22 MARCH 2000

Healthy eating can keep you living healthier for longer. Lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis can be prevented with the help of a healthy well balanced diet.

The "Paleolithic diet" was the diet consumed by our hunter-gatherer ancestors and has received much attention in recent times. Paleolithic people ate a diet that was high in protein that was derived largely from meat and offal. Protein intake may have been up to twice as high as that of the average Australian today. The typical Paleolithic diet would have included many primitive forms of leafy vegetables, root vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts and probably some grass seeds.

Diseases such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis were virtually unheard of during Paleolithic times. Advocates therefore believe that the hunter-gatherer diet and lifestyle have important health implications for people today.

The potential significance of the Paleolithic diet to modern living is a hot topic of debate. Some argue that the Paleolithic diet represents the "natural diet" of humans and has many health benefits for people today. According to this school of thought, eating cereal foods and milk products is not appropriate today, because we did not evolve on diets that included large quantities of these foods. Adherents to the Paleolithic diet believe that lessons do exist for us from the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer diets and lifestyles.

Others argue that the Paleolithic diet is unbalanced, unrealistic and no longer relevant to today’s society. That not all degenerative diseases come from our diet – many relate to lack of exercise, cigarette smoking, exposure to pollutants and so on.

Australia’s leading nutritionist Rosemary Stanton will be discussing the Paleolithic diet and the relevance it has in today’s society in Brisbane on the 30^th of March 2000. The cost is $15 or $10 for members of Nutrition Australia, students and pensioners. Bookings are essential, contact Nutrition Australia on 3876 2677.

-ENDS-

For further information and story opportunities please contact
Rosemary Stanton
or Kristie Bell
Dietitian/ Nutritionist
Nutrition Australia