The Paleo Diet - Loren Cordain [53]
PART THREE
The Paleo Diet Program
7
Eating Great: What to Eat, What to Avoid
Now that I’ve talked about why the Paleo Diet is the diet nature intended, let’s get down to specifics: how do you get started?
This is the best part—it’s so easy. You don’t have to balance food blocks, weigh portions, keep a food log, or count calories. As I’ve shown, the basic guidelines of the Paleo Diet are very simple : all the lean meats, poultry, fish, seafood, fruits (except dried fruits), and vegetables (except starchy tubers—primarily, potatoes) you can eat. Because the mainstay of the Paleo Diet is high-quality, low-fat protein, you won’t need to feel guilty about eating lean meat, fish, or seafood at every meal. This is exactly what you should be doing, along with as many low-glycemic fruits and veggies as you want.
You’re about to embark on a diet of enormous and bountiful diversity, fully backed by thousands of clinical nutrition trials and—most important—by 2.5 million years of evolutionary experience. What do you get in return? If you follow the simple nutritional guidelines laid out in this chapter and spelled out in the next two chapters with tempting meal plans and delicious, easy recipes, you will lose weight; reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases; and feel energized all day long. And unlike with almost every other diet you can think of, you won’t feel hungry all the time. You will feel good on this diet, because this is the only diet that is consistent with your genetic makeup.
By imitating the diets of our Paleolithic ancestors with foods you can buy at the supermarket or grow in your own garden, you’ll be able to reap the health benefits that are your genetic heritage—freedom from obesity, a high energy level, and excellent health.
It is not possible for us to duplicate precisely all the foods that our ancient ancestors ate. Many of these foods no longer exist—such as the mammoth—or they’re unavailable commercially, or they just aren’t palatable, given our modern tastes and cultural traditions. However, most of the advantages and benefits of the Paleo Diet can easily be obtained from common foods following the general nutritional guidelines observed by our Paleolithic ancestors.
Making the Diet Work for You
It isn’t easy to change the habits of a lifetime, and you don’t have to do it overnight. You can ease the transition by adopting the three levels of the Paleo Diet. The levels are based on the concept that what you do occasionally won’t harm the overall good of what you do most of the time. Does this mean you can cheat? Yes—sometimes. Occasional cheating and digressions may be just what you need to help you stick to the diet the rest of the time, and they won’t sidetrack the weight loss and health effects of this diet.
Getting Enough of the Right Foods
As I discussed earlier, there was no single Paleo diet. Our ancient ancestors made the most of their environment wherever they happened to be. For example, the Inuit people were able to live healthy lives, free of chronic diseases, on a diet that derived at least 97 percent of its energy from animal foods. At the other end of the spectrum were groups like the !Kung in Africa, who obtained 65 percent of their daily calories from plant foods (chiefly the mongongo nut). However, most Paleolithic groups fell somewhere in between, with animal foods generally making up around 55-60 percent of the daily caloric intake. On the Paleo Diet, you should attempt to get a little more than half of your calories from lean meat, organ meats, fish, shellfish, and poultry and the rest from plant foods.
Let’s take a look at the wonderful, diverse foods that you can eat in unlimited quantities.
Meats
The key word here is “lean.” Of course, this includes chicken and fish. But many people are surprised to find that red meat—beef and pork—organ meats, and game meats are also on the list. How can this be? Because, as I discussed earlier, the Paleo Diet is not a fat-free diet, it’s a bad fat-free diet. As long