So what is this Paleo Diet?

Courtesy of Paleohacks.com

The Paleolithic (paleo) diet is an effort to eat like the hunter-gathered caveman and women that existed during the Paleolithic era.  If a caveman couldn’t eat it, than neither can you.

The Paleolithic era, was a period of about 2.5 million years which ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and grain-based diets. As such the paleo diet includes food items that were available prior to the development of agriculture. 

Below is a summary of the Paleolithic diet from the Paleo Plan (http://www.paleoplan.com/2011/09-19/paleo-nutshell) 

• For 2.5 million years we evolved as hunter-gatherers eating meat, fish, eggs, veggies, fruits and nuts until 10,000 years ago when agriculture came along and gave us grains, beans, dairy, vegetable oils and refined sugars.
• Those foods cause digestive problems and chronic inflammation, and they lead to obesity, diabetes and heart disease, among other things.
• With a few exceptions, we still have the same genetic make-up as those hunter-gatherers. Our bodies don’t handle the agricultural foods well.
• By not eating the agricultural foods, you get to go back to your roots, eating the foods you’re designed to eat. People on this diet see major improvements in their health. They lose weight, gain muscle, feel more energetic and stop taking all kinds of medications because their blood pressure improves, blood sugar normalizes and inflammation of all kinds subsides.
• Humans have the ability to subsist on foods that aren’t optimal for health, which is what we’ve been doing for the last 10,000 years. If we want to actually thrive, the Paleolithic diet is the way to eat.
• And no, hunter-gatherers didn’t just live until they were 30 and die brutal deaths. They’ve been known to live for a hundred years or more, free of the modern, chronic diseases we die of now.

So what can and can’t you eat?

• Foods to eat: Lean meats, seafood, nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruit, healthy fats
• Foods to avoid: dairy, processed food and sugars, legumes, starches, alcohol

I do not claim to be an expert on the Paleo Diet just another means of providing information. For more information please see this video put together by Slim is Simple .org: