The Paleo diet has risen in prominence from one of the more fringe diets to the most popular this year. It’s grown leaps and bounds due to the wide adoption of its tenants by physicians and celebrities alike. The Paleo diet should be thought of as a lifestyle change, rather than a quick fix to obesity. The goal for this diet is to revert back to the roots of our species, eating natural, unprocessed foods that our ancestors did.

This diet is colloquially known as “the caveman diet” due to its goal of removing these processed and farmed foods from our diet. Our species was historically a group of hunters and gatherers, who for hundreds of thousands of years, ate natural plants, meats and sea foods. Carbohydrates were rare in our diet, which made these foods ideal for a wandering and nomadic people. Farming, in comparison, came around only about 10,000 years ago. There has been no time for our species to adapt to this new world as a result. Many things like wheat, sugars, or other chemically processed oils or compounds were never found in our natural diet until this period.

Many modern diseases experienced by mankind, such as autoimmune diseases or cardiovascular disease, were caused by this change in diet.  This is what the Paleo diet is designed to remedy and correct.  The goal here is not to duplicate the diet that a “caveman” would have had thousands of years ago.  Rather it’s to create a diet that returns to these foods we had eaten in the past, but in a modern setting.  There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution for this diet, and we do not advocate one whatsoever.  Though some Paleo dieters do recommend stark changes and regression to this form of diet in an absolute sense, it’s not typically advisable to do so. Some Paleo dieters cannot imagine not eating dairy, and with particular changes to your diet it’s possible to include these foods into the program without violating the tenants.

Three Success Tips for the Paleo Diet

• Eat Nutrient-rich, Unprocessed and Whole Foods – You want to start out by switching up your daily food choices to accommodate the changes. For example, you want to eat grass-fed/pasture meats and eggs, wild seafood and vegetables. Eat fruits regularly as well, but nuts/seeds in moderation.
• Avoid foods that may harm your body with inflammation or knocking your metabolism off track – Remove toxic or harmful chemicals from your foods, such as grains or legumes which are unnatural foods to be eaten by users.
• Keep Energy Levels High – As is the case with all weight loss methods, you need to keep your energy up. This means eating foods high in nutrients, coffee, tea, and other things that boost metabolism and increase your energy.

Physicians, doctors, and researchers have seen the benefits of these more “ancestral” weight loss methods over recent years. Much study has shown the impact of the Paleo approach, with the average person on this diet seeing double-digit weight loss within just a week or two of use. It’s incredibly efficient and powerful to use this method, as our body’s quickly begin to increase metabolism once these natural foods are replaced in our diet.

How can the Paleo Diet be Healthy? Many people mistakenly believe that this diet requires eating tons of lean protein, and cutting out all fat or carbs. This is not so, in fact, this could be harmful.  Rather this diet aims to go back to our “nomadic” roots which allows us to eat foods which we are biologically designed to process effectively.  This is why it’s safe and there are no side effects seen in studies.