Paleo is Not a Fad

It’s starting to get under my skin when I hear people refer to the Paleo diet as some fad that has just popped up on loose women, it is not some far fetched radical way of eating that only wierdos do when they’re charging up their magic crystals in the jungle. IT’S THE FUEL THAT SHAPED US ALL TO BECOME THE FUNCTIONING HUMAN BEINGS WE ARE TODAY!

Here is a quick rant on the paleo diet and then why it should not be put in the same category as, Atkins, Carb back loading, intermittent fasting among other “diets”. It’s a way of eating that our bodies can handle and should be the basis of ALL eating habits by every day people to athletes and also fad diets included!

Paleo is the shortened term for Paleolithic which basically means the time before agriculture. It has taken millions of years for our bodies to evolve into the miracle we are today and do you think that happened on Cheerios and cheeseburgers.

No! We are not designed or have not yet evolved to digest so called food groups like grains and cereals because the very way these “foods” are designed is for humans not to eat them. Would you walk through a field of wheat, look at piece and go Oooooooo I’ll put a bit of milk on that and have it first thing when I wake up and then later on I will make two flat square pieces or errmmm what should I call it…….. Ah bread! to place real food inside it and call it a sandwich. Then to really mess my insides up, I will finish off the day by turning it into some long stringy stuff, put it with some meat, cook it in some processed altered oil and call it spag bol! Up to 80% of the population have a some sort of intolerance to gluten without even realising it! As a caveman, non of this would have been a problem, we were hunter gatherers for a very long time, since evolving from apes and you don’t think apes had a Mc Donalds do you? So again even before that, Paleolithic is nutritionally rich flavourful food that our bodies have adjusted to be able to eat.

Getting back to my original point about people are saying its a diet of such that you will see all the celebs using one week and then not the next. It is not, like I say it should be the basis of all diets that follow. You can do carb back loading on Paleo, intermittent fasting on Paleo and pretty much anything else as long as it involves REAL FOOD.

If you stick to a Paleo way of eating I guarantee the majority will lose weight and definitely feel better within yourself. You will also find that you can eat a lot more and get away with it because with REAL FOOD it is a lot harder to eat as many calories than if your eating cheeseburgers and cake. As for the hype of carbs, if you want to eat some carbs get some sweet potatoes in to you. I’m not going to tell you that you must live on lettuce and broccoli. Experiment, look online for new ideas, you are only limited by your imagination so don’t tell me that there are not enjoyable things to eat on a Paleo way of life.

By all means I am not saying that its not ok to stray from a good Paleo basis now and then by having the odd bowl of ice cream and a drink with friends occasionally or going out for a work meal to an Italian, enjoy your life but you will enjoy it a lot more if you feel fit and healthy. The times when you have to think more about what you eat and what times becomes more apparent when dealing with specific goals such as weight loss, weight gain and athletic performance. For example I will condone carbohydrates like white rice for athletes post workout because of their high demand for immediate energy requirements and it has been taken to a stage where the body can digest it easier making it gluten free and higher G.I to replenish their energy stores quickly.