I'm a warm-blooded human. And just like the average warm-blooded human, I like to indulge in sweet treats every now and then. But here's the thing - I don't eat gluten. That's a non-negotiable for me. So I often search paleo food blogs for dessert recipes when I want to make my own treats.
If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen a story or two of me ranting about how desserts aren't paleo. Not even close. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm 99.9% sure that archaeologists have never discovered cave paintings of donuts and cupcakes. And I bet they never will. You know why? Because our paleolithic ancestors didn't eat dessert.
I'm not against dessert. I'm human, come on! So I'm not saying you have to give up sweets if you follow a paleolithic approach to eating. But maybe cut back on the paleo brownies and the caveman cupcakes. Yes, these foods contain natural sugars and better-for-us ingredients. But they can still be trigger foods for some people. Personally, I binge on them. I made a tray of cherry pie crumb bars last month that were made with ingredients that could have all been consumed by paleolithic people thousands and thousands of years ago. Does that mean they were healthy? No! Why? Because I binged the whole tray (9 servings) in a 24 hour period.
So here's my take on the whole "paleo desserts" thing. Yes, they're technically "paleo" because they're made with ingredients that were available to our paleolithic ancestors. Me binging a whole tray of cherry pie crumb bars is a "me" issue, I know. But also...cavemen didn't eat donuts made from cassava flour or brownies made from sweet potatoes. They probably hardly ate sweets at all, unless fresh fruit was abundantly available to them. So for me, I'm choosing to focus on meat and vegetables mostly. I can't have dessert around no matter what it's made of. I'll binge it all. So if you're truly paleo, you wouldn't be eating dessert.
This is just my opinion, obviously. You can eat whatever you want as long as you know your limits and it doesn't make you feel gross. I'm not trying to shame people who call themselves "paleo" but still eat blueberry scones made from almond flour. But if you really want a true paleo dessert, go eat a mango!