Anyone who has ever been unhappy with their body or health will no doubt have attempted a diet at some point. There are so many ridiculous fad diets out there that I feel sorry for the people who get suckered into trying them and especially those who end up paying for them. This is why I felt compelled to write my opinion of the Paleo or 'caveman' diet.
For those who don't know the Paleo diet is based upon the types of foods that we presume were eaten by early humans. These means a diet focused of meat, fish, vegetable and avoiding the likes of dairy, cereal and processed foods. There seems to be a lot of confusion around what the Paleo diet is, but I believe people needn't concern themselves with this at all!
What's great is that you don't have to follow this diet exactly to see benefits. I myself have chosen to do it not because I need to lose weight but because I want to eat healthier foods and avoid putting processed foods into my body. I should mention that by 'chosen to do it' I mean that I have adopted some of the principles that best suit me. A lot of people are doing this, choosing to pick the Paleo template over the Paleo diet.
I am writing this letter to discuss whether we have to be rigid to diets or not? I have found with the Paleo diet (and so have others) that it can be an effective template rather than a restrictive and rigid plan. As I mentioned I have adopted its idea of cutting out processed foods and I'm the better for it. It isn't one of those diets that cause you to stress out if you do not absolutely stick to it and this is a more realistic way to treat it. As a result of doing this only briefly I have found and improvement in my skin, an awareness of eating healthier and also feeling better in my own body and about the choices I have made in food.
There are people opposed to the Paleo diet and state that red meat consumption is bad for you, but this is when I once more revert back to my point of using Paleo as a template rather than anything else. Using a template rather than a rigid diet plan means that there is room for variation and experimentation with what works for you. You don't have to stick to a high meat diet, instead for me it is about focusing on eating clean foods - choosing fresh meat and vegetables rather than that prepackaged pasta meal.
This flexibility means you can find out what works for you and create an optimal diet. I have always had dairy products growing up but have only recently learnt that almost 3/4 of people are intolerant to dairy. I found by cutting this out there was an immediate improvement in my health and how I felt after eating a meal. So if you think something isn't working in your diet you can cut it out and then gradually incorporate it again to see whether it feels good or not.
I don't think anyone should frown on a diet that is just telling you to go back to basics and avoid the processed foods which we shovel down our throats on a regular basis. So to those who are spending their time writing lengthy articles against Paleo...I wish you'd stop. Nobody should be put off adopting a diet of unprocessed foods, regardless of what gave them the impetus to do it.
Arguing about what the Paleo diet truly is pointless. Instead people should be trying to identify what works best for themselves in a diet and how to implement it. That's what I did and I haven't been happier with my diet.
