Did our ancestors really eat like the modern Paleo diet?!
Answers:
Paleolithic diet consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts.
Of course this is what they ate. They didn't have grocery stores. They had to eat the food that was around them, food that was natural. They couldn't pick and choose what foods to eat. If they found food they ate it. Nature was their grocery store. If they didn't eat, they didn't live.
The modern Paleo diet is doing its best to APPROXIMATE what our ancestors ate. Since that was millions of years ago, and many species of plant and animal have since gone extinct, it's impossible to duplicate it exactly. Plus, most foods today have been genetically modified/cultured for sweetness or size, which does not occur naturally in the wild.
Most animals in Africa are naturally lean throughout the year, so in order to get the most caloric bang for their buck, our ancestors would have eaten the fattiest parts of the animal (including organs) as well as the lean. It was only when people started migrating into Europe and Asia that they encountered larger and fattier game. Even then, those animals were only fat in the autumn, their bodies' natural response to the approaching glacial winters.
A lot of the meats in the supermarket come from animals that have not led a natural life, and because of this and the junk they are fed (corn & soy) they have a great deal more fat on them than they normally would if they'd been allowed to roam free and eat grass. That's why it's important to pick good quality meats when you start eating more of it. Grass-fed is best, but expensive.
You can bet that Homo habilis never ate tofu ;)