The Paleo Diet and The Dangers of Processed Foods

By J. Wheeler

 

For every food that is not allowed in the Paleo diet, there is a reason that can back it up, aside from a simple "because it's not good for your health". The number one enemy of the Paleo diet is processed foods. The reason being is because they have unnatural additives that are not healthy at all.
Listed below are the dangerous additives that you will want to look out for:

Sodium Nitrite - to increase the shelf life of products, sodium nitrite is added. This is the reason why storing food has become quite convenient for us. Food is no longer easily spoiled or grows mold. The problem here though, is that by adding chemicals to make food storage convenient, we risk our own health. Sodium nitrite is added to our food, but it is known to increase the risks of pancreatic cancer and leukemia and also increases the risk of brain tumor in infants.

Sodium nitrite is especially used in processed meats that you can keep for months in the pantry or refrigerator. Examples are hotdogs, bacon, ham, beef jerky, and lunch meat. This is why the Paleo diet restricts eating anything that is canned or packaged.

Salt - you probably didn't expect to find salt in this list because it's natural and essential in cooking, but the sad truth is that we're abusing our salt intake which is why we need to slow down in using it. Most people will argue that they only use a very minimal amount of salt when they cook, and this is good because you don't really need all that much to flavor the food.

We may limit and control how much salt we put in the food that we are preparing, but what we cannot limit is the amount of salt that companies put in our packaged and easy to prepare foods. Salt also makes a foods' shelf life longer and enhances the flavor of the processed food, which is why there is so much used in processed convenience foods.

 But it is important to cut back, because too much salt (more than a teaspoon daily) is directly linked to fatal strokes and many heart diseases.
Aspartame - aspartame is an artificial sweetener and is commonly found in diet and sugar free foods. People are becoming more aware of the unhealthy amounts of sugar that they consume and in an attempt to have a healthier diet, they opt for diet sodas and sugar free ice cream. What they don't know is that by opting for a supposedly low sugar diet, they are risking their health because aspartame is actually a toxic substance when consumed too much.

Half of aspartame is made up of a substance called phenylalanine. Some people will say that it is a natural substance so what could possibly be wrong? It IS a natural substance but the problem is consuming it in large quantities. Phenylalanine is only meant to be consumed in extremely small amounts because once our bodies get too much of it, one of the disturbing side effects is that our threshold for seizure becomes lower.

Aspartame contains two more substances that are known to risk a person's health: aspartic acid which is linked to lesions in the brain and methanol which is a known contributor of brain tumors.
Now you know why processed foods are a big no-no in the Paleo diet. They contain ingredients that are known to be very harmful to us humans and even though they have made our lives more convenient, we should still let go of them.

 Our lives can still be just as convenient even without them. Learn how to prepare or prep meals in advance so when the busy work week comes, you will have an easier time cooking your meal.

John Wheeler can help you answer the question of what is the paleo diet? Feel free to get his email course on the basics of the Paleo Diet at  http://paleodietlearningcenter.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/ ?expert=J._Wheeler

 

Foods That You Should Avoid

Paleo Foods That You Should Avoid and Why

By J. Wheeler

 

Paleo food lists contain what you should eat, should restrict, and what you should eat only in moderation. Obviously, what you should eat are the ones that are healthy for you and are the foods that will provide you with vitamins and nutrients. What you should eat in moderation are the foods that do not do the body any good, or too much of it is harmful to the health. What you should restrict are foods that are unhealthy, unnecessary, and can even cause diseases and illnesses.

In the Paleo diet dairy, grains, beans, potatoes and other starchy root vegetables are not allowed. Here's why, and here are the lists of foods that you should stay away from:

Dairy - dairy is one food group that people find hard to let go of in their diet. Some are even skeptical about restricting dairy because they think we need dairy in our diets. We need calcium, but the truth is we do not really need dairy. Dairy is not the only source of calcium; vegetables can also provide us with enough calcium for our bodily functions. Besides, the cave men did not even have dairy products and they did not have osteoporosis either.

Lactose, casein, carbohydrates and sugar are the reasons why dairy isn't allowed in the Paleo diet. Our bodies don't need any more sugar and carbohydrates and we don't need lactose and casein in our diets. Many people are allergic to these substances and our bodies don't digest them well. Dairy products that you should stay away from are:

Cheese
Ice creamYogurt
Dairy creamer
Cream
Skim milk
Whole milk
Butter
Powdered milk
Grains, beans and potatoes - These three are big no-no's in the Paleo diet for several reasons. First, the Paleo diet is about imitating the diet of our ancestors in the Paleolithic era and these three foods were already developed in the Neolithic era during the development of agriculture. A second reason is that because these foods are mass produced, and unless they are organic, they contain chemicals that were sprayed onto them to protect them until harvest and to make them bigger. The soil that they were grown in also contains fertilizers.

The third and most important reason is that grains, beans, potatoes and other starchy vegetables are rich sources of carbohydrates. While we need carbohydrates in our diet, we do not need excessive amounts. The Paleo diet already has enough carbohydrates. Carbohydrates tend to increase the body's blood sugar levels and these three examples have a high glycemic index (meaning they increase the blood sugar levels upon digestion more than the usual). High consumptions of carbohydrates can cause diabetes and other diseases. Examples of grains, beans and starchy vegetables that you should avoid are:

Grains:Corns
Oats
Rice
Wheat
Buckwheat
Rye
Beans/Legumes:
Chickpeas
Lentils
Peanuts
Peas
Soybeans
Peanut butter
Starchy vegetables:
Potato
Sweet potato
Cassava root
Tapioca pudding
 

Author John Wheeler can help you get more out of your Paleo food lists. There is an email course on the essentials of the Paleo Diet available at http://paleodietlearningcenter.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=J._Wheeler

 

Paleo Diet:

The Four Essentials Of The Paleolithic Diet You Need To Know

By Davis Newberry

What is the Paleo diet?

Over time the human diet has undergone a lot of evolution starting from the under-cooked and raw foods to medium or rare cooked foods and now in this current era, most of us consume extremely refined and processed food. However, if the effects and side effects of this change in dietary pattern are analyzed over years and now it can be safely established that all the health issues and diseases that we are suffering from, are largely because of the poor quality nutrition we consume.
A lot of people are now reverting back to the old and traditional ways of consuming food, one fairly popular one is Paleo diet that is designed on the ideology of our ancient ancestors who used to live in caves and had no means of preserving food or refining nutrients.

What are the essentials of Paleolithic diet?

The Paleolithic diet consists of all the nutritional constituents that are naturally available on earth and consumed by ancient cave-men who knew nothing about animal husbandry or basic art of agriculture.

• Paleolithic diet abolishes the consumption of all grains, beans and legumes.
• Following this diet, you cannot consume any dairy product like milk, ice-cream and yogurt.
• No sugary, refined or processed food like bakery items, cookies, candies or aerated beverages
• Any food product that has chemical or preservatives to increase the shelf live is also banned in this diet. This is because most preservatives contain chemicals that may alter normal physiological functioning and may lead to disease (and even cancerous growth) in individuals.

The above list pretty much eliminates a lot of regular dietary components we consume on daily basis. You must be wondering what is it that you can consume being on Paleo diet. Imagine the nutritional sources that were available to the ancient cave-men; which include:

• Consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables (better if consumed in raw firm). The top ranked Paleo vegetables are the one that require no hard-core cooking like carrots, reddish, tomato and others. Over-cooking destroy nutritional value of vegetables by altering the chemistry of proteins by heat.
• Consumption of only free-range poultry products (chicken and egg). This refers to any live stock that is not fed hormones or chemicals to enhance growth or to produce more flesh/ milk/ or any other product. In the current times, it is very difficult to get grass-fed meat, which is the natural and organic form of meat.
• Increasing the consumption of fish more than that of ground beef/ mutton.
• Healthy choice of oils that include avocado oil, sunflower oil, olive oil and coconut oil. Generally Paleo diet deals with natural oil that does not undergo hydrogenation processes that increases the risk of clogging in cardiac vessels.

How to get started on Paleo diet?
Switching your diet pattern is not easy, so in order to stay consistent on your diet plan, conduct intensive research to weigh all the pros and cons of Paleo diet. It is always great to discuss and share information with your family members, as it will help you to stick to the paleo diet longer. Moreover, always keep the menu diverse in the beginning to keep yourself fixated to the diet.
I am sure you will notice the difference in your overall health within a month of starting paleo diet.
Stay healthy!

This time give yourself and your diet a fighting chance. Get informed and learn everything you need to succeed on the Paleo Diet by visiting http://paleolifestyleblueprint.com
Let this be the year you finally succeed with your weight loss goals by following the paleo diet

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Davis_Newberry