The paleolithic diet / paleo diet is the oldest and most basic diet which humans have evolved with; it is basic to our biology, our digestive system and is what provides us with good health.
Unfortunately, many people are clueless as to how modern food techniques have damaged the quality of healthy food, of how chemicals and cacogenics enter our body almost every second of the day, how important sleep is to our health and how a good diet based off the foods we where created to eat can dramatically alter the quality of our health.
The paleo diet focuses on consuming foods we as humans evolved to eat, while simultaneously eliminating the over processed sugar laden foods now linked to causing the many, many diseases we are faced with in society today.
Around 40 thousand years ago, us humans lived as hunter gatherers; we lived off the land and what the land provided for us to eat and drink. As hunter gatherers, we fed off fresh fruits and vegetables in season, nuts, seeds and animals. There are many people who still live off the land, many villages in Africa and China will grow their own crops and eat what is available to them.
So What Foods Make up The Paleo Diet?
- Meat
- Fish
- Plants
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Nuts and Seeds
These foods are available through mother nature with no agricultural or processing needed to be edible.
But things have changed. No more than 100-200yrs ago the industrial revolution began to refine and process foods until hardly any nutrition was left within those food products. Bread became whiter and whiter, dairy went from raw to pasteurised and sugar began to make its way into almost every modernized food product.
We are living in a society where the rate of illness and disease is on a continuous rise. In America alone there are 23 million people diagnosed with cancer every year, 41 million people diagnosed with heart disease, 50 million people with high blood pressure, 80 million people with diabetes (and that’s expected to double in 2 generations) and 64% of adults in America are either overweight or obese.
Nutrition has the ability to take charge of our health, wellness and longevity. Whether the nutrition is good or bad, the foods we put into our mouth can dramatically alter our hormones, our energy levels and of course, our well-being.
Studies have shown that 70% of all deaths in America are diet related, I wouldn’t be surprised however if that statistic was more like 90%.
There is a common link towards nutrition and health, and nutrition for treating illness. As Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food“.
Good nutrition, obtainable through the consumption of nutritionally rich foods making up the paleo diet has and continues to treat and cure many conditions which go un-treated (and sometimes looked at as un-treatable) every day. Illnesses such as epilepsy, a condition many children and adults continue to face on a daily basis has been cured many times in both children and adults through the dietary changes of following a paleo diet. Unfortunately in most cases medication will be prescribed and often continue to be prescribed for a lifetime.
We will be doing a 30 day paleo challenge as a group soon at ED*CF. Until then, more articles will be posted on the subject to educate those who have never heard of it. If you are looking for change and have already incorporated CrossFit into your weekly regimen, cleaning up your diet is the next and final step.
