There was a great post today comparing the nutrient values from small samples of different food by category. Here’s the summary of what was determined and it speaks loads to the quality of a Paleo type diet:
Calorie for calorie Summary:
– Fibrous vegetables provide more fiber and protein than sugar, grains, starchy vegetables and even beans.
– Much higher quantities of fibrous vegetables can be eaten without piling on the calories (as opposed to sugar and grains). This helps in satiety when on a diet especially.
– Fruits (especially berries) provide crazy amounts of fiber and vitamin C compared to grains and sugars.
– Starchy vegetables offer a high carb load with minimal fiber and moderate vitamins which make it an awesome candidate for post-workout meals.
– Fibrous vegetables offer insane amount of vitamins compared to any other food source that exists.
– Sugars have zero nutrition. Period. Honey is no better than sugar.
– I haven’t even discussed the gluten issue. You can read here about the havoc they wreck.
– If this is not enough information and analysis for you to base the bulk of your diet around vegetables and fruits… then you’re just an idiot (and will be a fat idiot soon and will most probably be a fat diabetic idiot soon after.)
Once again… you don’t have to change your diet to eating just fruit and vegetables and nuts and lean meats all the time. Base the bulk of your diet on these things and have the occasional dessert or grain based meal.
Click through to see the bar charts he produced making this all quite apparent:
http://hbfser.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/lets-talk-numbers/ (Source)