By Andrew Simpson
Ten thousand years ago, our neolithic ancestors could not reach into a pantry every time they got the urge to nibble on potato chips or cheese crackers. As such, their diet was all-natural in the truest possible fashion, with no high fructose corn syrup or artificial ingredients to clog up a digestive system. Anyone looking to lose weight can utilize the paleo diet in order to reach their fitness goals.
Today's processed foods are just about the worst things that a person can put into their body. Most are based off of sugary syrups, most notably corn syrups, that are practically impossible for your metabolism to digest. As a result, each time you drink a can of soda you pack on the syrup in the form of fat.
So many of the meal choices you see at a supermarket or a restaurant are packed with these processed foods that make your tummy swell and your waistline expand. Processed foods like cheese, for instance, are nearly pure fat to begin with, but with the preservatives they are jammed full of more artificial sugars.
If you have been eating processed foods all of your life and want a solution to the fat growing about your stomach and waist, you need only do what our ancestors did and find foods that occur naturally in the world. Making a commitment to the Paleo Diet is a sure-fire way to eliminate fat stored up from a lifetime of unhealthy choices.
What is the Paleo Diet? As the name suggests, it is the food choices that would have been available in the Stone Age, a time when your next meal came from scouring the forest floor in the hopes of finding mushrooms, roots, eggs, or an animal scampering about. No matter what your favorite foods are, odds are good the Paleo Diet allows you to eat them.
Do you love a T-bone steak seared to perfection? Since our ancestors could hunt and eat wild cattle, you can enjoy one as well. Do you like to nibble on trail mix? Dried fruits and nuts were just as available back then as they are now. Even some anachronisms like ice cream can be made on the Paleo diet, provided you use ingredients (like natural cocoa and vanilla beans) that would have been available in the time of wooly mammoths.
The proof, as such, is in the pudding -- or rather, in the lack of pudding. By choosing food that was available to our forefathers back when we only had stone spears as a means of collecting our next meal, we create meal choices that are sure to give us the protein and vitamins that enrich our system rather than the calories and carbohydrates that clog it up.
Do not think that the Paleo Diet is restrictive. Instead, think of it as a means of getting delicious meals without having to soak them in saturated fats. Make a chicken and apple salad, for instance, since it contains Paleo-appropriate ingredients, and enjoy the process by thinking about how your ancestors could have done it.
How can you lose weight on the Paleo Diet? Simply put, all you need to do is follow it. Most of the fat on a person's body comes from the hydrogenated oils and syrups of everyday meals. Cut those out, and watch your waistline fade away.
The best part of the Paleo Diet is that it does not compromise on nutrition. If you want to bulk up and get a set of killer abs, you can get all the protein you need. If you want to fight flu season, you can get more than enough Vitamin C.
Trimming your fat by using the Paleo Diet requires no counting of calories. All you need to do is eliminate the foods that lead to fat-buildup and you are sure to watch a lifetime's worth of soda and pizza fade away. Best of all, you feel better as you look better due to the quality of nutrition.
The Paleo Diet can be for everyone, even vegetarians and vegans, since it offers choices that appeal to all tastes and preferences. If you have been frustrated by diets before, do not change how much you eat, change how much good food you eat.
