Have you ever stared into the mirror and not liked what is looking back at you? When most people discover that they are heavier than they want to be, their first impulse is to eat less food. They may choose to skip breakfast entirely, eat a tiny lunch and have a small dinner in hopes that if they eat less, their body will burn off some of the excess fat. The truth of the matter is that the total opposite is true. Eating less food will actually make it more difficult for people to lose weight.

You need to keep in the back of your mind that the human body was formed a long time ago and during this time, there was no such thing as diets. Starvation was the only low-calorie thing that was in existence. Those who could get by with small or no amount of food during some times were the ones who survived. This is why our bodies have a built-in mechanism to help us survive when we consume low amounts of food.

An interesting fact discovered by researchers is that when overweight and thin people are compared, they have roughly the same amount of calories. The difference is that overweight people eat more fat than thin people do as they tend to eat foods that have less fat and more carbohydrates.

Losing weight is not an easy thing to do and the process is not instantaneous. A good weight loss program involves careful planning along with common sense and guidelines to follow. The sad thing is that there is a lot of bad information out there and many people who are desperate to lose weight are ripped off by promises that are not kept.

All you have to do is to turn on your television or read a magazine or newspaper and you will see an advertisement that promises a pill or patch that will take off excess weight quickly. Seems like everyone is looking for that magic pill that will help them lose weight. People in the United States are spending billions of dollars every year on diet programs and products. The end results of most of these programs are that people either do not lose weight or if they lose weight, they are not able to keep it off and most of them gain the weight back.

Recently, a survey was conducted for the purpose of determining whether any commercial diet program could provide long -term success and not a single program could do so. There are so many of these programs that are making false claims that it has caused the FDA to get involved and they have started to clamp down on them.

There are many diseases and health problems that are associated with being excessively overweight and obese and it has been determined that when calorie intake is excessive, some of this excess is saturated fat.

One of the biggest myths today is that people get heavy by consuming too many calories and the truth is that while calories are important, they do not cause obesity. Americans are actually eating fewer calories today than they did at the beginning of the century. Overall, we are heavier than we have ever been. Part of the reason is that we sit around too much and do not get any exercise and the other part of the equation is that the fat content of the American diet has changed dramatically.

If people are going to go on a diet, than they must also exercise and if they don’t, they usually end up getting fatter over time even though they are on a diet. They may lose some weight at the beginning of their diet, but this weight consists mostly of water and muscle and when this weight returns, it comes back as fat. This can be prevented by engaging in some form of physical exercise.

Try to choose an exercise program that you will be comfortable with and have fun doing. Do not look at it as a chore that you must do. Walking is by far one of the best choices for a lot of people including myself as it promotes good blood circulation along with strong bones and it helps you to control your weight and tone your muscles.

I hope that you enjoyed this article and if you would like some great information on eating healthy, please visit my site where you will find some great free tips to help you live a long and healthy life.

Before there were packaged goods, processed foods, GMOs and an ongoing debate between organic or not, there was dirt, seeds, water and roaming animals. It may be hard to consider now, but the dawn of man produced hunters and gatherers and humans had to get their own food – not by heading to the supermarket.

There were no sprays to kill insects, no chemicals or genes added or modified. No extra-large tomatoes or vibrant yellow bananas. Food was simple. It was either found, picked or hunted. And although there weren’t doctors or research scientists to confirm the benefits of such eating, it seems that when it comes to dietary habits, eating like our ancestors has some merit.

Diets come and diets go, but one in particular seems to have staying power and for good reasons as well. It’s based on eating similar to that of prehistoric man and it’s being touted as one of the best way to eat. It’s called the Paleo diet.

What is the Paleo diet?
The Paleo diet was created by Loren Cordain, a now-famous author, speaker and professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University, who specializes in disease and diet. The Paleo diet itself reflects food items and methods of eating similar to our Stone Age ancestors – that’s right, this diet is framed around eating like cavemen. Through scientific research and peer-reviewed studies, Cordain has uncovered many health benefits to eating the Stone Age way.

There are seven premise on which the Paleo diet guidelines are based:

High protein
Low carbohydrates and low glycemic index
High fiber
Moderate to high fat intake – monosaturated and polysaturated fats with omega-3s and 6s

High potassium, low sodium
Net dietary alkaline balances dietary acid – some foods produce acid (meat) and others are alkaline (fruits and vegetables). Eating a balance of both alkaline and acid foods can have positive health effects.

High intake of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and plant phytochemicals.

The paleo diet is a regime that helps us eat the freshest, healthiest and nutrient-filled food there is. The paleo diet is based on a balanced diet. The typical Paleo recipes includes

meat of grass-fed cows,
Poultry, seafood, and meat,
Fresh and organic vegetables and fruits of all colors,
Complex carbohydrates coming from tubers and fruits such as sweet potato (potato / sweet potato), potato and banana
Healthy fats such as coconut oil, avocado, olive oil and animal fat.
Based not only on what our ancestors ate that suffered from fewer chronic diseases than we, despite having no access to modern medicine,

Many people see the list of foods removed from the paleo diet and remove them from the diet without adding new things. When they remove processed foods and cereals from their diets, often only meat, eggs, and bacon remain. But just as important as eliminated foods (processed foods, sugar, cereals and in some cases dairy and vegetables) are the foods we add to our diets.

A typical paleo diet recipes is half veggies (carrot, broccoli, zucchini, and spinach) and a quarter of protein (often meat or seafood) and a quarter of carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes. A “paleo recipes” diet can be balanced or not, depending on what you put on your plate – just like any other diet. It is essential to note that every person has different body needs.

In the paleo recipes diet, there is also an emphasis on the quality of the food consumed – we try to avoid genetically modified organisms, eat organic vegetables when possible and meat/poultry/seafood that was fed properly, without hormones or inadequate food for their species. We try to eat “all the animal products” because we know that there are essential nutrients and amino acids in the parts of the animal that we cannot find in the most common cuts. Eating “booze” such as liver, paws, cola, bone broth, and any other part of the animal helps to maintain a balanced diet.

The paleo diet recipes does not restrict the consumption of fat or cholesterol. Contrary to what we have been taught, fat does not make us fat (consumed in moderation). Fat is essential to assimilate some vitamins (A, D, E, and K) that are necessary for the functioning of our body. Without fat, those vitamins cannot enter our body to do their job. Every cell in our body needs fat to function.

An old article in Time Magazine admits that consumption of saturated fat has no proven link to increased risk of heart problems, and high consumption of sugar and carbohydrates did. In fact, our use of cholesterol in food has nominal influence on the level of cholesterol in our blood. There is no reason to be afraid of eating fat. A paleo diet recipes with enough protein and fat often helps people to lose weight because they are foods that make us feel satiated and as a consequence, we eat less. In fact, if your goal is to lose weight, a paleo diet can be the key to your progress.