CHAPTER 1-WHAT IS THIS THING THE
PALEO DIET?
Currently a lot of people are talking about the paleo diet; some people also refer to it as the caveman diet. Well this may be true due to the fact that it originated from our ancient ancestors.
Humans have changed drastically in times of technology, culture and diet. On this particular discussion, our interest is on diet. After the Neolithic period, humans started practicing agriculture hence a variety of ingredients become available for consumption changing our diet immensely.
Paleo eaters argue that as much as our environment have changed, our bodies have not had any change compared to our ancestors with our genes having changed by a mere 0.001% therefore our diets should not change as well. Modern foods have been associated with a lot of medical conditions such as cancer due to the ingredients they contain while they may be tasty and appealing, natural foods are healthier.
This brings us to the popular question, what exactly is the paleo diet?
This is a low sugar, high protein and low sodium diet that is meant to provide optimum health by following in our ancestors footsteps who lived in the Paleolithic age. The basic principle about this diet is optimum health but is also a good alternative if your aim is to lose weight.
A lot of evidence has been found to prove that our ancestors had the finest health and this is attributed to their diet. Different people may have various definitions to answer this question but there are similarities in all these definitions i.e. minimally processed, locally available, in-season foods. A good way to also define this diet is by saying what it is not i.e. paleo diet is not any industrial refined oil, sugar, dairy, alcohol etc.
Pastured, free-range chicken, grass-fed beef and anything organic are the most preferred foods for a paleo dieter. In terms of proteins, seafood/fish, poultry, lean meats, wild game are favored because they contain less saturated fats unlike processed meats.
When it comes to nuts or seeds, the ones with the most concentration of omega-3 i.e. walnuts, macadamia, almonds and cashews are the best. Fruits with low glycemic index e.g. tomatoes, melons, onions and broccoli are favored unlike modern fruits to be large and look good. Herbs and spices are recommended regardless of whether they have been processes since they are organic anyways i.e. vinegar.
Fast foods or foods in flashy wrappers are attractive, sweet and tempting; I bet you always salivate when you walk past a fast food café. The smell of fries, burgers and a drink of cold soda, well it is completely normal to feel that way (almost everyone feels that) but after trying Paleo for about 6 months, you would be surprised that a diet soda tastes very different than what you used to know, you can literally taste all the chemicals in it.
The paleo diet is growing daily as more people are getting concerned with what they eat, we are looking for ways to prevent or lose weight. By recreating our early human diet, we are getting in touch with the ancient taste while reaping all the benefits that come with it. I believe this has answered the question, what exactly is the paleo diet and a couple of the foods recommended.