People are constantly coming up with new “fad diets”, get-skinny-quick schemes, and diet pills to achieve a smaller physique and most of them are horribly unhealthy. They usually feature an “if you’re hungry it’s working” mentality, and rarely focus on your nutritional needs or maintaining your health. This is why they usually don’t work, and if they do it’s for a very short period of time.

The Paleo diet is one that is becoming popular in society, but I assure you it is not a fad. It came about around 10,000 B.C. and is based on the foods that were available then. Also known as the “caveman diet” or “stone age diet”, this is one that I can jump on board with.

According to an article titled, “What Are The Benefits of The Paleo Diet” published by Live Strong, if you decide to give Paleo a try you will be “consuming only the foods available more than 10,000 years ago, during the Paleolithic era. This means cutting out foods such as grains, dairy, refined sugar and legumes, and focusing on meat, fruits and vegetables.”

This means no “no grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils” of any type, says an article titled “Paleo Diet Benefits: Is It Worth the Switch?” by Mother Earth News.

This also means no food out of a box, which is an aspect of the diet that I love.

One of the incredible benefits of going Paleo is that it could potentially help prevent cancer, and other very serious diseases. Upon reading about the Paleo diet, and the Ketogenic diet (the cancer diet) I noticed that they are very similar, and therefore work in a similar way. By maximizing your intake of saturated fats and limiting your intake of carbohydrates you are teaching your cells how to survive on fat rather than glucose, which is something that cancer can’t do.

An article titled “17 Benefits of Eating Paleo” published by Paleo Grubs says, “By following a Paleo diet you are automatically eating more anti-inflammatory foods and cutting out a lot of foods that are known to cause inflammation. You are also eating more foods that contain antioxidants and phytonutrients which are always making the news because of scientific evidence that points to them helping to ward off or battle back cancer, as well as prevent heart disease.”

Another huge benefit of the Paleo diet is that it enables your body to get rid of excess fat, and lean up naturally. “Fructose and dietary carbohydrates (grains, which break down into sugar) lead to excess body fat, obesity, and related health issues. Furthermore, no amount of exercise can compensate for this damage because if you eat excessive fructose and grains—the primary ingredients NOT found in the Paleo diet—it will activate programming to cause your body to become, and remain, fat,” says Dr. Mercola in an article titled “The Paleo Diet: Feast Like a Caveman and Watch the Pounds Melt Away.”

So, by depriving your body of carbs you are allowing it to get rid of all that fat, regardless or your work out plan!

The last, and my personal favorite benefit of the Paleo diet is that you can eat as much as you want! You won’t be eating anymore processed, refined foods so your body can easily and happily digest as much food as you want to put in there. If you’re hungry, eat. Sounds wonderful, right? No more starving to lose weight!

Sources:

17 Benefits of Eating Paleo | Paleo Grubs. (n.d.). Retrieved from //paleogrubs.com/paleo-benefits

How Does a Paleo Diet Benefit Your Health? (n.d.). Retrieved from //articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/11/paleo-goes-mainstream-cbs-news-reports.aspx#!

Paleo Diet Benefits: Is It Worth the Switch? – Natural Health – MOTHER EARTH NEWS. (n.d.). Retrieved from //www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/paleo-diet-zbcz1310.aspx

What Are the Benefits of the Paleo Diet? | LIVESTRONG.COM. (n.d.). Retrieved from //www.livestrong.com/article/187983-what-are-the-benefits-of-the-paleo-diet/