Have you Heard About the Health Benefits of the Neanderthal Diet?

Dec. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- The Neanderthal Diet, which is also known as the Neanderthin, Caveman, Paleo, or Stone Age Diet, is a diet plan that tries to emulate what humans have been adapted to eat over their evolution.

Following the "Paleo Diet Plan" means a diet that consists of natural foods that closely mimics what our ancestors ate.

The foundation of the Caveman Diet is the belief that we, as humans, have been evolving for over 2 million years. Whereas we have only been farming for approximately 10,000 years. In the 10,000 years since the agricultural revolution, our DNA has changed only 0.005% from the DNA of human remains that have been discovered that are over 2 million years old. We, physiologically, are neanderthals. And our bodies have not adapted to digest and metabolize all agricultural chemicals and ingredients that are prevalent in today's food.


So what can you eat on the Paleo Diet? It's really restrictive right?

Nope. The Paleo Diet consists of eating healthy, natural foods. It is much less restrictive than low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets because you can eat things from both categories.

The following list is just some of the things you can eat while sticking to a Paleo diet plan:

•   All kinds of Meat - Meat is healthy. We've been eating it for 2 million years. Fish, Beef, Chicken, Deer, Eggs. Any kind of meat. Fat is good for your body and it keeps you satiated.
•   Most Vegetables - You can eat most types of vegetables on the caveman diet. Legumes, like beans and peanuts, are prohibited, and it is recommended that you don't eat starchy vegetables like potatoes too frequently.
•   All Fruit - Fruit is one of my favorite things to eat on the Paleo diet. You get the vitamins and nutrients your body needs while enjoying the sweet taste of fruit. Eat as much fruit as you want, but if weight loss is your goal, it might be a good idea to limit your consumption of some fruits due to their natural sugar content.
•   Tree Nuts - Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds, Cashews, and Hazlenuts are fine to eat on a Paleolithic diet. In fact, any kind of true nut is; as mentioned peanuts are not classified as true nuts. Peanuts are legumes.

That's all fine. But what can't you eat on Paleo?

•   Any Grains - This includes wheat, barley, rice, and corn.
•   Most Dairy - Milk, butter, whipping cream, cheese, or ice cream.
•   Any Legumes - Peas, beans, soy products, peanuts, lentils, etc.
•   Refined Sugar - Table sugar, processed honey, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), or chemical sweeteners.
•   Chemical Food Additives - The list grows every day. If you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't be putting it in your body.

You will also want to limit your intake of sodium (salt). Sodium makes you overeat and contributes to high blood pressure (hypertension). While our ancestors did consume a small amount of salt, it was naturally occurring salt that was on and inside the plants that they pulled out of the ground. Salt was not added to every meal like we now do today.

About the Author
Richard Silvers is a practitioner of the Paleo Diet as well as a frequent blogger about the benefits of a Paleolithic lifestyle for your health. You can check out his website... Primal Fed. Click here to visit his website and read more articles like this one ---> http://www.primalfed.com/

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Primal Fed is a website for practitioners of the Paleo Diet as well as a place for dieters to share the benefits of a Paleolithic lifestyle for your health.