Paleo Diet for Beginners: The Do’s and Don’ts

The Paleo diet is the caveman diet. This diet comprises the food items that our ancestors used in the Paleolithic era. It revolves around the concept that the paleo diet is our native diet – our body is designed to accept that diet. Our dietary habits have been evolved over time. Formerly, meat covered the major portion of the daily diet of humans; but nowadays, it isn’t and you can see we are suffering from diverse health problems. Our health issues are the direct consequence of what we eat and what we don’t. Paleo diet consists of meat, nuts, vegetables, fruits, and roots; it restricts the use of dairy items, cereal grains, legumes, processed oil, salts, alcohol, and sugar.  ¹

One solution for solving major health problems is adopting the Paleo diet. There is scientific evidence that proves the beneficial impact of the Paleo diet on the body. Even when you consume the Paleo diet for a short time period, it improves your blood pressure, lipid profile, and glucose tolerance reduces the secretion of insulin and enhances insulin sensitivity.²

Do’s and Don’ts of Paleo Diet

What to eat and what not to eat? Which diet is healthy? How can we achieve perfect health? How to lose weight by remaining healthy? What is the secret to a healthy life? There is a single answer to all these questions: eat what your genes are designed to accept. In other words, feast on the paleo diet and provide your body what it needs more.

Over 2.6 million years ago, do’s and don’ts of our ancestors’ diet are:

Do’s of Paleo Diet:

Eat Lots of Meat:

Seafood and lean meat covered the major part of the diet of Paleolithic people. They hunted animals for their meat. Well, many types of research might try to convince you that meat is not good for your health as it causes long-term health problems. But if you search deeply, you will find methodological limitations in those studies. There are many scientific studies that strongly suggest that eating red meat is healthy for you as it positively impacts your lipid profile. ³

Have Egg Rich Meals:

It is healthy to add eggs to your diet. ⁴ Formerly, eggs were considered to be unhealthy for the heart’s health⁵ but there are studies that have proven it wrong.⁶ Egg breakfast leads to healthy weight loss and improves overall health.⁷

Consume Diverse Kinds of Fruits and Vegetables

No one can deny the importance of fruits and vegetables. They are the food products on which vegetarians and non-vegetarians don’t fight. For the Paleolithic people, fruits and vegetables were the major sources of carbohydrates in the diet. Their carbohydrate consumption level was lower i.e. 22-40% than the modern diet recommendation i.e. 45-65%, and their level is now suggested as the healthier one. ¹ Add as much variety of fruit and vegetable as you can to your daily diet.

Have Healthy Fats:

People mistook the Paleo diet as a low-carb diet. Although, the Paleo diet also says to have low carbs; healthy fat consumption makes the difference. The Paleo diet only allows the consumption of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The rich sources of monounsaturated fats are olive oil, avocados, nuts, and canola oil. Polyunsaturated fats are found in fish oil, nuts, and seeds. ¹

Don’ts of Paleo Diet:

Avoid Dairy Products:

 Think about taming a wild animal and then milking it! Could you do that? No… and neither could your ancestor. They don’t have farm animals to get the milk and make diary items. Many nutritionists say that adding dairy products to the diet improves bone development. But to your surprise, there are scientific studies that have proven that dairy products produce no impact on bone health. A study found that women consuming a high amount of milk had a higher fracture rate than the women who didn’t have a diet rich in dairy items.⁸  

Pregnant cows have higher levels of hormones: estrogen and progesterone. When you drink milk having an increased amount of these hormones, you become more prone to developing different types of cancer. ⁹ If there are scientific studies proving the health benefits of milk and its derivatives, then there are studies as well which deny them. So, who to believe? Our ancestors survived though without dairy foods, so can we.

Say No to Sugar and Salt

In the Paleolithic era, honey was the only refined sugar they had. Fructose was another form of sugar they consumed – it is the sugar present in fruits. So, no processed sugar should be consumed. Also, they didn’t have salt to add taste to their food and you should avoid it as well. ¹  

Don’t Consume Cereal Grains:

At that time, grains were considered as starvation food. They didn’t eat grains and they were smarter than us. Recent scientific studies have found that cereal grains lead to chronic inflammation and auto-immune diseases. Cereal grains contain wheat lectin and gluten that are harmful to health. ¹⁰

Processed Foods Are Forbidden:

Processed or artificially produced meat and oil should be totally avoided. ¹

If a machine requires fuel to run and you add water to it? Will it work? Obviously no! Or you can add the impure fuel; the machine will run for sure but with lower efficiency and its lifespan will reduce as well. We are the machines designed by nature and we also need the right food to live healthily - our best available option today is the Paleo diet. 

References:

1.     Cordain, L. (2007). The paleo diet: lose weight and get healthy by eating the food you were designed to eat. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

2.  Frassetto, L. A., Schloetter, M., Mietus-Synder, M., Morris, R. C., & Sebastian, A. (2009). Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. European journal of clinical nutrition, 63(8), 947-955.

3.McAfee, A. J., McSorley, E. M., Cuskelly, G. J., Moss, B. W., Wallace, J. M., Bonham, M. P., & Fearon, A. M. (2010). Red meat consumption: An overview of the risks and benefits. Meat science, 84(1), 1-13.

4.  Ruxton, C. (2010). Recommendations for the use of eggs in the diet. Nursing Standard, 24(37), 47-55.

5. Weggemans, R. M., Zock, P. L., & Katan, M. B. (2001). Dietary cholesterol from eggs increases the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in humans: a meta-analysis. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 73(5), 885-891.

6. McNamara, D. J. (2002). Eggs and heart disease risk: perpetuating the misperception. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 75(2), 333-334.

7.Vander Wal, J. S., Gupta, A., Khosla, P., & Dhurandhar, N. V. (2008). Egg breakfast enhances weight loss. International Journal of Obesity, 32(10), 1545-1551

8.  Feskanich, D., Willett, W. C., Stampfer, M. J., & Colditz, G. A. (1997). Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a 12-year prospective study. American journal of public health, 87(6), 992-997.

9. Ganmaa, D., & Sato, A. (2005). The possible role of female sex hormones in milk from pregnant cows in the development of breast, ovarian and corpus uteri cancers. Medical hypotheses, 65(6), 1028-1037.

10. De Punder, K., & Pruimboom, L. (2013). The dietary intake of wheat and other cereal grains and their role in inflammation. Nutrients, 5(3), 771-787.