Paleo – A Look at My Patients
Looking at my practice, I am astounded at the number of my patients that are following the paleo diet. My clients claimed to be feeling good, losing weight and having increased energy levels, but what I see is something else.
Their systems have become acidic and fatty and there was no doubt in my mind that their cholesterol and triglycerides are off the charts. Their channels are very similar to what I had seen in those following the Atkins diet. During the treatment of one patient, I felt phlegm and fat buildup. I asked how his cholesterol levels were and if he was eating too much fat, he explained that he was eating only grass fed beef and putting organic butter in his tea.
The paleo diet calls for a wide variety of grass fed meats, fish/seafood, fruits and vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds and healthy oils, perhaps a main issue is one of choice. There is a difference between choosing rib eye steak over a lean cut of fish and perhaps people are choosing the steak more often than the fish.
A study published in the British Medical Journal looked at over 40,000 Swedish women who followed a low carb high protein diet. These women did not show consideration to the nature of the sources of carbohydrates or protein, they simply followed a low carb/high protein diet. The results showed that “a 20 g decrease in daily carbohydrate intake and a 5 g increase in daily protein intake would correspond to a 5% increase in the overall risk of cardiovascular disease.”
While there are some short term gains in following a low carb high protein diet, the long term effect of stroke and heart disease are not worth the risk. Simply adding a small amount of unprocessed grains and focusing more on the fruit and vegetable component of the diet can give you the balance and the results you are looking for.