Get deeper insights to know more about the Paleolithic diet, straight from the experts!
"The Paleolithic Diet as it has come to be known is simplicity itself. Limit your purchases at the supermarket to the outside aisles (produce, seafood, meat) and you are about 85 percent of the way there." – Dr Loren Cordain, founder of the Paleo Movement.
The popularly used term "Paleo" is an abbreviation of Paleolithic, referring to the Paleolithic Era of around 2.5 million years ago. The paleolithic diet is therefore based on eating the food that would have been available to our Paleolithic or "caveman" ancestors and avoiding all forms of modern cuisine that would have been unavailable to hunter-gatherers of that time. In a nutshell, it’s a healthy eating meals that focuses on eating good quality natural foods and cutting out unhealthy processed foods that have little or no nutritional value. The foods included in a paleolithic meal are the ancient foods our bodies were designed to be able to digest easily while "on the move" and the food avoided are those that only came into our diet as a result of modern-day farming practices.
The popularly used term "Paleo" is an abbreviation of Paleolithic, referring to the Paleolithic Era of around 2.5 million years ago. The paleolithic diet is therefore based on eating the food that would have been available to our Paleolithic or "caveman" ancestors and avoiding all forms of modern cuisine that would have been unavailable to hunter-gatherers of that time. In a nutshell, it’s a healthy eating meals that focuses on eating good quality natural foods and cutting out unhealthy processed foods that have little or no nutritional value. The foods included in a paleolithic meal are the ancient foods our bodies were designed to be able to digest easily while "on the move" and the food avoided are those that only came into our diet as a result of modern-day farming practices.
However, it’s worth noting that there are many Paleo food variations and there is no one definitive meal in terms of what should or
should not be included. Our "caveman" ancestors survived on the cuisine that were readily available to them and availability was, of course, determined
by location. It’s a common misconception that a paleolithic diet is a low-carb meal plan,
but while some hunter-gatherer groups would have lived on a diet of low-carb
food, other groups in different locations would have had easy access to
high-carb foods such as coconuts, tubers and fish.
Where you live will inevitably influence your food choices
when choosing to live a Paleo lifestyle. Sourcing good quality, locally grown
produce is at the heart of any Paleo-based regimen and eating the best produce
available in your area in terms of both accessibility and affordability is an
important element of adhering to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
A paleolithic diet is generally higher in daily protein and fat
intake and lower in carbohydrate intake than the current figures promoted by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its current healthy eating
guidelines. Acccording to the USDA, a balanced daily diet should consist of 60
percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fats, and 10 percent protein, but a
Paleo-based cuisine generally includes a higher percentage of protein and
"healthy" fat (including saturated fats considered
"unhealthy" by USDA standards) and therefore a lower percentage of
carbohydrates. paleolithic sources of protein are lean meats, preferably from
grass-fed animals, and sources of "healthy" fats in the form of
omega-3 essential fatty acids are found in fish. The USDA promotes whole grains
and starchy food such as bread, pasta and potatoes as the main sources of
carbohydrates in a balanced diet but the main sources of carbohydrates in a paleolithic diet are fruits and vegetables, ensuring you also consume a rich source
of health-promoting micro-nutrients in the form of vitamins and minerals.
By avoiding all processed and packaged food, and by cutting
grains and other modern farmed foods from your diet, you create a daily diet of cuisine that would be instantly recognizable as foods to our paleolithic ancestors, and that’s essentially what going "Primal" is all about.
As Dr. Cordain, the founder of the Paleo diet says, it’s all about "eating
the foods to which we are genetically adapted."
For more interesting articles on paleo for weight loss, continue exploring this blog....
For more interesting articles on paleo for weight loss, continue exploring this blog....
