Friday 8 February 2013

Why Eating The Paleo Way Works

There are any number of books on the market that will explain to you the Paleo (or Caveman as it's known) diet. In effect it shouldn't really be called a diet, rather an eating for life plan. The word diet normally conjures up eating to lose weight and then going back to your old way of eating.

This usually results in the weight coming back with a vengeance and more.
Before you go buying any books on the subject, some of which are quite technical, let me explain in very simple terms what the Paleo way of eating is and why it works.

For the last 50 years or so we have been bombarded with information that fat causes high cholesterol which in turn increases your chances of heart disease and heart attack. Your advice has been to eat a low fat diet to stay healthy. Now ask yourself this question.
If low fat diets are the answer to good health, why is it that obesity and diabetes is on the increase year after year, even amongst young people in the westernised world.


The problem with low fat foods is that to make them taste good, they are usually loaded with sugar, and to ensure that they keep for a while they are loaded with trans fats and chemicals. Trans fats are made by using hydrogen to make liquid oils into solid. Do you really want to eat foods with that unnatural stuff? Look at any packaged meal in your freezer and see if you can even pronounce some of the chemicals that they contain.

The story continues. Most western diets are loaded with sugar. Bread, bagels white rice white flour should all be avoided if you want to lose weight. Why? Here's a simple explanation. When you eat foods high in sugar, your body reacts by producing insulin. This hormone (insulin) is responsible for stabilising the amount of sugar in your blood. This it does by transporting the sugar (Glucose) to your body cells and into your liver for energy.
When your cells and liver reach saturation point, the insulin transports the remaining glucose to your fat cells for storage.


Now, this is where the interesting stuff starts. When you cut out sugary foods, your body has to get its energy from somewhere. Where does it get it from? You've guessed it, from your fat stores. Therefore, weight loss is the result.

Think about this for a moment. Do you have cereal or toast for breakfast? Are you feeling hungry 2-3 hours later. And does that hunger pang make you reach for some chocolate or a cake or other forms of sugar? The reason is that when you eat that breakfast your glucose level in your blood shot up sharply. Your body responded by producing insulin to stabilise the glucose in your blood.

So your blood glucose dropped sharply fooling your body into wanting a sugar rush. The cycle continues when you eat foods loaded with sugar.

Make no mistake about it. Your body needs FAT. Vitamins A, E, D and K can only be absorbed into your body with fat. They are fat soluble vitamins. You can take as many of these vitamins as you like, if you don't eat fat they cannot be absorbed. The fat is best from grass fed animals like cattle or sheep.


Oh, and don't even dream about starving yourself. This is completely counter productive. Your body will go into famine mode, and instead of losing weight, it will hang onto any fat you have, in case it needs it for energy later.

Please read on for lots more information and my story. I would love to hear your views, your successes or even failures. So please make comments for others to read.

Here are some recommended reading for those of you that want to research the subject more fully. So please come back here often by bookmarking my blog.
To your Success.
Robert.

Just watch this video by Jack Lalanne. Amazingly produced in the 1950's.

Click Here

If You want more proof, watch this video made by model and TV presenter Zoe Salmon,

Click Here

But don't forget to come back here and leave me your comments.


Click on the books link above for all the books I recommend.