The Paleo Diet

People in modern times tend to consume more oily, fattening, and overly processed foods compared to whole, natural, “organic” products. Not only are people eating more overly processed foods, but they are left dealing with the consequences that come with it. Obesity and diabetes are just the beginning of health problems that can be caused by poor diet.

Until 10,000 years ago, all humans got their food by hunting, gathering, and fishing. Cordain, a professor at Colorado State University, states, “Nature determined what our bodies needed thousands of years before civilization developed, before people started farming and raising domesticated livestock….paleo is the one and only diet that ideally fits our genetic makeup,” Since the beginning of mankind, the human race has relied on feeding the human body in order to stay alive. Over time, we as a society have forgotten how to properly feed and nurture our bodies. The paleo diet consists of strictly consuming meat from grass-fed animals, fish, fresh fruit, raw vegetables, whole eggs, nuts, and seeds. Corresponding with that, plant-based oils such as olive, walnut, flaxseed, avocado and coconut can be consumed due to the product fitting into the

guidelines of the diet. The paleo diet restricts grains, cereals, legumes, potatoes, salt, dairy products (rarely allowed), overly processed foods and refined sugars.
The human body wasn’t created to run on the refined foods found on grocery shelves today.

The body modified itself to live in a world where food was hunted, fished and/or gathered from the environment in its natural state. The body is still designed to eat whole, natural foods, not overly processed, “fake” foods. These foods tend to be high in vitamins, minerals, and/or fiber, tend to be filling, and tend to not spike blood sugar. The paleo diet has been around centuries and most likely will be for more to come. A diet based on eating natural elements that have come from mother nature. By eating whole, natural foods, the body can processes things a lot smoother and function more efficiently. The body digests cleaner, simpler foods better compared to oily, overly processed

foods.

Our bodies need certain nutrients to function properly. Carbohydrates, lipids (fats), and proteins are all highly needed for the body, but to a certain extent. When consuming more of these, you should be more active. When consuming less of these, you should be less active. This helps keep the balance between between overeating and being overly active. By limiting highly processed foods (products made from refined flour such as bread, breakfast cereals, crisps, deli meat, high sugar foods such as candy and ice cream, etc.) is a healthier lifestyle. Many processed foods include high amounts of salt, preservatives, and refined sugar while offering little nutritional information. This can cause blood sugar to rise and can slowly and eventually lead to weight gain along with other negative effects on the human body.
Humans originally didn’t develop high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis or any other medical problems. “A lot of people believe there is a discordance between what we eat today and what our ancestors evolved to eat,” states paleoanthropologist Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas. It has been concluded that 73 percent of hunter-gatherers obtained more than half of their calories from meat alone. Cordain states, “Eat plenty of lean meat and fish, but not dairy products, beans, or cereal grains—foods introduced into our diet after the invention of cooking and agriculture.” Cordain continues to say, “that if we stick to the foods our hunter-gatherer ancestors once ate, we can avoid the diseases of civilization, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, even acne.”
Our modern diet may be making us sick. Richard Wrangham, a Harvard primatologist, argues that the biggest revolution in the human diet came not when we started to eat meat but when we learned to cook. “Our human ancestors who began cooking sometime between 1.8 million and 400,000 years ago probably had more children who thrived,” Wrangham says, “Cooking produces soft, energy-rich foods…. Today we can’t survive on raw, unprocessed food alone, we have evolved to depend upon cooked food.” Not only did cooking give early humans the energy that was needed to build bigger brains, but it also helped get in more calories from food so that weight could be put on. We as a society have become so good at processing foods that for the first time in human evolution, many are getting more calories than they burn in a day. “Rough bread’s have given way to Twinkies, apples to apple juice,” he writes. “We need to become more aware of the calorie-raising consequences of a highly processed diet.” Overeating can cause excessive weight gain and lead to obesity, which is a high addressed problem within the U.S. The shift to processed foods is taking place around the globe. This is a main contribute to a rising epidemic of obesity and related diseases. If most of the people in the world today ate more local fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, and some whole grains; along with exercising an hour a day; would be good news for society's health-and for the planet.