The Paleo Diet Explained

The Paleo Diet Explained

By Valentine Aseyo

Hi, I'm Valentine, Maker of Matador Meggings. Traveling is a part of our modern lives, whether we do it for business reasons or personal vacations. There are people like me who are mostly on the road for business needs. Traveling can definitely throw a monkey wrench into fitness plans, and it can also make it more difficult to follow a meal plan.

Frequent traveling, weekly or monthly, can especially play havoc with health habits and your fitness level unless you do some basic planning to combat the challenges and potential hazards on the road. The key to staying fit away from home is practicing a good fundamental eating framework and being aware of certain power foods that enable a healthy body.

Many studies have shown that high levels of business travel correlate to increased risk for obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, and irregular blood pressure. Awareness of such potential risk makes healthy eating an elementary factor to be a fit, successful road warrior.

With your intense travel schedule, you should establish healthy eating habits. At first, this will require some discipline in your approach to eating while you are on the go. In the following text, I discuss the role of paleo foods and eating for travelholics, including some superfoods to maintain energy levels on a prolonged basis.

Salad with salmon and eggs for breakfast

The Paleo Diet and the Road Warrior: A Perfect Partnership?

Eating Paleo foods—also referred to as the Paleolithic or caveman diet—is a present-day approximation of the human diet in the late Paleolithic period (sooner than 10,000 years prior). Its most notable characteristics are that it is rich in protein and vegetables and low in sugars and grain.

Eating an abundance of protein and avoiding sugars allows an individual to remain sharp while meeting the demands of frequent travel. The Paleo diet plan matches this criterion to the perfect degree.

Paleo has some points of interest over other high-starch diets. Some of the major aspects of the paleo diet are highlighted below:

1. Decreased incidence of autoimmune ailments: Many immune system infections are triggered by consuming high sugar items that are pro-inflammatory by nature. The Paleo diet counteracts these triggers and helps to suppress the appearance of autoimmune disease. The danger for immune system maladies like sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus diminishes fundamentally with the utilization of the Paleolithic diet.

2. Prevention and control of chronic diseases like diabetes: In the current era, as many as nine maladies like hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, cerebral vascular accident, and different kinds of tumors have been interfaced with the freely available high-carbohydrates diet.

The low-carb Paleo diet is time-tested and proven to lessen the incidence of such chronic issues. It’s a blessing for diabetic people whose pancreas has been burnt out by releasing bouts of insulin in response to the continuous intake of sugars and artificial sweeteners. The low-sugar content of paleo foods helps these people to regulate their pancreas secretions in a healthy way,

3. Helping hand in weight loss: A combination of taking high energy carbohydrates and adopting a sedentary lifestyle is a guaranteed way to have an increased BMI (body mass index) and morbid obesity leading to many chronic diseases mentioned above. The Paleo diet is ideal for weight loss, as it contains more proteins and fewer carbs and a balanced number of calories.

4. Low salt content prevents hypertension: The Paleolithic caveman diet holds the natural amount of salt consumption. Processed foods contain higher quantities of sodium, which itself is also a processed item, as it is refined from sea salt in the majority of countries.

There is no ideal amount of sodium, and it can vary from person to person. Anyhow, 1500 mg a day is recommended by the American Heart Association, and an adult consumes about 3400 on average.

Studies have shown that strict paleo foods provide 700-1000 mg of sodium, which is less than the junk items. Since higher concentrations of sodium are accountable for hypertension and related heart diseases, paleo foods can provide an effective intervention here.

5. Raw sustenance: Many defenders of the Paleolithic caveman diet likewise recommend, since Stone Age men didn't have numerous methods of cooking, that the human genome adjusted to crude nourishment. This is not justified completely, as crude nourishment holds numerous pathogens and parasites, which can cause fatal results.

It’s recommended to boil the items before use. That will not only keep them in pure, raw form but will also destroy the germs and parasites if any.

6. Prevention of degenerative neuronal illnesses: The Paleo diet counteracts the advancement of neurodegenerative infections—e.g., Alzheimer's disease and age-identified dementia. It is a time-tested hypothesis about a disease with no known mechanism.

7. Sustained energy reserves: A carbohydrate-rich diet, no doubt, guarantees the availability of ready-to-use energy stores in the form of glucose and glycogen. However, taking it in concentrated form often culminates in obesity and related issues.

If you are eating a mango or apples, you are getting sugar but in modest amounts that correlate with your body’s needs. Excess carbs like those present in cola drinks and bakery goods will accumulate in the form of fats.

Paleo diet weight loss ensures the body contains just the right amount of energy stores that are needed for routine chores without piling on heaps of pounds.

8. Maintenance of digestive tract: The caveman diet is rich in natural leafy foods rather than prepared grains and oats, which are the signs of a cutting-edge high-carb diet. This implies that the Paleo diet contains more fiber and balanced minerals.

Fiber is the biggest protector of our digestive system (stomach and intestines), as it gives bulk and removes impacted toxins from the gut. Replacing fiber with junk has resulted in many inflammatory diseases of the gut and it’s on autopilot.

Going back to eating a fiber-rich diet will help the gut to get rid of toxins and inflammation and decrease the absorption of non-required substances.

9. Bone problems and strength: This is the weak front of the paleo diet, due to the overlooked use of dairy items, which are the main source of calcium. Calcium and vitamin D are the essential requirement for healthy and stronger bones, and paleo diet foods lack calcium. If you are on the paleo diet, never forget to consider calcium supplementation.

10. Lack of essential nutrients: The Paleo diet holds all the basic proteins. However, the body may demand some extra nutrients you could be deficient in. Key nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and magnesium should be added to your body while following a strict paleo weight-loss plan.

Fresh raw vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, top view

The Paleo Diet Superfoods

The Paleo diet contains a long list of foods, and not all the foods are equal when it comes to nutrition. Although the paleo diet itself is a super diet plan, there are certain foods that have been reported to be the top-level sources for getting all the required nutrients.

These are the superior sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and essential minerals. These foods should be a part of your traveling plans. Depending on the destination and travel area, you can either pack them or get them as soon as you reach your destination.

Remember the names of these foods and add some natural energy to your body for overcoming your work challenges and sustaining a great amount of your fitness. If you happen to be a cross-fitter or fitness maniac, these are even better for you, as these paleo foods will provide an instant surge of energy for your body.

1. Kale

Kale is enriched with so many nutrients that it can be termed the healthiest vegetable. Being the king of leafy vegetables, kale contains the greatest  number of healthy compounds compared to any other vegetable. Kale contains antioxidants like kaempferol and quercetin, which can protect the body from oxidative damage of free radicals.

Hence, kale also plays the role of being anti-aging food. It is amazingly high in vitamin C, K, and A. It decreases unhealthy cholesterol and is also an effective remedy to maintain your weight.

In addition, kale also contains some phytonutrients, which are proven to protect from many kinds of cancers. Make a habit to use kale as a salad component to get all the amazing benefits of this wonder herb.

2. Bone Broth

Bone broth is high in magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus, and it is an excellent food for healthy bones and joints. Plus, our skin and hair contain a protein named collagen. Drinking bone broth is just like directly ingesting the collagen protein. Start eating it to have strong bones, shining hair, and wrinkle-free skin.

3. Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is rich in certain types of fats to give a boost to your immunity. It contains lauric acid and medium-chain triglycerides, which have anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. The immune-boosting role becomes even important during traveling, as it can protect against many contagious and common viral infections.

It is also an excellent remedy to incorporate some healthy fats and get rid of other saturated fats that can lead to a baggy body. Coconut oil does not result in any kind of weight gain. Instead, it is an effective way to solve obesity problems.

4. Pastured Eggs

Eggs can be considered to be small packs of super nutrients, making them one of the paleo diet superfoods. Eggs are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin A, and E. Choline is also present in pasture-based eggs, which is a vitamin B compound and an essential for of a sound brain. Eggs are the best common source of choline.

Albumin is a blood protein that is required to maintain a static hydrostatic pressure inside the vessels, and egg whites are is abundant in albumin. Moreover, you should try to get pasture-based eggs, where chickens are free to feed on a number of different sources, instead of factory-farm-raised eggs. Factory-farm-based eggs don’t contain as many nutrients as free-range eggs do.

5. Wild Salmon

Wild salmons feed on krill and plankton, an abundant source of omega fats. Salmon gives a super supply of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega fats can be considered as small energy packets that supply the body with of required nutrition without any side effects. Farm-raised salmons are deficient in important nutrients, so always go for the wild ones. It’s wise to eat at least two servings of wild salmon a week.

6. Kiwi

What is the best source of Vitamin C? Yes, it’s kiwi. Kiwi has more Vitamin C than any other fruit or vegetable, leaving oranges far behind. In addition to Vitamin C, it is also rich in the powerful antioxidant Vitamin E.

7. Grass-Fed Beef

Not all beef is the same. There is a lot of difference between corn-fed and grass-fed beef. Corn-fed beef is recommended to be limited by most health professionals and is the one blamed for potential health concerns.

While corn-fed beef will provide decent protein, ; the type of fat in this beef is not ideal and can lead to health concerns, especially when eaten in significant volume. If you don’t make a clear distinction between these two types, you might be using unhealthy food in the name of paleo diet foods.

Grass-fed beef, however, is an essential part of the paleo diet because of the high degree of nutritional value it provides, including healthy fats and complete proteins. The protein gives the body complete amino acids that are needed for proper body growth.

Meggings

Wait a sec. Are meggings a paleo diet superfood? No, but they are super for sure! Especially when you're on the road. If you've never tried meggings, you're up for a treat.

If you've tried them before, then you definitely know how comfortable they are to wear when you travel. If you're interested in paleo diet weight loss, clearly you care about your health and fitness, so why not show off that booty in a pair of meggings?

To find trendy and stylish meggings, please feel free to visit Matador Meggings and browse their selections or email us at hello@matadormeggings.com for further assistance.

A bowl of salad and chow mein