The PALEO Diet: What's It All About?

Certain dietary habits are often promoted as a strategy to enhance general health. The Paleolithic diet — commonly known as the paleo diet for short — has taken the health and fitness industry by storm in recent years.

Despite its popularity, several experts and healthcare professionals say that the paleo diet is not always the optimal diet for general health. Indeed, some feel it may be hazardous.

We go further into the evidence behind the paleo diet in this Honest Nutrition segment to identify its possible health advantages. We also talk about the hazards of adopting a paleo diet.

What is a paleo diet?

paleo meaning - A paleo diet, also known as the stone age diet or caveman diet, is an eating pattern that attempts to replicate the dietary habits of hunter-gatherers thousands of years ago.

Paleo diet followers consume significant amounts of meat, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds while avoiding legumes, dairy, and grains.

A paleo dieter will typically eat the following foods and beverages:

meat
Fish
Eggs
water
fruit, veggies, herbs, and spices
Nuts
seeds

The following foods are often avoided by paleo dieters:

items made from milk
refined sugar salt legumes (beans, peanuts, and peas) artificial additives
packaged foods
alcoholic beverages
Rice, wheat, and oats

One of the most popular misunderstandings regarding the paleo diet is that our predecessors lived exclusively on meat.

Paleo diet and diabetes

Paleo diet supporters think that the shift from a hunter-gatherer diet to an agricultural diet has increased the global incidence of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

They argue that the human body is not genetically designed to eat the contemporary foods brought by agricultural techniques. As a consequence, they believe that maintaining a diet similar to that of our forefathers would enhance our general health.

A paleo diet is said to have the following advantages:

increased cholesterol
lower blood pressure
better glycemic control
weight reduction and lower waist circumference
enhanced satiety better gut health lower all-cause mortality

Shifting from a Western diet high in processed, sodium-rich foods to a paleo diet would result in more fresh fruits and vegetables, which will surely improve general health.

Many individuals claim benefits in inflammation, concentration, and sleep. They also claim to have lost weight, which they attribute to eating more whole foods while avoiding major food categories.

Is it essential to eliminate grains, legumes, and dairy to experience health advantages from the paleo diet?

Is the paleo diet superior to other diets?

One research published in the Journal of Nutrition looked at the links between the Paleolithic and Mediterranean diets and all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

According to the research, individuals who ate a paleo or Mediterranean diet had lower all-cause mortality, lower oxidative stress, and lower mortality from heart disease and cancer.

Research that compared the paleo diet to the Mediterranean diet, the diabetic diet, and another diet recommended by the Dutch Health Council. The researchers investigated the impact of these diets on glucose and insulin homeostasis in people who had abnormal glucose metabolism.

The dangers of eating a paleo diet

While eliminating particular food categories may improve certain health indicators and result in weight reduction, it may also result in nutritional shortages and raise the risk of long-term health effects.

A paleo diet, for example, limits dairy products, which are rich in calcium and vitamin D, two minerals important for bone health. A lack of essential nutrients might result in osteoporosis and bone fractures.

This diet excludes beans and legumes as well. Beans are high in nutrients, fibre, and plant-based protein. They may also help decrease cholesterol and increase satiety. The sense of being full after eating.

Furthermore, many individuals who follow a paleo diet believe it enhances intestinal health, however, some study contradicts this.

According to research, those who eat a paleo diet have a distinct gut flora and greater levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a chemical linked to cardiovascular disease.

This study backs with existing dietary recommendations to include fibre-rich foods and whole grains to preserve cardiovascular function and gastrointestinal health.

Those who follow a modern-style paleo diet often use it as an excuse to devour meat. Consuming more than the recommended daily amounts of meat, particularly red meat, may contribute to chronic illness.

Each week, a person should consume no more than 12-18 ounces (350-500 grammes) of red meat. Those who already have heart disease should restrict their red meat diet to less than this amount.

However, the paleo eating pattern might be difficult to follow completely over time, making it difficult to provide more definitive recommendations.

Take Away

There is no scientific evidence to demonstrate that the paleo diet is better than other well-known diets, such as the Mediterranean diet unless a person has a health issue that necessitates them to limit a certain food category.

Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains-rich diets offer greater diversity, are more sustainable, and have been scientifically established to bring health advantages.

It is possible to receive all of the required elements from the paleo diet's approved foods, although it may be difficult. People will need to concentrate on receiving calcium from nondairy sources such as dark green, and leafy vegetables, for example.