Paleo or Not?  Your Ultimate Guide to Healthy, Simple Eating! 7 Health Benefits

Paleo or Not? 

Your Ultimate Guide to Healthy, Simple Eating!

7 Health Benefits to Focusing on Eating Clean: Fresh Healthy Food!

Diet – Not Always a Positive word?

I do not necessarily agree with fad or questionably trendy diets. I believe in Balance! To include Foods that are Nutritionally Beneficial for fuelling your body to function optimally. To exclude Foods that are Nutritionally Deficient, that cause harm and damage to your body, leading to major health problems.

An important factor is in honouring people’s traditions that come with Celebrations involving Food and Sharing Meals together.

Diet in the nutritional sense, means to eat a range of Fresh, Whole Foods Everyday, from the five main food groups. Eating a Healthy diet doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive when you keep this in mind.

5 Main Food Groups include –

1. Vegetables and legumes (beans): Legumes include: dried peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas. Vegetables it is important to have a rainbow of colours, selecting a variety of 6 – 8 each day. Green Vegetables are a must to include 2 – 3 each day. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, bok choy, cabbages, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, silver beet, spinach, and snow peas. Healthy root, tubular, bulb vegetables include sweet potato, carrots, beetroot, onions, shallots, garlic, bamboo shoots, swede, and turnip. Choose 2 – 4 of these per day. Other vegetables include tomato, celery, sprouts, zucchini, squash, avocado, capsicum, eggplant, mushrooms, cucumber, okra, pumpkin, green peas, green beans. Vegetables are your medicine chest, foundation for optimal health.

2. Fruit: Main fruits to include each day are apples, kiwi fruit, bananas, berries, especially blueberries, oranges, lemons, and limes.

3. Grains and Cereals: These are not cereal that is in a packet. Healthy grains and cereals include:  oats, black or brown rice, rye, barley, millet and quinoa. 

4. Protein: lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, legumes (beans), tofu, nuts, seeds 

5. Calcium:  Non-dairy, coconut yoghurt, almond, oat and coconut milk. such as soy, coconut yogurt. Goats cheese isn’t considered part of the Paleo diet, but if you want to include it in moderation, it is healthier as it is lower in fat, casein, lactose than cow’s milk. Other good calcium sources include – sardines, cabbage, broccoli, kale and almonds.

I definitely don’t believe that one size fits all, nature provides us with a wide variety of foods to choose from and if the focus is on these foods, then they can be implemented to fit each individual’s nutritional, and cultural needs. Over my 30 plus years of practicing as a Naturopathic Practitioner many of my clients become quite distressed and confused about what foods to eat.
People often have individual cultural preferences; this needs to be taken into consideration when working with people regarding their dietary needs.

Learning to implement Healthy Food Choices that are going to help support your body to function optimally, to help protect and heal, can be somewhat confusing. A Question I have been asked and will give you a honest perspective on, Is Paleo a healthy way of eating or not? 

What is the Paleo Diet?

A simple definition of the Paleo diet is – Eating foods that were available to our hunter and gatherer ancestors thousands of years ago, during the Palaeolithic Age. During these times foods such as processed foods, refined grains and cereals weren’t even considered as part of the daily eating regime. Instead the daily eating plan consisted of fruits and vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds.

In relation to your health and the best support for your body to function efficiently is that these are the foods that you body was designed to eat while many of the heavily processed modern foods that have taken precedence in the daily diet today, is the major contributor to chronic disease and health problems.

Looking at the Key Principles to Consider with the Paleo diet, with only a few to reject. Could be of great benefit and improvement in many areas of your health. For example: decrease in obesity, reduction of inflammation, prevention of diseases such as Cancer, Heart, Kidney and liver disease.

As it is essentially a grain-free diet, it tends to be lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein and healthy fats that aren’t always included in other dietary plans. However, there are some things to consider as you will read below.

Where does Paleo Fit!

In the past few decades, our diets have changed dramatically. Processed foods are more common than fruits and vegetables, and it’s impossible to go more than a few miles down the road without spotting a dozen new fast-food chains that have cropped up. Enter the Paleo diet plan, a diet that seeks to ditch the modern convenience foods in favour of the foods eaten by our ancestors. This is definitely a bonus when it comes to your health and preventing disease.

The Paleo diet has been associated with many health benefits from better blood sugar levels to reduced inflammation. Considered one of the best diet plans for weight loss because it’s high in protein and fat and emphasizes nutrient-rich foods, it may also increase a feeling of fullness and help correct nutrient deficiencies. Still, the diet has remained the subject of much controversy in recent years and there are some key factors to consider.

Key Principles to Consider & What to Reject!

I like some of the Paleo principles regarding going back to basics, like eliminating processed foods, packaged, baked and fast foods, to replenish your daily eating with eating fresh foods directly from the land.
This has always been my first step when working with my clients in guiding them to healthy eating whether it be for weight loss or overcoming ill-health/disease. 

I have had my clients then going from eating packaged foods to going to the markets to buy fresh produce, that is a huge step for many. Nutrition and Diet have always been the key foundations I have used with supporting my clients return to health and wellness.

1: Detecting whether a Food Agrees or Disagrees with You

It is important to take notice of how you and your tummy feels after eating specific foods. I do encourage my clients to have lean cuts of meat not including the animal fat and dairy. After discussing this with many heart surgeons this is a major problem along with trans fats as to cause heart disease and blocked arteries.

2: Understand the Pros & Cons of the Food you Eat

I have found that by understanding the pros and cons of foods is the best way to make a conscious decision as to what will work best. Making healthy changes as a way of life.

Healthy Brain Support:  Fish oil, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds and green vegetables will protect the brain without bringing harm elsewhere.
I believe with diet there are some very basic rules but it all boils down to Fresh food is best: 70% of our daily intake being Vegetables, 5 – 10% fruit, 10 – 15% Animal protein limiting red meat to 2 – 3 times per week alternate days, Fish ( if people don’t like fish then maybe just a couple of vegetarian meals with nuts and seeds), and a couple of meals of chicken.
I have found that for most of my clients this works really well without too many dramas, and they basically design their own eating regime.

7 Health Benefits of the Paleo Diet

1. Supports Healthy Weight Loss

Is the Paleo diet good for weight loss? Results may vary depending on the foods you choose to eat, quantities and as with any successfully, healthy weight loss, getting active plays an important role. By swapping processed foods and refined sugars for nutrient-rich proteins and healthy fats, this will help to eliminate empty calories, harmful foods that cause weight and kick-start weight loss.

Foods such as Fresh Vegetables, Fruits, Lean protein that are mentioned in the Paleo diet will help your weight loss. The Paleo diet encourages that your diet be that of 70% Vegetables and Fruit, which are high in slow-digesting fibre, along with healthy fats and protein, which increase satiety and reduce appetite.

Keep in mind not to keep weight loss as your only reason to begin eating a Healthier diet, otherwise you may well lose interest because when you are losing weight with dietary changes this takes time. Enjoy small accomplishments along the way other than just the weight loss, such as healthier skin, more energy, feeling happier and less bloated.

2. Good Balance of Healthy Protein

Getting enough protein in your diet is essential to maintaining overall health. Protein is vital for repairing and rebuilding tissue cells, maintaining normal blood sugar, transporting oxygen, healing wounds, and building muscle mass. Protein being one of the staples in the Paleo diet, begin filling your plate first with your vegetables [4- 5 of these] and include on your plate protein such as lean beef, lamb, pork, poultry and seafood, this protein portion size that is easy to remember is to be the size of the palm of your hand. This enables healthy digestion. Vegetarians can include soy, nuts, seeds and if not vegan eggs as their protein source. Root vegetables, beans, lentils, broccoli, spinach, brussel sprouts, parsnips are all good sources of protein.

A protein deficiency can lead to many negative side effects such as low energy levels, decreased immunity, poor concentration and slow wound healing. 

3. Reduces Inflammation

Inflammation is a normal bodily response triggered by the immune system to protect against foreign invaders. Prolonged or chronic inflammation, however, is at the root of most diseases, including chronic conditions like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

As the Paleo diet encourages eating plenty of anti-inflammatory foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants, which help neutralize the harmful free radicals that contribute to inflammation in the body. Meanwhile, nuts and seeds tend to be high in anti-inflammatory being part of your omega-3 fatty acids.

Reducing inflammation can also be beneficial in reducing symptoms of inflammatory or autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or ulcerative colitis.

4: Reduces Hunger and Cravings

A major focus of the Paleo diet is about eating heart-healthy fats and proteins this encourages and supports feeling satisfied, reducing feelings of hunger and snacking.

Paleo diet is based on including healthy fats. Examples of Healthy fats include – Avocados, Olives, Nuts, Seeds such as flaxseed, chia, hemp, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds. Oils such as Olive oil, Avocado oil, and Coconut oil. Wild Caught Fish including Anchovies, Herring, Mackerel, Black cod, Atlantic Salmon, Sardines and Tuna.

These Healthy Fats are digested very slowly, staying in the stomach for longer and keeps you feeling full. Meanwhile, a high-protein diet can reduce levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, to reduce appetite. Protein is also beneficial when it comes to kick-starting your metabolism and decreasing your calorie intake. With the Paleo diet discourages eating refined grains, processed and package foods, that are typically digested very quickly, leading to spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels as well as increased levels of hunger.

5. Corrects Nutrient Deficiencies

One of the biggest benefits of the Paleo diet is that it prioritizes nutrient-dense foods over heavily processed or refined foods. These foods can supply important micronutrients that you may be missing from your diet, helping reduce a wide range of symptoms, from brain fog to chronic fatigue. The Paleo diet will help to correct nutrient deficiencies because of the inclusion of fresh, whole foods that are what is referred to as nutrient dense.

Consuming a diet that is high in packaged, processed and fast foods are rich in “empty calories” and are nutrient poor therefore leading to nutrient deficiencies, obesity and disease.

6. Regulates Blood Sugar

The Paleo diet is not typically a no-carbohydrate diet, however it does restrict the intake of refined carbohydrates that have a detrimental effect on your blood sugar levels, to replace these with Simple Carbohydrates found in vegetables, grains, seeds, oats that have a positive impact on balancing your blood sugar levels, keeping them stable. 

Research has found the Paleo diet to show greater improvements with improving blood sugar levels than the diet suggested by the Diabetic Association. 

Of course, lifestyle factors also play an important role in diabetes prevention. In addition to making dietary modifications, exercising regularly, reducing stress levels and drinking plenty of water can also help you maintain normal blood sugar.

7. Supports Heart Health

New research is showing that the Paleo diet could be beneficial for heart health together with positive lifestyle changes. It has been shown to reduce several heart disease risk factors to help keep your heart healthy and strong. Being effective at increasing levels of good HDL cholesterol, which moves through the bloodstream clearing fatty plaque to help prevent atherosclerosis.

Foods to Include:

• Meat: grass-fed beef, lamb or pork
• Seafood: wild-caught salmon, trout, mackerel, haddock
• Poultry: free-range chicken, turkey, duck
• Fresh fruits: apples, oranges, berries, melons, pears
• Fresh vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, kale, asparagus, cucumbers
• Eggs
• Nuts: almonds, cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts
• Seeds: flax seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds
• Heart-healthy unrefined oils: olive, coconut, flaxseed, walnut and avocado oil
• Spices: turmeric, cumin, garlic powder, basil, oregano, rosemary, ginger, galangal
• Other – psyllium, oats, rice bran

Foods to Avoid:

• Peanuts, canned legumes and beans
• Dairy
• Refined sugar
• Refined vegetable oils
• Processed, Packaged and Fast Foods
• White potatoes
• Packaged cereals
• Sugar-sweetened, artificially sweetened soft drink and caffeinated beverages

Further support

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