The Paleo Diet has some flaws. Supposedly, to become “caveman healthy,” we can eat any type of meat and unlimited saturated fat and cholesterol, making it easy to indulge in “caveman foods.”

Remember, though, that during the Paleolithic Era, health wasn’t as hard to achieve as it is now. Back then, the average person only lived to be about 30. And 30-year-olds have fewer health problems than older folks. (See Surprising Things You Can’t Eat on a Paleo Diet.)

The meat was different then, too. The cavemen ate lean, wild bison, antelope and rabbit. Today, the meat we eat comes from farm-raised, corn-fattened livestock that have spent their entire lives standing in feedlots and are full of artery-clogging fats. (See also Is the Paleo Diet Right for Athletes?)

Knowing this, we can modify the Paleo Diet to ensure that it is healthy, beneficial, and realistic.

Here are some tips

• Limit your intake of saturated fats. Substitute the healthier fats found in coconuts, avocados and some types of organic grass-fed beef
• Eat as many vegetables as you can fit on your plate, and go for seconds
• Buy eggs that come from free-range chickens
• Avoid all trans fats, sugars and grains
• Eat beans

Of course, if you happen to have a small-game license, a pellet gun, and a cave spouse who is willing to clean and cook several squirrels and a couple of cottontails every week, by all means ignore my advice. Otherwise, a few changes will go a long way.