Monday, April 25, 2011

Paleo Diet in the Chicago Redeye

So excited to be on our way to our first Cubs game of the year, we almost missed it.  Stacey stepped right over it, and I almost did the same.  Luckily the word 'diet' jumped out at me as I stepped over the weekend edition of the Redeye (free newspaper released by the Chicago Tribune).  I quickly turned around and picked up what looked like a yet another misinformed article on the paleo diet:

Redeye Cover
Reads:
yabba dabba diet
Meat good,
carbs bad:
Are you feeling your inner caveman? 6-7
Yabba dabba diet?  I actually think that's a pretty clever title, but when it's coupled with some goofy-looking, obviously non-paleo-eating, writing intern wearing the cheapest 'caveman' costume they could find at Party City...I just cringed.  This had the look and feel of yet another under-researched publication bashing the paleo diet as yet another fad diet like this or this.  When opening the newspaper, and reading the article, we were gladly surprised to see a very positive article:


Article
Body By Bedrock

The article featured anecdotal evidence from paleo eaters, a list of Allowed and Not Allowed foods and a few restaurants in Chicago where people can find paleo eats.  Over-all, very positive.

My only complaint (aside from the cover and goofy picture accompanying the article - dude with spear, ugh!) is that the redeye wasted the article on their weekend edition, with a minuscule audience compared to the newspapers they print during the week.  They missed an excellent opportunity to make a positive impact on the health of thousands.

At least it was published and did not include the cursory nutritionist "as long as you stick to lean meats and stay away from fat" warning.  I feel like the paleo diet has grown in popularity every year since the original release of The Paleo Diet in 2002, and I predict that it will continue to grow (check out the chart below).  Since the diet easily becomes a lifestyle, people stick to it.  Without seeing the word 'fad' anywhere in the article, maybe more people are coming around - now if they would just stop putting people in caveman costumes!


Google Trend for the search words "paleo diet"
Upper = Search Volume Index
Lower = News Reference Volume




3 comments:

  1. Hey Ryan,

    Love your guys site and make sure to check it every day.

    I have to admit that I am "that guy" with the spear in my hand in this article. The photo shoot was horribly embarrassing yet a lot of fun.

    I have to commend the Redeye and their staff for this article because they did do their research (photos...ehhh...maybe not) on the Paleo lifestyle and asked great questions.

    Again, thanks for all the great material you guys put out and keep up the good work.

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  2. Hey Lil Roman,

    Thanks for the kind words! I'm sure the photo shoot was a blast. Lord knows that I've donned much worse than business casual w/ spear so don't be embarrassed. Since the Redeye did a great job of covering the main points, a little fun with the pics can be forgiven. We had to point it out though.

    Thanks for helping to get the paleo word out there!

    We'll do our best to keep on sharing quality information.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Ryan,

    I'm the author of the "Body by Bedrock" piece this post is about and just wanted to say thanks for the positive feedback! Rest assured, I had nothing to do with the photos :)

    ReplyDelete