Paleo Diet: why is it so popular and what is it?
The Paleo Diet consists of lean Meats fish vegetables and fruits as well as nuts and other items such as that the logic behind it was to follow a similar dietary plan to our ancestors around the earth from 2.5 million to 10000 years ago. The Paleo Diet has become a popular choice in recent years and in this article will explore how you can implement it into your current diet and lifestyle.
Farming changed the way we eat as humans With the establishment of things such as dairy, And the introduction of legumes nuts and other dietary changes, the hypotheses is that these changes have outpaced the human body’s ability to adapt. Mismatch is credited with the prevalence of obesity in modern Society. The belief is that the change in diet has also had some further negative impacts on our overall health such as heart disease and diabetes among others.
There are a number of reasons why people would want to take up a paleo diet with the obvious choice being for health reasons and weight loss.
Some versions of the Paleo Diet are stricter than others here is a guideline of what can be eaten as part of the Paleo Diet…
What you can eat
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Nuts
- Fish – high in Omega 3 oils
- Lean meat such as chicken or wild game
What to avoid
- Grains, such as wheat, oats and barley
- Legumes, such as beans, lentils, peanuts and peas
- Dairy products
- Refined sugar
- Salt
- Potatoes
- Highly processed foods in general
A number of randomized clinical trials have compared the paleo diet to other eating plans, such as the Mediterranean Diet or the Diabetes Diet. Overall, these trials suggest that a paleo diet may provide some benefits when compared with diets of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, legumes and low-fat dairy products. These benefits may include:
- More weight loss
- Improved glucose tolerance
- Better blood pressure control
- Lower triglycerides
- Better appetite management
However, longer trials with large groups of people randomly assigned to different diets are needed to understand the long-term, overall health benefits and possible risks of a paleo diet.
A paleo diet is rich in vegetables, fruits and nuts — all elements of a healthy diet.
The primary difference between the paleo diet and other healthy diets is the absence of whole grains and legumes, which are considered good sources of fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. Also absent from the diet are dairy products, which are good sources of protein and calcium.
These foods not only are considered healthy but also are generally more affordable and accessible than such foods as wild game, grass-fed animals and nuts. For some people, a paleo diet may be too expensive.
Questions about the paleo diet hypothesis
Researchers have argued that the underlying hypothesis of the paleo diet may oversimplify the story of how humans adapted to changes in diet. Arguments for a more-complex understanding of the evolution of human nutritional needs include the following:
Variations in diet based on geography, climate and food availability — not only the transition to farming — also would have shaped the evolution of nutritional needs.
Archaeological research has demonstrated that early human diets may have included wild grains as much as 30,000 years ago — well before the introduction of farming.
Genetic research has shown that notable evolutionary changes continued after the Paleolithic era, including diet-related changes, such as an increase in the number of genes related to the breakdown of dietary starches.
Conclusion
A paleo diet may help you to lose weight or maintain a healthier weight. It may also have other beneficial health effects. However, there are no long-term clinical studies about the benefits and potential risks of the diet.
You might be able to achieve the same health benefits by getting enough exercise and eating a balanced, healthy diet with a lot of fruits and vegetables.