Cavemen diet attracts a subculture of NYC hipsters

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Just when you thought you'd heard it all -- what with drive-thru diets and cookie diets and whatnot -- out pops word of another diet fad: the paleo diet. The eating habits of these self-described "cavemen" consists primarly of large quantities of meat (in some cases raw) and fasting. According to the New York Times, the diet extends to other lifestyle choices as well. "These urban cavemen also choose exercise routines focused on sprinting and jumping, to replicate how a prehistoric person might have fled from a mastodon."

The caveman lifestyle, in [26-year-old paleo diet enthusiast] Mr. Durant's interpretation, involves eating large quantities of meat and then fasting between meals to approximate the lean times that his distant ancestors faced between hunts. Vegetables and fruit are fine, but he avoids foods like bread that were unavailable before the invention of agriculture. Mr. Durant believes the human body evolved for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and his goal is to wean himself off what he sees as many millenniums of bad habits.

It's not only New York City hipsters in on it either. The Times reports there are books, articles and even an entire fitness regimen that promote prehistoric living and dining habits, with proponents scattered throughout the world.

"[A 38-year-old Frenchman the paper speaks with] promotes what he calls "mouvement naturel" at exercise retreats in West Virginia and elsewhere. His workouts include scooting around the underbrush on all fours, leaping between boulders, playing catch with stones, and other activities at which he believes early man excelled. These are the "primal, essential skills that I believe everyone should have," he said in an interview.