Modern stress and poor quality foods are causing numerous health problems in the United States including anxiety, heart disease, and high blood pressure. While treating these silent killers is important, it wasn’t my main motivator. My inspiration to improve my health came from my big, giggly belly.
Before finding the paleo diet, I was overworked, overweight, and constantly exhausted. Since then, I have gone from a woman’s size fourteen to a size eight and have greatly improved my energy level. Yes, I’m still overworked.
What is the paleo diet?
The paleo diet isn’t really a diet at all, not in the sense of “dieting”. It’s basically the way all humans ate before the influx of industrialized food and big agriculture.
The paleo diet is quite simple. Eat quality, whole foods – meats, vegetables, fruits, and good fats. Avoid grains, sugars, legumes, dairy, and alcohol. Portion control is easy. When you’re hungry, eat. When your hunger has been satisfied, stop eating.
For the best results, choose:
- organic fruits and vegetables,
- grass-fed and/or free-range meats, and
- wild-caught fish and seafood.
The higher quality foods will be more expensive and sometimes hard to find. Don’t let this prevent you from buying meats, fruits, and vegetables. It’s better to eat conventionally raised food than to miss out on the benefits of these basic food groups.
Should you go paleo?
Americans have a staggering percentage of preventable diseases that can be directly attributed to their lifestyle choices. The article Prevention and Wellness by Johnson&Johnson (jnj.com/) notes that “The CDC estimates that 40 percent of cancer, as well as 80 percent of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, could be prevented if Americans exercised more, stopped smoking, and ate healthier.”
The paleo diet is your blueprint for eating healthier. There’s nothing to loose by eating better food. If you don’t like eating this way, the doughnuts are always waiting. If you do like it, you’re on the path to an improved and stronger you.
Are you ready to go paleo?
If you would like more guidance on fine-tuning your diet, Robb Wolf has a number of easy to read books that will guide you through the process of transitioning to the paleo lifestyle (robbwolf.com/shop/). His free podcast, The Paleo Solution, is also a great resource (robbwolf.com/podcast/).
It’s incredible to feel healthy again. Give it 30 days and judge for yourself.