The Paleo Diet is the newest diet craze out there. It consists of eating whole foods like organic fruit, vegetables, and meat while avoiding grains, beans, and dairy. Is it just a flash in the pan? I don't think so. Once I learned more about the Paleo Diet, I realized I had been eating it for quite some time. It is the healthiest, most rational diet I have ever come across.
The purpose of the Paleo Diet is to take eaters back to the natural diet of our ancestors before grains, added sugar, artificial preservatives and sweeteners, pesticides, genetically-modified organisms were loaded into or onto our foods, and gluten and dairy intolerances were nonexistent.
On the Paleo Diet, processed foods are eliminated for two reasons. First, they are typically loaded with salt, sugar, white flour, and fat, which are known for their negative affects on good health. Second, the chemical content of these foods can be very dangerous, and certainly unnatural. Eating a whole foods diet by itself would change most people's health, but there are additional factors in the Paleo Diet, some that are not as simple to understand.
Grains and beans are also to be avoided. The human body is not designed to digest or utilize nutrients from these foods. This is because they have high levels of phytic acid and lectins, which can keep the body from properly absorbing the nutrients and can cause autoimmune and digestive issues as well.
Dairy is the only area of the Paleo Diet without strict guidelines. Some people consume it while others don't. Those who don't consume it, avoid it because we are not designed to drink milk beyond infancy, and certainly not from other species. Human adults continue to drink milk because we can and because the powerful dairy lobby has convinced us that it is good for us. My research suggests otherwise, but that is the subject for another article.
So what can you eat? Organic fruits, vegetables, and tubers like sweet potatoes are a key part of the Paleo Diet. Grass-fed and organic meat and poultry, along with wild fish, are major components as well. Nuts, seeds, and oils, like olive or avocado, are to be eaten in moderation. Some recommend that fruit be limited, particularly if you are trying to lose weight. I think fruit is an important nutrient and recommend at least five servings per day.
The Paleo Diet is sometimes criticized as an all-meat or low-carb diet like Atkins, but it is not. It specifies certain carbs to avoid, but fruit or veggies are recommended at every meal. Most people don't like to count calories, but I find that a great balance exists when 40% of calories come from both protein and carbs (it's going to be a healthy proportion of fruit bc veggies are so low in calories), and the remaining 20% from fat, which will consist of the fats from the protein you eat and any nuts, seeds, oils, or avocados that you eat.
The Paleo Diet is clean and healthy. Many have experienced improvements in health, energy, and weight loss as a result of adopting the Paleo Diet. It is energizing and given the considerable amount of chemicals and dangerous food additives in our food supply, it is worth trying.
The purpose of the Paleo Diet is to take eaters back to the natural diet of our ancestors before grains, added sugar, artificial preservatives and sweeteners, pesticides, genetically-modified organisms were loaded into or onto our foods, and gluten and dairy intolerances were nonexistent.
On the Paleo Diet, processed foods are eliminated for two reasons. First, they are typically loaded with salt, sugar, white flour, and fat, which are known for their negative affects on good health. Second, the chemical content of these foods can be very dangerous, and certainly unnatural. Eating a whole foods diet by itself would change most people's health, but there are additional factors in the Paleo Diet, some that are not as simple to understand.
Grains and beans are also to be avoided. The human body is not designed to digest or utilize nutrients from these foods. This is because they have high levels of phytic acid and lectins, which can keep the body from properly absorbing the nutrients and can cause autoimmune and digestive issues as well.
Dairy is the only area of the Paleo Diet without strict guidelines. Some people consume it while others don't. Those who don't consume it, avoid it because we are not designed to drink milk beyond infancy, and certainly not from other species. Human adults continue to drink milk because we can and because the powerful dairy lobby has convinced us that it is good for us. My research suggests otherwise, but that is the subject for another article.
So what can you eat? Organic fruits, vegetables, and tubers like sweet potatoes are a key part of the Paleo Diet. Grass-fed and organic meat and poultry, along with wild fish, are major components as well. Nuts, seeds, and oils, like olive or avocado, are to be eaten in moderation. Some recommend that fruit be limited, particularly if you are trying to lose weight. I think fruit is an important nutrient and recommend at least five servings per day.
The Paleo Diet is sometimes criticized as an all-meat or low-carb diet like Atkins, but it is not. It specifies certain carbs to avoid, but fruit or veggies are recommended at every meal. Most people don't like to count calories, but I find that a great balance exists when 40% of calories come from both protein and carbs (it's going to be a healthy proportion of fruit bc veggies are so low in calories), and the remaining 20% from fat, which will consist of the fats from the protein you eat and any nuts, seeds, oils, or avocados that you eat.
The Paleo Diet is clean and healthy. Many have experienced improvements in health, energy, and weight loss as a result of adopting the Paleo Diet. It is energizing and given the considerable amount of chemicals and dangerous food additives in our food supply, it is worth trying.
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