Paleo Diet Offers Modern Nutritional Approach to Health and Wellness

If you have arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer or inflammatory bowel disease, the benefits of dietary changes may surprise you.

In the past decade, research has identified significant health benefits from eating Mother Nature’s foods in an unprocessed form. As word gets out, the search grows for diets focusing on consumption of all natural food products. One diet that is growing in popularity is the paleo diet or Stone Age diet. (The diet also goes by other names including Mediterranean, poly meal, Paleolithic, caveman, and anti-inflammatory diet.) It gets its name from replicating what was eaten by humans during ancient times. The Paleolithic period, lasting about 2.5 million years, had humans hunting and gathering instead of farming and processing foods.

The paleo diet includes vegetables and fruits, fish and shellfish, lean meat and poultry, eggs, nuts, roots, and grass fed animals (high in omega Essential Fatty Acids or EFAs). Strict adherence to this diet excludes certain foods. These foods are: grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. (The Creighton University Medical Center website offers a list of foods included and excluded in the paleo diet.)

Spices are a wonderful part of the paleo diet. These include: cinnamon, ginseng, rosemary, parsley, cilantro, sage, thyme, garlic, ginger, and turmeric. Use them as a salt replacement to add flavor to vegetables and meats.

Garlic, turmeric, and ginger are spices that can help combat digestive inflammation. Garlic cloves are available in the fresh foods section of your grocery store. If you are not into crushing garlic, purchase it in the jar. Ginger is obtained from ginger root, also available in the fresh foods section. Turmeric can be purchased in powder form (curry) to be used as a condiment. These spices are becoming popular in assisting with digestion and decreasing stomach inflammatory symptoms.

You may include olive oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, canola oil, and avocado oil as part of the paleo diet. (Olive oil and avocado oil should occasionally be used with others to improve the omega-fat ratio.) Hydrogenated fats (for example, palm oil) are eliminated from your diet.

If you have a tough time giving up excluded items, such as grains and legumes, do not despair. You will benefit from making changes to your diet that include acceptable food choices. Get started by consuming about 80% of your calories from natural foods. Then, increase this over time. With thousands of varieties of fruits and vegetables, every taste bud should be satisfied. (Did you know there are over 2,500 varieties of apples grown domestically?)

Check your local farmer’s market for what is in season to add variety to your paleo diet. September brings us pumpkins, squash, sunflower seeds, apples, and many other food choices. Add to it some farm fresh eggs. Mix it up with exotic foods from your local grocer. Why not try guava, mango, papaya, and star and passion fruits? The saying — you are what you eat — holds true today in maintaining good health.

Our modern diets often contribute to digestive system problems. Too many of us eat large amounts of processed food and insufficient amounts of lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and roots. Bad eating habits compound the issue. These include skipping meals, eating lots of salt and refined sugar, and consuming processed snacks between meals.

Some digestive problems may be helped by simple diet changes. Be sure to consult your healthcare provider regarding any questions or concerns about your health and changes to your diet.

Dr. Mary Beth Minser is a healthcare professional with over 20 years of experience. She writes about ways to improve and maintain your health and wellness on her blog, Living Well by Dr. Minser, at http://www.docminser.com

Dr. Minser is co-creator of OurVSN a social network site http://www.ourvsn.com bringing families together for good health, distance caregiving, and aging independently. OurVSN is a free website that lets you track personal health and the health of loved ones in a virtual support network.

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