So... Another Diet Thing... Whats Going On?

Well, the "Paleo" diet is not really a new thing though ti is gaining a lot of attention lately, both good and bad. I have been doing paleo for a little while ago, but have found a lot of big holes in it both logically and even somewhat health wise so I wanted to come up with a new idea for a smarter, more liveable, and more true to period diet plan that worked for me, and maybe even for you too. I would like to preface this with the fact that I am not a nutritionist or a physician, but I have done a lot of research and do understand the basics of what we need as humans to survive.

So first of all... what is Paleo?
From everything I have read I would surmise that a Paleo diet is a modern day guess at what our prehistoric or "Paleolithic" ancestors would have eaten.

So the overarching plot here is it’s a mix of what someone figured a prehistoric hunter/gather society would have eaten should the resources have been available. It is all or mostly organic/as close to organic as possible and usually has minimal preparation. The diet is free of grains, dairy (sometimes), processed sugars, legumes, and white potatoes.

For the most part I understand. The lack of processed sugars and processed modern grains makes sense to me, but potatoes, dairy, and legumes were all available to Paleolithic people depending on where they were and the season, so I don’t really understand the limitations there other than the fact that those things are not necessarily healthy or helpful in your diet.

Legumes seem to cause a lot of controversy in the Paleo community, which is understandable. They are a good source of a few types of protein, are abundant, and have many different vitamins and antioxidant qualities. However beans also can be high in pesticides and heavy metals. Fun fact, farmers plant soybeans to remove heavy metals and pollutants from the soil… and soy is in EVERYTHING lately… so I get that… but the lack of beans and legumes makes it nearly impossible for Paleo to be a vegetarian friendly diet….

My Idea for a Prehistoric Farming Style Diet (PFD)

Not long after the reign of a nomadic Paleolithic population of people (a few thousand years really), people started to settle and farm. There were still a lot of different aspects of hunting and gathering present, but the cultivation of different plants and animals greatly decreased the amount of malnutrition and increased the stability of the population’s diets. There is also considerably more evidence for what these populations ate than that of the “Paleolithic” populations which makes the prehistoric farming diet a little easier to follow… at least to me.

The PFD guidelines:

The prehistoric farming diet is still gluten and dairy free (unless of course you live somewhere that they allow raw milk and milk products, but I will get to that later). It does however allow the ancient grains and many legumes. It is also still free of processed sugars and starches. Like paleo, the idea is simple, fresh, organic ingredients, preferable in season, prepared with minimal effort/cooking. It also stresses a lot more on fish. Most societies set up by the water so that they would have the resource for their farms as well as it is an easier and steadier source of food than hunting in the wild. Early farming and animal domestication of poultry and meat animals (cows/goats/pigs) occurred as well so those foods are also encouraged, but more in moderation. Right now I eat one portion of meat per day. The rest of my protein is made of fish and nuts/legumes.

I feel like the PFD is a stronger and more balanced diet than its Paleo cousin. It makes more sense and has an easier to follow guideline while still reaping the benefits of using simple, in season, and fresh ingredients to make delicious meals.