Paleo - Interesting thoughts on a how the modern diet is killing us...

I started about 3 weeks ago with a mindful change to the way that I eat and take care of my body. This came about through the desire of refining my body, instead of the urge to simply lose weight. I think there is a distinct, if not, subtle difference in the two idea. One must change their diet in order to lose weight, but one may not simply lose the weight by a drastic shift in their eating habits. Some tips that were in the newest cook book...

• As much as possible, eat fresh, rather than packaged food -- fresh meats, poultry and fish, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits.
  
• Avoid additives - eating fresh foods will drastically reduce your intake of additives right there.
  
• Gauge your carbohydrate intake by your waistline and your blood sugar.  Paleo isn't strictly low carb, allowing for starchy root vegetables, winter squashes, and a wider variety of fruit than most low carbers eat.  This does not mean that if you've got blood sugar and/or obesity trouble, you can throw caution to the winds and say, "it's paleo! That means I can eat all the (insert high carb food here) I want!!"  You may be able to foo your mind, but you will never fool your body.
  
• Get enough sleep.  Create a proper sleep environment, as dark and as quiet as possible, and consider an eye mask and earplugs if you live in a city.  Remember that Ogg (the aptly named caveman) not only didn't have a television, he also didn't have much in the way of light once the sun went down, so he went to bed.
  
• Exercise, but thing about how your ancestors used their bodies.  Ogg didn't run marathons.  He probably didn't run much at all, except when chasing prey or being chased as prey, and then he didn't jog, he ran like hell, but quit as soon as he safely could.  On the other hand, Ogg walked a lot - looking for food, stalking prey, following the herds with the seasons.  He lifted and carried, because how else are you going to get the antelope back to the cave?  He climbed, both to access food and to get out of harm's way.
  
• These ideas and points were taken from Dana Carpenter's book "500 Paleo Recipes" and offer some insight to the concept of both the diet and the exercise habits of the cavemen.  Remember these ideas are, at best, hypotheses of how the paleolithic man ate and gathered foods.  

So where does the modern lifestyle fit into the dichotomy of the good choice or poor choice of food habits that we have around us on a daily basis.  On a typical day, most Americans choose the drinks on the right hand side of the picture as opposed to the left side of the picture.   A single day of this won't lead to chronic high blood sugar, diabetes, dental complications or any other number of health issues that have become more prevalent in modern times.  

I think the sugar content intake combined with the amount of additives that have been introduced into our diets are also leading to far more health issues that have yet to be described or substantiated.  However, there is something to be said that we are eating more and more items that at some point was either toxic to our bodies or caused us great discomfort.  I had recently read about the large amounts of starches that we eat that have to be cooked first (rice, potatoes, most grains) in order for our body to process these.  I don't know if these means that the Ogg didn't eat these items, but I would imagine if he had access to these items he would have figured out ways to eat them.  *Note:  I am not against these items, but I think they should be eaten in moderation.

What I am more and more alarmed by are constant bombardment that our body gets from the "safe" high fructose corn syrup.  The jury is still out on this topic.  Frankly, I think both sides are spouting a lot of rhetoric and even propaganda; however, Occam's razor states that the simplest idea or explanation is often the correct one.   HFCS has been around less than 40 years and in those 40 years how many health related issues have come about as common place conditions.  Personally, if you have to treat a product with 3 difference chemicals to make it edible, then you probably shouldn't eat it to begin with.  I am guilty of partaking in these sweeteners, but I have also seen my midsection expand with these items.  

Moderation needs to be in moderation.  Cheat days or small comfort foods won't kill you, but eating 4 Twinkies a day everyday for a year - you'd probably feel horrible.  On the flip side, eating a salad or a piece of fruit for every one of those cheap sugary treats - your body will also let you know how it feels.