Americans must make different food choices
We are drilled that, to be healthy, we must eat a diet that is low in fat. It’s recommended to eat a diet filled with whole grains and substitute vegetable oil in place of animal fat. In fact, the U.S. government bases its nutrition recommendations upon the lipid hypothesis. However, this hypothesis suggests that the human diet should be made up of foods we did not eat for 99 percent of our existence.
The USDA’s guidelines are influenced by this hypothesis. It recommends a diet high in grains and carbohydrates, but that isn’t the diet native to humans. These carbohydrate-rich foods are high in pure glucose. Carbohydrates turn into sugar in the blood stream, but insulin can only process a small amount of sugar at once. The remaining portion of carbohydrates are processed into fat and stored away, causing weight gain. The diets that have been recommended to us are contributing to health problems and the obesity epidemic in America.
One solution to this problem is the Paleolithic diet. It is a diet that is based upon the ancestral human diet that has been consumed since man began to walk the Earth. Modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their ancestors, as human genes have scarcely changed since the conception of agriculture. The diet of hunter-gatherer societies consisted of 64 to 68 percent animal calories and 32 to 36 percent plant calories. The Paleolithic diet is made up predominately of meat, fish, poultry, fruits and vegetables, while cutting out refined sugar and grains.
Now this is where it becomes tricky. Shouldn’t eating a diet high in saturated fat cause heart disease and obesity problems? The answer is no. Saturated fat is a healthy and vital component of the human diet. High-density lipoprotein, or HDL, is what removes cholesterol from the arteries and recycles it back into the liver. Diets high in saturated fat promote increased levels of HDL while low-fat diets decrease it.
Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is the cause of heart disease when it is oxidized in the arteries. What causes an increase in LDL is a diet high in carbohydrates. In addition to promoting healthy cholesterol levels, a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein sends the body into a state of ketosis. This means that the body is burning fat for energy. It is vital that we as a population become educated on how to properly feed ourselves. Treat your body well now and it will treat you well in the future. Before deciding to completely change your diet, first become educated and consult a physician, and then take the steps necessary to living healthier.
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