Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I consume maybe 20 grams of carb daily. High fat and some protein. However I do down a teaspoon of raw honey before bed. I seem to sleep more soundly that way. My question: Is honey Paleo? It's been consumed by humans for a few thousand years, bui don't know if it goes back 10,000 years. Can someone shed light on this?

flag	asked May 23 2012 at 19:42 Don Ewart 11●1●1●2

yes . – nada Apr 22 at 3:47

Eugenia · Answer 1 · 2012-05-23 19:47:30Z UTC

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Yes, honey IS Paleo (despite some Paleo decision-tree graphics that float online saying it's not). Hunter-gatherer tribes are often put their lives at risk to get some honey. As long as:

You're not trying to lose weight
You're not trying to be ketogenic
Your honey is raw, unfiltered, AND local

then honey is perfectly Paleo, and it has very potent anti-microbial properties (just don't heat it up, so its agents remain alive during consumption).

As for its fructose and other sugar content, it's all monosaccarides, which is totally absorbable by the human body before reaches the gut, and so it does not feed gut bacteria (which result in other problems). This is why the healing SCD and GAPS diets (similar to Paleo) allow "real" honey, even if they're low carb otherwise.

answered May 23 2012 at 19:47

Eugenia
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	I see no reason why honey would prevent weight-loss, or why it would have to be unfiltered. – Kasra May 24 2012 at 1:51
	"s for its fructose and other sugar content, it's all monosaccarides, which is totally absorbable by the human body before reaches the gut" - Ah, no. Honey has a small amount of sucrose, a decent wack of fructose (absorbable quickly if its under a certain thresold quantity) & glucose (very very absorbable, and speed up absorbtion of fructose), AND a smaller amount of maltose and galactose, both of which are very very hard to digest. Hence why honey is not allowed on the fodmaps diet. No idea why the GAPSs diet prefers honey over sugar, or better glucose, as honeys main benefit sugar wise is.. – Jamie Jul 11 at 6:44
	The presence of insulin like compounds that prevent insulin spikes (which is a great plus), not its digestibility, which is mostly pretty good, except for the maltose and galactose in it, which is a bit iffy if your trying to avoid fermentables, even if there in small quantity, they are both sugars that are significantly hard to digest... – Jamie Jul 11 at 6:46
	(well actually technically its not allowed because of its high fructose content, but practically fructose is only a fodmap based on quantity consumed, not its mere presence, ie the rate limiting factor of fructose absorbtion, and so in small quantities, its more likely the galactose and maltose will give you trouble....and I found it trouble, even in small amounts, and some other people on the net who found it gave them trouble while on GAPS too) – Jamie Jul 11 at 6:52
	Well in practice actually even the fructose content would become fermentable if you ate too much at once. I guess SCD and gaps only worries about things that ferment in you bowel (ie starches etc), fodmaps only worries about things that ferment before then (small and large intestine). Personally I do a bit of both -avoid fodmaps, use glucose as a sweetner and limit starches to a smaller amount, and berries per serve as well, just to cover all bases, without going ketogenic. – Jamie Jul 11 at 7:06

CS · Answer 2 · 2012-05-23 19:50:02Z UTC

Raw honey contains a small amount of minerals, amino acids, and vitamins making it a far better choice than cane sugar, agave or stevia. Processed honey is crap.

Source: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-honey-a-safer-sweetener/#axzz1viwXz39m

Veriria · Answer 3 · 2012-05-23 21:19:28Z UTC

Remember: we eat this way because it is an effective way to eat whole, natural foods, which benefit our bodies. It doesn't necessarily follow that we would or would not eat something that our ancestors ate thousands of years ago (we wouldn't be able to know exactly what they ate, anyways, without a time machine!). If you wanted to go that route, why are you on the internet? haha

Whenever possible, you should purchase locally raised, raw honey. It is tastier & more potent! The benefits outweigh any negatives in my opinion.

borofergie · Answer 4 · 2012-05-23 19:45:07Z UTC

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Only if you kill the bees yourself.

answered May 23 2012 at 19:45

borofergie
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Why kill the bees? Keep them around to make more! – MathGirl72 May 23 2012 at 19:53

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But did Paleolithic woman keep bees, or did she smash the hive and run? – borofergie May 23 2012 at 19:55

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i doubt it was worth the trouble.. my guess is they only ate honey if someone was dumb enough to attract the swarm away from the hive. that or found it abandoned. – CS May 23 2012 at 20:59

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I can remember watching Ray Mears in Africa with tribes that still hunter gather and they eat honey ! I found this clip which shows how they obtain it. Go to 2.39 to see! youtube.com/watch?v=-7s9DWNDkbI – yimyamyo May 23 2012 at 21:16

EDouble · Answer 5 · 2012-05-24 04:05:58Z UTC

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Ask this guy if it's Paleo after he climbed a 40m tree in the Congo to gather honey for his family (from the MDA post mentioned previously):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p06p65vU4-4

answered May 24 2012 at 4:05

EDouble
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Acumen Athletics · Answer 6 · 2012-05-24 01:29:13Z UTC

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Ive read that honey is a whole food only when larva is present.

answered May 24 2012 at 1:29

Acumen Athletics
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jjcoco · Answer 7 · 2012-07-11 06:34:13Z UTC

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Watch the BBC human planet series. there is a great examples of tribes risking their lives for honey.

answered Jul 11 at 6:34

jjcoco
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Katey Goodrich · Answer 8 · 2013-04-22 02:32:33Z UTC

Honey was definitely eaten and enjoyed by our Paleolithic ancestors. There are pictographs in Africa from c5000 bc showing hunters raiding wild bee hives for honey. Depictions in Egypt on tombs 2500 bc showing smoke blown into wild hives and in Israel man made hives have been excavated from 1000bc.

Is natural honey effectively Paleo?

8 Answers