The Paleo Diet - Loren Cordain [16]
The Seven Keys of the Paleo Diet
1. Eat a relatively high amount of animal protein compared to that in the typical American diet.
2. Eat fewer carbohydrates than most modern diets recommend, but eat lots of good carbohydrates—from fruits and vegetables, not from grains, starchy tubers, and refined sugars.
3. Eat a large amount of fiber from nonstarchy fruits and vegetables.
4. Eat a moderate amount of fat, with more good (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) fats than bad (trans and certain saturated) fats, and nearly equal amounts of omega 3 and omega 6 fats.
5. Eat foods with a high potassium content and a low sodium content.
6. Eat a diet with a net alkaline load.
7. Eat foods rich in plant phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
The Seven Keys optimize health, minimize the risk of chronic disease, and cause excess weight to melt away. This is the way we’re genetically programmed to eat.
Just the Foods You Can Hunt and Gather at Your Supermarket
You don’t have to eat wild game meat (unless you want to) to achieve the same health benefits that kept the world’s hunter-gatherers free from the chronic diseases of civilization. The mainstays of the Paleo Diet are the lean meats, organ meats, and fish and seafood that are available at your local supermarket.
Here are some high-protein foods that are part of the Paleo Diet:
• Skinless turkey breast (94 percent protein)
• Shrimp (90 percent protein)
• Red snapper (87 percent protein)
• Crab (86 percent protein)
• Halibut (80 percent protein)
• Beef sweetbreads (77 percent protein)
• Steamed clams (73 percent protein)
• Lean pork tenderloin (72 percent protein)
• Beef heart (69 percent protein)
• Broiled tuna (68 percent protein)
• Veal steak (68 percent protein)
• Sirloin beef steak (65 percent protein)
• Chicken livers (65 percent protein)
• Skinless chicken breasts (63 percent protein)
• Beef liver (63 percent protein)
• Lean beef flank steak (62 percent protein)
• Lean pork chops (62 percent protein)
• Mussels (58 percent protein)
Although you may think of hamburger, eggs, cheese, milk, and legumes as high-protein foods, think again. None of these foods can hold a candle to lean meat and fish when it comes to protein content.
• Eggs (34 percent protein)
• Cheeses (28 percent protein)
• Legumes (27 percent protein)
• Lamb chops (25 percent protein)
• Fatty hamburger (24 percent protein)
• Dry salami (23 percent protein)
• Link pork sausage (22 percent protein)
• Bacon (21 percent protein)
• Whole milk (21 percent protein)
• Liverwurst sausage (18 percent protein)
• Bologna (15 percent protein)
• Hot dogs (14 percent protein)
• Cereal grains (12 percent protein)
• Nuts (10 percent protein)
You don’t have to eat bone marrow (a favorite food of hunter-gatherers) on the Paleo Diet, either, but here’s why it was good for our Paleolithic ancestors: marrow is a major source of monounsaturated fat—another good fat. Monounsaturated fats lower your cholesterol level and reduce your risk of breast cancer and heart disease. You can find monounsaturated fats in nuts, avocados, and olive oil.
Nor do you have to eat brains (another delicacy for hunter-gatherers) to get omega 3 fats—one of the good fats we talked about in chapter 1 and quite important in preventing many chronic diseases. You can get plenty of health-sustaining omega 3 fats from many foods found in the supermarket, such as:
• Fish and seafood, particularly cold-water fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, and halibut
• Flaxseed oil, which can be used in several ways—as an ingredient in salad dressings, poured over steamed vegetables, or taken as a supplement
• Liver
• Game meat
• Free-range chickens
• Pasture-fed beef
• Eggs enriched with omega 3
• Salt-free walnuts and macadamia nuts