caveman diet vs paleo

hey guys, dr. axe here, doctor of functionalmedicine, nutritionist, and founder of draxe.com. in this video, i'm going to settle the debateof vegan versus paleo, and really go over all the benefits of going paleo and maybesome of the cons, as well as vegan, the great benefits and the cons of going that way. and i think that some of these answers areprobably going to surprise you and enlighten you on those two diets and maybe a diet thatcan kind of meet in the middle. all right. so let's first talk about the paleodiet, one of the most popular diets in crossfit circles and really, just growing around thecountry. and the paleo diet is modeled after what our ancient ancestors would have eatenthousands upon thousands of years ago.

and where i don't actually love the term "paleo"because of some of its background and the things it's suggesting, i do think paleo ofgoing grain-free can be greatly beneficial. so again, thinking about what would a hunterand gatherer have eaten during that time? now the big positive with paleo is that you'reconsuming a lot of wild-caught meats that are high in omega-3 fats. you're getting fruits.you're getting some vegetables. so for that reason, the paleo diet can be great. the con with the paleo diet is that it actuallytends to . . . or the people that follow the paleo diet, tend to consume probably a littlebit too much meat, in my opinion, as well as some toxic animal substances. and theyreally do not stress organic on that diet.

and so you can find somebody . . . i've knownpeople on the paleo diet where their diet consisted of consuming conventional butterand fried bacon, and that, if you eat that every meal, could be considered a paleo diet. so again, the paleo diet major benefits interms of following that hunter-gatherer lifestyle, you're getting more minerals, more omega-3fats, more protein and more healthy fats overall in your diet. which there are paleo diets if you followit in the right way, it's been shown to help improve autoimmune illness, really supportweight loss. so, you know, there are great benefits there with paleo.

you just need to be careful there with notconsuming too many conventional animal products. you do want to stress going organic. and the other thing is, they also recommenddoing a lot of shrimp and pork. and from the research that i've seen, both from ancienttexts, as well as modern day science, pork carries parasites, shrimp are bottom feeders. in fact, according to the water watch survey,they found that shrimp were by far the most toxic of all animals of the sea . . . in fact,way more toxic than tilapia, way more toxic than catfish and a lot of the farm fish today.shrimp was the worst. so for those reasons, those are the cons withthe paleo diet, but really overall there are

a lot of benefits of following that type ofdiet. let's talk about the vegan diet. huge benefitsof more enzymes, more vitamins, more minerals in your diet. so again, vegan diets or doinga raw plant-based diet so beneficial for improving energy levels, alkalizing your body, reversingcertain types of disease and certain types of cancer. the issue is doing a vegan diet long term.now, i'm not talking about for a few weeks or two weeks or a month. but if you stay onthat the majority of your life, you cannot get vitamin b12. and then it's very difficultto get the proper amount of amino acids and zinc and certain other nutrients, even likevitamin d in your diet, from consuming a vegan

diet. so most vegans realize this, but they reallytend to be very deficient in b vitamins and the right type of amino acids. and yes, you can address those deficienciesby taking a good quality vitamin b12 supplement or a b-complex supplement, as well as supplementingprotein powders. but again, following a straight vegan diet, it is going to leave you withdeficiencies. so for that reason, if i'm comparing the twoand i had to choose for my entire life to follow one of the two diets, i would actuallychoose the paleo diet regime before the vegan now, i do want to say this, there are differenttypes of vegetarian diets that add in things

like eggs and raw organic dairy products andwild-caught fish like something like a pescatarian. those types of vegetarian diets you can followand be absolutely healthy with and have no deficiencies whatsoever. and so, again, thereare some benefits to both. and let me say this as well, there are somevegans that live to be over 100 years old, and they addressed their deficiencies. theirdigestion system was healthy enough that it helped produce b-vitamins for them. so again, you can follow being a vegan andlive to be over 100. there are people that have been hunter-gatherers lived well to beover 100. so again, i think both diets are probablytwo of the most, probably two of the three

most popular diets today, and there are obviouslypros and cons with both. my favorite diet is following more of a traditional diet ora gaps diet. i think a traditional diet, which is reallywhat our ancestors ate, which wasn't just paleo. you know, this diet is more 6,000 yearsold where you're also consuming grass-fed, dairy-like kefir. you're getting in a lotof vegetables, a lot of wild meats. it's kind of everything. and this is what's promoted by organizationslike the weston a. price foundation. that's the diet i personally follow and personallylove. and when it comes to healing, the gaps diet, another great diet for you to look into.

hey, if you want to learn more about vegandiets, raw diets, paleo diets, or even some

caveman diet vs paleo,of my favorite diets like the gaps diet, checkout draxe.com. it's draxe.com. i've got some great content and information on there i thinkyou'll love, as well as my healing food shopping list you can find on there as well. hey guys, thanks for watching. this has beendr. axe with paleo versus vegan diets.