On paleo diets, and why they miss the point

We use a lot of carefully selected paleo recipes in our cooking, but I get annoyed when people call our diet "paleo" because in my mind the current iterations of the paleo diet completely miss the point of how we should be eating.

The idea behind a paleo diet is that we should be eating as our very remote ancestors ate. Our caveman/woman/kid ancestors didn't suffer from modern ailments to the degree we do, so if we return to that way of eating we all ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after.

Don't get me wrong: a paleo diet is far better than the standard American diet. Most paleo diets minimize processed foods and carbs, and this is why I don't hate them completely. I really like true paleo/primal diets which eliminate sugar (which wasn't accessible to our ancestors in the quantities or forms we see it today), and minimize fruits and nuts (which were only available at certain times of the year, in small amounts). These diets also don't knock dairy, which can have a very good place in a healthy diet given its high fat and protein content.

However, in current paleo diets and cookbooks that seem to be all the rage, these foods are "OK":

1) honey

2) coconut sugar

3) dried fruit

4) copious amounts of nuts and nut butters

5) juice

6) dates, figs, bananas, grapes and other highly sugary fruits

7) flours based on nuts and coconuts

We don't allow #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 in our house. On occasion we allow #7 but only in smaller amounts (like for the delicious chicken nuggets). 

Why? You can put a wolf in sheep's clothing, but it's still a wolf. Maybe you feel better calling your added sugar "honey" and using coconut flour in your "paleo pancakes" or giving your kids grapes instead of fruit chews, but you're still putting a wolf in their lunchbox.

The real issue behind the sad state of our public health is how many carbs-that-quickly-turn-to-sugar we consume. Whether those carbs come from a bag of Cheetos or from "homemade paleo crackers" made with almond flour really doesn't matter at the end of the day, and that's what so many paleo fad diets seem to miss completely. I'm not knocking the paleo crackers; I've tried some and they're delicious. You just have to be aware when you're eating these paleo foods that metabolically they're not all that different from any other processed food.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably still a duck.