The Paleo Diet is the Natural Way to Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Weight

The Paleo Diet is completely natural to the human body. It is made up of foods that were available to the very first people. I've seen estimates that the earliest humans had a genetic makeup 99.9% the same as ours.  It's probably 100%.  Either way, we can safely surmise that our nutritional needs now are the same as theirs were back then.

The Earth before grocery stores provided early man with all of the nutrients and antioxidants the body needs.

Also known as the Caveman Diet, this diet is all about eating the foods that sustained human life for about 99.6% of man’s existence. They are the foods that kept humans lean and mean from 2.6 million years ago until 10,000 years ago when agriculture came along.

All Natural

Studies show that compared to the later Neolithic man, Paleo man enjoyed significantly better overall health, dental health, and a longer lifespan. Many believe diet had a lot to do with it.

You can read all about the Neolithic Revolution whenever you want, but the headline is that's when man started moving away from primarily hunting and gathering, and began farming.  Early farming introduced a diet where grains were featured a lot more.

The foods available Paleo man, paleo foods, were all organic, natural, wild, and seasonal.

Compare The Paleo Diet to the Typical Modern Diet

The Paleolithic period was before the advent of agriculture so there were really no grains to speak of. That would suggest the human body doesn’t need grains for a healthy diet. But what do we eat all the time now?

Try this. Keep an accurate food journal for two weeks and then take a good look at it. There is a good chance you will see processed meats, grains, fats, dairy products, and sugars everywhere.

The Paleo Diet replaces those kinds of foods with foods such as:

• unprocessed meats
• seafood
• leafy vegetables
• fruit
• eggs
• nuts
• seeds

All of which without preservatives, growth hormones, or insecticides.

When you take a look at a paleo food list, you’ll notice a lot of things missing that you are probably very used to eating like bread, cereal, rice, pasta, diary, and legumes. But focus on what stays the same. The list still has a lot of things you know and love.

The paleo diet might take a little getting used to. So set yourself up for success and phase in some changes. Start by making a few meals a week from paleo foods.  Easy recipes and lunch ideas pages are coming soon to help you learn how to make foods you like!

In the meantime, here are just a few resources that you can learn a lot from.

Helpful Resources

Weight Loss and Other Health Benefits

As you look into the Paleo Diet more, you will see some pretty amazing claims. The right diet has actually been known to reverse certain health problems such as allergies, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, acne, arthritis, high blood pressure, depression, and almost anything else you can think of.

By comparison, eating large amounts of grains, even whole grains, has been linked to metabolic diseases caused by insulin resistance like diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

The right diet can even lower body acidity. Why is that good? When the kidneys can’t neutralize excess acid, the body can grow obese and have lowered immunity. That leaves it vulnerable to disease and bacteria.

Worse yet, acid coagulates the blood with fatty acids. Blood coagulated with acids cannot reach the capillaries in the skin. And skin that no longer has full access to blood capillaries because of that coagulation will sag and wrinkle over time.

The corollary is lower body acidity helps keep blood un-coagulated. That allows blood to flow to the capillaries. That keeps your skin looking younger and healthier.

A better looking body and better looking skin? Maybe this is worth a 30 day trial...

Those are great benefits, but what do you hear the most from people who give this diet an honest shot? The biggest praises you will hear are the improvements in mood, energy, and the natural, automatic return to a healthy weight.

Be aware that some people report a run down feeling when they first start this diet. (not this guy) That could be the result of several things. They may just not be eating enough which is a very common mistake. Or their bodies may be simply adjusting to the change.

Give it a real chance though and you’ll see that a diet based on the foods available to people of the Stone Age can actually make you look better, feel better, and be healthier.

Phasing It In

The paleo diet is well worth learning more about. It’s the natural way to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. In fact, not just a healthy weight, but better health overall.

Learn what is out there, try some of it, and find what works best for you. 

Try some easy recipes to start off with. Adopt what works. There are plenty of inexpensive resources available that will give you lots of excellent ideas for delicious and healthy meals.

For me, I started with my breakfast.  I used to eat cereal every morning.  I decided to switch to egg whites (with a little salsa) and spinach.  That change and nothing else caused about 5 pounds of fat to drop off over the course of a few weeks.