The Paleo diet is an effort to eat similar to the hunters and gatherers that lived thousands of years ago, who literally just ate everything that they could find. We seem to do the same thing these days, but there’s a problem. Most of what we can find nowadays is processed foods that are stuffed with chemicals instead of nutrients. The hard part about eating the Paleo diet is knowing what they ate back then. The Paleo diet revealed will give you a good idea about the good, the bad, and the basics of what you can eat and why.
What is Paleo?
Unlike most other fad diets that usually fail, Paleo has a clear inspiration and legit reason for showing up. Before Publix, Walmart, and Chipotle the people on this earth were hunters and gatherers. They only ate what they could find which was animal protein, berries, nuts, seeds, and leafy greens.
Back then the people were lean, athletic, muscular, and strong. Since then we have had the agricultural revolution which caused us to stop being nomads and start harvesting grains and creating cities. The problem is that the result has gotten us to a 66% overweight population, and 33% obesity rate.
It seems logical that the people way back in the day were doing something right, so might as well give it a try.
What You Can & Can’t Eat
The foods that you can enjoy in this diet are basically anything that a caveman would have been able to find or gather. Foods in this category are:
- Fish
- Chicken
- Bacon
- Seeds
- Nuts
- Berries
- Vegetables, etc.
The foods that are banned are:
- Grains
- Cereals
- Rice
- Bread
- Milk
- Pasta
- Processed foods, etc.
Now I know you’re looking at the banned foods and you’re making a funny face. Milk?!?! Really?? The logic behind that one is that we are the only creatures in the animal kingdom that drink milk beyond infancy. Paleo is against any sugars unless it’s coming from fruits. Milk is pretty high in sugar, so it’s usually substituted with almond milk.
You may also be wondering about whole wheats. Why would that be banned? It has a ton of health benefits! It’s got dietary fiber, some protein, folic acid, and helps reduce cholesterol. It’s still banned because you wouldn’t be able to find it as a hunter gatherer.
What Is So Good About This?
The good thing about eating strict Paleo food is that you can basically eat as much as you want and you will eventually find yourself at a healthy weight. Provided that you are physically active throughout the day.
The refined grains and sugars that are not in the diet raise your blood sugar. High blood sugar for an extended period of time is toxic. Insulin is responsible for breaking it down, but it can only do so much. The rest will be stored as fat. The worst case is when your insulin fails and you find yourself with diabetes (I know some people get it genetically, but that’s a whole different topic).
Paleo is a completely gluten free diet. If you don’t end up completely convinced about this diet, you may want to find out if a gluten free diet is right for you.
Basically, the Paleo foods are what our bodies are genetically meant to eat. After all, our DNA has not really changed at all since the times of hunters and gatherers. It’s only our diet that has changed, and it’s obviously for the worse.
There Has To Be A Catch
Nope, there really is no catch. This diet is really legit as long as you can stick with it. That’s probably the hardest part.
The only situation I think the diet would not help, is extremely active athletes who’s goals are to gain a lot of lean muscle and mass. If you are one of these people you probably need more calories than a strict Paleo diet can offer.
For example, Crossfit has basically adopted this diet as its very own. The funny thing is that the top Crossfit athletes who workout multiple times per day don’t use this diet. They eat other high calorie foods that are banned, like peanut butter, and grains. The reason is that they need those calories to perform well.
At the end of the day I think this diet is very logical. Its inspiration makes sense and it produces results. Although, it’s not perfect, and it isn’t for everybody. Most people would benefit from it because it is probably the most nutrient diet that you can find. It forces you to make food choices a priority. The only people who would have trouble with this diet are ones that want to gain weight, or take in a ton of calories. I hope this article was informative and revealed the Paleo diet and its reasoning. If you liked it please share on facebook or twitter. If I didn’t cover any questions that you have please let me know. I will get back to you in no time.
About Adam Pegg
