Paleo diet is not a fad, it's a lifestyle - trainers

Paleolithic man, with a diet rich in seafood and meat, stood at 175cm. Photo / Thinkstock

When it came to clean living, our earliest ancestors knew what they were doing.

At least that's the message of personal trainers Luke Hines and Scott Gooding in their new book Clean Living.

The pair spread the word on the Aussie cooking show, My Kitchen Rules when they putting their healthy way of life on show and introduced viewers to the paleolithic style of eating.

Their first book, Clean Living, followed - but Gooding makes the point that although it includes recipes, it's not a cookbook.

The guys from My Kitchen Rules are pushing a paleo lifestyle.

Instead, it's a three-week plan on how to live better in a time-poor world full of quick-fix solutions and junk food.

"The book strips back our philosophy on food and movement, and when you understand the foundation of it, it's actually really, really simple," Gooding says.

"It's not a quick-fix and it's not a fad, it's actually a lifestyle."

The good thing about their regimen, Gooding says, is that it's easy to maintain, not limiting in any way, and will deliver health and fitness.

As for "Paleo eating" being a fad, Gooding points out that it has more than a little history to it.

"It's the longest lesson on man and nutrition that's known to us.

"Its roots go back two and a half million years and history speaks for itself.

"The only hiccup was 10,000 years ago, when we started agriculture and domesticating animals and got into grains and dairy, which is where the problems started occurring in terms of our health."

Unfolding: Check out Life & Style on Friday for a different perspective on the Paleo diet from NZ dietician and nutritionist, Dave Shaw.

Gooding points out that paleolithic man, with a diet rich in seafood and meat, stood at 175cm. After converting to a diet based largely on grains and diary our stature eventually dropped to 165cm.

The addition of sugar to our food had a big adverse impact on human health.

"The quality of food that's on offer today in fast food outlets, service stations, airport terminals and so on is generally pretty poor," Gooding says.

"I think retailers need to take more responsibility instead of just looking for the quick and easy buck.

"We have a duty of care to our fellow man to keep people healthy, and we're not all on the same page.

"It's good that there are people in this world though, such as David Gillespie, Sarah Wilson and Michele Bridges who advocate the healthy message and try to spread it as far and as wide as they can."

Gooding and Hines hope their book can help dispel the myth that healthy food is expensive, not readily available and tasteless.

The recipes in Clean Living are made up of ingredients that are easy to find in your local supermarket or deli.

"We're not chefs, it's all pretty straightforward, and we're hoping the simplicity of the recipes will help people jump on board," Gooding says.

Going hand in hand with a change of diet is the need for exercise, and the workouts the pair advocate can be adapted to any fitness level or individual need.

The aim is to make training "accessible, simple and quick" and the functional training in the book mimics simple movements such as running, jumping, lifting, pulling, pushing, dragging and climbing.

It relies almost entirely on using our own body weight as the training "equipment".

"Every exercise has a progression and a regression and everything's functional-based," Gooding says.

"We use big compound movements which help develop strength and, depending on the tempo, can improve your cardio fitness too.

"It comes down to gauging where you are on the fitness spectrum, and trying as hard as you can.

"I run a boot camp five mornings a week and I tell everyone just to try as hard as they can.

"Don't look around and compare yourself to others - it's all about you.

"If you work as hard as you can then you'll see improvement."

The Bondi boys plan to release a cookbook in the new year.

* Luke & Scott: Clean Living, by Luke Hines and Scott Gooding, published by Hachette New Zealand, is available now. RRP NZ$39.99.