There’s no doubt that the Paleo Diet sounds

appealing.

At first glance, it is tempting to think of our

caveman ancestors as living fitter, healthier

lives. But the truth of the matter is that a lot

of the guesswork that Paleo’s foundation is

built on doesn’t quite stand up to scrutiny.

And while it certainly does offer some

benefits like eating fewer preservatives and

additives, providing more chances to give

your body essential nutrients, and offering

possible health effects like lower risks of

obesity-related diseases, the detriments of

Paleo might outweigh these upsides.

An unusually restrictive diet, wallet-busting

ingredient costs, and nutritional deficiencies

are some of the worst offenders here.

Beyond that, Paleo has been proven to

drop pounds over time. And if you do

actually stick with it in the long-term, you’ll

undoubtedly start seeing results. But given

just how easy this diet makes it to slip up and how long it takes for substantial weight loss to kick in, you’re probably better off

finding a more accessible alternative.

Ultimately, Paleo is just another fad diet with sub-par results.

Luckily, though, there are faster, healthier, and smarter ways to trim up your waistline

and lose belly fat much quicker. So don’t lose hope just yet!

 As you can see, going Paleo is likely going to end up being a bit harder than you may have

imagined.

But what about the weight loss associated with it? Are all of these problems balanced out

by an incredibly slim and sexy waistline in just a few weeks?

Well… not quite.

Studies have shown that Paleo does, in fact, lead to weight loss in some people who fully

commit to the diet. But in most cases, that weight loss takes a bit of time to start to show.

One study from the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that obese patients on

the Paleo Diet lost on average around 14 pounds over a six month period. Another 2015

study from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that a 60-day Paleo

Diet resulted in an average weight loss of around 9 pounds in 76 individuals.

Two other studies have shown weight loss effects, but the experiment designs themselves

were a bit questionable in that neither had a control group (which is an essential part of

a sound scientific method). The first study showed weight loss at around 5lbs over the

course of 3 weeks while the second study showed almost 10lbs over 5 weeks.

In the end, weight loss is possible on the Paleo Diet – over time. But to put it bluntly, it isn’t

much better than any other diet out there.

 Despite the benefits listed above, there are a couple of glaring problems with the Paleo

Diet – some of which may make this diet a flop for certain people. The first problem with

Paleo is the fact that the overwhelming majority of its health claims are exaggerated,

unproven, or downright made up. While it certainly appeals to a kind of logic where

getting back to a simpler time is held in higher regard than progress, the truth is our

Paleolithic ancestors weren’t much healthier than we are today.

What’s more, they may have even suffered from some of the very same supposed

“diseases of civilization” that we struggle with. It follows, then, that our diet alone isn’t

necessarily the only thing responsible here.

And when you add in the fact that Paleo just doesn’t have the scientific research to back

up its claims (see Scientific American’s How to Really Eat Like a Hunter-Gatherer: Why the

Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked), it seems like Paleo’s health benefits are built on shaky ground.

But what about the diet itself? What kinds of problems can you expect to encounter if you

do decide to go Paleo? Well, there are a few.

• Expenses – Although our caveman ancestors probably weren’t too worried about their

finances, you might be after a few weeks of going Paleo. After all, the deli counter and

the produce section are often the priciest sections of the supermarket and you’ll be

spending quite a bit of time there with Paleo.

• Difficult to Stick to – Despite the enormous number of cookbooks and websites,

some people on Paleo may feel like they don’t know what to eat. That’s because entire

categories of foods (grain and dairy) are off limits. And as with most diets, if you bar

such vast swathes of foods, it can be especially tough to stay true to the guidelines.

• May Cause Nutritional Deficiencies – While our Paleolithic ancestors may not have

had the stomach for dairy or grains in their days, humans have come a long way in

30,000 years. And without these two categories of foods, you may be missing out on

vitamin B2, calcium, and vitamin D – all of which are essential for optimum health. These

deficiencies could end up causing disorders like osteoporosis or even rickets.

• Can Be Tough with Exercise – Carbohydrates are great storehouses for energy. And

when you’re hitting the gym or engaging in cardio, carbs are usually where your power

is coming from. When you cut out grains entirely as with Paleo though, it can be much

tougher to get the most out of your workouts and build muscle correctly. As a result,

athletes and individuals who want to pack on muscle mass probably shouldn’t try

committing to Paleo.

When followed to a T, the Paleo Diet can actually provide a couple of core benefits

including reduced risk of certain diseases, a “cleaner” diet overall, more fullness

throughout the day, and a potential influx of certain vitamins and nutrients.

Let’s first take a look at disease prevention. For some people, going Paleo is all about

having a healthier immune system that’s better able to fight off maladies like cancer and

heart disease. And while the research is still out on whether the types of foods eaten

during Paleo are that beneficial, researchers are confident that the weight loss associated

with this diet (more on that later) can help prevent obesity-related disorders including:

• Heart disease

• High blood pressure

• Diabetes

• Gallbladder disease and gallstones

• Osteoarthritis

• Breathing problems

It’s worth repeating, though, that the benefit of Paleo here is strictly related to how weight

loss alone can prevent such diseases. The actual impact that the Paleo Diet’s foods have

on disease prevention is still up for debate.

Another benefit, though, is that going Paleo means you’re cutting out a substantial

number of food additives, preservatives, and other potentially dangerous compounds. In

many cases, the majority of these compounds are safe to consume in moderate amounts

(despite their intimidatingly complex names).

However, consuming unhealthy levels of these compounds or some that have been

deemed dangerous may increase the risk of certain kinds of cancers according to the

American Cancer Society. And by cutting these out of your diet entirely with Paleo, you

may be reducing those risks.

The Paleo Diet might also end up making you fuller throughout the day due to the higher

amount of proteins, fiber, and fats. One study even found that people on Paleo felt fuller

than those on the highly-regarded Mediterranean diets. This effect will, of course, vary

from person to person but it stands to reason that the less hungry you are, the lower your

risk of slipping up and indulging in a cheat snack will be.

And finally, Paleo may end up providing higher levels of certain types of vitamins and

minerals which can contribute to healthier cholesterol and lower triglycerides. If you’re

The Truth About Weight Loss & The Paleo Diet. 

moving from a junk food diet with little to no nutrition, adopting a meal regimen full

of vegetables, fruits, and lean meats is going to flood your system with the dietary

nourishment that you’ve been missing out on for a long time.

And that can all add up to better overall health in the long run – even if it is just from

fitting in more healthy foods into your meals. 

The paleo diet is soaring in popularity, with information everywhere citing the abundance of health benefits delivered by this ancestral hunter-gatherer diet. From the curing of intestinal problems, asthma, diabetes, arthritis and cholesterol issues, to increased muscle mass and sustainable weight loss, how does one diet manage to do so much? Surely one diet can’t increase muscle, shed weight, stop illness and cure ailments. That sounds like a magic pill, too good to be true.

If you need help with recipes, this is a great paleo diet cook book!
Perhaps this is why the entire world doesn’t yet follow the paleo lifestyle, we just don’t believe what we are reading and are too conditioned to believe that we should always have some sort of health complaint. Think about yourself and the people you know. How often don’t you or others around you complain of feeling ill or having a pain? Not is often the answer. We are a sick world, literally. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Paleo is an ambiguous lifestyle application.

By this, I mean that whatever your positive bodily goal is, the paleo diet will adapt and assist in achieving the desired goal(s). Basically, you feed the body what it naturally requires and then set about becoming healthier in the areas you desire. Think of it like this. When you put optimum gasoline in a car, whether you drive fast, slow, regularly or infrequently, the car will still drive smoothly and effortlessly. With the paleo diet, whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, cure headaches, prevent bloatedness or ward off minor ailments, the body will do so because it has the correct fuel to act on all the requirements.

This comprises the reason so many people lose weight following the paelo diet, because it is effortless. The majority of people trying to lose weight are already exercising, and exercise is closely linked with living paleo. So when undertaking the diet people find themselves with increased energy to exercise more, they sleep better to aid recovery, eat less bad fats, sugar and high cholesterol foods, and subsequently a natural weight loss plan is set in motion. CrossFit training in particular is synonymous with the paleo diet because this high intensity training requires lean muscle and bundles of reserve energy. When living paleo you don’t need to drink excessive energy drinks or protein shakes to train. You feel consistently energized and get all you need from your daily meals. Unlike most diets where you feel drained and hungry all the time, snacks are allowed in paleo and eating when you feel hungry isn’t a problem.

The problem most weight loss diets have is that they encourage rapid weight loss for which the body reacts against, putting the weight back on as quickly as you lost it. Paleo facilitates weight loss naturally without starvation, which is known to cause adverse reactions and potential health problems. Paleo also goes beyond the wall which most weight loss diets fail to conquer, attacking stubborn weight because the body doesn’t feel the need to store it due to a substantial level of ‘good fats’ intake. So, we know what the paleo diet is, we know what we can eat, what we can’t and that we can achieve sustainable weight loss by living paleo. But how easy is cooking, and where can the best paleo recipes be found? If you need help with recipes, this is a great paleo diet cook book!.

Paleo is short for Paleolithic, which refers to a prehistoric era defined by the development of the first stone tools. The modern day paleo diet refers to eating like our hunter-gatherer ancestors who lived in communal groups and fed off of the land.

Obviously our forefathers didn’t eat processed foods, and they weren’t sitting stooped over computers all day either. No, they were roaming up to 19km per day hunting and picking their food as animals do. With this in mind, the paleo diet attempts to replicate the traditional human diet which historically was naturally aligned with Mother Nature and certainly didn’t cause obesity problems. Paleo isn’t so much a diet, more of a way of living that replicates – in a modern way – the diet for which the human body was designed to follow. The paleo community believes that the agricultural revolution is directly responsible for increased ill health across the world, and medical reports globally show they aren’t wrong. Heart attacks, obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cancer are all linked directly with excessive consumption of factory farmed meats, preservatives, processed sugars and high salt intake. Paleo excludes dairy and grains, both of which were not part of our ancestors’ diet. This makes logical sense considering that approximately 25% of the US population is lactose intolerant (1994/NIDDK), and more than 2-million people suffer from celiac disease, with as many as 1 in 22 people thought to be undiagnosed. These statistics are compelling and proof that although we may think the body has adapted to an alternative diet the figures suggest otherwise.

Visit the Paleo Cookbook  for great Paleo Diet recipes. The paleo diet is becoming increasingly popular due to its natural ability to produce sustainable weight loss, increase energy, reduce ailments and sickness and promote better sleep. People have also reported fewer headaches, stomach aches and joint pains. The diet comprises all the nutrients and vitamins a person needs daily and draws its staple ingredients from specific meats, fish, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables.

 As a preference fresh, organic ingredients are used for cooking. At first this may sound a little boring, but you will be surprised. The paleo diet includes sweet items derived from natural sources such as coconuts and almonds. There are even recipes for natural chocolate. The paleo diet doesn’t expect you to go out on the kill for a wildebeest or scavenge for berries, but what it does ask is that you simply avoid foods that are proven to have a negative effect on the body. How often do you see an image of a fat caveman? Never is the answer. And that is because being overweight is a modern day problem. But we shouldn’t need diet fads, pills and extreme weight loss programs to maintain a healthy weight, we should just eat properly. This is where paleo comes into its element. It is a natural, effortless and achievable way to live a healthy existence that the body is already programmed to follow.

1. Burn more calories than you consume. If this makes you go: D-uuuh!!, snap out of it and consider that this elementary aspect of dieting excapes countless clueless and doomed dieters. Tabloids may claim to have the miracle foods thatll allow you to eat like a pig and have the pounds melt off, but its a load.
2. Establish your base metabolism, and set a target calorie goal approx. 500 calories below it. I wrote an article dedicated to establishing your metabolism earlier, so look it up in the article archive if you need a refresher.
3. Keep an honest log. Make estimates of how many calories you stuff yourself with every meal and tally up the total to make sure you stay within your target calorie goal. Convenient mistakes, under-estimates and forgetfulness allows you to eat more now, but youre defeating the whole point of dieting.

 

4. Actively choose good sources of fat. This may sound like stupid advice shouldnt you AVOID fat when dieting? Well, yes and no. You have to keep consuming some fat, just not going overboard. Avoid butter, bacon, whole milk, coconuts and such like the plague. Instead, make use of olive oil (virgin) and fatty fish. Peanut butter is an interesting topic. I used to put it in the same category as the bad fats. It belongs there, packing saturated fat as well as artery-clogging trans fatty acids. However, based on highly unscientific testimonies by others as well as personal experience, it seems like a handful of peanuts once in a while when dieting can do wonders in keeping energy levels up while not wreaking havoc with your overall diet. Strange and illogical? You betcha. But it just so happens to work anyway, kind of like bumblebees flying though they technically shouldnt be able to.
5. Eat small but frequent meals throughout the day. Youve heard it a million times, Im sure, but facts remain: In order to keep an even level of blood sugar, you have to eat small, balanced meals.
6. Dont go wimpy on the weight training. When you diet, youre in the danger zone for losing muscle mass most of the time. To avoid this, keeping pumping iron, and be diligent about it!
7. Avoid alcohol. Given that barbeque-season is upon us, this can be tough when your friends bring out the ice-cold brewskis. The solution is simple: Only associate with other bodybuilders, so you at least wont be the lone dweeb sipping a diet soda! For those of you who have the ridiculous idea that your life should not revolve around bodybuilding: Snap out of it.
8. Do cardio in moderation. Doing 45 mins on the stairmaster every day is a great way to get the pounds off quicker. 2 hours is not so great, since youre bound to start losing muscle mass. When and how much is individual (and depending on what youve had to eat earlier in the day) but avoid cardio sessions in excess of 1 hour. If you need the punishment do one session in the morning and one in the evening. Also remember to stay in the 65%-70% heart rate zone for optimal fat burn.
9. Schedule cheating days to stay sane. Dieting is no fun. No matter how gung-ho and motivated you are when you start out, youll have days when everything is darkness and the world is out to get you. Make sure to get a treat once a week on a set day (Saturday is good) as it gives you something to look forward to. A juicy burger is fatty and calorie-dense, but if you prepare by doing extra cardio for three days in advance youll come in right on target for the week.
10. Dont be afraid of soy. I used to avoid fake-meat products, but having been married to a vegetarian for 3+ years Ive tried soy hot dogs, burgers, chicken patties, even riblets that taste just like the real thing. And heres the kicker: Soy products is mostly protein! Granted, soy protein is not the highest quality out there, but if you drink a glass of milk or have some other high-quality protein source with it you can bump up the overall quality in a hurry. Besides, soy has a number of great health benefits when eaten in moderation and contains very little fat.