What Is The Paleolithic Diet?
The Paleo Diet
The paleo diet is based on ancient diet of man which included animals and wild plants that were consumed 2. 5 million years ago during the Paleolithic era. It is preservative and gluten free. It is commonly centered on foods like eggs, fish, grass fed pasture raised meats, vegetables, potatoes, roots, fungi, fruits, nuts, potatoes, dairy products, grains, refined salt, refined sugar, legumes and processed oils.
But let’s now retrace the steps and cover how this diet came back from extinction and learn the history of it.
According to History Channel, the Paleo diet was discovered back in the 1970s by gastroenterologist Walter Voegtlin, and he was the first to suggest that eating like the Paleolithic people on those ages could make modern humans healthier.
The investigations of Voegtlin and scores of other doctors and nutritionists after him, prove that the paleo diet could sharply reduce incidences of Crohn’s disease, diabetes, obesity and indigestion, among other ailments.
Momentum for the diet continued to grow even in the 1990s as more nutritionists and medical professionals began to back the theory. More doctors started recommending it to their patients as part of a healthy eating plan for the sick patients and even the ones who were well. Most of them relied on the original concept where the diet consisted of the foods present before the introduction of agriculture.
But the popularity of this diet soared after the publishing of the book “The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat” by Loren Cordain in 2002. The mainstream and the public showed a huge interest in the diet, then some nutritionists and dieticians called it “The Cave Man diet” or “The Stone Age diet”[1]
Benefits of Paleo Diet
1- Weight Loss
Losing weight is hard for most people because they are either going on crazy diets or they are simply eating foods that aren’t good for them. The Paleo diet can help you lose weight because the foods you will be eating are healthy and good for you!. These can help you cut out fats and calories that you just don’t need.
This will result in weight loss that doesn’t come from you starving or having to give up eating foods you enjoy. Most people continuously lose weight while on this diet because it’s so healthy and easy to stick with.
2- Energy
Have you ever felt really tired and lethargic after eating a big meal full of carbohydrates and fats?. Fast foods and unhealthy meals can make you feel terrible because they don’t have anything good for you inside of them. By changing the foods you eat to those that are healthy, you will have more energy overall and feel great each day!.
Getting the proper vitamins and nutrients in your diet can make a huge difference with the way you feel and really help you get extra energy you have been lacking.
3- Nutrition
When eating a diet of junk food, candy, sugar, carbs and other bad foods it’s difficult to get the proper vitamins and nutrients that are essential for a healthy body. When you switch to the Paleo way of life you will easily be able to get the nutrients that you need.
All of the foods you eat will be packed full of things like fiber, vitamin a, vitamin c and other nutrients that are great for your body. When you have better nutrition in your life you will feel better and look better!.
4- Allergies
The junk foods that people eat today are packed full of toxic ingredients that can easily hurt the body. For example, gluten intolerance is one of the biggest problems most people have today. The Paleo diet will make it possible to eat good food without having to worry about food allergens.
Of course you should pay attention to what you eat if you are sensitive to certain things, but you won’t have to deal with any chemicals or hidden toxins.
5- Recipes
There are a lot of different recipes you can make for the Paleo diet. These are easy to find and they taste great as well. These can help you find new foods that you enjoy eating and that are really good for you. When you aren’t starving yourself or feeling deprived it will be easy to eat healthy and change the way you eat on a daily basis.
All of these benefits are worth considering if you want to change your eating habits and your health. The Paleo way of life is easy to adopt and can make you feel great from day one.
What Do I Eat On A Paleo Diet?
1- Vegetables
Vegetables are highly encouraged. However, the consumption of starchy vegetables such as yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes and cassava should be limited or better avoided. Propagators of the Paleo diet are of the opinion that any vegetable that cannot be consumed raw should be eliminated from the diet.
2- Fruits
Fruits such as berries, apples and oranges are perfectly fine for the diet but you should consume them in moderation. Equally important, don’t consume fruits in their dried version e.g. dried apricots or their dried products. Again, fruits such as grapes and bananas should be avoided as they contain a lot of sugar.
3- Eggs and Meat
The Paleo diet advocates for the consumption of meat and eggs. However, you should stick to the grass-fed products and avoid meats that contain additives and preservatives in the meat you consume. Pork, game, beef, chicken, turkey and fish are the best for this diet. Chicken eggs, quail eggs and any other type of eggs are included in the diet.
4- Seeds and Nuts
All nuts and seeds, save for peanuts, are allowed. Peanuts are exempted because they are legumes. However, if you’d like to lose weight, you should moderate your consumption to about four ounces every day. Coconut and almond flour are also included in this list.
5- Oils
Unprocessed oils such as coconut oil, walnut oil, tallow, lard, olive oil and canola oil are highly recommended. Fish oil supplements are also encouraged. However, processed vegetable and hydrogenated oils are heavily discouraged. Furthermore, the existence of processed oils came with agriculture and industrialization.
6- Beverages
Drinking a lot of water is highly emphasized in the Paleo diet. Plain tea “without milk” as well as fruit and vegetable juices are also allowed.
Foods to Avoid On A Paleo Diet
1- Grains
The entire family of cereal grains should be avoided. This includes wheat, rice, corn, oats and barley. Proponents of the diet put much emphasis on avoiding white flour and rice as they contain refined carbohydrates.
2- Legumes
As aforementioned, legumes are not included in the Paleo diet plan. This includes all kinds of beans; string beans, kidney beans, black beans, soybeans, lima beans and mung beans. Again, black-eye peas, sugar-nap peas, snow peas and peanuts should be avoided.
3- Dairy Products
Dairy products such as butter, yogurt, skim milk, whole milk, cream, cheese, ice cream and dairy creamer are prohibited.
You should also steer away from alcohol, soft drinks, refined sweeteners and iodized salt. Processed foods should also be eliminated from the diet. It’s important to note that the Paleolithic diet offers a number of benefits including weight loss, increase activity and general body health. Adopt it, stick to it and you’ll gradually start to enjoy its benefits.
Why Should I Eat The Paleo Way?
Anyone who takes a sustained look at the obesity numbers in the present global population will notice that they are rising fast. Despite the advancement in technology, healthcare and education, people are still making mistakes in how they eat. The current state of obesity in the world in 2022 calls for a return to the paleo diet, the right way to get a better health.
The present obesity debacle arises from the fact that people are taking up a lifestyle that is not optimal for their existence on earth and these behaviours leave the body with too many extra calories than it requires.
The paleo diet derives its philosophy from the fact that people who inhabited the earth more than 10,000 years ago did not eat any processed food yet they were healthy and not obese. They did not experience modern-day diseases like arthritis, cardiovascular complications and cancers.
So based on this fact, anyone wishing to enjoy a healthy paleo diet and regain their health should simply ask themselves whether a caveman would eat what the person is about to eat. If the answer is yes, then it is a go-ahead for eating that particular food but if it’s no, then it would be a hint to stop taking the kind of food.
References:
[1] Hima J. Challa; Manav Bandlamudi; Kalyan R. Uppaluri. Paleolithic Diet. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; July-4,2022.
