What is Paleo?

Paleo encourages you to eat real, whole unprocessed foods, just like our ancestors did before processed food even existed. You can eat anything we hunted or gathered like nuts, greens, seeds and vegetables. 

Paleo Foods to Eat

• Fresh fruits
• Fresh vegetables
• Eggs
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Healthy oils (coconut, olive, avocado, walnut)

Foods to Avoid

• Cereal
• Legumes (This includes peanuts!)
• Dairy
• Refined Sugar
• Refined Vegetable Oil
• Potatoes
• Processed Foods
• Foods with lots of salt/sodium
• Candy

How the Paleo Diet Works

Vegetables, fruits, meats, seafood and nuts are the basis of the paleo diet. As you can guess by what the paleo diet consists of, one of the main reasons people eat paleo is for weight loss. If followed strictly, usually eating paleo means weight loss.

You lose weight because of cutting out entire food groups and categories plus overall your calorie intake will generally be lower. The downside is, if you go off the paleo diet, you are likely to experience weight gain quickly if you start incorporating all the foods you avoided.

The best aspects of the paleo diet are that it has a healthy ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids, increases vitamin and nutrient consumption and attempts to achieve the ideal balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates. In terms of numbers the paleo diet is about 35% of calories from carbohydrates, 35% from fats and 30% from protein.

Why Choose the Paleo Diet?

Some may argue that eating paleo is simply eating in a common sense way. People who eat paleo share a common belief that the human body is genetically mismatched to the modern diet that emerged with farming practices. Farming changed what people ate and made grains, dairy and legumes into staples in the human diet. This relatively late and rapid change in diet, according to this theory, outpaced the body's ability to adapt. People believe this mismatch could be a contributing factor to the prevalence of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Should You Give Paleo a Shot?

Some studies have been done on the paleo diet, but there are no long-term clinical studies about the benefits and potential risks of the diet. One of the best ways to go about it is to try it out for yourself, and see how you feel. If it’s a way of eating that makes you feel strong and healthy that you can maintain, it may be the right fit for you.

Anyone who is paleo or has tried it, will most likely say sticking to it can be the most difficult part because of the lack of snack choices. 

Nomz Energy Bites are a great addition and can help those eating paleo stay satisfied and keep their sweet tooth happy while sticking to the guidelines.