What is the Paleo Diet?

I recently enjoyed the most delicious brunch at the Paleo Cafe at Bondi Junction. It really got me thinking about what makes up the Paleo diet and why there are so many hard core followers. If you're curious too, I've put together a summary below!

The Paleo diet has gained a huge popularity over the last few years, and for good reason. A diet derived from as far back as the Paleolithic era (over 10,000 years ago), it's focus is all about bringing food back to basics and eating the foods that our ancestors enjoyed.

People who follow the Paleo diet, prefer free-range or grass-fed meat and poultry, including beef, lamb, pork and game. Variety is important for Paleo followers, with plenty of fish, fresh fruit, vegetable, eggs, seeds, nuts, and healthy oils such as flaxseed, walnut, avocado, coconut and olive oil.

Foods that don't form part of the Paleo diet, include anything that is processed or refined, such as sugar, cereal grains and dairy products.

The Paleo diet promotes:

™ Increased protein intake
™ Lower carbohydrate intake
™ Higher fiber intake
™ Moderate to higher healthy fat intake
™ Reduced trans fats and polyunsaturated fat intake
™ Increased potassium intake
™ Lower sodium intake
™ Net dietary alkaline load balances dietary acid

Much research has gone into the Paleo diet, which has kept our hunter-gatherer ancestors free from disease and chronic illness. These diseases have reached epidemic proportions in Western cultures, and include obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, acne, myopia, varicose veins, gout and many other conditions.


This is just a quick snapshot of the Paleo lifestyle, if you would like to find out more, i think the http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au[Eat, Drink Paleo] website is pretty cool, it even has a widget that allows you to type in any food and it tells you if it's Paleo or not! Of course like any diet, always consult your health care professional before starting anything new.