The Paleo Diet Delusion: Paleofantasy's Marlene Zuk on Evolutionary and Dietary Myths

"The fact is that organisms are never perfectly suited to their environment," says evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk, "the way evolution works is through a whole series of compromises and jerry-rigged solutions based on what was there before."

Zuk sat down with ReasonTV's Tracy Oppenheimer to discuss her findings in her new book, Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live. She says that the paleo diet, philosophy and lifestyle overlook "a lot of really cool stuff that's been happening in evolution."

"It's absolutely true that our bodies didn't evolve under circumstances where we had television and lots of calorie-rich but nutrient-poor food, but at the same time, talking about life 100,000 years ago like it was completely static or like it was the same all over the world doesn't reflect reality either," says Zuk.

Approximately 5:30 minutes.

Produced by Tracy Oppenheimer

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