We know a lot of nutrition systems, one of them is the paleo diet, whose principles are based on what our ancestors ate before they moved to a sedentary lifestyle. What is this diet, what is it based on? What are its principles? I will try to answer these and other questions in the following article.
The Paleolithic diet, or paleo diet, is based on the assumption that our present food environment is contrary to our evolutionary heritage and that the optimal diet is to imitate the one from our Paleolithic ancestors.
The mismatch between our genetics and how we were created, and our general environment, our lifestyle and how we eat, is responsible for the large increase in obesity, diabetes, and many other chronic diseases that we are currently dealing with.
During this diet we should avoid:
– processed food,
– seeds,
– legumes,
– dairy products.
We should consume:
-meat,
-fruits,
-vegetables,
– „healthy fats„.
The principles of this diet are very general. In this nutritional system there is no pressure on counting calories, because food quality is the most important thing.
It’s worth mentioning that we do not know what exactly our ancestors ate, we can only guess at that, nowadays we can only bring our menu closer to what we ate in the Paleolithic.
In addition to the removal of processed foods, there are many foods that are also limited, including: grains (even whole, unprocessed grains), legumes (e.g. peanuts) and dairy products (e.g. milk, yogurt and cheese).
Some highly restrictive versions of the diet eliminate more foods, including nightshades, traditional farmed meat and eggs.
As you can guess from sources, our ancestors ate:
– meat of wild animals,
– tubers,
– captures of wild plants,
– fruits,
– nuts and seeds in small amounts, eggs, fish,
– sometimes honey.
Unfortunately, there is no one paleo diet, now you can meet many studies in which products containing starch or dairy are allowed.
The key that connects all these nutritional systems is that we leave the processed food and care for what lands on our plates. In this diet paleo is similar to the so-called „pure diet”.
What should appear in the paleo diet so that we can reproduce it nowadays?
-meat,
-seafood,
-fish,
– eggs.
Protein supply should account for about 19-35% of the diet.
Fats:
– sea fish,
-nuts,
-seeds,
-olive oil,
– avocado.
The supply of fat should be about 28-48% of the total diet. Of course, the ratio of Omega-3 fatty acids to Omega-6 is very important, it should be in the range of 1: 1 – 1: 4, of course depending on the sources of food products.
carbohydrates:
-fruits,
-vegetables,
-you can include valuable starchy products like potatoes or sweet potatoes.
It’s worth mentioning, however, that this diet is not for everyone, of course its concept can be included in our menu, for example by:
– removing processed food, including trans fats and refined sugar,
– including more vegetables in your diet that contain many valuable dietary fibre,
– incorporation of moderate amounts of fruit into the diet,
– including foods that contain large amounts of omega-3 in the diet.
The diet itself is not bad, while the people who protect it go on a thin line called healthy nutrition, and orthorexia. Some people fall into fanaticism and negate other food products, as if they were to cause many diseases of civilization, and the use of paleo diet – in their opinion the only way out of the disease, which is untrue. There is much evidence that the presence of moderate carbohydrates in the diet is desirable.
Summary:
The Paleolithic diet, or paleo diet, is based on the assumption that our present food environment is contradictory to our evolutionary heritage and that the optimal diet is to imitate the diet of Paleolithic ancestors. However, due to the fact that we are not 100% sure exactly what our ancestors ate, and we can only make a lot of guesses, in books about this diet you can meet an „enriched” list of products that are worth eating. It’s worth applying the principles of the diet, but the long-term use of it, more in the case of people exercising, in my opinion is not optimal.
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