Jo's Health Corner: fitness Monday

I Got My Shoes so No More Excuses - It's Time to Ride

I am so excited because I finally received my new bicycle shoes. I have decided to step it up some and start riding more seriously. I am not sure if I will be ready for any races this season, but I am racing next year for sure. This the first time I will be riding with real bicycle shoes and I find it a little bit intimidating, but I will learn how to ride with my feet clipped in. My husband is a bicycle coach and he will coach me. Yes, we actually do get along and we don't mind being around each other all the time. We even survived when he taught me how to drive in the busy San Francisco area many years ago. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I am supposed to ride my first 10 miles today when he comes home. He says it is an easy ride but I am not convinced yet, it is easy for him to say since he just rode 70 miles yesterday.

I am by far no stranger to bicycle riding at all. I have been riding with the family but not as much as I used to. I used to ride several miles to the grocery store and do my shopping back home in Sweden. I used to load up 5-6 grocery bags on the handle bars and ride home. I am sure it would look quite interesting to an American, but you'll get creative when gas is about 8-10 dollars a gallon. We use bicycles as transportation and I miss that part from Europe. US is not set up the same way with bicycle stands outside stores and public buildings and nice bike lanes to ride on like most or many European cities.

This is my bicycle now. It is my husband's old bicycle that he is handing down to me, and yes it fits me. (My husband has short legs. Whoops, I didn't say that) He bought an indoor trainer last year so that he could keep up riding while he was working and commuting 60 hours per week. I like being outdoors and I have never been much of a treadmill kind of gal, but we don't have any decent roads to ride on due to construction right now, so I'll rather ride indoors until the roads are better. We are also experiencing temperatures in the high 90's and it is hard to exercise in hot weather.

Oh, do you see my compressed wood formaldehyde shelf behind the bike? We bought the shelf before we knew any better many, many years ago. I doubt there are any more fumes being evaporated after so many years. This is our office and we don't spend much time in here. Stay away from compressed wood!

As you can see in the picture above, the bike will not fall when clumsy me is trying to learn how to ride with my feet stuck to the pedals. It will be the hardest to get used to, that the feet are stuck on the pedals. So it is reassuring that I will not fall down with the bike on top of me. Oh yeah, the saddle is not that comfortable, perhaps I can convince my coach that I can put a small pillow on it to make it more comfortable. (Yeah right!)

Oh, this is fun! It is called a Computrainer and you can set up different courses that you want to ride. My husband is training for the Race Across Oregon this summer so he has programmed the route he will ride. He can set up the right elevation so that he gets to train climbing as well. I tried it once already and it is a lot of fun. It is like a video game but you have to do a lot of hard work.

You're supposed to beat the silver guy but it is impossible. With this trainer you can adjust how you want the ride to be. I just hope the coach will go easy on me:-) I'll better make him a great dinner tonight.

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This post is linked to:

Work Out Wednesdays hosted by Nourishing Treasures

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Things that Mess With The Hormones and What To Do About It. Part 2.- Anti-Nutrients

Via

This post is part of my series about the metabolic hormones and how they especially influence the weight. This time I will cover more detail information about the anti-nutrients that disrupt the body's natural biochemistry.

Refined grains

There are many reasons for stop eating refined grains. First of all, they don't contain any nutrients since the refining process removes the bran and the germ of the grain. They have to enrich the products with synthetic vitamins to replace the nutrients lost from when they removed the bran and the germ. Refined grains are easy to digest and they will increase your blood sugar and insulin rather quickly. This may eventually lead to insulin resistance. People who eat refined grains have about 40% higher levels of C-reactive protein, which is an indicator of chronic inflammation in the blood vessels.

Corn and wheat are by far the worse when it comes to influencing the insulin. The amount of corn has almost double in thirty years and wheat products have increased by 20% while high fiber barley has dropped by one third.

Read labels carefully. Products labeled as whole wheat only need to included 51% whole grain. Better yet, try the Paleo Diet.

High fructose corn syrup

When Dr. Atkins in the late 70's said that it is the carbohydrates that make people fat and not the fat, less than 15% of the American population was considered obese. Of course people thought he was nuts. I am not in favor of the Atkins Diet, but he was right about fat not making us obese. Thirty years or so later after being told that low fat is the way to go, the obesity rate is about 32%.

Hight fructose corn syrup is really good at boosting our fat storage hormones. A study performed at the University of Florida found that a high fructose corn syrup diet directly causes leptin resistance in lab rats. It has also been discovered that fructose does not suppress the gherlin (hunger hormone) levels like glucose does. Women eating fructose instead of glucose had higher gherlin levels.

Fructose is metabolized by your liver while glucose is metabolized by all the cells. HFCS manages to convince the body not to release the two hormones leptin and insulin that are normally released when you are done eating. It also makes sure that the gherlin level is not reduced, so the rising level of gherlin makes you eat more. That's not all, HFCS also increases the triglycerides which stops leptin from doing its job in the brain and tell you when you need to stop eating.

Artificial sweeteners

It may come as a surprise that the fake sweetener can make us gain weight, even though more news are being released that the artificial sweeteners are worse than regular sugar for our metabolism. People who drink just one can of diet soda have a 34% higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome compared with people who didn't drink any soda. Animal studies have shown that rats fed yogurt with saccharin gained more weight, ate more, and put on more body fat compared with rats fed yogurt sweetened with glucose. When people who often drink diet sodas are eating regular sweets, the body thinks it needs to eat a lot of the sweet things to get the needed calories. It is re-trained to think sweetness doesn't have many calories, and "forgets" how many calories sweet things have and make us overeat. Actually, eventually the body's metabolism forgets that sweet things have calories.

We also know that aspartame that may cause permanent damage to the brain's appetite center so avoid everything with aspartame.

Glutamates

I'm sure most think they don't eat MSG anymore, but did you know that hydrolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed corn gluten, hydrolyzed protein, and calcium caseinate are sources of MSG? I have stumbled across some of these ingredients in so called natural foods placed in the natural section of grocery stores. It is important to remember that glutamates do exist in natural foods such as meat and cheese, but they are not even near as bad as the glutamates found in processed foods. I recently learned that Doritos have 5 different kinds of glutamates, is that insane or what?

Glutamates are flavor enhancers and not preservatives. They are considered to be exitotoxins, which people already back in the 50's knew were bad for us. High levels of glutamates really mess with our brain chemistry and can even cause cell death. The hypothalamus, where the hunger hormones neuropeptide Y reside, is extremely sensitive to excess glutamates, Sadly, it is not hard to ingest high levels of glutamates when they are included in so much processed foods.

Animals that were fed MSG damaged their hypothalamus which lead to endocrine problems and obesity.

Artificial colors and preservatives

Benzoate salts are added to sodas to prevent mold growth. When plastic soda bottles containing these salts sit in the hot sun or in the heat, dangerous levels of benzene can form. If you drink Coke you can relax a little since they removed this substance from many of their products. Watch out for sodas containing sodium benzoate, or potassium benzoate and vitamin C since the combination of the last two ingredients can form benzene.

We are surrounded by artificial preservatives and new information about their danger are constantly being released. Artificial preservatives have been linked to MS, autoimmune disorders, cancer and aging. These chemicals are also believed to most likely destroy our bio-chemistry, inhibit the metabolism and make it harder to lose weight.

Some chemicals to watch out for:

BHA is considered safe to use by the FDA (in case you still trust their opinion, I don't), but is anticipated to be a human carcinogen. This antioxidant is added to keep food from going bad, but it is also an endocrine disruptor. The more BHA a male rate was exposed to, the less testosterone and T4 were circulating in the body. The rats had weaker and fewer sperms, the testes shrunk, and they wanted to have sex less often. Their adrenal glands and livers were also swollen and their thyroids were messed up.

We are exposed to hundreds of food items that contain BHA, such as beer, baked goods, potato chips, sweets, snack foods, sausage, flavoring agents, chewing gum, active dry yeast and many more. You can also find BHA in food packaging, facial creams, lip glosses, lip sticks, mascara and eye shadows. There are many other names for BHA that are impossible to remember.

Processed meats have by far the worse preservatives for your metabolism. A NIH study of 9000 people discovered that a diet of hot dogs, burgers, and processed meats was the strongest indicator for developing metabolic syndrome. The American Cancer Institute analyzed thousands of studies, and came to the conclusion that for every 3.5 ounces of processed meat a person eat per day the chance of colon cancer rise by 42%. As most of us know, processed meat contain sodium nitrite and and nitrate.

Additives have also been linked to behavioral problems in children.

Hydrogenated fats

They blast regular fats like corn or palm oil with hydrogen to make hydrogenated fat. This will make the oils solid at room temperature. Hydrogenated fats are the real bad guys when it comes to increasing your bad LDL and triglycerides, and unfortunately it decreases your good LDL at the same time. Like that is not bad enough, they also shrink the size of the LDL particles and make them more likely to clot which increases the heart attack risk. The shocking thing is that only 2% of trans - fatty acids is enough to increase the risk of a heart attack by 23%. The risk of getting metabolic syndrome increases by 25% if you eat fried foods regularly.

Unfortunately these fats also increase the inflammation in the body. People with a higher intake of trans fats have been shown to have a higher level of the hormone like substance interleukin-6. It has been linked to hardening of the arteries, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and Ahlzeimer's. Animal studies discovered that inflammation induced by interleukin-6 also caused the liver to stop responding to growth hormone which means that the muscles fade away. With the disappearing muscles goes the metabolism.

It is tricky to discover trans fats in products because companies are allowed to say that their products don't contain any trans fats even if they do. You'll see, as long as the amount of trans fats is less than 500 milligrams per portion the manufacturer doesn't have to list it on the ingredient list. If you take a look at the serving size of packaged foods you'll also notice that it is ridiculously small and is not enough to fill you up. It's not enough to fill you up, but small enough that the manufacturer can trick you to believe you are eating something without trans fats.

Read the labels and stop using shortening and partially hydrogenated fats.

Soy

Unless it is fermented I don't recommend to eat soy. The opinion about soy is split and both sides are passionate about their opinion. I don't think a little bit soy here and there is going to hurt you too much, but the problem is that soy is everywhere. It is often used as a cheap alternative instead of good protein in shakes and snack bars. Anyone with a thyroid problem should stay away from soy since it is a goitrogen. Isoflavones are endocrine disruptors. The estrogenic activity of isoflavones may encourage abnormal cell growth in those at risk for breast cancer or are menopausal.

Alcohol, starchy root vegetables, and caffeine should be enjoyed in moderation.

The thyroid

Learn more about the thyroid and its function in metabolism in my thyroid post.

Here are some quick info to consider about the thyroid:

It is important to avoid flouride, chlorine, bromides, and unfermented soy.

Be aware of uncooked cruciferous vegetables, The Healthy Home Economist has a great article about what vegetables to avoid uncooked if suffering from hypothyroidism.

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist, also has a great article about millet and how it actually is a goitrogen.

What it really comes down to is to live as natural as possible and cook our foods from scratch. According to a study conducted by the Breast Cancer Fund, you can reduce the exposure to BPA by 60% by cooking from scratch. Several families were provided fresh foods without cans and packaging, and their BPA level in the blood dropped by 60%. As you can see it makes a difference by getting rid off the offending chemicals in our lives.

Thanks for visiting!

Johanna is an aromatherapist and an independent distributor of Young Living Essential Oils and Nature's Sunshine. She is passionate about educating people about health, essential oils, real food, natural remedies, and nutrition so they make healthier choices in their lives. She also runs Naturally Sports & Wellness together with her husband.
Follow Johanna on twitter and facebook for more health tips and information. Don't forget to explore her new aromatherapy new blog

This post is linked to:
Simple Lives Thursday
WFMW hosted by We Are THAT Family
Fight Back Friday hosted by the Food Renegade
Monday Mania hosted by The Healthy Home Economist

9:10 PM | Read more...

Things that Mess With The Hormones and What To Do About It. Part 1.

Via

This post is part of my series about the metabolic hormones and how they especially influence the weight.

We need to figure out why our hormones are messed up in the first place. Then we can address the real problem and restore our hormonal balance naturally. It is important to realize that our hormones are manipulated by various things that we eat or are exposed to. Luckily, there are things that can be done about it so that you can take charge of your metabolism.

The first step is to realize what made the hormones go out of whack so we can remove the cause, next we have to restore and rebalance so that the hormones realize that they don't need to hold on to the fat.

Metabolism
Metabolism is made up of various hormones and as long as they are functioning there's nothing to worry about. When everything is perfect your insulin stays stable and your muscles use just the right amount of blood sugar. You thyroid is working normally and you burn off energy as you take it in. Unfortunately, when the hormone levels are disturbed, each gland start to under- or over producing hormones in order to compensate and to restore homeostasis. The metabolism is affected by anything that gets in the way of your normal hormone production.

What's an endocrine disruptor?
An endocrine disruptor is a substance or influence that alters the way the body's hormones work. They can increase, decrease, or change the way the hormones work. For example, endocrine disruptors can:

Increase or decrease the number of hormone receptors in the body
Change the amount of hormones being produced
Block the real hormones from accessing their receptors
Mimicking a real hormone and take its place in the receptors, setting it off as it was the real hormone doing it
Influence the processing speed of the hormones in the body

Unfortunately, these actions above sets of a chain of events in the body. Studies have shown that exposure to BPA, which is considered to be xenoestrogens, decreases the blood sugar levels and sharply increase the insulin levels within 30 minutes of exposure. After four days of exposure the BPA manages to stimulate the pancreas to secrete more insulin. This means that the body is starting to become insulin resistant.
Many studies have also linked BPA to early puberty in girls, lower sperm counts, and harmful breast and prostate tissue growth.
BPA can be found in polycarbonate (No. 7) plastic. It can be found in baby bottles, plastic liners of almost all food and soft drink cans, food storage containers and so on. So, the goal should be to remove as much plastic as possible.

Many other plastics such as polyvinal chloride (No. 3), and polystyrene (No. 6), also known as styrofoam, contain hormone disrupting chemicals too. Be careful not to heat up the plastic, and replace with glass containers instead.

Don't forget to exercise
Most of our hormones decline as we age. Leptin decreases so it is not as easy to feel fullness when we eat, which easily leads to over eating. Female hormones are reduced in women and insulin is not as effective anymore. This easily leads to weight gain. Testosterone and DHEA decline in men as they age, which leads to decreased energy and muscle mass while insulin resistance and belly fat are increased.

According to a study of 1100 men, it is possible to add 10-15 % to the hormonal levels if a healthy weight is maintained, only drinking moderately, and by staying away from diabetes and serious illnesses. Our hormonal balance will be better if we eat clean, live clean, and exercise. We can do something about age related muscle decline. Exercising reduces weight gain hormones such as cortisol by releasing endorphins to combat stress. It also increases fat burning hormones like human growth hormone, DHEA, testosterone, and thyroxine.

No more Yo-Yo diets
Starvation diets are catabolic, which means that the body is cannibalizing your muscles for fuel. You need your muscles. The metabolism is slower without muscles and this causes the thyroid hormones to decline. You don't want your body to prepare for a famine and hold on to all the calories, so don't cut your calorie intake drastically. A couple of weeks of a crash diet of only 800 calories can really mess up the metabolism. The gherlin rises, the T3 levels plummet, and the sensitivity to insulin and leptin takes a hit.

Throw out the processed foods
Processed foods are made of chemicals. If you think about it, most of the processed foods don't fit into any food groups. The food is full of unrecognizable chemicals. 60% of all the food consumed by most in this country is processed made of refined grains, vegetable oils, and added sugar. Toxic chemicals found in processed foods are bad news for your hormones. Your body cannot recognized them as foods. I will talk more about specific ingredients in the next post.

Pesticides in the food
Most crops are genetically modified or sprayed with endocrine disrupting pesticides. Pesticides accumulate in the fatty tissues of us and the animals we eat. People with high levels of POP such as dioxin, PCB's, and chlordane were 38 times more likely to be insulin resistant in a study of more than 2000 adults. People that were more obese but didn't have any trace of POP had much lower rate.
Pregnancy hormones are also given to dairy cattle to improve their production, and also growth hormones to create more meat.

Toxins are everywhere
Endocrine disrupting toxins are found everywhere around us. Flame retardant in mothers milk doubled every 5 years from 1972 to 1998 according to a Swedish study. When boy rats had been exposed to one dose of dioxin in the womb they produced 74% less sperm than those that had not been exposed. The testosterone levels were lower than normal, and the size of their genitals were slightly reduced. Exposure to dioxin and PCBs causes the thyroid glands in animals to change similar to how people react to Hashimoto's disease. Pregnant rats exposed to increased levels of PCBs give birth to babies with less thyroid hormones and messed up neurotransmitters.

BPA again
Women with PCOS have higher blood levels of BPA compared to women who don't have the disease. Low doses have shown to create new fat cells and increase their size. More than 130 animal studies have linked low dosages of BPA to breast and prostate cancer, brain damage, obesity, hyper activity, damaged immune system, diabetes and low sperm count.

Hormonal induced cancers
The endocrine disruptors may give us hormonal induced cancer in addition to messing with our metabolism. More than 50% of the prostate cancers are linked to excess estrogen in the body. The Physicians for Social Responsibility claims that the most common pollutants in fuels, drugs, plastic, and pesticides cause cancer in animal. This is because they interfere with healthy hormone activity.

Do you work too much and do you get enough sleep?
I think most of us know that long term stress is not good for us. According to Dr. Scott Isaac, stress can cause:

Higher cortisol levels
Lower levels of growth hormone
Lower testosterone levels in men
Lower estrogen levels in women
Insulin resistance
Leptin resistance

When these hormones change the metabolism will slow down and cause weight gain. The lack of sleep may be the biggest cause of the hormonal shut down. The obesity rate nearly doubled between 1960 to 2002, and interestingly to note is that the percentage of young adults sleeping 8-9 hours per night was cut almost in half for the same period of time.

Pharmaceuticals everywhere
Many pharmaceuticals have been found to have endocrine disrupting chemicals in them. SSRIs have been linked to metabolic syndrome. Several medications have been found to cause weight gain according to one major review:

Anti-diabetes
Antihistamines
Anti-convulsants
Anti-hypertensives
Contraceptives
Psychotropics
Steroid hormones

Unfortunately pharmaceuticals could seriously influence your hormonal health. While helping one part of the body with drugs you may mess up another part at the same time. Unfortunately, pharmaceuticals have been found in our water supply. 56 different drugs such as sex hormones, antibiotics, mood stabilizers, and anti-convulsants were found in Philadelphia's water supply. It is best to use a water filtration system for your drinking water and install a filter in your showers.

Cigarettes
I have often heard that people say that don't want to quit smoking because they don't want to gain any weight. Smoking impacts many endocrine glands such as the thyroid, pituitary, testicles, adrenals, and ovaries. As we know it damages the lungs and every cell in the body, as well as the brain and heart. Smoking may also aid in causing insulin resistance and diabetes as well as increase the cortisol levels, this may lead to a larger belly. Smoking may also lead to hypothyroidism due to increase in levels of thiocyanate.

You are not doomed even though it may sound like it
This post kind of make it sound like you're doomed, but the body has an amazing capability to heal if the right tools are provided. We will go into more detail on how to do so in a later post. Generally it comes down to living as natural as possible in order to avoid all these toxins that mess up your hormones. Use glass instead of plastic, buy organic food if possible, cook from scratch with real ingredients, and clean with vinegar, salt, and baking soda.

Holistic point of view
From a holistic point of view, cleansing or detoxification, is very important. For example, the liver is responsible for breaking down excess hormones and environmental toxins. You can help your liver get rid off excess xenoestrogens and other toxins by supporting it with appropriate food, herbs and supplements. When the body has a sufficient amount of nutrients it can better cleanse toxins out of the body, so make sure that the body is fully nourished.

Next we will take about hormonal anti-nutrients in more detail so we know what kind of things we need to avoid and why.

This information is for educational purposes only. Seek the advise of a health care practitioner if you suspect that you suffer from hormonal imbalances.

Thanks for visiting!

This post is linked up to:
Simple Lives Thursday
Fight Back Friday hosted by the Food Renegade.
Monday Mania hosted by the Healthy Home Economist
Domestically Dive Link Up hosted by FAR
WFMW hosted by We Are THAT Family

5:23 PM | Read more...

Let's Take a Closer Look at the Metabolic Hormones - DHEA and Testosterone

This post is part of my series about the metabolic hormones and how they especially influence the weight. In my last post I discussed cortisol and the other adrenal hormones. Today I will cover DHEA and testostereone, yes, ladies need the androgen testosterone and DHEA too. In fact, they can assist in building calorie burning muscles and increase our energy so that we want to work out. As many other hormones they start to decline as we age.

Where they are produced

DHEA and testosterone are produced in the adrenals, testes and ovaries. Testosterone helps develop the secondary sex characteristics like facial and body hair. Testosterone is beneficial for both men and women and it helps energy levels, boost libido and protects bones. It is also important in preserving the mental function as we are getting older.

The testosterone in women are mostly produced in their adrenal glands, while it is produced in the reproductive glands of the men. The precursor to testosterone and estradiol, DHEA, is also produced in women's adrenal gland. DHEA is a great hormone. It may help prevent cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, brain function and impaired memory.

Good for the metabolism

Testosterone and DHEA are good hormones for the metabolism. Since they are anabolic they mostly build muscles instead of destroying. Testosterone assists in building lean muscle mass in both men and women. It is converted into estrogen in women as well.

Youth Hormones

Testosterone and DHEA are "youth hormones", and as such they decline as we get older. In men the testosterone levels drop as early as in the thirties by 1-2 % per year. It is a slower process than the women's drastic drop in progesterone and estrogen. The level of DHEA also drops, which makes all the hormones suffer since it is the building block for all other hormones.
Losing these androgen hormones due to aging cause many changes in the body. Muscle mass is decreasing, abdominal fat increases, bones weaken and and libido decreases. The motivation to do some exercising is decreasing also, which is not a good thing since exercising boosts testosterone.

Low testosterone may cause depression

Extremely low levels of testosterone in men are almost three times as likely to cause depression compared high levels of testosterone.

Weight gain leads to increased estrogen

Unfortunately, as people gain weight more testosterone is converted into estrogen. Again, we have another vicious cycle, more estrogen leads to more fat, which leads to more estrogen. Testosterone is pushed out of the way.

What may cause the imbalances?

Diabetes, aging, body fat, stress, insulin resistance, too much estrogen, pituitary tumor, lack of exercise, steroid use, trauma to the testes, and too little progesterone are some things that can cause DEAH or testosterone imbalances.

Signs of too little hormones

Some signs that there may be a problem with too little testosterone or DHEA are beer belly, anxiety, fatigue, reduced bone density, thicker waist, depression, lack of motivation, erectile dysfunction, decreased libido, body composition changes, loss of muscle mass and man breasts.

Signs of too much hormones

Some signs that there may be a problem with too much DHEA and testosterone are balding, aggression, acne, excessive body hair growth, irregular periods, high blood pressure, overactive sex drive, and lowered voice.

Don't self-diagnose

Remember not to self- diagnose and don't try supplementation without consulting with a professional. 50 % women's androgen hormones are produced in the adrenals, so it may be a good idea to optimizing the adrenals instead of messing around with DHEA and testosterone supplementation. Make sure you eat good quality fats and protein, b-vitamins and zinc, and other minerals and vitamins to aid in building the important steroids.

This information is for educational purposes only. Seek the advise of a health care practitioner if you suspect that you suffer from hormonal imbalances.

Thanks for visiting!

This post is linked up to Real Food Wednesdays hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop and to WFMW.

4:08 AM | Read more...

The Paleo Diet- Why Eat Like A Hunter-Gatherer?

When I first heard about the Paleo, hunter-gatherer, or caveman diet a few years ago I thought it sounded strange. The more I looked into it the more thrilled I was about it. I have never liked milk, and I always felt bloated eating grains and starchy foods, so I was intrigued and willing to give it a try.

The Paleo Diet is a lifetime program of eating, and it is not a quick fix weight loss diet, even though most people following the Pale diet lose weight and become more lean and muscular. A couple of years ago my husband and I followed the Paleo diet as closely as we could. My husband is an endurance athlete, and the whole family do various sports so we used the book, The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain, PhD and Joel Friel, MS for guidance. The book's focus is on the dietary needs of athletes.

According to the book:
"The fundamental dietary principle for the Paleo Diet for Athletes is simplicity itself: unrestricted consumption of lean meats, poultry, seafood, fruits, and vegetables"

We felt great eating according to the Paleo Diet, and after a move across country and somewhat interrupted routines (hm), we recently decided to do our best to eat as close to the Paleo Diet again. Today I cover general information about the Paleo Diet, but more detailed information about Paleo and athletes will be posted shortly on our Naturally Sports & Wellness blog.

By eating according to the Paleo Diet you'll be eating the diet you are genetically programmed to eat. Only 500 generations ago people ate like this:

The Paleolithic people:

did not salt their food
hardly ate cereal grains
didn't eat dairy food
didn't eat refined sugar, only occasionally honey
ate lean animal foods and their protein intake was quite high
ate carbohydrates from non starchy wild fruits and vegetables
ate monosaturated, polyunsaturated, and omega 3 fats

Why would anyone want to give up processed foods, grains, dairy, salty foods, refined sugars, and legumes for a diet full of lean meats, fish, seafood and all the fruit and non-starchy vegetables one can eat?

Loren Cordain PhD, also wrote the book, The Paleo Diet Lose weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Meant to Eat. This book has tons of convincing arguments why you should favor a hunter-gatherer diet:

by eating the way our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate you can lose weight and regain health and well-being.
the Paleo Diet is the only diet that fits our genetic make-up. DNA evidence shows that genetically humans have hardly changed at all in 40,000 years.
before the agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago, just 500 generations ago, everyone on the planet ate lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables. It has been only 5-7 generations ago if you happen to be an Eskimo or Native American.
our Paleolithic ancestors were very lean, fit and free from heart disease and other ailments that plague the Western countries. Cordain has examined thousands of early-nineteenth and twentieth-century photographs of hunter-gatherers and they show indigenous people to be lean, muscular, and fit.
the hunter-gatherer were free from signs and symptoms of chronic diseases, and the medical evidence shows that their body fat, aerobic fitness, insulin metabolism, blood cholesterol, and blood pressure were superior to modern day people.
the Paleo diet contain nonstarchy carbohydrates that normalize your blood glucose, promote weight loss, and make you feel energized all day.
you don't need to worry about about excessive dietary acid causing bone loss on the Paleo diet, 35% of more of your daily calories come from alkaline fruits and vegetables that will neutralize the dietary acid you get when you eat meat and seafood.
lean meat is about 80% protein and 20% fat.
protein increases your metabolism. It has twice the "thermic effect" of either fat or carbohydrates, which means it will speed up your metabolism. It also has the "highest satiating value", which will make you feel full faster.
high protein diets have been shown to improve insulin metabolism, help lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of stroke.
high protein diets don't cause damage to the kidneys, which is opposite of what people have been told. Dr. Arne Astrup, at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University of Copenhagen proved this in testing.
the Paleo diet includes all the nutritional elements needed to encourage weight loss while promoting health and well-being. It contain proper balance of plant and animal foods, and the correct ratios of protein, fat, and carbohydrates required for weight loss and excellent health.
There is no need to count calories and you can eat as much carbohydrates as you like, as long as it is the right kind - low glycemic fruits and vegetables.

The ground rules of the Paleo Diet are:

All the lean meats, fish, and seafood you can eat
All the fruits and nonstarchy vegetables you can eat
No cereals
No dairy products
No processed foods

The Paleo Diet is very simple, there are no limitations to what you can do. It is very simple as well, of course, you can make it more complicated if you like. If you want to make it really easy you can use leftover dinner meat for lunch, add a salad, some nuts, and some fruit and there's your Paleo lunch.

The seven keys of the Paleo Diet are:

Eat a relatively high amount of animal protein compared to the typical American diet.
Eat fewer carbohydrates than most modern diets recommended, but eat the good kinds that come from fruits and vegetables, not from grains, starchy tubers, and refined sugars.
Eat a large amount of fiber from nonstarchy fruits and vegetables.
Eat a moderate amount of fats.
Eat foods with high potassium content and low sodium content.
Eat a diet with net alkaline load.
Eat foods rich in plant phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

There are three levels of the diet in the book The Paleo Diet Lose weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Meant to Eat. Each level contains a limited number of Open Meals, and this provides a chance to still eat your favorite foods. An occasional glass of wine or beer is fine. It is a life time program and not a quick- fix weight-loss, which means built-in flexibility to accommodate a little cheating. Well, as my husband and I see it, you should try your best to follow whatever diet fits you the best, but it has to be room for flexibility to enjoy life as well. With that said, I don't mean drinking tons of soda or eating fast food everyday.

We try our best to stick to this way of eating because we feel better, but we do a few modifications to adjust to what we believe in. The book promotes canola oil, I simply replace it with the oils I prefer instead.

Stay tuned for my next post about the Paleo Diet tomorrow. I will talk about meal preparations, shopping for the right foods, dining out tips, snacks, and other good stuff about the Paleo Diet.

Johanna is an aromatherapist and she is passionate about educating people about health, essential oils, real food, natural remedies, and nutrition so they make healthier choices in their lives.
Follow Johanna on twitter and facebook for more health tips and information.

This post is linked to Monday Mania hosted by The Healthy Home Economist
and to Real Food Wednesday by Kelly the Kitchen Kop. It is also linked to WMWW hosted by Angie's Healthy Living Blog and to WFMW.

11:44 AM | Read more...