With celebrities like Megan Fox, Jessica Biel and Matthew McConaughey following a paleolithic diet, people may wonder if it is a good lifestyle for themselves as well.

The paleo diet, also referred to as the caveman diet, is similar to how it sounds. When following a paleo lifestyle, people aim to eat the way human ancestors ate during the Paleolithic era before the Agricultural Revolution. This means eating a diet of grass-fed meats, seafood, nuts, vegetables, eggs, healthy oils (such as olive or coconut oil) and fruits, while eliminating dairy, grains, processed foods, salt, potatoes, refined sugar and refined vegetable oils, according to thepaleodiet.com.

Jill Englett, UNA human environmental science instructor, said that while she likes how the paleo diet encourages more fruits and vegetables, she would question any diet that cuts out an entire food group.

“Any time a diet leaves a food group out, you’re going to miss vital nutrients,” she said.

Stephanie Holmes, a personal trainer, said the paleo diet is healthy if you are not an athlete or extremely active person.

“Athletes need more of the simple carbohydrates that we get from our processed grains and sugars, so if you are an athlete that would like to commit to the paleo diet, you would need to make some modifications to the diet such as bringing in starchy tubers, like sweet potatoes,” Holmes said.

Because modern people do not live the same lifestyle as Paleolithic ancestors, the paleo diet takes careful planning. For example, very few people today have wild game availability, and even produce is processed when it is picked and shipped, Englett said.

UNA student Demarcus Anderson said he is too used to eating dairy products and grains to live a paleo lifestyle.

“The only way I could see myself trying to do something like that is if someone was offering me some good money, because eating like that’s a challenge,” he said.

For people wondering whether the paleo diet is right for them, Holmes said to begin by cutting out prepackaged foods and to shop only around the perimeter of the grocery store, avoiding the middle aisles.

“Grocery stores are set up so that if you were to shop only on the outside walls you can get everything your body really needs,” she said.

The best way to lose weight is to make small, sustainable changes, Englett said. Losing more than one to two pounds per week begins breaking into lean body mass (a metabolic driver), which will slow the metabolism.

For more information on healthy eating, Englett suggests going to the website choosemyplate.gov and entering your information for a personalized plan.