Get In Great Shape With The Paleo Diet

By Andrew Simpson

In the time when our ancestors had to hunt down a wooly mammoth to get our food, there were no homo sapiens who had double chins or a spare tire about their gut. Living in a time when you had to find your own food in the wild meant a healthier diet for all. You can take advantage of the practices of the past with the Paleo Diet.

Today's processed foods are just about the worst things that a person can put into their body. Most are based off of sugary syrups, most notably corn syrups, that are practically impossible for your metabolism to digest. As a result, each time you drink a can of soda you pack on the syrup in the form of fat.

Why does the Paleo Diet work? All-natural food in today's world is becoming more and more of a rarity. This is because factory farming makes it easier and easier to put food on the table, even if that food has only a fraction of the nutrition that natural ingredients do. The Paleo Diet combats the advance of artificial food that creates artificial health problems.

What's in a name? The Paleo Diet is based on the food available in the Paleolithic era, a time when humans ranged far and wide in order to gather edible plants and hunt animals in order to get their next meal. These food options work to eliminate fat stored up in the body by creating better metabolic efficiency.

Many of the foods we eat today may as well have been specifically designed to make us fat. Hydrogenated oils are almost impossible to digest in the human metabolism and turn instantly to fat once they are eaten. High fructose corn syrup, likewise, is effectively pure sugar and will be stored as body fat unless immediately burned off.

Nearly every food option you look at has one of these processed nightmares. Soda, for instance, is effectively a can or bottle full of pure sugar. Artificial foods like peanut butter have so much oil that they can disrupt the entire process of metabolizing a meal. Preservatives used in foods tend to be more sugar or salt on top of the food itself.

The major limitations on the Paleo Diet are the foods that are manufactured in laboratories rather than on farms. Since mankind did not domesticate any animals in the Stone Age, dairy products are off the menu, though you can use substitutions like coconut milk for many of your favorite treats. The oils and syrups that plague modern meals are eliminated.

Do not think that the Paleo Diet is restrictive. Instead, think of it as a means of getting delicious meals without having to soak them in saturated fats. Make a chicken and apple salad, for instance, since it contains Paleo-appropriate ingredients, and enjoy the process by thinking about how your ancestors could have done it.

Choosing the Paleo Diet is not about restricting yourself. In fact, it is just the opposite. Nearly every meal you have ever had can be incorporated into the Paleo Diet so long as it is made with natural ingredients. If you love lobster bisque, you need only ensure that the ingredients are as natural as the lobster and the vegetables -- our ancestors did not have a food processor, but that is not a problem.

Eliminating the oils and sugars of modern diets goes a long way towards burning off fat. Once your body is no longer taking in these artificial ingredients, your metabolism no longer stores nutrition in fat cells but will burn it up as it goes. The increased rate of metabolism, in turn, requires your existing body fat to power homeostasis.

The end result is more fat burned away from your stomach, thighs, arms, and waist. It is not a matter of counting calories, simply a matter of letting your body process the nutrition it needs on a daily basis.

If you have struggled with losing weight, do not think about cutting calories. Instead, think about cutting artificial food choices so that you are left with the meals our forefathers ate and enjoyed. Only good ingredients going in means that your body will burn up the fat stored from a lifetime of sodas and pizzas, leaving you trim and in good shape.

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