So I’m a little late on the uptake of this article, “The Prehistoric Diet Plan”, by Dr. Oz, but I can’t help but comment publicly.

In this completely misleading, egregiously off-putting article, he starts off with one of the piece’s only true sentences, “The cave people were ahead of their time when it came to maintaining a healthy diet, not to mention lean body mass.” By the way, I love how he ignorantly calls our prehistoric ancestors “cave people”, as if they ALL lived in caves, despite the fact that most of them did NOT. He then goes on to describe what his caveman diet looks like, which includes cannellini beans, soy pudding, and rice milk. It definitely does not advocate the fat on meat – dun dun dun… saturated fat – or meat itself, but you should eat all the “good” fats you want from nuts, avocados, blah blah blah. You’ll definitely want to eat your whole grains on Dr. Oz’s fantasy prehistoric diet, and you should only eat about 10% protein because that’s what our ancestors did. They ate a plant-based diet! This article is the biggest disservice any famous doctor with millions of fans and viewers could do to the Paleo/Primal community and their efforts.

What’s further confusing is that on his OWN website on another page, he describes the Paleo diet truthfully as the following: “The paleo diet focuses on lean meats and fish, fresh fruits and non-starchy vegetables. It eliminates dairy, grains and legumes because they didn’t appear on our menus until about 12,000 years ago. According to some clinical trials, the diet has indeed been shown to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and inflammation as well as reduce acne, improve athletic performance and help with weight loss.” But he then goes on to say that because it doesn’t include whole grains, you’ll have less of a chance of getting your anti-oxidants and fighting cancer and heart disease. I guess those uninformed beliefs are what led him to write his own, bastardized version of the “prehistoric diet”.

Forgive me my lashings, but he deserves them. We can’t believe everything we’re told on TV by some guy just because he’s a doctor. And the millions of fans he has are doing just that, and putting away their steak knives because he says so. I’m so disappointed. HOWEVER, it moves me to know that despite all this and other nonsense, the Paleo and Primal movements continue to proliferate. Our Paleo meal plan service continues to grow at a steady pace, and that gives me hope that more people every day are ignoring the likes of Dr. Oz.

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