News
Top blogs
Podcast
Topics
EventsWhy the paleo movement is dying
in Paleo diets 
Check out this new Instagram post from Paleo f(x) – the largest Paleo conference.
Makes perfect sense right? Because we all know that cavemen used to drink artificially sweetened soda in the summer, while eating lollipops. So why not sell it?
It’s a perfect illustration of the decline of the Paleo movement. Once, many years ago, it was about a powerful revolution, about massively improving people’s health. Now it’s about selling chocolate bars. Or mayo. Or even soda.
Here’s what’s been happening to Google searches of “paleo” in the last few years:
Going down. Fast.
It’s sad, because getting back to an evolutionarily normal lifestyle is super important for the future health of humanity. But unfortunately “Paleo” is now turning into a joke, and the people at the head of the movement have only themselves to blame.
Maybe it can still be saved, but that would require some drastic action I believe. What do you think?
Top Paleo videos
- MEMBERS ONLY
![LCHF Paleo]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![The Paleo diet explained]()
- MEMBERS ONLY
![Can you reverse MS with a diet change?]()
PS
It’s precisely to try to avoid this decline that we at Diet Doctor have decided to never sell products, never post ads and never take industry money. We’re fully funded by the people, to keep our interests aligned.
LCHF is really hurting the sugar, fruit, grain, oil and medical industries. These groups will do everything they can to subvert the movement with false information and harmful products if they can't take it over with research money along with rewards and awards of celebrity.
Every time a movement comes along that will help people to improve their health the moneyed interests move in and take over. They redirect and neutralize the movement. When people became aware of the dangers of sugar the first time, artificial sweeteners were put on the market. As people got sicker, they put all sorts of medicines, vitamins, minerals and supplements on the market and then came all sorts of exercise equipment, gyms, fad diets, surgeries and other distractions to keep people from realizing the real causes of their problems.
You are empowering people to take charge of their own health and giving them the information they need to succeed. LCHF is so simple and it works.
Also, Paleo can be practiced in ways that aren't good. We know a couple who went on a "paleo" diet and had tons of sugar, as honey and other sugars are allowed by the paleo diet, in their coffee and had tons of "paleo" desserts. That does not help people who are insulin resistant (as these people were and are). These are fake foods that need to be avoided, particularly if you have any predisposition towards having cravings due to sweet foods.
Even the Atkins corporation went too corporate and produces too many fake foods. When I first tried a low carb diet, I had a lot of the Atkins bars and other "sweet" foods. That did not help. Now, I try to eat as pure and clean as possible, and avoid any desserts, sweet foods, and the like. I try to eat all "real foods" as much as I can, though I do eat prepared foods at times.
Compared to named and trademarked diets, the problem with generically named diets is that there is no central specification. Nothing, for example, would prevent Krispy Kreme from hawking a "paleo" donut that is just as unhealthy as their usual fare. "LCHF" has this authority problem too.
As another commenter has noted about Atkins, even the personally identified diets can run into trouble if the founder passes or they otherwise hand control over to someone else.
Arguably, the Pope of Paleo is Loren Cordain, but how many paleo followers know that? In any event. I've never seen a paleo diet that is completely satisfactory. Most of them let blood glucose get too high, and often remain in denial about allegedly natural sugars like honey and agave, that are just as destructive as HFCS.
As with a too-prominent "Gluten Free", anything pitched as "paleo" needs informed scrutiny. Getting oneself informed is much more important than which diet is initially chosen for health remediation.
In the specific case of Zevia, my family found it to be too sweet (they are apparently trying to match the sweetness of HFCS pops). It's presumably just as acidic and caffeinated as any pop, and the can liner expresses some BpA. Their FAQs are silent on the water used, and what the caramel color and natural flavors actually are. The whole product is at least certified non-GMO, gluten-free and vegan. It might be the most benign pop on the market, but there's nothing particularly paleo about it.
And the array of speakers at PaleoFx continue to be enlightening to those attending!
Paleo is also in denial regarding healthy
fat. Cordain might be coming
around on that though.
As a result, many of the people who are still about health are saying the same things they were saying five years ago*, but using different language (i.e. dropping the term Paleo). It has become a bit of a joke and it will start to show up less in searches, but many of the tenets (the main one being, eat real food) continue to gain momentum.
*not exactly the same things they said five years ago as the really good people are not dogmatic, they evolve as the science evolves
And, I agree that the paleofx decision to use zevia as a sponsor was ill-conceived.
1) People are living the Paleo 'diet' as a lifestyle, not a diet.
2) Most of the people I've seen who put Paleo content (recipes, research, etc.) out, do so without ads, and only with the best intention, not greed.
3) Most people already know what paleo is at this point, so why would the Google searches NOT go down?
4) I'm not positive, but I think I've had a Zevia. It was the first soda I'd had in over a year. It was a treat last summer, and IMO, it was great, and not so great. The flavor was sub-par, not great. The ingredients weren't perfect, but they're WAY better than an average soda, or even the gourmet sodas I've looked into.
5) I don't think paleofx (or whatever it is- never herd of em) should have teamed up' with zevia like they did.
6) I think the author of this article is full of bs, and downgrading a lifestyle that's healthy & beneficial for so many when the SAD & government guideline diets so so much harm, is idiotic. I'm not usually so harsh in my online statements, but, honestly, this article made me mad. I won't be returning to dietdoctor, which I'd never heard of before today either.
7) Paleo saved my life & have me back my fertility.
Why is it assumed that because a company tries to pander stevia sweetened beveraged to the paleo community that 'paleo' is 'going down'? Is the 'low carb movement' going down because Atkins co. has been pandering soybased 'atkins bars' to the LC community for decades?
Why is dietdoctor even interested in wether or not 'paleo' is on the rise or on the way down? Wouldn't it be far more productive for dietdoctor to concern itself with the shenanigans of Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Agra and Big State, all of whom only rub their hands in joy to see infighting among the Low Carbers and the Paleo?
This whole article smacks of a kindergarten mentality.
Grow the *bleep* up!
What I see is a very bad attitude "i'm the good guy, come to my website, I'll never sell out" "see those guys, they're the bad people, don't listen to them".
But at the serious, scientific level, the paleolithic diet is doing just fine, thank you.
http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n6/full/nutd201622a.html
If the word 'Paleo' takes a hit, so what? The meaning of words change all the time. Natural, organic, healthy diet, etc are all in flux depending on who is using the words.
I'm just enjoying that USDA finally said things like cholesterol is no longer a substance of concern; that major scientific journals are publishing more articles by low carb advocates; that staid Harvard has professors not staying on the low fat message; that more and more blogs about low carb, Paleo, regenerative agriculture exist.
Smallest number of negative side effects.
ZERO CALORIES
CLEAR IN COLOR
NO SUGAR
GLUTEN-FREE
NON-GMO PROJECT VERIFIED
NO ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
NO CARAMEL COLOR
KOSHER
VEGAN
C'mon people seriously? They didn't "CLAIM to be PALEO" Is the sky really falling? Or do you think perfection is Paleo? I think this post is rather ridiculous and makes me question following this blog any further. Quite frankly, Zevia is a good option for those who need to kick the habit of regular sugar-ridden sodas. It's posts like this and this ridiculous notion of perfection that is killing paleo because people think it's too restrictive not the addition of healthier choices of convenience foods like this! SMH
Did people sweeten their drinks with concentrated Stevia and erythritol powders in Paleolithic times?
Actually it seems to have peaked in Australia too, although a year later than in the US:
https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=paleo&geo=AU&cmpt=q...
Pete Evans seems like a great guy, I have no reason to believe he is part of the problem in any way.
Personally I'm a huge fan of the ideas behind the earlier Paleo movement. I was at the Ancestral Health Symposium in 2011 (and '12 and '13) and it was fantastic. And very important. That's why the deterioration into "anything that sells" saddens me. I think the widespread acceptance of that, even among the main spokespeople, can kill the movement.
Of course I do not believe the hostility towards low carb in some Paleo circles has helped either. The low carb component is probably the main reason Paleo diets work so well against obesity and metabolic disease. Take away that and it's simply not as effective anymore...
Do you know how difficult it is to be social and low carb here? It's easier in general, because we have a tradition of homecooking, and so we don't rely on ready made and 'convenience' food, but going out with friends is always a bit of a downer. Because I always end up drinking water the entire evening. I don't drink alcohol, I don't drink fruit juice, I don't drink fizzy drinks... Water it is, then, and boy! does it suck to be at a birthday party and refuse a slice of birthday cake because of the sugar and flour, and refuse the drinks because of the sugar and alcohol, and just stand there like sipping a glass of water... I might as well go dressed in black robes of doom and carry a placard with "The End is Nigh" on it, or a set of clappers and shouting "Leper! Leper!"
So I usually go for a diet coke, even though I know that they are loaded with aspartame and other junk.
Zevia sounds like a godsend to me! I wouldn't buy it to drink at home, but I would finally have something I could order at a bar!
I came to the LCHF lifestyle via paleo. I am a 69 year old woman and felt like an 80 year old one. My joints ached terribly, had developed tendinitis that I just could not make go away, and being overweight didn't help. By going Paleo, in no time did the pain go away. But I didn't lose a y weight. Going LCHF is giving results.
For people who can tolerate a higher carb level, paleo might suit them perfectly.
after all the research I have done so far, LCHF is a lifestyle that teaches me to determine the carb level that is optimal for me to initially lose the weight I need to lose and then to maintain it. And that, for me, is so empowering, as I now start to understand how the food we eat impacts our bodies.
Eat real low CHO healthy fat food!
https://vimeo.com/157022397
the environment and sustainability,
sleep quantity and quality,
movement and physical activity (rather than just fitness),
stress management,
circadian rhythms,
light exposure,
social interaction, managing toxic burden and every else that is now far more a part of our vernacular than it once was.
The discussions around a lot of the good that we do in the movement has become more mainstream.
There is arguably far more to health than food and I am certain that this is reflected as a composite as the 'Paleo' term incorporates so many other areas (whether that search term is used or not) with growth in slow, natural, organic and other health movements.
So you are saying you would rather people stick with Coke, Pepsi and Mountain Dew? Do you have any idea the number of people that are addicted to these sugary drinks and how difficult it is to stop drinking them? Zevia is a much healthier choice, you cannot deny that.
Here is an excerpt from an article:
The health hazards of drinking sugar sweetened beverages like sodas and sugary fruit drinks is no secret. In fact, a Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity study found that a majority of Americans understand that soda is bad for them. But despite this, a Gallup poll reveals that 48 percent of surveyed Americans — nearly half! — drink soda on a daily basis. What’s more, among those who drank soda, the average daily intake was 2.6 glasses per day.
So do you honestly believe that people are just going to get off the soda, cold turkey? Really a naive belief, if you do. They will need something in lieu of the soda to be able to come off of it. Zevia is a much healthier choice. To deny that or the need for healthier choices, is negligent as a health practitioner.
Veganism is the seed planted by paleo.