Ultimate Guide to Paleo Diet

Dieting is not everybody’s cup of tea as it takes a lot of dedication and self control. These days so many types of diets are gaining popularity. Among them is the Paleo Diet. But how much do you actually know about it?

Not everyone who wishes to lose weight can give up on their favorite delicacies in the name of a diet. We understand that it is difficult to fight with those difficult sweet tooth moments when we have to maintain a safe distance with our favorite doughnut or pizza for the sake of meeting our weight loss goals.

Dieting has always been considered a very noble idea to shed those extra kilos, but you don’t need to be too harsh on yourself for doing so. A lot has been said so far about different kinds of diets, their benefits, side effects, effectiveness in weight loss and so on, one such popular diet being the Paleo Diet.

Well, those who are quite acquainted to the world of diet and fitness must have heard of it, but those who haven’t, for them, paleo diet plan is basically a stone age diet plan inspired by the eating habits cavemen from the stone age era, thus this diet is also sometimes referred to as the caveman diet.

With this article we will help you understand what is the paleo diet? What are its benefits, what is the scientific premise behind it that supports and a beginners guide to start with their very own paleo diet plan. Moreover, this diet plan has been proven effective in not only aiding weight loss but has also shown positive results in healing problems like degenerative and autoimmune disease, inflammation, hormonal imbalance, digestive issues, etc. Significantly.

We ensure that by the end of this article you will be able to make a definite decision about whether you should take a paleo diet plunge or not.

What and Why of Paleo Diet?

Paleolithic diet is based on the diet plan of hunters and cavemen from the stone age or we can say our ancestors, which mostly comprises of fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats and seafood. The only difference in their diet and what today is being followed in their name is the addition of nutrition guidelines so that the diet can meet evolutionary pressures as well as current genetics of the human beings.

Paleo diet menu is said to lessen the gylcemic load in a person’s body, maintain a saturated and unsaturated fats ratio, increase essential nutrient consumption and also provide an optimal balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins to the body.

How To Make Your Own Paleo Meal Plan

Your paleo diet plan should always be based on your current health challenges/conditions, food allergies that you may have, hormonal imbalances, intolerance for any particular food item, your genetic makeup and your fitness/weight loss goal. To form a customized and well suited paleo diet plan you need to tweak the consumption of all the paleo friendly foods you are already eating and balance them in appropriate micronutrient ratio, which will be a mix of fat, carbs and protein.

For example: If a person is suffering from any kind of inflammatory or autoimmune medical condition then they most certainly will be avoiding vegetables coming from the nightshade family, that includes tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, etc. Same ways people suffering from under-active thyroid condition should either stop or limit the intake of cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, especially in their raw form. For athletes, it is important to include more of carbs in their diet as compared to a normal human being trying to lose weight.

In a nut shell, when making your paleo diet food list only include items that work for your body and also look into the area where you can make changes willingly, without risking your health or well being.

Paleo Diet Menu: Guidelines To Follow For What To Eat

Like every other thing, even making a paleo diet plan comes with its set of rules that one must keep in mind. Here is a simple guideline that you need to keep in mind before you start chalking out your ultimate paleo diet.

• Whole Foods: Here when we say whole foods, we mean nutrient dense whole foods sourced from your as much local as possible local and clean food provider. It is best to stick to organic, grass fed and local stuff as much as possible, but it doesn’t mean you will drive yourself crazy to find all these things at one place.
• Healthy Fats: Include coconut oil, ghee or butter with proteins removed, avocado oil, olive oil, lard or beef tallow in your diet plan. Here we would suggest that you go for both saturated and monounsaturated fats along with increased consumption of omega-3 fats, instead reduce the consumption of inflammatory omega-6 fats, which are are found in abundance in vegetable oil, grapeseed, canola oil and safflower.
• Animal Proteins: No matter in what for m you wish to add animal protein in your diet, make it is of high quality only. However, the best ways of including animal protein in your paleo diet recipes is to use only grass fed beef, salmon. chicken, eggs, turkey, lamb, sardines, clean seafood and red meat. Try to eat less of poultry products as they are rich in omega-6 fats.
• Fruits & Vegetables: For beginners it is important to cut down on their sugar intake and also control their sugar cravings for balancing their blood sugar levels. While one way to do is to eliminate sugar from your diet and other is to limit the intake of fruits as well. Else you can also opt for fruits with less sugar like green apples and berries to help you curb your sugar content. Instead try sweet potatoes, squash and plantains in your diet for including sugar as well carbs in your diet.
• Nuts and Seeds: Most of the nuts and seeds are said to be rich in omega-6 fats, thus it is often advised to eat them soaked so that their enzyme inhibitors can be removed. Instead of eating them raw, roast them as roasting damages their fat content.
• Fermented Foods: For increasing the content of healthy probiotic bacteria in your digestive tract you can rely on sauerkraut, kimchee and kombucha. It is also a great habit to include them in your daily diet for meeting your overall fitness goals, however, do remember the food that you need to avoid according to your genetics and body composition.

Foods to avoid while making your paleo diet plan includes all forms of processed food, refined food items, foods that are rich in gluten, grains, legumes and most importantly sugar. Include dairy items only if you are tolerable to them, though we suggest to go for only raw and organic dairy products.

Paleo Isn’t Just About Food – Its About Exercise Too

During stone age, cavemen were not relying on machines and equipment to get their daily chores done, neither do they have any mode of transport to go from once place to another, which means they were involved in too much of physical activity that helped them in staying fit.

Even in today’s scenario, exercise or physical activity is very much significant if you live by your genetic code equation. So, even if you are following paleo diet for weight loss, it doesn’t mean you will eliminate exercise or physical activity completely from your schedule.

However, you can keep your training sessions short but intense and limit your frequency from 5 days a week to 3 days a week. You can also take extra time off if you feel tired initially. You can also opt for short yet intense sprinting sessions instead of sweating it out in long cardio sessions.

Paleo Diet Can Be Difficult Too 

Paleo is not your just another yo yo diet and it requires a lot of mental resolve along with planning and preparation time to make it a success. For instance, eating out while on a paleo diet is not as easy as ordering a portion of salad along with chicken. While eating out, you need to consider all the points like which oil has been used for cooking chicken, does any of the salad dressing is processed or packaged, etc. because all these factors play a major role in keeping you stuck to your paleo diet plan.

Experts suggest that weight loss is not the sole purpose of any well formulated paleo diet plan, thus even a small fluctuation in your paleo diet may lead to major weight swings later on. Yo yo diets usually start with both muscle and fat loss, but usually end in weight and fat gain, which often leads to increase in insulin resistance and slow metabolism that affects your weight loss as well.

The best advice that we can give you here is to make your own paleo diet plan and try it yourself for a week. If you think you are able to adjust with the change in your diet then continue it for 30 days and you will notice how your body has started the detoxification process and you have started feeling better. Once you will start seeing the positive results yourself, we bet you will stick to it until you will get your desired results.

Sample Paleo Diet Plan