Paleo diet or caveman diet is one method of diet that adopts the prehistoric caveman diet. Then, why are cavemen used as models to go on a diet? Caveman is used as a dietary reference because it is considered to have a diet that is useful for health. Therefore, the food sources in this diet are made as closely as possible to those consumed by cavemen.
Paleo diet is considered to be the optimal diet for several health problems as expressed in several clinical trials, namely to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, and inflammation. The results of several clinical trials also stated that optimizing this diet is beneficial to help you lose weight, reduce acne, improve overall health and athletic performance of the body.
Types of Food in the Paleo Diet
Foods that are recommended for consumption according to this diet are foods that are obtained by cavemen by hunting, fishing, or found in nature. In general, these foods are meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits. Other types of food that can be categorized as caveman food are tubers and shellfish.
Of course, eating the exact same food consumed by cavemen is impossible. However, at this time most of the food in circulation is not from the wild. We usually consume a variety of foods produced by factories, cultivated, or from agricultural products.
Although they cannot imitate one hundred percent of what cavemen consume, there is a modified version of modern food today. One that is used as a benchmark is gluten-free food. Gluten itself is like glue or adhesive which is a combination of proteins that can be found in wheat.
Food groups that meet the above requirements include:
- Vegetables.
- Fruits.
- Nuts and seeds are free of pesticides and fungicides.
- Low-fat meat, especially those that are fed grass or forage for themselves.
- Fish that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna.
- Oils derived from grains and nuts, such as olive oil and walnut oil.
In the Paleo diet, some of the foods below are recommended to be avoided.
- Various dairy products.
- Lentils, peas, and peanuts.
- Grains and potatoes.
- Sugar
- All packaged foods in general.
Those who do the paleo diet are advised not to consume other drinks besides water, coconut water, or organic green tea. If you want to give food a sweet taste, you can use real honey or coconut sugar. Although permitted, consumption of raw honey and coconut sugar should be limited. To be sure, these dieters must continue to do physical activity regularly.
Who is recommended to do this diet?
This diet is considered suitable for those who suffer from diabetes. Because this diet consumes relatively lower carbohydrates. Food sources allowed in this diet have a low glycemic index. This type of food makes the pancreas do not need to work hard so the amount of medication needed is not too much.
In addition, this diet is considered suitable for diabetics because it makes a diet rich in lean protein and rich in fiber so that it can help control blood sugar levels and prevent weight gain. Besides being good for diabetics, the Paleo diet is also considered good for preventing heart disease and other serious conditions. This diet is also predicted to be good for cleaning toxins in the body, sharpening memory, and making connections between organs in the body better.
Although this diet is promising because it focuses on natural foods, but because of its strict rules maybe not everyone can run it for a long time. Another difficulty is that this diet actually fumbles what cavemen consumed during ancient times, whereas the situation and conditions then and now are of course much different.
The most worrisome of the paleo diet is the possibility of the culprit getting an imbalance of nutrients and lack of certain nutrients the body needs because this diet forbids some foods, such as whole grains and milk.
