Effectiveness of the Paleolithic diet in sport

The Paleolithic diet is a nutritional plan based on the ancient diet of wild plants and wild animals that were consumed by humans in the Paleolithic period.

Within nutrition one of the trends that acquire strength is the Paleolithic diet. But is it really recommended for athletes? Runnig Therapy Center tell us about it in this article

In a recent study (1), the Effectiveness of a paleolithic diet in Crossfit performance. Although it is focused on Crossfit, its results would be even more evident in endurance sports.

In this study it is concluded that although the paleodieta has positive characteristics such as the consumption of fresh unprocessed foods, limited refined sugar, consumption of healthy fats ... has very important nutritional deficiencies for the performance of the athlete (especially in endurance sports) by prohibiting or limiting foods such as cereals and dairy products.

 Its low carbohydrate load makes it not an effective diet for athletes, since it would prevent adequate restitution of muscle and liver glycogen stores (a source of energy for all sports), which would prevent optimal performance, cause a lack of energy in the athlete and would not optimize net protein synthesis in response to training.

All this if we talk about a strict paleodiet, could always be improved including carbohydrates in said diet (although it would stop being strictly speaking palodieta).

Our nutritional advice is to take a healthy, balanced and varied diet, without the prohibition of healthy foods (unless you suffer from any intolerance). You just have to eat the right amount of each group of foods according to our needs taking into account our daily caloric expenditure.

(1) Validity of the paleolithic diet and its effectiveness in crossfit performance, Helena Recalde Puy, 2015