Paleo, paleo, paleo… Paleo is everywhere now!
But really, what is paleo? Is it even a real thing? Should I be paleo? Is pale healthy.
I’m going to try my best to make this short and sweet, while breaking down the “Paleo Code” so to speak…
First things first, what is paleo?
Paleo is a diet based on the Paleolithic Era, which is a period of prehistoric time where human beings were cavemen. So if you were going to ask if it is a real thing, then I guess the answer would be yes.
Cavemen were very limited with the foods they were able to eat because they needed to hunt or gather for it all. So this cut them down to anything meat or plant-based essentially.
So to be considered fully paleo you will need to only eat meat, fruits, vegetables, fish, and nuts. This eliminates all grains, dairy, legumes, sugars, and anything processed what so ever.
So is this healthy? My best answer is it depends, which is my typical answer.
I love paleo style dieting for some of my clients, but I also do not follow paleo myself at all and I am extremely healthy.
The reason I love paleo style dieting for some and for some it is completely unnecessary is because eliminating the foods that paleo eliminates can essentially reset your body. By eliminating these foods we eliminate all things that can be harmful to gut health, hormonal functions, cause inflammation and can also help break fat loss plateaus for all those reasons.
But at the same token, if your body can handle these foods well then why wouldn’t we allow them? They have great benefits such as high fiber, low glycemic carbs for great muscle glycogen recovery, high protein, and many vitamins and minerals that can benefit overall health.
The hard part is picking out the ones we can and cannot handle. So how do you do that? Easy, go paleo! That’s right, just start out as paleo and give your body enough time to adjust fully to it. This will “reset” your body and allow us to SLOWLY plug back in those “non-paleo” foods in one by one and see which ones your body can handle.
You see, you don’t need to be paleo at all but it can easily help you figure out the most ideal diet possible by eliminating the foods that could be causing bad gut health, inflammation, fat loss plateaus, and other internal issues like hormonal functioning that you may not even realize is going on within you.
So my suggestion to anyone who is experience guy problems [things like digestive issues, IBS, nutrient deficiencies, etc.] is to eliminate non-paleo foods and stick the this food list:
-Meats
-Veggies
-Fruits
-Tree Nuts [not peanuts, there grown underground and can be considered a legume]
-Sweet Potatoes [it’s a HUGE debate, but white potatoes can be considered non-paleo because of the glycemic index and processing]
Now technically cooing oil isn’t paleo because cavemen definitely did not have oils to cook in… but as a nutrition coach and someone who study’s his ass off, I will give you the go for ORGANIC olive and coconut oil assuming it has no additives and is not processed.
You will take at least 3-4 weeks to fully get adjusted, but after that I can guarantee you will be feeling pretty awesome! Your body should be functioning optimally in and out of the gym.
Once you have completed 4 full weeks of this, without any slips at all, you can start to implement the foods you miss having before this challenge one by one.
I suggest picking your favorite one first, reason being is because this will give you some satiety and I am sure at this point you will be dying to try some of these things a bit.
So once you pick the food, monitor and journal your progress throughout the week. You should be recording your sleep, energy, bowel movements, digestive, gym performance, your weight/body fat appearance, any bloating, and anything else that has seemed to change.
If nothing at all has changed within the first week, you most likely can handle it! But I still recommend going another full week of this, just to be 100% sure before moving onto the next food group to add in.
Now if you notice things right away or within that first week that are not good, we now know that this food isn’t going to be part of your diet going forward because it is effecting your body negatively.
After the first, or second week, of good or bad results you will pick another food and wait another full week before adding it in. This will give your body enough time to fully adjust to the new food you’ve successfully added in or adjust back to being in that “reset” health that eliminating all the non-paleo foods allowed you to get to.
Now, you may be thinking “This is going to take forever to figure out!” and I’ll be honest, yes it will take a good amount of time.
So before doing so ask yourself this, “Am I in this for the long run? Do I want a lifetime of great health and body composition? Or simply a quick fix?”
If you believe you are in it for the long run, then this is 100% the best way possible to get there. This will give you GREAT body composition results in the process and also provide the healthiest state of being you can possibly get too.
So there it is, my opinions on paleo.
Is it healthy? In a way, extremely! Maybe it is missing some things, for you personally, but it may be able get you to the healthiest state possible.
Is it real? Yes, it was a period of time… Although, we’re much smarter than cavemen and we have figured how to make grains and dairy. That does not make us unhealthy, it just makes us clever and smart enough to create more nutrients for those of us who can handle them internally.
Should you be paleo? In my opinion, I think everyone who has hit a plateau or does not believe they are doing their best internally should give it a try.
So there it is, try my challenge! I call it “The Body Reset Challenge”.
And just to keep my promise at always trying to help, I will offer free help to anyone willing to try this and stay accountable to me personally. So if that’s you, email me personally at [email protected] and put “Body Reset Challenge” in the subject line. Tell me you’re ready for my challenge and I will help you get your body performing optimally… FOR FREE!
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