Whether or not you’ve got your finger on the pulse of fad diets, chances are you’ve at least heard of the Paleo Diet. You may know it as the Caveman Diet, the Stone Age Diet, or the Hunter-Gatherer Diet, but no matter the branding, the concept is fairly simple: eat only the foods available to our cavemen ancestors (i.e. what you can hunt and gather) and you’ll lose weight, feel great, and come out a new and improved hottie. Or so the buzz goes, anyway.
But how does the diet stack up for collegiettes? It’s no secret that healthy eating and dieting are challenging in college. We have limited space and resources with which to cook our own food and are faced with temptations around every corner (free candy at club meetings, anyone?). But with more and more college women searching for a way to keep healthy and avoid the Freshman 15, Paleo might have a few good lessons to offer. We’re here to help you break the diet down and help you decide if it’s right for you.
How do you eat like a cave(wo)man?
Lucky for collegiettes who don’t have time to decode a complicated diet on top of their already busy lives, the Paleo Diet is pretty straightforward, with a clear line drawn between what you can and can’t put in your mouth.
Vegetarians and vegans, take note: this diet isn’t for you. Meat is an important part of the diet, and soy and bean products are eliminated. If eating meat isn’t a problem for you, check out the rest of the approved and banned items below.
You can eat:
- Grass-produced meats (that means grass-fed)
- Fish/seafood
- Fresh fruits and veggies
- Eggs
- Nuts and seeds
- Healthful oils (like olive, walnut, flaxseed, macadamia, avocado, and coconut oils)
You can’t eat:
- Cereal grains
- Legumes (beans, lentils, peas, and peanuts)
- Dairy
- Refined sugar
- Potatoes
- Processed foods
- Salt
- Refined vegetable oils
The lists seem simple, so what’s the big deal? According to the official Paleo Diet Website, this combination of yea-and-nay ingredients leads to a diet with more protein, fiber, and potassium, as well as more important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and less carbohydrates and sodium.
It’s a mouthful, but according to registered dietitian Mary Hartley, it could add up to the healthy changes that some collegiettes are looking for.
“Eliminating processed foods, sugar, all grains, and dairy will most likely lead to weight loss,” she says. “Paleo supporters say that clinical trials have shown the diet can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, and markers of inflammation.”
Is it sustainable?
All it takes is a bit of perusing through the ‘Paleo’ tag on Tumblr or a quick search on Pinterest to see that going Paleo is getting popular with collegiettes. Sure, some of these collegiettes might quit not long after their first excited “Decided to go Paleo!” posts, but some who have stuck it out reported success on the diet.
“After two weeks I saw pretty significant results,” says Seren Karasu, a recent New York University grad who went Paleo for two months near the end of her senior year before transitioning to a broader clean eating plan. “I lost inches from my waist, thighs, and arms. My clothes fit better and I stopped feeling so tired. Overall, it was a really positive experience, both mentally and physically.”
These kinds of results appear to be common for those who follow the diet – without cheating – by virtue of making us aware of what we’re putting into our bodies and making healthy eating something our body craves. Any veteran dieters probably know the feeling: once you start eating healthy, more healthy cravings follow. So, if you’re looking for a way to cleanse your system of dorm food and late night munchies, Paleo might be the way to go.
Even with the health benefits, though, going Paleo isn’t always easy for the average college student, especially for those who live on campus and can’t cook for themselves. More importantly, it’s more difficult to follow the diet in a healthy manner without losing valuable nutrients. Hartley suggests collegiettes keep daily food records and analyze them using a free online nutrition program like Calorie Count, SparkPeople, or MyPlate to look for any nutrient deficits to correct.
“It can be [safe], but the Paleo Diet requires careful planning and supplementation with calcium and vitamin D to make up for the lack of dairy products,” she says.
As for reintroducing the Paleo-banned items into your diet after you achieve your desired weight loss? You’ll have to be careful. According to Hartley, restrictive diets like Paleo tend to lead to binge eating after the diet phase is over, which could lead to gaining back the weight you lose.
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So, what’s the verdict? Should I try it?
As with every diet, it comes down to personal preference. Once you determine which diets are safe and unsafe—and Paleo can be safe, with the proper preparation and implementation— it’s up to you to decide what’s going to work for you and your lifestyle and what isn’t.
However, Hartley says that the results that may come from Paleo are more from cutting out processed foods and sugars than from the other heavy restrictions. In her opinion, collegiettes don’t need to cut out grains, which have valuable vitamins and nutrients and are what she calls “the basis of all the diets in the world.” Once you cut them out, she says, you have to start being careful.
Her advice? Don’t take the diet word-for-word.
“It’s much ado about nothing,” she says. “You’re spending a lot of time flipping through a book instead of solving real problems… You should take away parts of it that make sense—less processed food that comes in a package and less sugar.”
Still unsure about going Paleo? Ask yourself the following questions:
- Can you cook for yourself without burning down the kitchen, or do you want an excuse to learn to cook?
- Alternatively, do you have access to a fairly customizable dining hall?
- Do you have the money and time to buy fresh produce and grass-fed meat products regularly?
- Do you think you can give up processed food—all processed food—for a long duration of time?
- Do you have the dedication to keep a detailed record of what you consume so you can make sure you’re getting all the right vitamins and nutrients?
- Do you have willpower of steel?
- Do you have a secret, untapped desire to channel our cavemen ancestors?
If you answered yes to most of those questions above, it might be worth giving Paleo a shot. But even if you have doubts about going full Paleo, there’s no denying that some healthy lessons can be learned from a diet built around plain and simple clean eating.
“I think there are ways to incorporate Paleo principles into your diet and still feel good if you can’t accommodate all of the restrictions of being 100% Paleo,” says Seren. “Especially as a student.”