5 Common Paleo Misconceptions

When I explain paleo to people, I often get questions and assumptions on what people think they already know about the concept of paleo. It's understandable, since there are so many different sources of information that all tell different things. Below, 5 of the most common ones I´ve encountered:

1) Paleo is a diet to lose weight

The first part of why people think this, is simply because of the word diet. But a diet is merely a way of eating. We all have a diet, like whales have a plankton diet, lions a meat diet and cows a grass diet ;-)
The second part is because a large percentage of the people that start following the paleo lifestyle, actually lose weight. But most often this is caused by the big change from a standard Western diet or SAD to paleo.
The switch from processed to unprocessed foods often leads to a significant weight-loss.

2) Paleo is a diet based on meat


Most recipes you'll encounter revolve around bacon and other meats, but that is very misleading.
Looking back at our ancestors, they did eat meats, but only if they were lucky enough to catch one (and didn't get killed themselves in the process)
Most of the time, they fed themselves with anything they could find, nuts, insects, fruits, tubers, etc.
So no, paleo is not about wrapping everything in bacon, but eating a variety of unprocessed foods.

3) Paleo is a low carb diet

It often gets labeled as low carb, because cutting out the grains, potatoes and rice does cause a reduction in carbohydrates. But it's not intended as a low carb diet, by having sweet potato, tubers, fruits and veggies, you should be getting plenty of carbs.
Sometimes athletes will have a bit more trouble getting enough carbs in, they could then consider the gluten free carb sources like oats, rice & white potato.

4) As long as the ingredients are paleo, it's paleo

This especially goes for the 1000's of paleo-fied muffins, cakes, cookies, etc. Sure, it's nice to make a sweet treat every now and then, but recently it seems that paleo is only about baking sweet goods that look a lot like processed foods. A paleo muffin is in the end, still a muffin.

5) Paleo works for everybody

You will find tons of succes stories online, and it does work for a lot of people. But still it is not a one-size-fits-all diet. I know plenty of people that tried it and it wasn't simply for them. Personally, I'm not even 100% paleo. In the end, I took from paleo what worked and created my own template. Not calling it anything, not even 80/20 or whatever, it's just the way I personally eat.

However, if you do give it try, give yourself some reasonable time to get used to it. This is not within a week or perhaps even a month. In the beginning you might even feel worse than before, but this is simply because your system needs to adjust to the new lifestyle. Give it a fair chance, then apply what works best for you.