Primal Dieting/Living aka the "Paleo Diet"

     In the spring of 2009, my senior year of high school, I lost about 20 pounds (about 10-15 of those during a 13-day no-carb diet) by simply eliminating junk food from my diet. One thing I noticed was that after a month or two of completely cutting out "empty-calorie" foods such as chips, sugary drinks, desserts, etc., I no longer craved them. Since then I've always tried to stay in good shape by maintaining a healthy diet, and exercising regularly. And I've always continued to look for new, effective, healthy lifestyle choices. During my freshman and sophomore years of college, most of my focus was geared towards lifting weights to gain muscle mass and eating a diet that would support those goals. My diet consisted of lots of whole grains and complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and lower fat intake. But moving into my junior year I lost my motivation to spend 60-90 minutes at the gym every day, and eventually (especially once I turned 21) my motivation to eat healthy. I was drinking too often, eating whatever I wanted, and not spending much time exercising. By August 2012, I was in my worst shape since high school.
     This is when I stumbled upon Mark Sisson's book, The Primal Blueprint, and it's content immediately caught my interest. This book serves as Sisson's guideline to a healthy lifestyle which has been tailored to mimic that of the original human beings that populated the Earth over 10,000 years ago. While human civilization has changed drastically over this time period, the human body remains almost exactly as it was during the time of hunter-gatherers. This was an era completely free of agriculture, let alone processed foods; so what does this mean for our diet? Well, to put it bluntly, as Sisson does, the human body is designed to "eat plants and animals," and not much else. During paleolithic times, it was impossible for a human being to eat anything that did not occur naturally in nature; they foraged for nuts, berries, and other edible, wild plants, and they hunted for wild animals. There were no such things as farms and consequently no agriculture and certainly no such thing as "grain-fed" animals. So without further ado, this is what this diet looks like:

• What you can eat:
• Beef, Pork, and Poultry (grass-fed/pasture-raised or at least organic)
• Eggs (pasture-raised or organic)
• Fish (wild-caught, cold-water)
• Non-starchy vegetables (organic and preferably local)
• Most fruits (organic and preferably local)
• Nuts and seeds (peanuts and cashews are not real nuts!)
•  Do not eat:
• Grains of any kind, including: all types of bread (yes, even whole grain), cereal, oats, sugars, flour, pasta, rice, and corn.
• Beans
• Potatoes
• Dairy (recommended but not necessary)

     It is important to note a few things: One, this is not a conventional "diet" that involves eating this way for a couple weeks and then returning to a "normal" diet. This is a long-term, permanent approach to living a longer, healthier life. Personally, I have been eating a strictly primal diet for approximately three months now and I feel good and plan to continue to do so. Once your body readjusts to its new, more appropriate diet, you simply feel better; more energy, longer periods of satiety after meals, better sleep, etc. The fact is (and I'm not an expert so I'm not going to pretend to be) that carbohydrates in the form of grains and refined sugar, causes chronic spikes blood glucose and insulin levels which lead to spikes and crashes in energy and subsequently can affect your mood and sleeping patterns. 

     The dietary portion of this book is only one part of the primal lifestyle, with the other major part being exercise. Today, most people fall into one of two categories, either they rarely and exercise at all, or they subject their bodies to overexertion due to "chronic cardio." Sisson's workout plans call for an improvement in flexibility and using natural movements to build strength and thus prevent injuries. The four basic primal movements are push-ups, squats, pull-ups, and planks. So far, I haven't done more than a few primal workouts, although I do plan to do so soon, so I'm sure I will be posting about that at some point. 

     In the mean time, I encourage you to check out Mark Sisson's website, Mark's Daily Apple, where you can find TONS of free information about this lifestyle and if you are really interested you can purchase his book here (or on Amazon.com for about half the price). I also recommend checking out the Paleo Diet which seems to be similar although I have yet to read the book. Keep in mind that it is important to continue to explore other ways of thinking and other methods and find the one that works best for you. I have recently been looking into the benefits of an all raw diet and am looking to integrate more raw, fresh fruits and vegetables into my diet. 

     Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll try my best not to take another month off between posts!