The Paleo Food Guide
The Ultimate Way to Eat that Stays TRUE to your Genetics
The Paleo diet is healthiest way to that we can eat because it is one of the few nutritional approaches that is compatible with your genetics to help keep you energetic, fit and happy! If you don’t know what the Paleo diet is, the paleo diet runs on the same foods our hunter-gather ancestors supposedly ate: fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, and nuts. "By following these nutritional guidelines, we put our diet more in line with the evolutionary pressures that shaped our current genetics, which in turn positively influences health and wellbeing," says Loren Cordain, PhD, professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University and author of The Paleo Diet.
Health Benefits The diet lessens the body's glycemic load, has a healthy ratio of saturated-tounsaturated fatty acids, increases vitamin and nutrient consumption, and contains an optimal balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. For most people the fact the Paleo diet delivers the best results is all they need. Improved blood lipids, weight loss, and reduced pain from autoimmunity are proof enough. Many people however are not satisfied with blindly following any recommendations, be they nutrition or exercise related. Some folks like to know WHY they are doing something. Fortunately, the Paleo diet has stood not only the test of time, but also the rigors of scientific scrutiny. With a very simple shift we not only remove the foods that are at odds with our health (grains, legumes, and dairy) but we also increase our intake of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Here is a great paper from Professor Loren Cordain exploring how to build a modern Paleo diet: The nutritional characteristics of a contemporary diet based upon Paleolithic food groups. This paper also offers significant insight as to the amounts and ratios of protein, carbohydrate and fat in the ancestral diet.
Paleo comes with community One of the biggest pluses of the paleo diet isn't about nutrition at all—it's about the support paleo eaters give each other. Online community forums, Facebook pages, and even Meetup groups are filled with people living the ancient lifestyle in modern times. You won't find that with many other diets.
No More Grains As Mark from Mark’s Daily Apple points out in his “definitive guide to grains” article: grains cause kind of a funky response in our system. Grains are composed of carbohydrates, and those carbs are turned into glucose (a type of sugar) in our system to be used for energy and various other tasks to help our body function – any glucose that isn’t used as energy is stored as fat. Next, most grains contain gluten and lectins. What are they and what’s wrong with them? I’m so glad you asked:
Gluten is a protein found in things like rye, wheat, and barley. It’s now being said that much of our population may be gluten-intolerant (hence all the new “gluten-free!” items popping up everywhere). Over time, those who are gluten intolerant can develop a dismal array of medical conditions from consuming gluten: dermatitis, joint pain, reproductive problems, acid reflux, and more. Lectins are natural toxins exist within grains to defend against consumption! Yup. Grains have evolved to keep themselves from being eaten by us. These lectins are not a fan of our gastrointestinal tract, prevent the tract from repairing itself from normal wear and tear. This can cause all kinds of damage.
As Mark so eloquently puts it in his article: grains are unhealthy at best, or flat-out dangerous at worst. The Paleo Diet also almost completely eradicates sugar. Unless you’re getting your sugar from a fruit, forget it. Sugar causes an energy spike and crash in your system, turns to fat unless it’s used immediately, and wreaks all kind of havoc on our bodies. So, no grains, no sugar, no processed foods. Whether you’re talking about the paleo diet or not, many studies have shown that an incredible number of diseases and lifestyle issues can be reversed with these three simple changes. Take a look at this time magazine article on cancer patients who switched to a zero-sugar diet and saw positive results
Eat Rich, Juicy, Mouth-Watering Meals that Make Your Friends Jealous... Just imagine, while all your friends are counting calories - suffering through yet another miserable diet... or worse, they're ignorant and eating random/processed food that's aging them at warp speed... ... YOU will be dining on some of the tastiest dishes you've EVER had. Like these.
What About Dairy? Dairy’s a tough one, as most Paleo folks tend to stay away from it – a portion of the world is lactose intolerant, and those that aren’t usually have at least some type of an aversion to it. Why is that? Because no other animal in the entire kingdom drinks milk beyond infancy. Hunter-gatherers didn’t lug cows around with them while traveling – milk was consumed as a baby, and that was it.
As with grains, our bodies weren’t designed for massive dairy consumption. There is evidence that some adaptation to dairy has taken place throughout the years, specifically with people with ancestry in herding cultures, but this is not the majority of the population. Here’s a great read on the benefits/criticisms of dairy. Personally, I’m split on dairy, as I can drink whole milk without any sort of issue and I consider adding it back into my diet when I need to get enough calories to bulk up.
Want to Find Out More About the Paleo Diet and Recipes? If you want to find out loads more about the Paleo diet, Paleo recipes and guides on integrating Paleo into you life then click here. –Highly Recommended It’s time to put maximum nutrition into your body and life a healthier life. With these guides, you'll explode right out of the gate and become absolutely confident and savvy at all things needed to thrive on the Paleo diet.