How to Go on a Paleo Diet (3 page)

What About Herbs?

Herbs may also be used in your diet. These include choices like thyme, parsley, basil, rosemary, sage and dill. They can be used in small amounts to make something a little more enjoyable for your diet. They can naturally add to the flavor of your diet.

Don’t Forget Spices

Some of the herbs that can work in the diet can be used as natural spices. In fact, you can use many of these spices to liven up your foods if you feel that they are not enjoyable enough for you. This is important because many of these spices include ones that have been used for generations in many diets.

The spices that you can use include ginger, garlic, fennel, black pepper, vanilla and nutmeg. The key about these spices is that they have to be naturally occurring and have been prepared in a safe and natural fashion without any additional materials.

Just be sure that the ones that you do use are controlled carefully. You should not be using spices with excess amounts of sodium in them. Salt and other items that contain sodium will only end up delaying your progress.

What About Water?

Water can truly work wonders on the body. (
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You definitely have to use water if you want to go places on this diet. This is needed not only because it is naturally occurring but also because it can remove the old wastes that you have put in your body over the years.

You clearly have to find water that has been fully treated and cleaned without any salt or sugar ingredients. Pure water is the best way to go.

It’s particularly helpful to go with a standard plan for handling water. This standard plan should involve working with about six to eight regular glasses of water each day.

You could also use coconut water or even organic green tea. They are options that have come from nature and could help you out just as well while on your diet. These are completely optional choices to go with but they may still be beneficial to your body.

Can Oils Work?

Oils can be used while you are on the diet as well. You have to clearly focus on oils that are naturally occurring if you want your diet to be successful. Olive, avocado and coconut oils are useful options to work with, for instance.

You should still be very careful when using your oils. You can use them for things like flavorings that can go over cooked meats or even a salad. This should make it easier for the oil to be noticeable without going overboard while using it.

Using Fats Right

You also need to see what fats you are getting out of these foods. You can work with one of three different types of fats from the right resources:

• Saturated fats should be controlled carefully. You can use them with coconut oil but they should be kept at a minimum for your safety.
  
• Some types of animal-based fats can work well only if they are from healthy animals. These include fats like lard and duck fat.
  
• Fats from oils can also work well if they are kept at a minimum too. These include olive and avocado oils.
  

You have to make sure that these fats are used carefully if you want your diet to work out right. This is all to keep things working without adding harmful fats that could potentially keep your diet from being run as well as it should be.

Stick with Clarified Butter

Clarified butter is a unique option. (
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Butter may work on the Paleo diet if you are careful with it. It has to be prepared with natural procedures instead of with loads of salt like what some companies have been using in recent years. An idea to choose here would be to work with clarified butter. This is known as ghee in some cultures.

Clarified butter is milk fat that has been taken from butter and separated to where the water and milk solids are taken out from the butterfat. It can work with a more controlled approach to your diet.

You can easily find clarified butter in containers. However, it can also be made by melting butter and letting its contents separate from each other. This will allow the water in the butter to evaporate while solids on the surface are cleared off as needed. The milk solids will be stuck at the bottom while the butterfat is poured out.

There are some foods that must be avoided when taking advantage of this diet. These foods include ones that clearly were not around back in the days of the caveman. There are also some foods that might have existed at the time but should still be avoided because they are not ones that might have been prepared for use in a natural manner.

You should particularly watch what you are doing with these foods because they are made with all sorts of harmful ingredients. These include several things that clearly were not around in the caveman days. You must make sure that you keep yourself under control and stay away from these harmful items in the diet.

Dairy Items

Cows weren’t domesticated back in the day. Why use their items in your diet? (
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There were no procedures involving cultivating dairy products from animals in the Paleo era. This is because they weren’t being domesticated at this point in time.

There’s also the problem with dairy items on today’s market being subjected to all sorts of abuses. Many items are heavily processed as they are prepared for consumption. There are also many items from animals that can be subjected to all sorts of hormones and artificial treatments just to try and get them to taste better.

Grains

The concern about grains is that they can contain gluten, a substance that is known to keep the body’s digestive system from working properly. There is also the concern about how a majority of grains in today’s society have been heavily altered with additives to get them all growing right.

You particularly have to avoid rye, barley and oats if you want to keep your diet going well. It’s also best to avoid corn.

It’s especially important to understand that many of these grains are made with high carbohydrate contents. This could be harmful to your diet due to how they will make it harder for your body’s metabolic procedures to run well.

Sugars

These small cubes are more harmful than you think. (
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Sugars can be harmful because they will slow down the body’s ability to take advantage of its weight loss functions. They may even contain artificial materials that can weaken cells around the body. It’s especially the case for sugar substitutes that supposedly give you the taste of sugar without all of the health issues that come with actual sugar.

Trans Fats

Trans fats are dangerous because they can be found in many foods that have been heated up to the point where molecules around their bodies will be changed to where the fats are going to cause damages to cells around the body. They can even introduce new free radicals into the body.

In addition, trans fats can cause cell membranes to weaken. This can damage the body and make it feel worn out.

You need to make sure that the foods that you eat do not have trans fats and that you prepare them the right way without adding trans fats. This is to keep you from suffering from the risks that come with them.

Legumes

Legumes like peas, beans and peanuts can also be harmful. They can prevent the body from absorbing critical nutrients. They might also disrupt the body’s digestive system just like grains can. You have to avoid these in this diet. This is even in the event that you see some options that are made with safe organic materials in mind. They are still going to be tough for you to digest over time.

You should especially avoid kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans and even black beans while on the diet. These are some of the more harmful kinds of peas that you might run into while eating.

Farm Fish

Do you really want to eat fish from a place like this? (
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As mentioned earlier, fish are good for the Paleo diet. However, farmed fish are dangerous. Farmed fish are ones that were prepared in a farming environment where people commercially raise fish and treat them with different nutrients and substances in order to get them to spawn faster than what they might do while in the wild.