You're reading: Paleo diet: pros and cons

There are a lot of different diets today. One of the latest trends is the Paleo Diet that is said to benefit your overall health. The essence of this diet is to eat only those foods that our ancestors ate during the Paleolithic era. It means that only unprocessed foods are allowed. The banned foods are dairy products, grains, legumes, sugars, potatoes, salt, alcohol, processed oils, and coffee. The products you can eat are fruits, vegetables, nuts, meat and organ meat, and roots.

The idea behind this diet is that our organism originally got accustomed to eating only natural products and if you limit your food ration to those products, you’ll improve your health and manage to lose some weight. Yet, this diet is not the best weight loss diet since there isn’t a specific calorie limitation. Even though the foods included in the diet are healthy, eating too much of them can lead to putting on weight. Despite this, it’s claimed to reduce the risk of obesity-related diseases.

Possible issues

The Paleo Diet is restricted to certain types of food rich in protein and fiber but with low carb count. It makes it a rather tough diet plan that’s why it should be necessarily complemented by some supplements (vitamins and minerals) to fill in the nutrient gaps. There is another issue with this diet. We are different from our predecessors in terms of biology. Moreover, we don’t know for sure which foods they ate as well as don’t have access to those known to us. Since the diet is based on the unproven idea, its benefits are rather controversial. Even if you decide to go on this diet, you’ll need to combine it with the quality meal replacement products such as 18Shake.

The Cost and Quality

Since you need only the best natural products for this diet, it will cost you a round sum. Whole foods are pricey and you’ll have to prepare meals yourself. It’s also more time consuming than preparing  processed food. This diet is very strict and you’ll have to avoid a lot of things you like: ketchup, dressing, and other flavor-adding products. Such customary products as rice, beans, peanuts, and other grains are also not allowed. Since meat is an essential part of this diet, the overall cost automatically goes up. And since it’s recommended to eat grass-fed and free-range meat, be ready to spend even more.

Does it work?

The Paleo Diet restricts one’s ration only to certain foods, particularly those eaten by the humans during the Paleolithic period. It bans such products as alcohol, processed foods, and sugars. There are very few clinical studies to confirm its effectiveness but it can facilitate weight loss and improve overall health. In practice, it can be pretty hard to stop consuming such things as salt, dairy, or grains. People who have been on this diet say it’s a rather harsh long-term diet plan. Also, it’s not meant for losing weight but for preventing obesity and making your health better. Since there is no calorie counting, one can gain weight instead of losing it.