The Paleo Diet - is this the way we are supposed to eat?

This is a philosophy of eating healthy. Why certain things are healthy and certain things are not. A solid foundation to underpin your nutrition.

This is the philosophy. If you want to know more about how to use this in the day to day then check out www.bootcampqatar.com over the coming weeks. In the resources section (www.bootcampqatar.co...) we will be publishing more diet plans and recipes.

Nutrition Info
The Paleo Diet is a way of eating in the modern age that best mimics diets of our hunter-gatherer ancestors - combinations of lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. By eating the foods that we are genetically adapted to eat, followers of the Paleo Diet are naturally lean, have acne-free skin, improved athletic performance, and are experiencing relief from numerous metabolic-related and autoimmune diseases.

If you are ready to be lean and healthy, then look around and subscribe to our newsletter. Learn how to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis, acne, gastrointestinal disease, autoimmune diseases, and more. On this website, and in our books and newsletter, you’ll learn the latest science and practical scientific tips that will lead to optimum health and performance. This truly is the world’s healthiest diet.

Paleolithic Diet
The Paleolithic Diet ("Paleo" is a common abbreviation) is based on eating foods that our Paleolithic ancestors ate. The "Paleolithic" refers to the Paleolithic Age, which is a formal time period on Geologic Time Charts from about 2,500,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago. The premise is that during the Paleolithic, we evolved a specific genome that has only changed 0.01 per cent in these last 10,000 years. However, during this recent time span mass agriculture, grains/grain products, sugars/sugar products, dairy/dairy products, and a plethora of processed foods have all been introduced as a regular part of the human diet. We are not eating the foods we are genetically and physiologically adapted to eat (99.9% of our genetic profile is still Paleolithic); and the discordance is an underlying cause for much of the "diseases of civilization", "syndrome X", obesity, and "diseases of old age" that are so epidemic in our society today.

As Dr. Cordain and others' scientific research reveal - the evolutionary, genetic, and clinical evidence point to a natural (i.e., unprocessed foods), omnivorous diet as the healthiest way to eat. Dr. Cordain's research shows that 70% of the average caloric intake of Americans is from foods that did not even exist for our Paleolithic ancestors. This discordance is having tremendously negative health consequences for our society as a whole.

Our genes determine our optimum diet, and our genes evolved according to the environments in which our ancient ancestors lived, including the foods they ate. Our Paleolithic ancestors did not eat just one single diet, but rather they ate within a range of natural, unprocessed diets - depending on variables like geography, climate, competition, ecologic niche, season, and glaciations. All of these Paleolithic diets did share some universal characteristics, though

Nutrition is the foundation for all athletic development and essential for achieving elite fitness and health. The CrossFit nutrition prescription in it's simplest terms is "Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar." This ensures that you are eating "real food," the food that our hunter-gatherer ancestors have eaten for millions of years, and avoiding the processed "edible food-like substances" that come in boxes, bags and packages.

Evolution has not kept pace with advances in agriculture and food processing resulting in a plague of health problems for modern man. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and psychological dysfunction have all been scientifically linked to a diet too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to improve health. Real food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. An easy rule is "If you can hunt it or gather it, you can eat it."

If you follow these simple guidelines you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition.

Reclaim your health by understanding the diet that is genetically coded in all humans, the Paleo Diet.

We have a modern snap shot into the effects of the Paleo Diet with the last 84 tribes of Hunter Gatherers on earth. These Hunter Gatherer tribes have survived relatively untouched since the dawn of time; we know these groups are muscular, strong and healthy. They have perfect eyesight and straight teeth and are free from diabetes, obesity, cancer and other problems plaguing the modern world. Since we are genetically identical to our ancestors of 2 million years ago and for the last 7 million years we have been genetically coded to eat a certain way, a diet that is based on animal based proteins, fruits and vegetables and healthy fats is the key to health. A modern diet based on grains, processed foods and sugars has taken us down a path of sickness, illness and obesity.

What Should I Eat?
Protein: Fish, Meat, Chicken, Eggs
Carbs: Fruits and Veggies
Fat: Nuts, Seeds, Avocados, Olives and Oils

What Foods Should I Avoid?
Anything that doesn't exist in nature, or has been processed. Corn, rice, bread, candy, potato, sweets, sodas, and most processed carbohydrates. Processing can include bleaching, baking, grinding, and refining. Processing of carbohydrates greatly increases their glycemic index, a measure of their propensity to elevate blood sugar.

What is the Deal With Hormones?
Hormones regulate how the body stores and releases fat. The hormonal response your body has to food determines whether you store fat or burn it. As far as hormones are concerned, food is a drug--a very powerful drug. Consuming low-glycemic foods, that keep insulin levels steady, will allow stored body fat to burned up as a fuel. On the other hand, high-glycemic foods (especially processed carbohydrates) spike insulin levels, raise blood sugar, and send a double wammy message to your body telling it to (1) store calories as fat and (2)block body fat from being used as fuel. The CrossFit prescription is a low-glycemic diet and consequently severely blunts the insulin response.

Caloric Restriction and Longevity
Current research strongly supports the link between caloric restriction and an increased life expectancy. The incidence of cancers and heart disease sharply decline with a diet that is carefully limited in controlling caloric intake. The CrossFit prescription is consistent with this research. The CrossFit prescription allows a reduced caloric intake and yet still provides ample nutrition for rigorous activity

Without a doubt the Japanese are some of the slimmest, longest lived and healthiest of races and yet historically they ate a diet high in carbs (rice) and low in protein.

When they adopt the western diet of higher protein and fat and lower carbs they experience the same problems as westerners namely heart disease, obesity etc.

So who is right? One important consideration is the amount of fish in the Japanese diet. In fact fish is the primary source of protein. Fish is number 1 when it comes to protein sources as it is low fat, high in essential oils and although prone to heavy metal contamination is largely free of steroids etc found in beef.

Another thing to consider is the very high consumption in Japan of raw and very lightly cooked vegetables. This is another similarity with paleo advice.

But what about the rice? Yes the japanese eat a lot of rice. White rice too (i.e. processed and simple). So why are they not fat?

Firstly they don't actually eat that much in terms of calories. The japanese historically do not eat huge quantities. Secondly they do not commit that cardinal sin which is eating simple carbs with fat. They also have a relatively low sugar diet.

Please add your views. For me it is all about common sense. Some things about diet are just intuitive once you have read the subject in detail.

Cliched etc but I think if you research the subject and use your common sense there is a balance to be struck between extreme Paleo and normal living.

Not to mention expense.

The Paleo man would not have had access to the quantities of meat available now and would have done long stretches of veganism between hunts I am sure.

Quantities of rice and potatoes etc can do no harm.

There are some inconsistencies in the article…veggies as a source of carbs? Potatoes don’t exist in nature?

aggy wrote:There are some inconsistencies in the article…veggies as a source of carbs? Potatoes don’t exist in nature?

Not inconsistencies but perhaps a little ambiguous

veggies as a source of carbs - nothing wrong with that

Potatoes - of course they are natural but not that natural. The point of the article is that our bodies evolved over hundreds of thousands of years eating what was available naturally. Our bodies evolved way before farming. Would a paleo man have found a tuber and eaten it, certainly. Would he have found enough tubers to serve mash and boiled potatoes etc etc in abundance every meal? Absolutely not. The point is that the potato is unnatural. We have cultivated it (and engineered it) in the last couple of thousand years (way too short to have evolved) to such an extent that in effect it cannot be found in nature. It is high, relatively simple carbohydrate that the paleo man would not have had access to.