Diets Come and Diets Go, but Healthy Eating is Forever.
Image courtesy of Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I don’t understand why some health advisors suggest eating the Paleo diet, which is basically trying to eat like our distant ancestors is the key to a healthy life. And here is why…
The food sources today are by most accounts are much different than even our recent ancestors, no less our distance ancestors.
“Another fallacy of today’s “Paleo” Diets is that of locational variety. Here in the US we have the luxury of obtaining foods from miles away.”, the Grounded Organic.
Food Quality
Reports of missing minerals in our soils have reduced the nutrients in both our plant and animal foods.
Food Processing – the good, the bad and the ugly
This is a big bucket so be careful not to dump the baby out with the bath water. I am sure every health advisor knows and agrees that food nutritional value declines during processing. Therefore the more highly processed the lower the nutritional value. That’s a lot of what is behind the paleo diet. Eat what your distant ancestors hunted and gathered. It is easier to say than do today.
“Most Paleo diet plans of today restrict grains, dairy, and legumes and rely instead only on grass-fed meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.”, the Grounded Organic:
What makes today’s food even uglier is the chemical additives used during the food processing cycle. “Natural” flavors enhancers, sweeteners and preservatives make most foods found in the center aisles in the grocery store ugly foods. Or as Dr. Sears teaches, stop foods.
Accepting the fact our food has less nutritional value even when you buy organic and try to eat it with as little processing as possible requires you to eat more servings to get the same value. And that creates a quantity problem.
-
managing the bulk issue and
-
Brings us back to processing again.
Healthy Diet Lessons Learned
The key lesson learned about food processing is some of today’s food processing techniques have enhanced how much nutritional value we can store in smaller space and for longer durations. For example refrigeration keeps more nutritional value than most food processing techniques used in the past. Except maybe fermenting which added positive gut benefits to foods stored this way. IE kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, etc.
Only our most northern distant ancestors had any frozen storage available to use some part of their year. And the available tools, used in storage such as glass were modern man creations.
“In terms of diet, I believe that what works for one person doesn’t always work for another.”, Heather Williams.
I agree completely: So is Paleo really the right way to for me? Not really. It seems like another fad diet being sold to a world looking for a quick fix to a life long challenge. – Eating Healthy!
But of course you get to decide for yourself. As for me..:
Follow Us