The Paleo diet claims to optimize health by turning back time and encouraging followers to eat like humans did during the Stone Age. Sometimes tried by people with psoriasis, the diet is said to be based on how humans lived before industrial agriculture and focuses on unprocessed and nutritious foods, such as meat and vegetables.

People turn to the Paleo diet to achieve weight loss, reduce chronic inflammation, and help manage various health conditions. However, evidence supporting the Paleo diet for psoriasis or other chronic diseases remains controversial.

Members of MyPsoriasisTeam have reported mixed results from the diet. One member said, “I’m on my third week of the Paleo diet. The good news is that I’ve lost nearly 10 pounds. In my second week, I started to feel less itchy and started clearing up just a little bit. But the bad news is, I’ve gotten itchy again over these past few days. My face and ears are inflamed, and it hurts to sleep — if I can even get sleep.”

Although the Paleo diet is relatively safe and promotes a generally healthy diet, it can also be overly restrictive and expensive. Here’s what you should know before you commit to eating like prehistoric humans.

What Is the Paleo Diet?

The premise behind the Paleo diet is that modern humans should eat as people did during the Paleolithic Era, from 10,000 to 2.5 million years ago. This eating style includes hunted foods (meat, fish, and eggs) along with foods available before the advent of farming (fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds).

Followers are advised to avoid all grains, legumes, dairy products, and processed foods, as well as foods with added salt and sugar. A high intake of starchy vegetables, like corn and potatoes, is discouraged because of their natural sugars. Instead, people on the Paleo diet are told to stick with nonstarchy veggies such as broccoli, asparagus, spinach, kale, and cabbage.

The same goes for fruits. Some proponents of the Paleo diet say that modern farming has engineered fruit to make it sweeter, raising its sugar content. They suggest sticking to lower-sugar blackberries, avocados, and citrus.

An example of breakfast on the Paleo diet might be grass-fed eggs cooked in olive oil with a side of walnuts and strawberries. Lunch could be a green salad topped with flaxseed and grilled chicken. For dinner, wild-caught salmon with carrots and green beans might be on the menu.

Although the Paleo diet has enjoyed wide-ranging popularity over the past decade among celebrity chefs, fitness influencers, and wellness bloggers, anthropologists don’t agree with all the claims and assumptions made about what people ate during the Stone Age. In addition, many health professionals question how genetics, evolution, and lifestyle play into the discussion of what constitutes an ideal human diet.

What’s Missing in the Paleo Diet?

Since the Paleo diet cuts out grains and legumes, some health experts are concerned it may not have enough fiber. This nutrient is important for digestive health and helps reduce inflammation. However, you can still get plenty of fiber by eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

The Paleo diet is also dairy-free, so cow’s milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter are out. Dairy is a major source of calcium, so it may be difficult to meet the daily requirements with sources like spinach or broccoli alone.

Following the Paleo diet means cutting out processed foods. Making this change is a positive step for your overall health — nutritionally speaking, you probably won’t miss much by avoiding processed foods. But that’s not to say giving them up is always easy.

Dining out at restaurants and social events may require some planning if you’re on the Paleo diet. Also, the diet can be relatively expensive, as it excludes low-cost sources of protein, fiber, and micronutrients including cereals, lentils, chickpeas, brown rice, and oats. These foods are also among the top recommendations of other popular anti-inflammatory diets for psoriasis, such as a Mediterranean or vegan diet.

How Might the Paleo Diet Help Psoriasis Symptoms?

Although the Paleo diet certainly has some merits, it may also be seen as needlessly restrictive. For most people with psoriasis, there’s not enough evidence showing a benefit to warrant eliminating so many major food groups before you know your individual food triggers.

Nonetheless, the Paleo diet does cut out some common problem foods. For example, many people with psoriasis report having flare-ups from gluten or sugar, which would be avoided when following the Paleo diet.

One MyPsoriasisTeam member explained how following a gluten-free diet and eating less sugar improved their psoriasis symptoms. “I have been eating gluten-free with minimal sugar for the past five months. I lost about 15 pounds. My itching and the condition of my psoriasis spots have changed drastically. Though it has not cleared, I’m hoping that in time I will see healing as well,” they said. “Thankfully, there are many options for gluten-free, low-sugar foods, so I feel it hasn’t been too hard finding good foods.”

“While it is very hard to change one’s diet completely, I believe it is well worth a try versus taking harmful prescription medications,” they added. “I’m learning more about this disease every day. It is very individual, but there are also commonalities among all of us.”

Another member shared a similar experience: “Sugar in just about any form causes issues. I have to be careful of things like grapes, dates, apples, bananas, honey, and maple syrup. I avoid all other forms of sugar. Gluten combined with sugar causes a big reaction for me.”

The Paleo diet could help by taking sugar and gluten out of your diet. However, using the Paleo diet for psoriasis doesn’t address everyone’s food triggers. For instance, one MyPsoriasisTeam member shared, “I react to nuts like cashews and almonds but not peanuts. The best science is listening to what your body tells you.” For this member, the Paleo diet’s instructions to remove dairy, grains, and sugar would miss the mark.

Keeping a food diary to help pinpoint the causes of your psoriasis symptoms can give you valuable information about how your body responds to different ingredients. One member described the benefits of food journaling: “I’ve used a food journal for a long time and finally figured out that coffee and legumes (beans) are both huge trigger foods for me, causing big flare-ups. I avoid grains and rarely eat sugar or sweeteners, but an occasional sandwich doesn’t seem to do me any harm.”

You can also meet with a registered dietitian nutritionist to undergo a supervised elimination diet as a more formal process to identify food triggers.

If you’d still like to give the Paleo diet a try, ask your health care provider for medical advice on whether you should take a calcium supplement or multivitamin to ensure you don’t miss out on essential nutrients.

Talk With Others Who Understand

MyPsoriasisTeam is the social network for people with psoriasis and their loved ones. On MyPsoriasisTeam, more than 116,000 members come together to ask questions, give advice, and share their stories with others who understand life with psoriasis.

Have you made any dietary changes to reduce psoriasis flare-ups? What diet plans have you tried, and do you discuss food with your dermatologist? Post your suggestions in the comments below, or start a conversation on your Activities page.