The Paleo Diet is meant to help you lose weight with the simple concept of foods being either "in" or "out." You choose foods that were available during the Paleolithic era, such as meat, eggs, fish, roots, vegetables, berries and mushrooms. You eschew processed foods along with foods that came along after agriculture and animal husbandry were adopted such as sugar, added salt, dairy, grains and all processed or fast foods. You drink water and eliminate all other beverages, except perhaps organic green tea and coconut water. The basic theory behind the Paleo Diet is that your body is evolutionarily and genetically and designed to thrive on caveman-era foods. The diet is purported to have several benefits, though you need to check with a doctor before trying it.
Fiber
The Paleo Diet advocates eating whole foods and is naturally high in fiber. Dietary fiber is necessary in a healthy diet, according to the experts at the Mayo Clinic. Fiber reduces the chance of constipation, helps to lower cholesterol and also lowers your risk for coronary heart disease and diabetes. Fiber also is a weight-loss aid.
Weight Loss
The low-carbohydrate nature of the diet plan can help you lose weight, notes the Diets in Review website. Low-carb diets outpace conventional low-calorie, low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets, at least during the first six months, says G.D. Foster, lead author for a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The differences between the two diets were not significant at the one year point, Foster found in a controlled trial of both men and women. The low-carb diet was associated with more improvement in some coronary heart disease risk factors, Foster notes.
Allergen Absence
This diet is naturally casein and gluten free, notes Diets in Review. Both gluten and casein allergies have a genetic basis and spark immunological responses, according to the Gluten Free Casein Free website. Both casein and gluten are proteins, with casein coming from dairy and gluten from wheat. Milk and wheat are among the eight foods that account for 90 percent of food allergic reactions, notes The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, shellfish and soy are the others.
Potential Health Benefits
The diet may put you in synch with your genetic requirements and thus boost your health if its theory is correct, says Jack Challem in the Nutrition Reporter article "Paleolithic Nutrition: Your Future is Your Dietary Past." Eating a modern diet, on the other hand, makes you more susceptible to cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and many other modern-day diseases, says Challem, also the author of "Stop Prediabetes Now" and "The Inflammation Syndrome." Agriculture was introduced just 10,000 years ago, with people starting to refine grains and sugar about 1900 with the advent of the Industrial Age. From a genetic perspective that means 100,000 generations survived as hunter-gatherers, 500 generations utilized agriculture, 10 generations have followed the industrial age, and only a couple of generations have been exposed to highly processed and fast food. If nothing else, the diet eliminates foods that are known to increase risk for many of these health conditions. The American Heart Association recommends you eat fewer processed and fast foods that are of little nutritional value, or nutrient poor, including those with hydrogenated oils and trans fats, foods with added sugar and foods with lots of salt.
References
- Diets in Review: Paleo Diet
- PubMed: "New England Journal of Medicine;" A randomized trial of a low-carbohydrate diet for obesity; G.D. Foster; 2003
- "Nutrition Reporter:" Paleolithic Nutrition: Your Future Is In Your Dietary Past; Jack Challem; 1997
- Mayo Clinic: Fiber
- The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network: Allergens
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