Aside from her major acting achievements Gwyneth Paltrow has become known for her careful detail to diet. Over the years she has worked hard to stay fit an healthy, carefully following diets from macrobiotic plant-based ones to eating foods from the popular Mediterranean diet.
Over recent years she and her husband Brad Falchuk have followed a paleo diet. This is a low-carb plan which avoids foods like bread and pasta and instead relies on meat and seafood along with fruit and vegetables.
Other stars have also reportedly embraced the plan including Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Blake Lively. But now Paltrow says she's changing what she is eating and has reintroduced carbs into her diet.
Speaking on her wellness and lifestyle brand Goop podcast the actress who won an Academy Award in the 1990s for period drama Shakespeare In Love, said she was "a little bit sick" of following the plan. She added: “I’m getting back into eating sourdough bread, and some cheese – there, I said it. A little pasta after being strict with it for so long.
“But again I think it’s a good template, right? Eating foods that are as whole and fresh as possible. I don’t think there is any doctor or nutritionist that would refute that, it’s a good starting point.”
So what is the paleo diet, how did it get its name and what is it supposed to achieve. Patient explains everything you need to know about the food plan.
What is The Paleo Diet?
The Paleolithic diet is also known as 'The Paleo Diet®', the 'Caveman diet', the 'Stone Age diet' and the 'Hunter-gatherer diet'. It follows the belief that humans should eat unprocessed, natural, fresh foods as our hunter-gatherer ancestors alive during the Paleolithic era would have done. This era began 2.5 million years ago and ended 10,000 years ago.
It features foods that need to be 'hunted' or fished, such as meat and seafood, and those that can be 'gathered' such as fruits and vegetables. It does not include any foods that were not available to humans at that time and some that were available but that do not meet the nutritional characteristics of the diet.
What supporters say
Fans of the diet believe that such foods are better for us because this is what our body has been genetically adapted to eat. They say that the human body has not kept up with the advances in agriculture and food manufacturing processes meaning the body is not adapted well to coping with the modern human diet rich in dairy products, processed foods and grains.
They believe the diet gives beneficial health effects and there is some scientific evidence to support this. Patient says: "Studies have found that in some cultures - such as Aboriginal Australians - the incidence of obesity, diabetes and heart disease only increased when processed foods were introduced to their diet."
Other research suggested that risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease reduced on a Paleolithic diet. However those behind the study said more work was needed in this area.
Paleo Diet foods
There are seven fundamental characteristics that make up The Paleo Diet®:
It has a high protein content - such as meat, meat products and seafood
It is low in carbohydrates and those that are allowed have a low glycaemic index. Patient explains: "Non-starchy fresh fruits and vegetables make up the main carbohydrate source, providing between 35-45% of daily calorie intake. These foods have a low glycaemic index. This means that when eaten, they are digested and taken up (absorbed) more slowly by the body, causing less of an impact on blood sugar levels"
Fibre intake is high with main sources from non-starchy fruits and vegetables rather than from whole grains and refined grains.
It has a high fat content however those that are eaten should be mostly mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated rather than saturated fats and trans fats
Potassium salt intake is high and sodium salt intake is low
Dietary acid and alkaline are balanced in the diet. Eating plenty of alkaline-producing foods such as fruit and vegetables in the diet achieves a balance with acid-producing foods such as meat and fish
The diet includes having a high intake of vitamins, minerals, plant phytochemicals and antioxidants
What is allowed
Fresh fruit and vegetables
Fish and seafood
Meat that has been produced from grass-grazing animals
Eggs
Nuts and seeds
Olive, walnut, flaxseed, macadamia, avocado and coconut oils
What to avoid
Cereal grains (which means no pasta, bread or rice)
Dairy foods
Refined sugar
Legumes, including beans and peanuts
Potatoes
Processed foods
Salt
Refined vegetable oils
Drinks allowed
Water
Sparkling water
Soda water, seltzer, club soda
Kombucha or other fermented non-dairy drinks
Herbal caffeine-free teas
What are the proposed health effects of The Paleo Diet?
According to Patient it is claimed that The Paleo Diet® can improve health by reducing the risk of:
Heart disease
Type 2 diabetes
Chronic degenerative diseases
And that it can also:
Enable weight loss
Slow or reverse the progression of autoimmune disease
Improve sleep
Increase energy
Improve acne
Increase athletic performance
Increase libido
Improve mental clarity and outlook
Is there evidence to back this?
Studies and research into the diet have far have only involved very small numbers of people with many not involved long-term follow-up or control subjects. One 2014 study did include control subjects along with slightly larger numbers of people and followed up participants for a little longer.
This looked at 70 women who had gone through the menopause. Patient says: "The women were split into two groups: a group who followed a low-fat Nordic diet that did not exclude any food group (the control group), and a group who followed a Paleolithic diet. The two groups of women were followed up for two years.
"Even though those who were following a Paleolithic diet had lost more weight at six months, at two years weight was the same in both groups. There was a difference in triglyceride levels between the two groups at two years. (Triglycerides are a certain type of fat thought to be involved in heart disease). The women on the Paleolithic diet had better triglyceride levels at two years. However, the women in the control group still had levels of triglycerides that were thought to be safe.
"The bottom line is that it is very difficult to draw specific conclusions from the studies carried out on a Paleolithic diet so far. Studies involving larger numbers of people that look at the more long-term health effects are needed before health benefit claims of Paleolithic diets can be backed up.
Benefits of the diet
Patient says: "Making fresh, unprocessed foods the basis of what you eat (as in a Paleolithic diet) does mean that you will stay away from processed foods. Processed foods are generally regarded as those foods that have been treated or prepared using some manufacturing process - for example, by adding preservatives or artificial flavourings.
"Processed foods tend to be high in calories and also often high in salt. We do know that too much salt in your diet increases your risk of developing high blood pressure, which itself can lead to heart disease and stroke.
"Also, once you have grasped the basic concept, a Paleolithic diet is relatively easy to follow. It does not involve counting calories, weighing foods etc."
Risks and downsides
Patient warns: "Paleolithic diets do not have plentiful research and scientific evidence to back them up at present. The current UK Department of Health advice is that people should not eat more than 70g of red or processed meat daily because of an increased risk of bowel cancer. Critics of Paleolithic diets would say that the high meat content of such diets goes against this advice.
"The fact that the diet does not allow consumption of dairy products is also criticised by some nutrition experts, including the British Dietetic Association. Eliminating key food groups such as dairy products from your diet raises the chance of nutritional deficiencies."
It said one major concern was the diet might lead to calcium deficiency because of the lack of dairy products. Calcium is needed for healthy teeth and bones and is also involved in blood clotting and muscle contraction.
Patient adds: "There is also evidence that whole grains reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Paleolithic diets exclude grains and so some nutrition experts are concerned about this.
"Finally, because Paleolithic diets involve eating meat, they are expensive and cannot be followed by vegetarians."
