Tuesday, 22 May 2012

The Paleo Diet


The paleo diet is an eating regime often referred to as the cave man diet. Unlike common understanding indicates, it doesn't mean you have to spend your whole life acting like a caveman. It is, in effect, ridding your diet of MODERN foods and concentrating on foods that were available to paleolithic man.

This is, theoretically, before the agricultural harvest and processing of grains and dairy. It is also before the time man started to process foods to make them "tastier" and "fortifying" them.

The emphasis is on healthy whole foods. In short:


Okay To Eat    Avoid
Fruits                                  Dairy
Vegetables                                  Grains
Lean Meats                                  Processed Food & Sugars
Seafood                                  Legumes
Nuts & Seeds                                  Starches
Healthy Fats                                  Alcohol

The paleo movement is much more than a diet, its a lifestyle and there are more people joining it every day.

There are some great writers on the subject and some very intelligent people involved in the movement. The paleo movement is also very anti contemporary nutritional belief. For further reading on the subject:

http://ecosalon.com/is-the-paleo-diet-really-the-solution-for-a-better-body/

See also:

Robb Wolf's site
Loren Cordain's site

If you are interested in taking up the diet/lifestyle, google "paleo recipes" for inspiration. The internet is stocked up with great recipes.

Train Smart, Charlie

3 comments:

MattM76 said...

I would urge you to also check out:

http://whole9life.com
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/buy-our-book/

Both are run by very smart people who approach nutrition from a 'what is good for you' point of view rather than a 'what did our ancestors eat'. There is a lot of crossover but you end up armed with much more knowledge.

The perfect health diet has some great information on regular ketogenic fasts.

Charlie Denning said...

Brilliant links. Thank you.

I sometimes think that "Paleo" is not a great way of describing this diet. Its misleading. This way of eating is very well researched and the science of eating and health has been laid bare for all to read by the experts.

I hope this movement starts getting more mainstream approval as it has the potential to do great things for public health.

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