Showing posts with label weight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight. Show all posts

Pros and Cons of Eating Paleo

While paleo is one of the most effective ways of eating for many reasons, anybody who says there isn't any downsides are diluting themselves.

Here's a basic chart of the common pros and cons:


Cons
(things that you might experience when going on the Paleo diet)
Pros
(the good stuff that happens to most people on the Paleo diet and might also happen to you!)
  • Missing foods (grains, sugar, dairy, soy, peanut, processed foods, artificial sweetener, alcohol)
  • Asking more questions about ingredients in a dish and requesting substitutions when eating out
  • Changing your eating habits
  • Possibly experiencing some side effects at the beginning (fatigue, cravings, headache, constipation, bloating…)
  • Having people asking questions when you say “no” to some food at family gatherings or at work
  • Meeting with your doctor to discuss things (especially if you have a medical condition or take prescribed medications)
  • Reducing your cravings
  • controlling your sweet tooth
  • Stabilizing your blood sugars
    and energy levels
  • Losing weight (if needed)
  • Getting healthier
    • ↓ triglycerides
    • ­↑ HDL cholesterol
    • ↓ A1C & ↓ blood sugars
    • ↓ blood pressure
  • Controlling your autoimmune condition(Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, vitiligo…)
  • Improving your gastrointestinal health (IBS, GERD, intolerances…)
  • Having such good results that your friends, colleagues and family ask you how you did it!
  • Spending less time grocery shopping (no need to read labels when you buy real, unprocessed food!)


More information available at: http://www.eat-real-food-paleodietitian.com

Reasons Why Being Better and Eating Wheat Doesn't Mix

Wheat. The big trend that I hear a lot of right now is gluten. Yes, gluten can be *extremely* bad for you physically and mentally and that's fairly easily quantified. That said, gluten is in wheat. Gluten free wheat should be better, and I'm not going to get into whole grain wheat right now but believe me that the science doesn't follow the idea that eating most of your diet from whole grains or any wheat will be good for you (unless you're starving to death). Also, wheat is a subclass of grains and I will not dive into all grains right now.

Let's run through some reasons wheat isn't making you better:

  • Cancer cells fall in love with simple carbohydrates
  • Stomach fat (lovingly referred to as the "American Gut")
  • Inflammation
  • Mental fog
  • Mycotoxins
  • Mold
  • Gut damage
  • Damage to the gall bladder and bile production
  • Less than optimal bone health
  • Less energy
  • Lowered immune system
Possible long terms effects:
  • Infertility
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Lupus
  • Vitiligo
  • Narcolepsy
  • Schizophrenia
  • Autism
  • Depression
  • Huntington’s
  • Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Porphyria
I've always loved cereal, there are quite extensive studies coming out that grains and sugary foods in particular can be as addictive, because it hits a lot of the same receptors, as cocaine. If that sounds crazy try mentioning to somebody that they go a week without it and see the kind of responses you'll typically get. One alternative to wheat I enjoy is rather than not having sandwiches get a head of good cabbage and use that to hold everything together. Some studies show that if fermented there may be specialized benefits. Yes french toast is delicious, sadly for most humans it's also slowly killing you.

Resources, studies and further reading: