africa) is compelling, and so is his other evidence. Why don’t you adress that instead of giving vague responses like “just think for yourself”?

    • What do I need to address? I have never claimed that the Paleo diet is low-carb, so I don’t feel obligated to defend that position. What the evidence clearly suggests is that humans are adapted to eat a wide range of macronutrient ratios when they are healthy with intact metabolic function. The reason Don’s argument is wrong is that he’s now trying to convince everyone that a low-fat diet is optimal (because that’s what he’s doing and having success with), when just a few months ago he was writing about why a low-carb diet is optimal. There is no “optimal” macronutrient ratio for everyone. Don can of course find examples that support his point of view, but I can find just as many that do not. That only proves my point.

      • I can get what you’re saying, but if truly for most of our time as homo sapiens sapiens we ate a diet that was low in fat, high to moderate in polyunsaturated fat and high in unrefined carboydrates, such evidence is ought to turn some things upside down. Unless, of course, you think it really doesn’t matter and the sparse evidence of some select groups with complex practices (eskimo eating head (thyroid, vitamins; masai eating bitter herbs, etc.) is enough to counter all the weight of such evidence, and all what Don has shown in these last weeks. I can totally get the idea of us being adaptable, but in that same light, you’re are bashing some things (PUFAs, high carb for most people, or for the “metabolically ill”) for which there’s ample evidence (again, from Don and others he has shown) that we equally or even more adapted to than the foods you promote. I personally was a supposed carbohydrate intolerant, per glucometer measurements, but after a month of high carb eating, my readings are much more closer to normal. I wonder if, even if saying ” I have never claimed that the Paleo diet is low-carb”, you are placing fear of whole foods based on your own theories in people who really doesn’t need to avoid it, or could even benefit from it. When you talk about people eating a “moderate carb diet” of 150 to 200 grams of carbs, I can’t help but think that’s low-carb, compared to what most of the world does.

  3. “You’ll always have the zealots who insist YOU MUST EAT THIS WAY, and they probably need that structure (and they probably have the scars to prove it). But I suspect for most people a moderate, sensible approach is the best.”

    The zealots came out of the woodwork when I started documenting my own 30 day paleo trial on my website:

    http://www.my-healthy-eating-secrets.com/paleo-diet.html

    About 10 days into the experiment, I realized that the high fat approach was never going to lead to optimal health for me personally, and I began a new approach: make the diet work for me, not the other way around (an approach that is summarized beautifully in this article).

    For me, this means not restricting fruit to little side dishes or snacks and instead using it as a generous foundation of the diet, in place of the excessive amounts of fat that others were insisting was “the only way to do paleo.”

    Well, boy oh boy. The hard core low carb believers did not like this, and they let me know, over and over, that my unique template was “not paleo,” even though there is an incredible amount of overlap in our approaches: both grain free, dairy free, legume free, processed food free, junk food free, vegetable oil free, refined sugar free, bread & pasta free diets based around pasture-raised animal products, fruits and vegetables.

    A reader tipped me off to this article and I am thrilled to see it. Thank you for joining the chorus of reason: one rigid dietary structure does not fit all, folks. Make the diet work for you, not the other way around.

    • The British Food Safety Authority is now a privatised organisation and I suspect the NHS isn’t as impartial as we would hope either.

      • The British Food Safety Authority is actually called the Food Standards Agency and is not a privatised organisation.

        From the website http://www.food.gov.uk/about us:
        “The Food Standards Agency is an independent Government department set up by an Act of Parliament in 2000 to protect the public’s health and consumer interests in relation to food”

        I’d also say on this subject, the NHS, which is the system of delivery for UK government health policy, is impartial, as the link that Paul Phill posted demonstrates.

        I find the made up facts to suit an opinion or to reaffirm a misguided point of view really do cloud the conversation over all of these matters – and it’s incredibly frustrating.

  4. I believe that Stefansson said somewhere that pastoralism pre-dated agriculture by quite a long way.
    Not millions of years, but quite a few thousands of years.

    So at least some of our ancestors might have had access to milk and milk products, and perhaps eggs, for a lot longer than we might otherwise have thought.

    (Sorry, I can’t give you a reference, although it might be his famous work Not by Bread Alone).

  5. Hi Chris,

    In the blog post introduction you mention “…and Kurt Harris’ former “PaNu or Paleo 2.0″ and current “Archevore” concepts.”

    My understanding is that “Paleo 2.0” is synonymous with what you’re calling the “paleo template” and that “Archevore” is Dr. Harris’ particular version of a Paleo 2.0/Paleo Template type diet.

    Thanks as always for your blogs and podcasts!

    • Yes, Kurt and I are in almost complete agreement on what constitutes a Paleo template.

  6. Thank you! This is a great article and you articulate exactly how I feel about paleo/template/ and room for experimentation. I think so many of the principals behind paleo are brilliant, and after following it for most of this year I have successfully eliminated migraines from my life after a 14 year battle. I too have found my balance, and I still enjoy a little milk in some teas and a little cheese here and there. I won’t ever go back to gluten however as the difference having eliminated it entirely, condiments included is totally worth it. One size does not fit all, but your basic guidelines for healthy eating and living are exactly aligned to mine. Thank you for the post.

  7. Peter, your comment made me chuckle. Do you work for the tobacco industry? Think I’ll pass on seeing how smoking makes me feel, but I do get your point. And Ben, I agree mostly with what you say, but how are we orthorexics supposed to have any fun if we get philosophical? What will we do if we actually get it figured out? I will admit to being only a little bit orthorexic. You know, like being a little bit pregnant. And yes, probably most of us need an extreme event to teach us how to pay attention to the subtleties, which is where a lot of us seem to be now and what Chris is encouraging, I think, but not to the extreme. It’s tricky. Too much attention = orthrexia, not enough = continued problems.

    Thanks, smgj, I did not know about the differences in lactose in the dairy products.

    • I’m only able to find the information in norwegian – you may try a google translate
      http://bramat.no/kosthold/matvarer/38-laktose-i-meieriprodukter

      Grams lactose per 100grams produce:
      lactose reduced milk < 0,2 (norwegian standard)
      butter 0,6 (ghee has less)
      cottage cheese ~1.5
      fresh cheese 0 – 3.0
      mature cheese 0 – 4.0 (more mature, less lactose)
      full fat cream/sour (full fat) cream ~3 (up to 4.5 for low fat products)
      drinking milk 4 – 5 (no difference between full fat or skimmed, a bit less for sour milk as kefir)
      youghurt 5 – 7

      The norwegian producer states that most lactose intolerants may tolerate 2-7 grams of lactose in a meal. I, personally, don't tink its wise to push it.

      • Dunno if you guys have it but evaporated milk is meant to be free of lactose. The brand here is Carnation.and it is under the Nestle mantle. It’s popular in Australasia and I guess predates the UHT technology. Of course it is very much a processed food and has 60% of the water content removed along with most of the goodness. I bought it when I’d bought into the mainstream BS about coconut milk/saturated fat. Now I buy coconut oil by the 4L bucket and enjoy the medium chain fatty acids.

  8. You could say the same about smoking. Different people have different health consequences, see for yourself, pay attention to how smoking makes you feel. I think the problem is more that we don’t have long term studies yet, so we just have to guess. Is Ron Krausse right that there are two dietary pathways to heart disease, overdoing carbs and overdoing saturated fat? I wish I knew.

    • Hi Peter.
      Not true about Krauss being down on saturated fat. Quite the opposite – this is from Dr. Mike Eades blog from a post called “Saturated Fat and Heart Disease: Studies Old and New”:

      “In 2009 Ron Krauss came out with a meta-analysis (called Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease) showing no correlation between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease risk. And getting it published in 2009 in the AJCN, probably the world’s most prestigious nutritional journal, no less.”

      From Krauss’s paper itself:

      “Conclusions: A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat.”

      Read p. 172 of Taubes’ GCBC on Krauss’s prior research on lipids and why LDL is itself only a marginal predictor of heart attack risk (that’s because apo B and VLDL are the predictors within LDL – so it doesn’t matter what your LDL is; it matters what your apoB and VLDL markers are).

  9. Exactly. I always thought of nutrition as individually based following the idea that you can use Paleo as the template for better eating but tweaking it to suit your needs. Find the foods that work for you and build a WOE around them.

    I also routinely self experiment with food(try new or temporarily eliminate) to gauge how the body responds, throw in some IFing and, of course, exercise.At the end of the day it is all about feeling good and being healthy.

  10. I really appreciate the voice of individuality entering this debate. I believe that the notion that one diet should fit all people is just as silly as one-size t-shirts. But I also strongly believe that all the processed food (read refined oils, crackers, sauces etc) and additives are pure evil and that we should aim for real food at least 90% of the meals. Dairy and perhaps also grains are more of an individual issue, and also the tolerance for carbs/fruits.

    An elimination diet + candida diet and desiccated thyroid hormones have been my personal saviors. I’ve lost all my hypo weight and a bit more – a total of 13kg (28.5lbs) and feel fine. I’m now 37 and back to my high school body weight and terribly proud of it. 
    For the time being I lay off most processed food and all flour and refined sugar. I do try to limit omega-6 and increase omega-3 – perhaps a better ratio may help dampen my thyroid antibodies. So I’d call my diet paelo inspired. I neither limit nor pursue high fat, but I limit carbs by not eating any flour or sugar. I indulge in some fruits & berries and a little potato/rice for one of the daily meals.
    During this process I’ve discovered that I don’t tolerate beans or quinoa in any significant amounts. When I tried to cheat with sugar-free chocolate my stomach made an uproar against the manitol.

    Cathryn – I get terrible spots and increased zits when eating too much dairy. Butter, cream and cheese in limited amounts (they are naturally low in lactose) are tolerated by my stomach, but will – if eaten for each meal cause spots after 2-3 days. And if I then keep up eating (too much) dairy I’ll get severe diarrhea which it will take me 2-3 days to bring back under control. So I just eat butter regularly and cheese from time to time, but not daily.

    • Where do you get your thyroid? Mine is hypo from post-parfumerie thyroiditis many years ago that was not diagnosed until 4 years later. I think it seems to be better since starting Paleo, and I would love to get away from synthesis altogether at some point. And with regards to zits- I did Accutane a year ago for moderate cystic acne that I had fought for years, which undoubtedly damaged organs, etc, but did make a remarkable difference in the severity of my cysts. However, I now have dermatitis that seems worse when I eat corn tortilla chips (chips and salsa are a particular weakness of mine). Hormones or allergy? Maybe a bit of both.

  11. Chris, Hello from Australia. A very sensible and well written post. I was introduced to the Paleo “solution” via Robb Wolf, where even he says dairy, rice and corn are OK if you can tolerate them. Your guest spot on his podcast led me to be a subscriber to yours and, consequently, to those of some of your guests. I am now benefiting from a more rounded “education” into nutrition and health. You and others have stated what I try to explain to people about the paleo way of eating – it is more a philosophy than an attempt at reconstructing or emulating the diet of the paleolithic period exactly. Thank-you and keep up the great work.

  12. Thanks for spelling things out in simplified ways Chris. It all boils down to awareness, and whatever ‘paleo’ comes to stand for must not be usurped by a minority battling over the Internet as to whether or not we are optimized with or without dairy, rice, high fat etc etc.
    The template you suggest can be thought of as a framework for taking charge of not only our food choices, but the very way our health is influenced by our surrounds and the way we allow concepts and science to propogate certain universals that are very much that: general ideas that suit certain people under certain conditions, but are NOT intended to be applied without personal appraisal, seasonal experimentation etc

  13. Great article. I’ve had much success using the paleo diet with my Personal Training clients and “Experiment and Observe” is exactly right!

  14. Fantastic post. This is the most rational, sane, and comprehensive article on paleo eating I have seen yet. Thank you!

  15. After struggling for decades to achieve gut health, eight years ago a naturopath suggested an elimination diet for me based on blood tests that indicated sensitivities to a number of foods. What? No more pasta and bread? And all this fat and meat? But I did it and had such tremendous improvement in less than a week that I stuck with it and the pounds melted off with my normal exercise routine. I wasn’t concerned about weight loss, just wanted to not have a stomach ache and headache nearly every day. I have found that I like being 20+ lbs. lighter. I used Sally Fallon’s, Nourishing Traditions as my guide. I did not know I was on a “paleo” diet until I ran across Robb Wolf’s website a few months ago. I had started last Feb. eating some foods that I had not eaten in years, like oatmeal and yogurt (although I had used butter and heavy cream nearly every day with no problem), kale and cabbage. I was also taking some probiotics and continue to take one every day which I think has helped tremendously and made me brave about adding back some foods that posed problems before. I felt great eating all the new foods, everything seemed to improve, except my skin. I started getting some huge zits and my skin did not feel good. I have a tendency toward rosacea but it had been under control. Reluctantly, I gave up the oatmeal. No skin improvement. Next goodbye yogurt. Still no improvement. I figured they were the most likely culprits. I tried some other things for skin like extra Vit A for 3 weeks, Milk Thistle. Didn’t help. Then I decided to go on the 30 day elimination diet (as per Robb Wolf), which is quite strict for me because I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. I also started taking some evening primrose oil with 50 mg of GLA, one daily. I’m on day 9 of the diet and my skin is lots better, a very noticeable improvement. I take a medication that controls the RA very well, but it is toxic so I thought I’d be crazy not to at least try the diet, to see if it improves the minor symptoms I have. Also to see if something I was eating was the zit culprit or if the GLA fixed that problem.

    I need to fess up about one thing. I’ve been eating chocolate every day for 3 weeks straight. I had not had any in EIGHT YEARS and never was a chocoholic. I eat only 90% and 99% and nibs, not too much. I eat no other forms of fructose except a small amount of fruit and whatever is in vegetables. The dark cacao does not seem to affect me adversely at all, quite the contrary, and had nothing to do with the zits since they started way before that. I know this is probably not part of a 30 day elimination, but I’ll take that chance unless Chris gives me a really good reason not to eat it. I am 5’3″ and weigh 105 lbs., very lean and well-muscled. I’m 60 yrs.old, if that means anything to anyone.

    It does take effort to figure out one’s own particular balance and will-power to not tell everyone they should do it your way. I have a neighbor who is 98 yrs. old, pretty sharp, mentally and gets around quite well. Lives alone, cooks for herself. She eats a lot of soy and not much meat. Thinks dairy is bad. Follows the blood type diet because she thinks that’s what our soldiers do and I cannot convince her otherwise. I have to laugh at myself when I continue to try. I guess we’d all have to concede that what she’s doing is working, including the daily glop of yogurt seeds and nuts and prunes! Of course they gotta have their prunes!

    • I personally always struggled with acne, and it disappeared almost immediately when I started supplementing my diet with grass fed butter and fermented cod liver oil a couple times a day. However, it did start to creep back in eventually and I personally did identify the culprit to be chocolate. I eliminated the chocolate and my acne cleared up immediately and my skin has been beautiful ever since. I wouldn’t give chocolate a free pass because it didn’t seem to cause it in the first place, my guess would be that it is the culprit and is at least deserving of being a suspect and excluded in the beginning of an elimination diet.

      • You could be right, Jeff, but it’s puzzling that the acne started almost a year before I had any chocolate (which I only started having a little over 3 weeks ago after nearly a decade) and my skin actually improved while eating it every day. As I said above, it could be better because of something I eliminated or from something I added, specifically the GLA in the form of Primrose oil. Maybe it was actually the chocolate that made it better – wouldn’t that be heaven! I did not have chocolate today (a challenge) and I plan to have it less frequently and in very small amounts, not because I think it causes skin problems (I don’t), but because it I think it might be better not to eat any food too frequently.

        Congratulations on your beautiful skin!

  16. Great post! I Think the paleo diet has taken on a life of it’s own and become somewhat of a fad. Just as people previously followed atkins or southbeach they are mindlessly following paleo. I agree that a template is a better approach. Food is very personal and should be eaten based on our individual and unique needs which constantly vary. Observation is key.

    Thanks for spreading the word!

  17. Very insightful and reasonable Chris! I hope this current “controversy” makes the paleo community stronger instead of tearing it apart…

    Ultimately very little is known about optimal human nutrition, and the only thing we can say conclusively is that we lack sufficient evidence to form concrete scientific guidelines a la “the food pyramid.” I think the paleo community would be better off trying to agree on what we don’t know, and then continue to work together to find new ideas and information. I think this line of thinking and collaboration has great potential to eventually yield a new revolution in human health but it’s not ready to do so yet.

    Ultimately the “paleo” or “evolutionary medicine” concept is nothing more than an epidemiological correlation… one which needs more research to rigorously establish and understand the relationship between disease and specific foods.

    Instead of arguing our different hypotheses, let’s work to test them. This is why my current efforts towards furthering the “paleo” movement center around working towards a PhD in bioengineering.

  18. Brilliant, Chris!

    This very much reminds me of Richard Nikoley’s post where he mentions that you should have your body keep guessing (I think he got it from Art de Vany?). Until recently, I was slightly “carbophobic”, but have just started to re-introduce starches and I’ll see how it goes, but I have a feeling they’re here to stay – especially PWO.

    Again, great post!