Tag: Carbohydrate Levels

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Weight Loss Exercise

Should You Limit Carbs on the Paleo Diet?

No two people lose weight in the same way. This is why it is hard to determine how many carbs each person should consume every day. Some people may find that they can lose weight while eating 40 grams of carbs each day, while others have to limit their choices to fewer than 20 grams.

In order to find how many carbs you should be consuming you will need to track your weight loss results. Start off by keeping a food and exercise journal. This way you can review it each week and see exactly what you ate and how many pounds you lost.

You should also take into account your exercise level as well. If you are an athlete training for a sporting event you can eat more carbs than a person who is trying to lose weight.

Even though you have your list of recommended foods for the Paleo Diet they each contain different amounts of calories and carbohydrate levels. Just because a food is listed doesn’t mean you can eat them all day in huge quantities. You should take your overall calories into consideration as well.

A good example of this would be nuts. Yes they are allowed on the Paleo diet but they are also very high in calories. Nuts are best used as a snack and limited to a small handful, around 10-12 nuts each day.

Another area to be careful with carbs and sugars is with fruit. Again fruits are healthy and good for you, but some fruits contain large amounts of sugar. If you are trying to lose more than just a few pounds limit your fruit to one or two pieces per day.

Sweet potatoes are another recommended Paleo food but are also high in calories. Eating a sweet potato is a good choice for lunch if you are planning on an afternoon of high activity, such as gardening. Your body needs energy to perform this task and by eating before exercising you can burn off the calories. It is best to avoid eating sweet potatoes for dinner. You are less likely to be active in the evening and the calories will just sit on your body.

When starting out on the Paleo diet limit your choices of high carbohydrate foods and choose those which are rich in fibre such as vegetable. This will help maximize your weight loss efforts.

By keeping track of how many carbs you consume you can see how your body reacts. If you aren’t losing each week then cut back on your carbs and fruits. As you reach your desired weight loss goal you can slowly add these back in.

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Weight Loss Exercise

What is the Paleo Diet?

I keep getting asked by people, “What is the Paleo Diet?”. The basis of the Paleo diet is that if follows what humans used to eat before the agricultural revolution came about. The Paleo diet encourages dieters to eat natural ingredients including tons of fruits and vegetables. Foods your ancestors used to grow for themselves.

The foods which are recommended for the Paleo Diet are

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Lean meats
  • Seafood

All of the above foods are high in soluble fibre, antioxidants, phytochemicals, omega 3, monounsaturated fats and foods which have a low glycemic level when it comes to carbohydrate levels.

You can eat these lean protein sources along with unlimited amount of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Paleo diet recommends that you avoid the following foods as much as possible

  • Refined sugars
  • Refined grains
  • Saturated fats
  • Trans fats
  • Salt
  • Processed foods
  • High glycemic carbohydrate foods

What is the Paleo Diet?

What is the Paleo Diet?

All of these foods are known to cause obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems. They have also been linked to many other health related diseases.

If we dig back into our history books a little to find out what is the Paleo Diet you will discover that when our ancestor’s reached 60 they suffered from very few diseases. Yes many people did not even make it to 60 but that was due to the high instances of people being killed while out hunting.

Our ancestors ate off the land, they grew their own fruits and vegetables and raised livestock for slaughter. They did not eat breads and processed foods and it was uncommon to see many overweight individuals. Plus of course their lifestyle kept them busy all the time. They were active and very healthy people and this was only 500 generations ago. In our history that is not very long at all!

One concern that many people have when first learning what is the Paleo Diet is the lack of calcium. Everyone thinks that they need to consume tons of dairy each day to promote healthy bones and prevent osteoporosis.

You will still be consuming calcium while on the Paleo diet, you will just be getting your daily amount from different sources. Instead of drinking milk and eating cheese you will be getting calcium from your fruits and vegetables.

Our body needs to balance the amount of calcium it receives daily. All foods are processed through our kidneys and this is where bone demineralization takes place. When you eat foods which produce high amounts of acid in your body, the kidneys force out excess calcium and other alkaline’s.

The acid producing foods which we consume too much of are hard grains, cereals, cheese and salty foods. Acid must balance with alkaline which is found in fruits and vegetables. So when you increase the amount of these good alkaline foods your body will balance its calcium level. What all of this means is that you won’t become calcium deficient.

If you follow the guidelines to the Paleo Diet you will start to lose weight, sleep better and have more energy. So What is the Paleo Diet, lots of good food and none of the empty calories we are used to.

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