Paleo Diet
Sally Perkins identifies the positive health effects of the Paleo Diet.
Earlier this year, the Telegraph reported on the growing concern of Britain's obesity crisis, with the latest figures stating that a quarter of the English population is obese. Paleo Britain, the UK's best source for all things paleo, stays that 2015 saw a significant increase in the number of people turning towards a paleo lifestyle. However, there is still room for improvement across the UK, with a greater focus on education about food and its effects on the body.
There is a vast amount of choice available to us these days, a great deal of which is not essential to a healthy diet. One answer may lie in going back to where it all started, the stone age. Then there was access to certain foods and processing options and when the food came from natural, organic sources. Eating this way is still an option with the increasingly popular Paleo diet, spicing up the original caveman menu with plenty of delicious paleo diet recipes now available.
Explaining the Paleo Diet
The idea of the Paleo diet is that it focuses on only eating the foods that our hunter-gatherer forefathers would have consumed. Red meat, game, and poultry are allowed to take up to 25% of your diet and as much fish as you want. Since wild game lives a natural life and grazes from the land, it has the most natural, additive-free meat possible, ideal for the perfectly primal and paleo meat lifestyle. Nuts and seeds are fine due to the amount of protein they contain. Sugar is avoided, so although fruit and vegetables are allowed, fruits low in sugar, such as apples, are encouraged, and potatoes are not allowed since they have a high glycaemic index.
As well as sugar being banned from the diet, dairy, grains, and legumes are also not allowed. The reason grains and legumes are restricted from the diet is because they are believed to contain sticky, sugar-binding proteins that wreak havoc on the gut.
The Health and Fitness Benefits
Reducing your processed food intake, full of bad quality fats, additives, and excess salt is unsurprising not great for your health. Replacing this with nutritious, natural food means that your calorie consumption is effortlessly reduced while the volume of food can remain the same. The increase in protein and fibre also leaves you feeling fuller, resulting in less desire to snack in between meals.
The Paleo diet is credited with having a significant impact on overall health, including improved mood, better digestion,
lowered levels of systemic inflammation resulting in reduced risk of chronic disease, and increased energy.
Increased amounts of protein, vegetables, and healthy fats, which the Paleo diet promotes, are no bad thing. If appropriately approached by eating free-range, grass-fed meat, you can benefit from its improved hormone profile and omega 3:6 ratio. The increased energy levels teamed with the higher amount of protein the Paleo diet caters to create a super foundation to build a fitness regime.
The Paleo diet is more of a lifestyle than merely about restrictions, with everything in moderation being a key feature. This attitude makes it an achievable diet that you are likely to be able to stick to, allowing you to maintain that trimmer figure.
Page Reference
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- PERKINS, S. (2017) Paleo Diet [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article275.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Sally Perkins is a professional freelance writer with years' experience across many different areas. She moved freelance from a stressful corporate job and loves the work-life balance it offers her. When not at work, Sally enjoys reading, hiking, spending time with her family, and travelling as much as possible.