Paleo Diet Pros And Cons

The Paleo diet is a diet that is based on eating foods that were available to ancient man thousands of years ago. These were early humans also known as hunter gatherers, who hunted game for meat sources and ate food foraged from forested areas. Hunter gatherers were not cultivators of grains and did not have fields of wheat, corn, and rye as a source of food.

The idea behind a Paleo diet is that, since men and women of that era suffered from low rates of obesity and its associated diseases, theirs is a diet worth reproducing in modern times.

 

What To Eat In A Paleo Diet

Foods that are okay to be consumed in a Paleo diet include eating grass-fed meats, any type of seafood or fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds (which could have been gathered by ancient peoples), eggs, and healthy oils derived from plant sources.

Healthy oils are those like walnut oil, macadamia nut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil, and coconut oil, these are considered okay on Paleo because they come from plant sources. 

Foods to avoid in a Paleo diet are mainly foods that were unavailable to ancient man because they didn’t cultivate grains, nor did they keep domesticated animals to produce dairy products.

In a Paleo diet, you should avoid eating legumes (such as peanuts, which are harvested from the ground), cereal grains, dairy products, any type of refined sugar, processed foods, potatoes (also a food that had to be cultivated and harvested), salt, and vegetable oils made from refined sources and of course sweets.

 

The Pros Of A Paleo Diet

Many believe the Paleo diet is the way to go if you want to lose weight. In fact, the Paleo diet contains a lot of fruits and vegetables, which are naturally low in fat and calories. These foods are supplemented by healthy oils and grass-fed meats that provide you with the protein you need to build muscle and to use in cellular processes.

The Paleo diet does not allow many foods that are outright bad for you, such as sugar, salt, and processed foods. Ancient man had no access to those things (except those who lived near saltwater sources). They also had no access to trans fats, which are found in many prepackaged foods you find at the grocery store. Trans fats are used to preserve pre-processed foods but have been linked to the development of heart disease.

The biggest advantage of the Paleo diet is that it contains natural foods that are filled with nutrients and that don’t have a great many calories in them. The full range of complex carbohydrates and protein are found in this diet so you won’t be limited in getting the nutrients you need.

The Cons Of A Paleo Diet

The Paleo diet isn’t for everyone. It does not contain dairy products, for example, which are high in calcium and vitamin D for good bone growth. You can get calcium in certain green vegetables such as spinach, but you need to eat a lot of it to add up to the calcium you will find in dairy products. 

The paleo diet is also high in saturated fats, which are considered by some to be linked to heart disease. The reason ancient man got very little heart disease is because they were active and kept a normal weight. If you eat a paleo diet and are overweight, you just might put yourself at a higher risk of heart disease, especially if you eat a lot of red meats.

Summary

If you are interested in losing weight and eating a fairly healthy diet, you can choose the Paleo diet in order to lose the weight while still eating healthy. It is not for everyone, however, and many enjoy the whole grains that aren’t allowed in the paleo diet.