Is Paleo Right For You?

Paleo has received a great deal of media attention in the last few years. Proponents claim that by eating like our hunter-gatherer ancestors, we can lose excess weight, lower blood sugar, triglyceride (a blood fat), blood pressure, as well as risks of heart disease and cancer.

With more than two-thirds of Americans being either obese or overweight and growing rates of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, can eating Paleo be the panacea for our health problems? The following explains how paleo came about, what it entails, and whether the paleo way of eating is right for your body.

What Changed From Paleo To Now?

The paleo diet is based on the idea of eating only foods that our bodies were designed for over the last 2.6 millions years of evolution. During the Paleolithic period, our early ancestors started using primitive tools (made of stone, bone, and wood) and fire. They led a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and ate varying proportions of wild animals, fish, shellfish, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables, depending on season and availability. Such foods were nutrient-dense, toxin-free, whole foods.

Agriculture did not come about until 10,000-13,000 years ago. Humans began eating domesticated animals, cereal grains, beans, potato, and drinking wine.

Then dramatic changes came about in the last 50-100 years. Advances in technology have made many new forms of food available for human consumption. We are eating substantially more commercially packaged and prepared foods laden with chemicals, preservatives, and additives. Nutritionally speaking, these foods are a far cry from the unprocessed, natural, whole foods that humans used to eat. What's worse, we spray herbicides and pesticides (which are toxic chemicals) on our crops, feed our animals and seafood antibiotics and growth hormones, and genetically manipulated the plants that we eat.

Well, it is true that we are living longer now but is our quality of health much better than the Paleolithic humans? These days, we are inflicted by a myriad of chronic and debilitating diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. All these inflammatory diseases have only become common in the last 50-100 years. There is little doubt that our modern day food choices have a major role to play in the development of such diseases.

So the next question is: can we remedy our current health problems by going back to a hunter-gather diet? But before going into that, let's first look at what a paleo diet calls for.

Paleo Practices

The Paleolithic diet was first popularized by Loren Cordain in his best-selling 2002 book named The Paleo Diet. Since then, there have been many other paleo-based diet books which are usually variations of Cordain's original book.

These authors argue that human genome has not changed that much from the Paleolithic times millions of years ago. Hence, modern humans have been unable to properly metabolize the relatively new types of foods, resulting in modern-day health problems. As a result, in order to enjoy a longer, healthier, and more active life, the authors suggest following a diet that is as nutritionally close to that of our Paleolithic ancestors as possible.

What to eat:

More protein from meat and seafood. Most take on a whole animal approach, including organs, bone marrow, and cartilage.

Animal products, such as eggs.

Moderate to higher fat intake, like butter, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds.

Fewer carbohydrates with the main source coming from non-starchy vegetables and fruits. Sweet potato, yam, plantain, and taro root are allowed.

Raw honey and maple syrup.

What to avoid:

Dairy

All grains

Potatoes (allowed by some versions of Paleo)

Legumes, like beans and peanuts.

Trans fats and processed oils, such as from canola, soybean, and corn.

Refined sugar

Processed foods

Salt

Coffee

Alcohol

The Pros Of The Paleo Diet

The foods emphasized in the paleo diet are, indeed, loaded with nutrients our bodies need. The most nutrient-dense foods are organ meats from pastured animals, grass-fed beef, lamb, wild game, seafood, pastured eggs, fresh vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, and herbs and spices.

Our modern western diet focuses too much on grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, etc.), yeast breads, deep-fried foods, pizza, sweetened beverages, and alcoholic drinks. By eating less of these nutritionally inferior foods, we can make room for more healthier choices.

In contrast to high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets that have led to skyrocketing rates of diabetes, obesity, and other inflammatory diseases, people who go on a paleo diet generally report lower blood sugar, triglyceride, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. They also tend to lose weight as well as belly fat.

Since paleo is a grain-free diet, it is suitable for people who have Celiac disease or non-Celiac gluten sensitivity. For such individuals, they need to strictly avoid gluten-containing grains like wheat, rye, and barley.

The Cons Of The Paleo Diet

The paleo diet is a single approach that may not work for everyone. As a matter of fact, studies show that there were tremendous variations in what our ancestors ate depending on which part of the world they lived in. Case in point, some people clearly feel better on a higher protein and fat intake, but others seem to do well when they eat a lesser amount. Many metabolically healthy individuals feel more energetic and vibrant when they increase their carbohydrate intake. Some may even find that moderate carbohydrate intake can help break through a weight loss plateau. Hence, the key is to personalize your own approach to meet your own unique needs rather than blindly adhering to a specific template.

Seafood is no longer an ideal choice of protein. Most ocean fish are contaminated with mercury, PCBs, and toxins from pollution. Farmed fish and shrimp are fed antibiotics, growth hormones, and drugs. Therefore, one needs to be very selective when buying seafood. The better choices are wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, anchovies, herrings, and squid.

Full-fat dairy from grass-fed animals can be a very healthy food if it is well tolerated by your body. For people with digestive problems, autoimmune conditions, and leaky gut, it is probably not a good idea. However, for those who have intact intestinal barrier and who are otherwise healthy, there is no need to eliminate dairy. For example, kefir, yogurt, and raw cheese are full of healthy microbes that are extremely beneficial to your intestinal health.

Grains and legumes are nutritious as long as they are properly prepared (to remove anti-nutrients like lectins and phytic acid) and your body can tolerate them. If you are gluten sensitive, you should always avoid wheat, rye, and barley. If you are diabetic or suffering from metabolic syndrome, you should be on a lower carbohydrate diet anyway. Otherwise, most anti-nutrients in grains and legumes can be substantially reduced by properly soaking, sprouting, or fermenting them. For example, the slowly fermented sourdough bread is much healthier and more nutritious than the common bread made from white flour and commercial yeast.

Sugar is not toxic, nor is it a replacement for real food. Small amounts of it can fit into a whole food and nutrient-dense diet as long as you do not have blood sugar issues and that it is used for what it is supposed to be - an occasional treat. It is true that natural sweeteners like raw honey and maple syrup are more nutritious than refined sugars. However, those who are eating paleo should make sure that they do not consume these "allowed" foods excessively.

Is Paleo The Right Diet For You?

Paleo-style eating has a lot of good qualities. It emphasizes whole natural foods, protein from grass-fed animals, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats. It is, without doubt, far superior than the standard American diet.

Yet, the paleo diet has some flaws too. Not everyone needs to exclude dairy, grains, and legumes as they can be healthy foods if your body does not have a sensitivity towards them.

The biggest problem with paleo is that it is a one-size-fits-all approach that will not work for everyone. As discussed earlier, some people need more protein and fat, while others require more carbohydrates to function optimally.

Moreover, most people will not be able to follow a strict diet for a long period of time. Once they go off, they go back to their old habits and routine. Therefore, instead of being fixated on following a strict hunter-gatherer diet template, think about making small changes in your modern lifestyle that support your genetic needs.

Eat more freshly cooked foods prepared with organic, toxin-free, chemical-free ingredients. Think about variety, balance, and moderation. Know that the fewer kinds of foods consumed, the greater the chance of nutrient deficiencies.

Buy less commercially packaged or prepared foods that you might normally eat.

Reduce your sugar intake, be it natural or refined.

Drink less alcohol.

Don't sit so much. Get moving, go outside for a walk. Aim to have 30 minutes of activity every day.

Go to bed earlier and get a good night's sleep.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9161827

Clean Out Your Refrigerator Every Month

If you are focused on maintaining healthy nutrition on a daily basis, one of the keys to help you accomplish this feat will be your refrigerator. When you think about it, this wonderful appliance is the true heart of the kitchen so it makes perfect sense that in order to stick with a nutrition that's conducive to a healthy life, it really needs to be organized in a manner that will inspire you to stick with your overall objective.

In other words, if your refrigerator is a chaotic mess where it is literally impossible for you to tell what's inside along with numerous items that have long passed their expiration date, you are likely going to avoid opening the door in the first place.

Guess what? If that's the case you're likely to go out and get some fattening fast food or order home pizza delivery since it's far easier to choose one of these routes then to try and delve into that messy frig and scrounge up something that may be edible.

Instead of putting yourself through that ordeal and have to deal with that guilty feeling that often comes afterwards to those who eat too much yet want to lose weight, maintaining your refrigerator in tip-top shape should be a priority.

You will find the more organized and tidy you keep your frig, the more you will want to use it on a regular basis. That's what's key here! You want to use your refrigerator as much as possible and avoid going out to eat. Not only will you save a lot of money sticking with home-cooked meals, but you will be able to have control over all the ingredients along with the all-important portion size.

Plus when you cook at home, think of how easy it is to prepare a bit extra to help guarantee you have leftovers to take with you to work the following day. That in itself is a huge healthy advantage you should be doing as often as possible.

Therefore if you haven't developed the habit of maintaining a clean refrigerator, put it on your To-Do list. When you have a free moment, possibly this weekend, take the time to clean it entirely from top to bottom. Toss out the old stuff. Clean and wipe down each shelf and storage area. If it's unhealthy, get rid of it. There is really no need to have soda and juice in there, so try to replace those items with healthier choices.

While you're cleaning out your refrigerator, have a piece of paper and pen handy so you can start making a list of all the things you want to buy from the market. It is truly a wonderful sight to have a sparkling clean refrigerator stocked and organized with healthy options. Don't forget to add plastic travel containers to your list if you don't already have a good selection on hand. These truly are fantastic, helpful tools that should be sued regularly especially during the week.

If you are trying to improve your nutrition, your efforts need to begin and end right here with your kitchen refrigerator. You'll find that once you get a handle on this, everything else won't seem so daunting and you will actually be inspired to stick with healthy nutrition for hopefully the majority of the week. Give it a try and clean out your refrigerator sometime in the near future and watch your motivation to eat in a healthy manner increase dramatically.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9189422

Simple Recipes Made Easier

Tired of reading recipes that count for things that you have never heard of? There are many times which people are cooking and there is an ingredient that has to be cut a certain way or the beans need to be pressed not smashed. We all have run into a few or more recipes that were like this. With simple recipes that are made easier there is no need to worry about the recipes to be too complicated for you. Here are some sites that will help you on your journey of making simple recipes easier.

1. familyoven[dot]com - is a site that offers recipes in the simplest form. With hamburgers to chicken, family oven offers step by step instructions to make your favorite of quick and easy meals to serve to your family and friends. With family oven, you get an easy to maneuver website that doesn't need all the extra bells and whistles to attract people. You get the home cooking without the hassle of all the work.

2. recipezaar[dot]com/recipes/simple - is another site that offers you simple recipes that can be made by anyone with the willingness to cook. With about 200,000 recipes to choose from, this website offers to the cook something they have not heard of before, variety of recipes. There are many recipes that help bring extra flare into the kitchen. With this site you can get the recipe that you need in such a short time frame.

3. allrecipes[dot]com - is a site that has a variety of sites that will help you become a better cook and have more fresh ideas. With simple recipes easily found on the website, it makes for a good find if you are in a hurry to find a recipe. The recipes that are found on here are among those that have been tested to be the best.

Recipes are everywhere if you are only willing to look. Simple recipes are easy to locate if you know which way to be pointed in. With online recipes making their mark in the internet world, they are slowly moving the cooking world into the technical virtual world. There is no harm in moving recipes into the internet. This only allows for the recipes to be viewed in a more logical way. The different people who own a computer in their home don't want to get up and locate a book when they can take seconds and find a recipe that works the best for them.

When you are in the mood to cook a simple meal you need a simple recipe that will only take a good 10-15 minutes to make. Don't get discouraged and think that you are limited to noodles and grilled cheese sandwiches; there are many recipes, if found in the right place, can add to your home and give you a thumbs up on your cooking abilities. There are a lot of websites that offer easy websites that will help. Knowing the different options that are available is the first step in any plan.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3291744

Secrets to Finding the Best Diabetic Recipes

Restrictions on a diabetic's diet can make for dull and boring meal options, but that doesn't have to be the case. There are great recipes that offer delicious, healthy meal options for diabetics that the whole family will enjoy!

What to look for in Great Diabetic Recipes

Variety

Great diabetic recipes or diabetic recipes sites will offer a variety of recipes that will provide you with choices for each meal. This will give you options to not get bored with the same recipe and meal night after night.

Nutritional Dietary Information

A good diabetic recipe should provide you with the nutritional information for the finished meal. This is recipe "label reading" just like you would do on any packaged food you pick up in the grocery store.

The important things to watch on the nutritional information are:

Sugar

Carbohydrates

Saturated Fat

The content of the above per serving, should be less than 7 to 9 grams or 20% of your daily intake, generally speaking.

Diabetic Holiday or Specialty Recipes

The easiest time to fall away from healthy eating is during special occasions or Holiday meals. The best diabetic recipe sites will provide holiday diabetic recipes or special event recipes.

There are great Diabetic Thanksgiving Recipes or Christmas Diabetic Recipes that make Holiday cooking for diabetics a healthy event.

Maintaining healthy eating during the Holiday meals and special events is key to overall health. We easily overlook how often a special dinner, birthday or holiday season occurs. These many special days lead to special foods that are usually not on a diabetic diet.

Sticking with healthier meal options on these days is a good way to create a healthy diabetic lifestyle that will carry you to old age.

Not to mention that these holiday meals or special occasions can lead to 5 lbs extra weight gained per year. This will gradually lead to a large increase of weight overtime as you age.

Being overweight is very detrimental to the health of a diabetic.

Knowledgeable Diabetic Tips and Information

The knowledge and care taken with the information on a diabetic recipes site is telling of the true responsibility the site and writers take with the recipes and data they provide.

See what type of data and information the site provides. Is it helpful? Accurate? Or Insightful?

Tools for Managing Diabetes

Good diabetic recipe sites will also provide information or links to tools that aid diabetics in successfully managing their diabetes. This may include books, references, cooking tools, recipes, knowledgeable resources, etc.

Diabetic Recipes to Stay Away From

Use common sense when picking from some so called "diabetic recipes". Things to watch out for are recipes containing:

Sugar or sugary ingredients

Canned fruits or preserves

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/841319

Simple Tips to Organize Your Recipes

You sit down to plan the menu for the week and get ready for another trip to the grocery store. There was that recipe you made a couple weeks ago that everyone loved, where is it? You dig through handwritten papers, torn out magazine pages, and tattered index cards. Stop and read a card you're you remember now you were dying to try 6 months back. Somehow when it came to your home filing system you just never got to the kitchen. Now is the time to take action and get all those recipes organized!

Paper Recipes: As I'm sure you have found printed recipes come in many shapes and sizes. In order to begin your recipe home filing system collect all your recipes together in one place. You will then begin by sorting them into categories. For example: vegetables, appetizers, main course, and desserts. You can either choose your categories before hand, perhaps with the help of a cookbook, or choose them as you begin to sort. It's possible your categories will become obvious while you sort as everyone's recipe collections are a little different. Some categories may become very large, if this happens consider breaking them into subcategories. Main courses could be broken into Hot and Cold, or Vegetarian and Meat.

Alphabetize your recipes within each category once you have them sorted.

While you're sorting have you been coming across recipes that no one liked, you never made, or are something you've found a better recipe for? Now is the time to purge your collection. Don't put back recipes you aren't going to use again now that you have everything spread out. Recipes you didn't like can just go into the recycling. If it is a recipe you still want to try I would suggest one of two options. You could admit you aren't really going to try it and recycle it, or you can create a "recipes to try" category in your home filing system. This category is great when you are looking for something different or exciting! Then when you finally try them for the first time you can either file them into one of categories you created or recycle them!

Storing Paper Recipes: If you have varying size pages a standard recipe box probably isn't your best choice for storage, and now that you have your recipes sorted and alphabetized you'll want just the right container. The good news is there are several economic choices for new containers to start your home filing system.

A simple notebook can be used. Staple or tape your recipes to the pages and then use the space around them to make notes about them as you try them. Make sure to leave blank pages in each category so you can add additional recipes. Tuck any size recipe behind a tab in an accordion file. A three ring binder or photo album are both excellent options. They both allow flexibility for sizes of recipes, and give you the ability to add in pages where you need them as your collection grows and changes. They will easily stay open while you cook, and can be easily cleaned off if you spill food on your recipe.

Electronic Recipes: Keeping our recipes on computers as oppose to on paper is becoming more and more common. When starting a home filing system for your electronic recipes you have two choices. Are you going to store them on your computer or online?

You can follow a similar layout to your paper recipes by creating categories with folders on your computer.

Storing your recipes in this way on your computer you have the benefit of making your recipes entirely portable. If you have your computer with you, you can access all of your recipes, no internet connection needed. They also sell software that will help you organize on your computer, the benefit of many of these is they can produce grocery lists or help with meal planning. Keep in mind if you are in transition from paper to electronic scanning is a good option to move your paper recipes without having to retype everything.

There are a number of different formats that you can use to store your recipes online. The benefit is many of these programs also can help generate meal ideas and grocery lists. Also you don't need your computer in order to access your recipes, all you need is an internet connection.

Regardless whether you choose to go with paper recipes or electronic recipes don't underrate the effect of organizing the portion of your home filing system. Think of the daily frustration that could be eliminated by organizing getting your recipes. Take the time to organize today!



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6067286

Organizing Your Recipes

While many of us enjoy cooking, it isn't always easy to keep track of our impressive recipe collections. In order to make your recipes easier to find (and not to mention giving your patience a break!), we're going to talk about a few ways you can get your recipes organized.

Recipe Book:
Instead of storing your recipes in the "haphazard shoebox" fashion, how about converting them into a nice recipe book? If most of your recipes are on index or recipe cards, a photo album with plastic sleeves may work particularly well for you as long as the card fits comfortably in the slot. If you have quite a large collection of recipes, try obtaining a large family photo album that allows eight to twelve slots per sleeve (front and back). The order you put the cards in is totally up to you, as your recipe book should reflect your preference. Some people prefer to sort based on main dishes, desserts, breads/pastries, beverages, etc., while others prefer alphabetical order.

If you don't have your recipes on cards, or if you're like most people, you might have your recipes on papers and cards of all shapes and sizes. If this is the case, you might want to think about typing them all up and printing them off. After all of your recipes are transferred to this new format, the next step is to get a binder (three ring binders work well) and some tabbed dividers. Label each divider by the category you wish (ie: type of meal, alphabetical order, etc.) and get to work punching holes in your recipe sheets to accommodate the binder's rings. If you prefer, you can purchase plastic sleeves to keep your sheets spill-proof-which is highly recommended to counter those splatters of sauce, batter, or grease that always tend to smudge our favorite recipes.

Whether you use a photo album or a binder, don't be afraid to get creative with your recipe book. Get some construction paper and glue or clip clip pictures from magazines. There's nothing wrong with adding a dash of imagination that might even inspire your cooking!

Recipe Catalog:
The Internet is not only a great place to search through millions of recipes, but it's also handy for storing the ones you already have. Sites like WeGottaEat and OneTSP are free to sign up and allow you to add your own recipes by simply typing them up. Yes, this can be quite tedious if you have a lot of recipes, but just imagine how easy it will be to find a recipe by simply typing in a keyword and clicking "search." You can also browse thorough members' recipes and send recipes to friends and family. Online recipe storage sites are very user friendly, so you don't have to be particularly computer savvy to utilize this great feature. Also, by storing your recipes online you can easily include pictures that would otherwise mean added bulk to your recipe collection.

Software:
Say you like the idea of easily searching for and pulling up your recipes, but you aren't too keen on relying upon an Internet connection. You might not want to totally rule out the option of a computerized recipe book. There is a wealth of recipe software available for download on the Internet. Many of them are classed as "freeware," which means that you can download and use the software for free. Some cooking software is available online for purchase, but they do throw in some handy "extras" that are worth the money, such as measurement calculators and converters, meal planning and shopping lists, and nutritional value calculators.

These are just a few ways that you can free up that recipe drawer and simplify the entire task of cooking from a recipe. Best of luck in whichever method you choose to organize your recipes-and happy cooking!



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3212700