Paleo & Primal Diet
You can call it Paleo, Primal, Caveman, Anti-Inflammatory, Hormonal Reset, Real Food, or anything else you want, but the core concepts of a healthy diet remain the same. We need nutrients and we need to get them through what we eat.
New Patient Guidelines
If you are coming in for your first time, to optimize your results a proper diet is necessary. The proper diet combined with the proper treatment at the right time is especially critical for difficult cases.
What Not To Eat
- All refined grain products, including but not limited to whole wheat, bread, pasta, cereal, pretzels, crackers, desserts, etc. Sometimes other whole grains can added in to the diet, but this is on an individual basis.
- Partially hydrogenated oils, aka trans fats that are found in margarine, fried foods and almost all packaged foods.
- Avoid unhealthy oils such as corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, and anything that contains these oils such as mayonnaise, tartar sauce, margarine, salad dressings and most packaged foods.
- Soda and sugar. A limited amount of natural sugars such as honey may be acceptable in some individuals.
- Meat and eggs from grain-fed animals. Modern animals are obese, unhealthy and are loaded with proinflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. Grass-fed meat is the best choice. If you cannot afford grass-fed meat, there are some stores offering antibiotic-free and hormone-free meat that are better than other meats.
- Coffee or Tea. While there are studies that say they can be beneficial, the overall net effect is worse health.
What You Should Eat
- All fruits and vegetables. Sweet potatoes are acceptable.
- Fresh fish, not farm-raised.
- Meat, chicken & eggs from grass-fed animals. If you are not able to acquire grass-fed products where you live, aim for omega-3 eggs and very lean cuts of meat as toxins are often stored in fat
- Wild game, deer, elk, etc. (find a friend that likes to hunt)
- Nuts: Almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, etc. If your goal includes weight loss, then nuts are not your friend!
- Spices are all acceptable, including natural salts.
- Healthy oils and fats. Coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and grass-fed butter.
- Homemade salad dressings like olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other spices like Greek, Italian, ginger, dill, oregano, etc.
- Try not to use salad dressing in restaurants because they care little about your health and often have added sugars and chemicals.
- Drink water.
- Dark chocolate, at least 72% cacao.
There are obviously some more extensive food lists online, but I think the key to eating a healthy diet is to keep it simple. At first you may think there is nothing left to eat without breads, pastries, cereal, grains and pasta, but this simply isn’t true.
Obviously if you aren’t eating healthy right now, you will need to make significant changes, but if your meal already includes some meat, vegetables and fruit, all you have to do is increase those portion sizes and significantly decrease grain type products.
By following a health promoting diet, patients are able to heal faster and return to their lives much sooner than if they didn’t. If you are considering becoming a new patient and you haven’t started a healthy diet yet, start ASAP so that your progress can begin before your first visit! If you haven’t started a healthy diet, that is okay, we will discuss individual dietary changes if necessary in each and every visit.