The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson,

and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

What's the difference between Primal and Paleo?

The Paleo Diet and Primal Blueprint Way of Eating, aka Primal, are both based on similar evolutionary

science. The story goes something like this. Our modern Western diet bears little

resemblance to the eating habits of early humans throughout several hundred thousand

years of evolutionary history. Instead, since the agricultural revolution some mere 10,000 years ago,

we've adopted a nutritional regime to which our physiology is poorly adapted. When the basics of

our diet return to the patterns of our pre-agricultural ancestors, we work

with instead of against our physiology.

More simply, eat as our ancestors ate and we'll be healthier for it.

Back when primal was just getting started, around the time I was writing the first edition

of the Primal Blueprint, the evolving template of my vision for

the primal blueprint way of eating and living, a fundamental difference of opinion between

paleo and primal centered on the role of saturated fats in the diet. Lauren Cordane and many

within the paleo community towed the conventional line on saturated fats as the bogey that raises

cholesterol and instigates heart

disease. While the primal blueprint as I envisioned it was quick to recognize it as a neutral,

stable source of fat, important for energy, neurological function, hormone manufacture, and cellular

structure. Paleo supporters recommended focusing on lean meats, avoiding butter and limiting coconut oil.

The primal community did not, pointing to the many examples of hunter-gatherers who preferred

higher fat portions of animals, the extensive evidence of bone marrow consumption by

...