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What is a Paleo Diet?
You’ve probably heard about the paleo diet because of its growing popularity these days but haven’t had a chance to know what it really is. The paleo diet is also known as the caveman diet, primal diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet. You may be wondering now what a caveman eats?
The guideline is this:
Fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, and nuts. Taking the plunge in following this guideline may look easy but is really a challenging one when you’re not used to it and if you’re only starting. It takes a lot of thinking and deciding before you jump into this type of diet, after all most of us grew up loving certain foods. If you’re willing to try the paleo diet go ahead and have a trial run for a month, after that assess yourself and ask if you can do it more than a month or even make it your new lifestyle.
People who are into the paleo diet have different reasons for trying it and experience different results too. One thing’s for sure, it can make you look good and feel better about yourself because of certain foods you’ll be cutting out such as wheat.
Here is a list of benefits why the paleo diet is one of the best diets you may ever experience:
1. Real Food
Paleo diet is all about real, whole foods. It is all about eliminating preservatives, hidden sugars, sodium, additives, artificial colourings and flavourings in your diet.
This also means eliminating toxins and other unknown chemicals out from your body. Real, whole foods is the summary of delicious and healthy diet.
2. Nutrient Packed Diet
The paleo diet contains numerous nutrients like vitamins and minerals your body will love! Paleo is not all protein and fat, it is in fact loaded with nutrients that comes from fruits and vegetable and other healthy sources such as nuts, seeds and berries.
3. Weight Loss
Weight loss and muscle growth is highly evident on people who are on paleo diet matched with an active lifestyle. Healthy eating plus healthy lifestyle leads to better gut health and an improvement in metabolic processes. Other positive results include good sleep, stress management, getting enough Vitamin D and a healthy ratio of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids that assists in burning stored body fats.
4. Rich in Fibre
The paleo diet is rich in fibre that can help improve the gut flora which is important in keeping healthy digestion, improving wellbeing and reducing bloating. Adequate water intake and can also help a lot when you are following the paleo diet. Just make sure to drink at least 8 glasses of purified water every day, especially when you are eating more fibre or you’ll end up constipated.
5. Less Allergies
The paleo diet encourages that you minimise foods with known allergens. This diet doesn’t involve eating any whole grains and though many people question this, the reason for this is there are people incapable of digesting grains*.
*Grains are not inherently bad, it is how they are prepared and their source that matters! If you use organic grains and you soak (and even ferment) them, they can be very healthy! Obviously though, when on paleo, grains are out.
6. Good for the Brain
Cold water fish like wild-caught salmon is one of the best sources of protein and fat. It is also loaded with omega 3 fatty acids that contains DHA very important for the eyes, heart, and most of all for brain development.
7. Power
Eating the right kind of food gives you the energy you need to sustain you whole day through. What else can give you the power that you need to work and exercise but fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and healthy meat.
8. Healthy Fats
Paleo diet highly recommends eating healthy saturated fat from grass fed meat, poultry, seafood, ghee, and coconuts. Most monounsaturated fat comes from olive oil, nuts and seeds. Having the right types of fat are essential to maintain a healthy heart, brain and skin.
Other reasons why paleo diet is the best includes the following:
1. Improved sleep
2. Healthier looking hair and skin
3. Increased mental alertness
4. Improved mood and helps to prevent depression and anxiety attacks
5. Increased fitness
6. Lowers risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer
7. Stronger immune system
8. Reduction of pain associated with inflammation
9. Improvement in the respiratory system especially asthma
10. Better absorption of nutrients
That's a lot of reasons to go paleo! 👏🏻
*Disclaimer: the information in this article is intended purely as information and not health advice. It is not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure and one should always seek expert advice from their trusted health practitioner.
