For those of you who haven't heard of the famous Paleo Diet, also known as the Caveman Diet, here is some information about this way of life that has taken over the world. Is it good for you? Why should you be careful?
It's called the Caveman Diet because its principle is to copy the way our ancestors ate back in the day. In other words, diseases like obesity, diabetes and heart diseases come from modern diets bad habits so we are going back to basics. According to the diet, we should only eat meat, fish, fruits, good fats and vegetables. A diet filled with things we can hunt and collect. Doesn't sound bad, right? But there's a hidden danger you have to know about…
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Paleo makes us eat lean protein, fruits, good fats and veggies. It cannot get healthier than that! And by eliminating all of those things that make us fat, it will translate in losing a great chunk of weight from the beginning. Even better, right?
This diet is as clean as its going to get. So clean, that even most of the "healthy" choices we have, like for example Greek yogurt, are not allowed to be eaten as part of this diet.
However, the real concern comes when you think about the food you cannot eat. The Paleo Diet not only removes certain foods from your diet, like sugar, salt, caffeine, alcohol and most importantly processed foods, but it will take out complete food groups from your diet. No more dairy, carbs, legumes, and grains.
But why is this a serious concern? I know I'm always tell you that you should stay away from dairy, alcohol, salt, sugar and processed foods. But while I do tell you to stay away from these foods, but by completely taking out groups like grains and carbs from of your diet, you are taking away vitamins and nutrients that are very important for your body and overall health.
For example, legumes, and whole grains are proven to help lower the risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. It can also reduce blood pressure, and help you maintain a healthy weight. If you don't eat these foods, those are benefits you won't get. Nothing will help prevent these health problems like these foods will. And we want to live healthy getting as many nutrients as we can get.
Not everything is bad for this diet though. It makes you eat so clean that if you have health conditions like diabetes and stomach problems trying it to some extent may help you control these problems.
It really is one of those types of diets that you need to be very careful with because it can be good, but at the same time it could be a bad decision for you. For this reason I recommend that you visit your physician and consult him about the diet and if it can be good for you and your health conditions.
*This post was originally published on December 5, 2013.
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