More about Paleo Diet

Ms Candice Ho, HK BioTek Nutritionist

Paleo Diet (also called as Paleolithic, caveman, Stone Age or steak and bacon diet) is a diet that you eat food that might be eaten during the Paleolithic era. Food that are included in the Paleo Diet are food that you can get by hunting and gathering in the past that include lean meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. So, you will avoid eating refined sugar, wheat, dairy, grains, and legumes as well as processed food.

A lot of the people will be confused about Ketogenic Diet and Paleo diet. But actually they have a lot of differences like Paleo Diet allow people to eat natural s

ugar, but Ketogenic Diet do not allow people to eat natural sugar but allow sugar free sweeteners. Basically, Paleo Diet is a diet that follow what early human beings eat and Ketogenic Diet is to eliminate carbohydrates intake.

A lot of people think that caveman is a carnivore. So, they believe Paleo Diet is a diet which you just eat meat or a lot of meat with little portion of vegetables. But actually, it is not they eat about 20-25 plant-based food a day, so they are omnivore. Therefore, Paleo Diet is not just about eating meat. People who support Paleo Diet think that our body is not well adapted to the modern foods. Also, they think that people in the past is healthier than us so they will choose to follow the Paleo diet to eliminate food like dairy, grains, and legumes. A lot of research shows that Paleo Diet can help a person to lose weight and to prevent heart disease and diabetes.

There are a lot of benefits of Paleo diet for example have more weight loss, can improve glucose tolerance, better control of blood pressure and better appetite management. This diet improves our health by eliminating processed food that are high in fat and low in nutritional value with high calories. Other than benefits there are also some health risks like calcium and vitamin D deficiencies so you might need to take certain type of supplements to fulfill your daily intake. So, when anyone who is planning to switch to a new diet, they should better seek advice from their healthcare professional especially when you have chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

References:

1. McMillen, M. (2020, September 09). Paleo diet (CAVEMAN diet) Review, Foods list, and more. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/paleo-diet

2. Keto vs. paleo: What are the similarities and differences? (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326287#side-effects

3. UC Davis Health, D. (n.d.). Is the paleo diet safe for your health? Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://health.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/2014-2015/06/20150603_paleo-diet.html#:~:text=The%20typical%20paleo%20diet%2C%20however,heart%20disease%20and%20certain%20cancers.

4. Roxby, P. (2010, September 17). Recreating the caveman diet. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-11075437