First, what do I mean by a paleo diet? I mean an increasingly popular way of eating that rejects most of today’s processed and packaged foods. Following this diet means you eat like our hunter-gatherer ancestors did thousands of years ago. You still eat meats, seafood and vegetables etc. but select those that have not been overly processed or handled by the food industry. Instead, opt for natural, healthy foods.
Did you know that today, the average American eats 31% more processed and packaged foods than fresh, natural foods? Can you believe it? Unfortunately it’s true.
How did we get to this sad state?
We are all so busy and short on time that we have opted to eat pre-packaged foods that are quick and easy, just heat and eat. The problem is, we’ve been ignoring all the (mostly artificial) additives, flavors, preservatives, and colors that are routinely added to those “convenience” foods.
What do you think has been the price of choosing comfort over eating fresh and healthy food? In fact, many nutritionists tell us that the price is our health.
Are they just trying to scare us into changing our diet by exaggerating the dangers? Or do they know something we don’t?
Evidence, mounting every day from ongoing research, suggests that perhaps we should pay more attention to them…and to our diet.
One of the main culprits is sugar.
Let’s take a look at one of the main ingredients in our processed/packaged “convenience” foods as an example: refined sugar. This substance was completely unknown to your prehistoric ancestors. Today, sugar has become an important ingredient in the American diet. Do you think I’m exaggerating? Consider the following statistic.
The average American now consumes (are you ready for this?) about two and a half pounds of sugar each week. Most of us don’t even know we’re eating so much sugar. For God’s sake, why not? Because sugar is hidden in the ingredients listed on the FDA labels of most of the processed and packaged foods we eat.
Understanding the ingredient label
Ingredients on FDA food labels are listed in descending order by weight. That means the closer to the top of the list an ingredient is, the more of it is in the food. So, the relative position of sugar in a package’s ingredient list gives you an idea of how much sugar is in the food… a lot or a little.
Also, you should know that in food ingredient lists, sugar goes by many different names. The following bulleted list is one you may want to take with you to the grocery store. Each item on the list is a form of refined sugar. And you’ll often see more than one of them on the same ingredient list. Just remember, they are all sugar!
- agave nectar
- brown sugar
- reed crystals
- sugar cane
- corn sweetener
- corn syrup
- crystalline fructose
- Dextrose
- evaporated cane juice
- Fructose
- Fruit Juice Concentrates
- Glucose
- High fructose corn syrup
- Honey
- invert sugar
- Lactose
- Maltose
- malt syrup
- Molasses
- raw sugar
- saccharose
- Sugar
- syrup
In just the last decade (10 short years) the consumption of refined sugar by Americans has risen from about 26 pounds per person per year to a whopping 135 pounds per person!
Sugar is not the only culprit
And sugar is just one of the ingredients routinely added to processed and packaged foods these days. It’s no wonder our current diet is so unhealthy and switching to the paleo diet is so appealing.
When you consider all the other additives, flavors, preservatives, and colors, it’s no surprise that our nation is populated with people who suffer from obesity, autoimmune diseases, heart problems, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and more. When you create an acronym for “Standard American Diet”, you spell out the word SAD. What an accurate description of how we are eating these days.
Change your diet, two good rules of thumb
To start reducing the amount of refined sugar you consume, a good rule of thumb is to avoid all products that list any of the above sugars at or near the top of the ingredient list. Also, don’t buy products that have several different sugars sprinkled across the list.
And, if you really want to switch to a healthier diet, another good rule of thumb is that if there are more than two or three ingredients listed on the ingredient label, it’s probably unhealthy and you shouldn’t be eating it.
Following a paleo diet is one way to improve your eating habits, and it’s easy to do. Start thinking paleo when you’re at the market or in a restaurant. And get yourself a good paleo cookbook and use it. Recipes from paleo cookbooks take the load off your shoulders… the unhealthy ingredients have already been removed.
Common sense food choices and some simple actions you can take will help you break old habits and addiction to “convenient” foods. To protect and improve your health, you really should start a paleo diet…now! Visit my website to learn more about how you can identify healthy paleo foods and start eating healthier.