Get (or stay) thin
If you're overweight and you stick to the diet, you'll probably
lose weight. I wasn't even trying to lose weight when I started
and have lost 6 or 7 pounds, but my weight is stable now.
The reason it works is probably because you wind up eating less.
If you eat a load of french fries, they're easy to digest, so
your body digests them, converts any extra to fat, and after the
insulin surge and crash, you're hungry again.
If you eat stuff that's harder to digest, the sugar trickles
slowy into your bloodstream and it's a long time until you
are hungry again. Similarly, fats and proteins in your stomach
take longer to digest, so you feel full longer.
Avoid adult-onset diabetes
There's some evidence that this sort of diabetes is caused by
repeated surges and crashes in the amount of insulin in your
bloodstream. A steady level will be much more healthy. Eating
low glycemic index carbohydrates will reduce the insulin
required.
Improved cholesterol
For some reason people who stick to diets like the Atkins diet
have their cholesterol improve as well as their triglyceride
levels. It may not reduce total cholesterol, but it does
seem to improve the ratio of HDLs to LDLs (the ratio of the
good cholesterol to the bad).
Fewer naps
Maybe this isn't exactly health, but when you eat a high glycemic
meal, after it's digested, there's a sugar crash in your bloodstream,
and you either eat again or take a nap. I used to take a nap
three or four times per week, and now I almost never do. It's a
big time-saver.
Acid reflux
I never read about this anywhere else, but before I started on
my caveman diet, I had acid reflux two or three times per week,
and I was a giant supporter of the antacid companies. I have
not had acid reflux since the first day I converted. It was
a wonderful, unexpected side effect.
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