We live in a society that regularly consumes high carbs and refined sugars. Now try to imagine a time when there were no dairy, legumes, or even grains...seems kind of strange, right?

If you're not familiar with Paleo, it is an ancient diet that dates back to the Paleolithic era (2.5 million – 10, 000 years ago), free from dairy, legumes, and grains. Only in recent years have scientists discovered this as a holistic approach to maintaining a long and healthy lifestyle; a process-free diet.

If your goal is to lose or maintain a healthy weight, the Paleo Diet is worth exploring!  Unlike most diets, a Paleo diet does not involve counting calories. Instead, it restricts legumes, dairy, and grains, all of which are major sources of calories in the modern diet. 

Paleo is one of the most popular go-to diets because of its simplistic approach to healthy eating.  Many health enthusiasts are drawn to this holistic diet as it is easy to follow and sustainable when combined with another diet such as Keto. While on this diet you eat generous amounts of saturated fats like coconut oil and butter or clarified butter. Beef tallow, lard and duck fat are also good, but only if they come from healthy and pasture-fed animals. Beef or lamb tallow is much better than lamb or duck fat.  In addition to this, good fats such as Olive, avocado and macadamia oil are tremendously healthy and pair nicely in a colorful salad.  

Uniquely designed, the Paleo is a way of eating, much like that of early cave dwellers. It was the emergence of farming that genetically mismatched the human body to the modern diet – which scientists now call the discordance hypothesis.  Advocates like 'Paleo' Pete Evans of MKR fame, claim that the Palaeolithic diet could prevent or cure poly-cystic ovarian syndrome, autism, mental illness, dementia, and obesity.  If you consider how rapidly farming changed our entire diet regimen, some scientists suggest our bodies weren't able to adapt properly.

What to eat

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Nuts and seeds
• Lean meats, especially grass-fed animals or wild game
• Fish, especially those omega-3 enriched foods, such as salmon, mackerel and albacore tuna
• Oils from fruits and nuts, such as olive oil or walnut oil

What to avoid

• Grains, such as wheat, oats and barley
• Legumes, such as beans, lentils, peanuts and peas
• Dairy products
• Refined sugar
• Salt
• Potatoes
• Highly processed foods in general!

There are several reasons we love this method of dieting! This diet is especially good for you if you have other medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, or coronary heart disease! Another reason is that not only does it avoid processed foods and excess sugar, but it also forces the body to burn its fat for energy rather than carbohydrates and lean muscle.

This is important --- we want our bodies to metabolize the fat that has been stored.  Weight loss is even more crucial.  However, this diet has a downside, as there are no whole grains to assist in a healthy digestive system and colon.

Overall, this is a super clean, easy-to-manage diet that can be combined with the Keto diet for a long-sustainable and healthy way of eating.