Paleo Diet

Paleo Diet

What is The Paleo Diet?

A Paleo diet, also known as paleolithic diet or caveman diet, is all about natural foods to help achieve great health and a perfect physique. 

The human body evolved for more than 2 million years with the food found in nature: game meat, fish, vegetables, wild fruits, eggs and nuts. 

The human race was thriving on this diet high in animal fat and proteins and low in carbohydrates, but things changed when we introduced unnatural foods to our bodies.

This table shows the list of foods that are good to eat and the foods that we have to avoid.

Okay To Eat	Avoid
Fruits	Dairy
Vegetables	Grains
Lean Meats	Processed Food & Sugars
Seafood	Legumes
Nuts & Seeds	Starches
Healthy Fats	Alcohol

Building a Healthy Paleo Diet

Lean proteins

It is an important part of any healthy diet and can help you with your weight-loss efforts. Lean protein provides you with a sense of satiety (fullness) and can help prevent overeating.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that have been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing a number of degenerative diseases including cancer, diabetes and neurological decline.

Healthy fats from nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, fish oil and grass-fed meat

According to Lawrence Wilson, MD. Fats and oils are composed of chains of molecules called fatty acids that are composed mainly of carbon atoms.  They are high energy foods, providing about 9 calories per gram of fat.  

This is more than twice the energy content of sugars and starches.  This is the reason why some nutrition and diet authorities think that fats will make you fat.  However, it is not so when one knows how to choose them properly, and when they are needed, as in fast oxidation.

In fact, high-quality fats and oils are one of the most essential foods to consume every day.  They are needed for your brain and nervous system, for energy production and for making most of the body’s vital hormones.  Children, in particular, absolutely require plenty of fats and oils, particularly EPA and DHA.  

These are two omega-3 essential fatty acids needed for development of the nervous system.  Quality fats and oils are also essential for transporting all vitamins, minerals and hormones in and out of every one of the body cells.

The right amount and types of high-quality fats and oils do not drive up one’s insulin level, create insulin resistance and make one fat, as do sugar and carbohydrates.  They also do not rob the body of minerals, as does eating sugars and many starches as well.  Last but not least, fats and oils make our food taste good.

The idea of avoiding all high-quality fats because they may make you fat, or that quality fats clog your arteries, is nonsense, one of the worst nutritional errors of our time.  Even the government ‘food pyramid’ is absolutely wrong when it comes to eating quality fats and oils.  Hopefully, this article will answer many questions about eating fats and oils.

Health Benefits

The Paleo Diet is meant to help you lose weight with the simple concept of foods being either "in" or "out." You choose foods that were available during the Paleolithic era, such as meat, eggs, fish, roots, vegetables, berries and mushrooms. 

You eschew processed foods along with foods that came along after agriculture and animal husbandry were adopted such as sugar, added salt, dairy, grains and all processed or fast foods. You drink water and eliminate all other beverages, except perhaps organic green tea and coconut water. 

The basic theory behind the Paleo Diet is that your body is evolutionarily and genetically and designed to thrive on caveman-era foods. The diet is purported to have several benefits, though you need to check with a doctor before trying it.