Why Consider the Paleo Diet?
Why is the Paleo Diet so popular? Here are several reasons why people opt for this traditional eating style…
Everywhere you look, you find different people touting different ways to get healthy and eat clean. From supplements to diets to gym memberships there is no shortage of people telling you what you should be doing to improve your body – and your health. With so many choices out there, how do you even begin to choose something that is right for you?
One thing to look for is something that will easily fit into your lifestyle, and that will put you on the path towards a healthy life without taking you too far out of your comfort zone. Getting healthy means changing your lifestyle, and if you try to rush that change – or change too much at once – you will likely be doomed to fail. This is one reason why so many people are finding success on the Paleo diet.
Yes, going paleo means that you will be changing a lot in your relationship with food. But unlike many diets that require you to spend a lot of time in the kitchen or looking for expensive ingredients that you’ve never heard of, paleo eaters are able to make the transition gradually, giving them a better chance at changing their eating habits for life – not just for the short term.
Paleo eaters may consume meat, eggs, fish, and natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup, and the focus is on natural, fresh foods in their whole form – most of which are quite easy to find at your local grocery store or farmer’s market.
In fact, most of the things that you are not allowed to have on the Paleo diet are things that you probably shouldn’t be eating anyway. Fast food, junk food, artificial ingredients, and processed foods are all things that will shorten your lifespan and leave you sick and overweight. Yes, these things are restricted on the Paleo diet, but let’s be honest, any worthwhile diet will recommend excluding these foods.
Yes, there are a few things that you will have to give up that may not be so easy. For example, grains are a no-go when eating paleo. This means no more bagels for breakfast or sandwiches for lunch, at least not the bagels and sandwiches you are used to. The good news is that the Paleo diet has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, making it much easier to find things like paleo bread and paleo-approved mayonnaise at your local health food store. If you are lost on what you should be looking for, there are many active online communities that are always excited to see someone new in their flock.
Probably the biggest lure for people who choose to start eating paleo comes from the ability to eat meat. Despite what reports say about the unhealthy side effects of eating a lot of meat, the reality is that most of us grew up eating it and for most of us it is a staple in our diet. Giving this up can be very difficult for most people, which is why it can be hard to stick to some of those healthy eating lifestyles that call for you to give up meat completely. When you are eating paleo you are able to keep meat as a staple in your diet. Paleo advocates refer to the fact that human societies the world over have almost always consumed meat of some kind if it was available. However, it is important to realize that not all meat is created equal.
Ancient humans weren’t faced with the glut of unhealthy, industrially-farmed, corn-fed meats that we have available today. Instead, they likely ate small amounts of wild animal protein (when they could catch it), from animals that consumed a natural diet of grasses and plants. If you truly want to eat Paleo, you should consider forgoing all meats that are not raised on a natural diet of pasture.
Once you get past your junk food withdrawals, transitioning gradually to a Paleo diet can be fairly easy to do, and may have long-term benefits for your health,
