The Paleo Diet (29 page)

You may already be fit and exercising regularly. Or you may do sporadic exercise. Or maybe you are overweight, and you hardly ever exercise. What you begin to do now—the amount and intensity of your exercise program—will necessarily depend on your starting point.

In order to gain the minimal health effects of exercise, you will need to accumulate at least
thirty minutes of aerobic activity
(walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, aerobic dance, stair climbing, racquetball, basketball, etc.) of
moderate intensity
on most, and
preferably all, days of the week.
Additional health and functional benefits of physical activity can be achieved by devoting more time to the activity, by increasing the vigor of the activity, or by increasing the number of times per week you exercise.

If you’re a beginner, you may not be able to walk for thirty minutes a day, every day, right away. Always listen to your body and increase or decrease your exercise accordingly. If you have a family history of heart disease, are very obese, or have other health problems, you should talk to your doctor or even have a checkup before you begin your exercise program. However, don’t use this as an excuse to avoid exercising.
Not
exercising is more hazardous to your health than exercising is. If you feel sore or tired from a day’s exercise, take the next day off, just as our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have done. Gradually, as you become more and more fit, you will be able to increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of your exercise program. Your fitness level will generally change more rapidly if you heighten the intensity of exercise, rather than increase the frequency or duration.

The key to any successful aerobic training program is to stick with it. You need to keep it interesting and stimulating. The best way to sabotage an aerobic training program is to walk in boring circles around a track or ride a stationary bicycle in your closet. Personally, I find jogging or walking on hiking trails or little-used dirt roads on the edge of town to be much more stimulating and peaceful than jogging on city streets. I can see birds and wildlife. The terrain and the view are constantly changing, and I don’t have to fight traffic. It may take you a little longer to drive to a trailhead or a walking path, but you may find that it’s worth it. If you live in a metropolitan area, a large city park may be ideal for walks and jogs. You may prefer swimming or bicycling, or you may be more sociable and prefer the company of others while doing aerobic dance, stair climbing, or stationary bicycling in a health club or a gymnasium. Vary your aerobic activities; take your dog with you; bring a pair of binoculars and look for birds; travel to the park or hiking trails; swim at the ocean or the lake. Don’t look at exercise as a form of penance. Make it fun, and make it stimulating.

Strength training should be performed at least twice a week, incorporating a minimum of eight to ten specific exercises that use the major muscle groups of the legs, the trunk, the arms, and the shoulders. You should perform at least one or two sets of eight to twelve repetitions in each set. To minimize the risk of muscle injury, it’s a good idea to do plenty of stretching and light calisthenics as a warm-up—the same for aerobic exercise. If you do not have a weight machine or a set of free weights at home, visit your local health club or fitness center to get started. Most health clubs and fitness centers employ knowledgeable personnel who can help you get started and can show you how to lift properly and use the weight machines. Once you figure out the basics, you may want to purchase equipment for your home.

I encourage you not just to walk or swim or lift weights. Try to incorporate both strength and aerobic activities in your fitness program. This is the way our Paleolithic ancestors did it, and this is the method that will increase your fitness levels most rapidly, while simultaneously preventing injuries. If your legs are sore or tired from walking, then take the next day off or do some weight lifting that emphasizes the muscles of your upper body. Swimming is a wonderful exercise that temporarily neutralizes the force of gravity and allows free movement of the joints and the muscles. Even if walking or jogging is your main aerobic activity, try to swim a few times a month. It will give your body a needed break from jogging’s incessant pounding and will allow you to stretch your muscles and joints fully. Using a cross-training machine, bicycling and stationary bicycling, like swimming, can also work wonders in relieving the stress from too much walking or jogging. When you alternate strength activities with various aerobic activities, you will not only speed up the development of fitness, but you will lessen your chances of injury.

Think of exercise as a luxury, a wonderful, opulent pursuit that is not available to all. It is a miraculous elixir that will brighten your spirits, improve your well-being, and make you feel so much better! Exercise will help you complete and maintain your wonderful new Paleo way of life.

I have given you the key to the door, but I cannot open it for you. For the first time in your life, you should realize that by eating the diet nature devised for us, you can achieve permanent weight loss and significantly improve your health. All of this can occur without your experiencing continual feelings of hunger.

Humanity’s original diet is not prescribed to you by a diet doctor or by governmental recommendations, but rather by more than 2 million years of evolutionary wisdom. This is the diet that every single person on the planet ate a mere 333 generations ago. Paleolithic people had no choice but to follow the Paleo Diet. Refined grains, sugars, salt, dairy products, fatty meats, and processed food simply didn’t exist. Unfortunately, from a health and weight perspective, you have a choice. Burgers, fries, and a Coke are just down the block—but so are healthful fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. The choice is yours.

How can you empower yourself? How can you make the correct choice happen every time? Here are a few simple guidelines that will help.

Let’s once more follow the course given to us by our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Eat when you are hungry, and stop eating when you are full. Many of us eat for all the wrong reasons.

Food is love. Remember that birthday cake you ate on your special day as a child? It brought you warmth and security—it may have represented your parents’ love. Many of us still associate sugary, rich desserts with love and fond childhood memories. That’s okay; in fact, food should still be associated with love. But why not try to love yourself, your family, or your friends with some of nature’s original loving food, so that by eating, you are also loving your body and making yourself healthy? How about a few rich lobster tails or fresh crab legs, some creamy avocado slices, or a bowl of fresh blackberries topped with almond slices? These foods taste great and make you feel great. Those childhood love foods (cookies, cakes, candy, ice cream, chocolates—you know the rest) are a temporary fix that all too soon will make you feel tired, drowsy, and bloated. How many times do you need to “love yourself” with these foods to know that they always let you down in the long run?

Food is a reward. Remember going out to dinner after high school graduation, your wedding, or getting that new job? You rewarded yourself by eating a great meal—and rightly so. You deserved it, and you still do. However, many of us seek that reward or gratification from our food almost daily. Reward yourself with food, and do it daily, but do it with the delicious bounty of real foods: fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. You will be rewarding not only your psyche but your body as well.

Food relieves boredom. Have you ever sat around on a Friday evening with nothing to do, knowing there is a half gallon of ice cream in the refrigerator? How about an afternoon home alone with some chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven? When you adopt the Paleo Diet, these situations will no longer be a problem. You will have a ton of food at home, but it will be fruits, veggies, lean meats, and seafood. Go ahead—get bored all you want, and please eat all you want, because your appetite will tell you when to stop. You could probably eat the entire half gallon of ice cream and the whole plate of cookies, but you will always stop eating when you’ve had your fill of lean chicken breasts, succulent tiger shrimp, or fresh tangerines. Use these foods to relieve your boredom, and you will find yourself losing weight and taking a new path toward terrific health.

If you are like almost everyone on this planet, you probably have never made it through a single day of your life without eating grains, dairy products, legumes, salt, refined sugars, fatty meats, or processed foods and drinks.

Go ahead, try it—just once!

I challenge you to eat nothing but fresh fruits, veggies, and lean meats for a single day. You will not be hungry. Eat as much and as many of these foods as you want—eat until you are full. I can assure you that you will not develop vitamin or mineral deficiencies; on the contrary, you will be luxuriously nourished.

See for yourself—see how you feel when you wake up the next morning.

Follow the Paleo Diet principles all day long for a second day. You can do it. If you get hungry or are tempted, treat yourself to a big bowl of fruit or some cold chicken breasts or any of the wonderful Paleo snacks listed in chapter 9. Monitor your energy level. Do you like waking up feeling positive and energized, looking forward to a bright new day? Do you like the way it feels
not
to have that midmorning or midafternoon slump? Well, this is just the beginning. Most people report these healthful benefits within days of adopting the Paleo Diet.

But the best is yet to come. Your weight will drop rapidly within the first few days, and then you will continue to lose weight until you reach your optimal weight. For some people, this may take a month or two; for those with severe weight problems, six months or more. But the bottom line is that you will continue to lose weight as long as you follow the Paleo Diet principles. If weight loss is your primary goal, then focus on how you would like to look in a month or two. Your confidence will soar as you begin to shed the pounds. Your clothes will begin to fit a bit looser. Good—you are well on your way! People will notice your new svelteness. Use these markers as your personal triumphs. Know that these little victories may take weeks or months but that the battle is won on a daily basis. Try to remember how good each morning feels when you stick with the diet. This is where it counts—day to day. The days become weeks, and the weeks become months, and you will eventually break through and reach your weight-loss goal—whatever it may be.

You may also notice that many health problems you had lived with or ignored for years begin to improve. Your joints are no longer as stiff in the morning, and your sinuses are now beginning to clear. Your skin and hair are becoming softer and less dry. Your heartburn and indigestion have become a thing of the past. And for the first time in years, your constipation or irritable bowel syndrome is gone.

For those with more serious health problems, such as high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol or type 2 diabetes, symptoms may begin to improve within weeks of adopting the Paleo Diet.

You have the key to unlock the door of good health with humanity’s original diet. What better reason to permanently adopt the Paleo Diet than to prevent heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, or other symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Play it smart. Remove the known or suspected causes of metabolic syndrome from your diet. When you do, you will also lower your risk of developing many types of cancer as well.

The choice is yours. The risks are nil, the benefits are many. Eat your fill to health and the right weight. And don’t forget to enjoy!