Paleo Eating Plan
The fundamental principle behind the Paleo eating plan is that it is designed to take a nutritional approach that is intended to align with your genetics in order to give you the best chance of staying lean and feeling energetic.
You might want to check out paleohacks.com to connect with what is understood to be the biggest paleo community on the web. Also, here is a look at some simple but effective ideas that could help to incorporate a Paleo eating plan that fits in with your busy life.
Image Source: Flickr
Taking a Holistic Approach
The truth of the matter is that for many of us, you could say that our bodies are almost under constant attack as a result of the what is widely accepted as a modern diet, consisting of refined foods, sugar and trans fats.
A lot of the food we are being routinely offered, contains many of these less than positive attributes, with medical opinion widely pointing the finger of blame at this diet as being the root cause of a long list of degenerative diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity, to name just a few of the potential consequences of consuming foods that are largely working against your health rather than helping you to feel good and stay healthy.
The key to the Paleo lifestyle is taking a holistic approach. This means that what you eat is obviously very important and has a significant impact on your overall health, but you also need to try and adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise and other activities and choices that all contribute to making the best version of you that is possible.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Sleep
It is worth talking about sleep, while on the subject of taking a holistic approach to Paleo.
It should never be underestimated just how important sleep is to your body and mind. Despite the obvious benefits associated to getting enough sleep, this is often the one area that gets cut in order to try and accommodate a hectic schedule.
You should aim to make getting at least eight hours of a sleep each night, a top priority. The reason behind this is very simple. Ensuring you are well rested will help you to maintain a good general level of health and mental sharpness, meaning that you will be in the best condition to get the most out of the other things you do with your day.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to sleep, so aim to get the right amount of rest as part of your approach to Paleo and getting the best out life in general.
Back to Basics
One of the founding principles of the Paleo diet is that it is aimed at giving your body the kind of diet that evolution dictates we are designed for.
It may go against what you might consider to be healthy, but Paleo encourages you to consume plenty of meat and fish, and embrace its fatty content. What you are likely to find when you start on the paleo diet, is that you will experience some cravings for things like bread, potato and sweets, amongst other things.
Denying your body of carbohydrates and telling it to make do with fats instead, is going to meet with some resistance, but the payoff for your perseverance, should be quick weight loss, but in a healthy way, combined with good energy levels.
Finding the Paleo When You Are time-Poor
The issue for many of us will be that good intentions are one thing, but finding a way of fitting a paleo diet into your lifestyle can certainly be a challenge.
It can take a bit of time to learn how to cook to Paleo requirements and there are not exactly a ton of restaurants around that offer you a menu that is truly Paleo-friendly, but if you search around, there are likely to be some options open to you on that score, depending on where you live.
If you can find a meal delivery service which conforms to the Paleo diet, it can be a big help in giving you the right food with the minimum of fuss and will save you time on preparation. It could also be a good way of sampling the Paleo diet, seeing how it works for your health, and giving you some recipe ideas to try too.
Probably the best tip regarding the Paleo diet to take on board, is that it is ok to take some baby steps towards achieving the Paleo lifestyle. Taking the time to adjust rather than forcing the issue from day one, might just be more in line with your time and lifestyle restrictions, and might improve your odds of successfully converting to Paleo over time.
Joshua James works as a dietician, a fairly new career which he entered into several years ago after a major shift in his life direction. Now constantly on a journey of self improvement, Josh shares his views on dieting, food, and being healthy with a like minded audience.