The Paleo Diet - Loren Cordain [51]
The Paleo Diet will also improve your mental outlook because it normalizes your insulin level. Almost everyone knows that a low blood sugar level can make you feel tired, irritable, and tense. When you normalize your insulin level with low-glycemic carbohydrates and plenty of lean protein, your blood sugar level will be more even throughout the day and so will your mood.
Vitamin-Deficiency Diseases
In the United States the common vitamin deficiency diseases (beriberi, pellagra, and rickets) were wiped out after World War II with the wide-scale fortification of our white flour and white rice with B vitamins and our milk and margarine with vitamin D. However, people living in less developed nations are not so lucky; these diseases still run rampant wherever diets are heavily based on cereals and legumes. It goes without saying that the world’s primary vitamin deficiency diseases, including scurvy from a lack of vitamin C, are completely a result of agriculture’s new foods. When you eat the way nature intended, you will protect yourself from all illnesses that develop from vitamin deficiencies.
Dental Cavities
Nearly all archaeological studies of Paleolithic people’s teeth show them to be almost completely free of cavities. How can this be when they never brushed, gargled with mouthwash, or flossed? The answer is simple: with their diet of lean meats, fruits, and veggies, cavities simply couldn’t get a foothold. Historically speaking, cavities and tooth decay didn’t start until the coming of agriculture and its starchy, sugary foods. Cavities are caused when acid produced by certain bacteria eats away part of the enamel of your tooth. These bacteria can’t set up shop in your teeth unless there is a constant source of sugar or starch that fuels their acid production.
We can learn a lot from our teeth because any food that does so much damage to our teeth can’t be very good for the rest of our bodies, either. Refined sugars and starches are foreign substances to our Paleolithic bodies. We simply haven’t had time to adapt to agriculture’s new foods. We are best designed to run on the foods nature provided: lean meats, fruits, and veggies.
Alcoholism
Alcohol—and its enormous potential for abuse—was not part of the preagricultural equation. No alcoholic beverage has ever been linked to Paleolithic people, although it would have been possible to make alcoholic drinks from gathered honey (mead) or berries (wine) by natural fermentation. It wasn’t until the Agricultural Revolution, with its abundance of starchy grains, that the first beers were brewed on a regular basis. Quite a bit later came wine, made from fermented grapes. (Because beer and wine are yeast fermentation by-products, they do not contain more than about 6 to 13 percent alcohol; the alcohol-producing yeast organisms die when the alcohol concentration rises above this level.) Hard liquor didn’t come on the scene until about 800 A.D., with the invention of distillation.
In most Western countries, moderate consumption (five to ten drinks per week) of alcohol is not considered detrimental to health; in fact, it has been associated with a reduced risk of dying from all combined causes of death. Moderate alcohol consumption also may improve your insulin sensitivity and is associated with a reduced risk of other chronic diseases.
Does this mean you should take up drinking to improve your health? Absolutely not. You don’t need alcohol to obtain the health and weight-loss benefits of the Paleo Diet. However, if you currently enjoy an occasional glass of wine, there is no need to forgo this pleasure. Consumption of alcoholic beverages a few times a week won’t hurt your health, nor will it slow your weight loss. However, if you suffer from an autoimmune disease or another serious health problem, alcoholic beverages should not be part