The Paleo Diet for Beginners

The Paleo Diet is a diet eaten by our stone-age ancestors before farming began 10,000 ago. Its believed that our ancestors ate a hunter-gather type diet. Foods they ate were nuts and seeds, fruit, berries, vegetables, eggs, meat, and fish.

Founding Fathers of Paleo

• Paleo has recently become a popular diet and toted as a way to reduce inflammation and create optimum health. In the 1970s a doctor named Walter Voegtlin had the idea of eating a diet consumed by our human stone age ancestors was a healthy way for modern man to eat.
• Dr. S. Boyd Eaton is an anthropology professor at Emory University. Eaton believes we are healthier eating a diet consumed by our stone-age ancestors. He explains humans genetic makeup isn’t made to eat this western diet. And that this is the cause of many illnesses nowadays. It’s diet-related.
• Dr. Loren Cordain popularized the Paleo diet again in his book The Paleo Diet in 2002. Cordain is considered the worlds leading expert on The Paleo Diet. And has written several published papers on the ill effects of the modern western diet. Dr. Cordian is Professor Emeritus at Colorado State University, Department of Health and Exercise Science, College of Applied Human Sciences.

Foods

• The focus of the paleo diet is to eat a diet with fruits, berries, nuts and seeds, lean meats, eggs, fish, shellfish, and veggies. Healthy fats and oils like avocado, macadamia, olive oil, coconut oil, lard, tallow, and ghee.
• Avoid all grains like rice, oatmeal, wheat, rye, and barley.
• No legumes, soy, and peanuts.
• No dairy including milk, cheese, and yogurt.
• Avoid vegetable oils and margarine.
• Artificial sweeteners, table sugar, soda, and other processed foods.
• Honey, blackstrap molasses, and coconut sugar are safe in moderation.

Can Paleo Diet Help Inflammation?

Paleo can help fight inflammation. We know that the Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio’s in the Standard American Diet is different than the Paleo Diet. Paleo promotes eating foods high in Omega 3 like fish and seafood and choosing grass-fed beef over grain feed which has a higher Omega 6 count. The SAD diet is higher in Omega 6 due to the high consumption of grains. As to where the Paleo is strictly no grains. Gluten and wheat have been shown to promote inflammation (1).

Dairy is also inflammatory. And acne is an inflammatory condition. I know personally that when I cut dairy out of my diet my acne cleared 100%. In recent studies, there has been a correlation between high dairy consumption and acne (2). Dairy has been shown to increase mucus production. And I have noticed even some doctors recommend cutting dairy when you have an upper respiratory infection or have asthma (3) Some would argue that not all dairy is created equal and while I do agree with that the Paleo diet doesn’t include dairy.

Paleo diet is anti-inflammatory by default. Focusing on nutrient-dense foods and avoid inflammatory foods like grains and dairy.

What is AIP

• AIP is the Autoimmune Protocol. It is a stricter version of the Paleo diet. It focuses on those with autoimmune diseases. The main purpose of the AIP protocol is to avoid offending foods. Therefore lowering inflammation and helping you get into remission.
• Autoimmune diseases have no known cause. Experts agree that one-third of your risk for autoimmune diseases is from genes and the rest is from diet and lifestyle. Stress, environmental exposures, toxins, and pathogens can play a role.
• Leaky gut aka intestinal permeability has been shown to trigger the initiation and development of autoimmune diseases (1). You can read more about Leaky Gut here.
• You can find a list of foods for the AIP protocol here.

Why I Eat Paleo

I think of the Paleo diet as a foundation for regaining my health by eating Whole Foods and staying away from boxed and highly processed foods. My perspective is humans should eat this way most of the time. We have relied on quick and convenient meals and it is damaging our health.

I have had many people ask but what do you eat if you can’t eat bread or rice or pasta? I generally reply there are tons of foods to eat. All kinds of meats, fish, and seafood. Many varieties of fruit and vegetables. Nuts and seeds.

I mostly follow a modified version of Paleo. I do a low carb Paleo diet. I try to stay under 50-70 carbs a day because it helps keep my inflammation in check. I have definitely noticed a difference in arthritis pain when I consume more carbs. So for me it helps to keep my carbs under 50. Everyone is different though.

The Paleo Diet is NOT a low carb diet but if you’re not eating potatoes which are allowed on Paleo and you’re not eating much fruit your carb intake probably won’t be that high.

Another reason I ended up liking the paleo diet was I can not tolerate dairy, gluten, and soy very well. Because the paleo diet doesn’t include those food items it was an easier transition for me.

Overall on the Paleo diet, you are consuming nutrient-dense foods. I noticed my health improved. One of my favorite foods is broccoli sprouts. Broccoli sprouts are only 35 calories per serving and with 5 carbs and 4 of those carbs are from fiber making broccoli sprouts only 1 net carb per 85-gram serving. You can read more here about the benefits of sprouting seeds.

Foods Allowed On The Paleo Diet

On the Paleo diet meat is preferred to be pasture-raised or wild-caught or hunted. When choosing beef it is better to choose grass-fed grass-finished over grain-fed. The reason why is the omega 3 to omega 6 profile. In grass-fed grass-finished, the Omega 3 is higher as with the grain-fed the omega 6 will be higher and that’s considered less desirable for health reasons. As the Standard American diet is higher in omega 6. This can be inflammatory promoting if you don’t have a good balance of omega 3 to omega 6 in your diet.

Listed below are just some of the different foods allowed but doesn’t include all of them.

Meats On The Paleo Diet

This website is for educational purposes only. The information provided by Renaissance Path is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any diseases. Please consult a qualified health care professional for medical advice.