Isn’t it a great idea to live on foods our stone-age ancestors ate during their times? Surely it is. Let’s delve into the basics of the paleo diet and its health benefits our ancestors enjoyed.
The paleo diet belongs to the paleolithic era of human history. A paleo diet’s basic idea is to eat whole foods as our stone-age forefathers used to eat. The paleolithic era dates from 2.5 million years to 10,000 years ago.
At those times, our hunter-gatherer progenitors used to feed on lean meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits – foods that they could get by hunting and gathering.
Multiple studies have shown that a paleo diet can significantly help lose weight (without calorie counting) and offer other health benefits.
By consuming whole foods and being physically active, they had much lower concerns about lifestyle diseases, such as hypertension, heart diseases, obesity, and diabetes.
This article offers a basic introduction to the paleo diet and its health benefits scientifically proven by research.
What Is A Paleo Diet?
The paleo diet, also known as the ‘caveman diet,’ is a diet planned to flip back to the way of eating as early humans ate. It is a balanced diet with moderate amounts (30%) of fats, carbohydrates 40%, and proteins 30%. The diet can help us achieve our dream physique and health.
The modern diets emerged with farming practices are mismatched with human genetics. This mismatched diet is a main contributing factor to modern lifestyle diseases like obesity and diabetes.
So the paleo diet aims to match our foods with what our body is genetically designed to digest and absorb more easily.
Why Should You Follow Paleo Diet
You might follow the paleo diet if you;
- want to lose your weight (paleo diet to lose weight)
- maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight
- want to plan your meals and dieting
Foods To Eat In Paleo Diet
Many diet plans for the paleo diet are available over the internet. Some of them follow a very rigorous diet plan, while others show some flexibility. In the paleo diet, you might have to avoid legumes, grains, dairy products, etc.
Foods for paleo diet – Here is the list of foods you can eat in the paleo diet plan.
- Lean meats of grass-fed animals
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Seeds and nuts
- Fish specially riched in Omega-3 fatty acid, such as Harrine, Sardine, Salmon, etc.
- Oils from nuts and fruits include pistachio oil, almond oil, coconut oil, etc.
- Eggs
Foods Not To Eat In Paleo Diet
You shouldn’t eat processed foods on a paleo diet. As our forefathers (2 million years ago) were hunter-gatherers and not farmers, so you have to bid goodbye to all wheat and dairy products along with grains and legumes. Some recommendations of the paleo diet are less strict and allow some dairy products as well as legumes.
Some other foods you must avoid in a paleo diet include:
- Refined Sugar including candies, honey, and sweets
- Potatoes ( starchy vegetables )