Why your paleo diet is falling short.
Paleo diets have been heralded as life changing for a lot of people. And makes sense really, you are removing a lot of inflammatory foods. If your diet is made up of primarily grains and dairy, you may notice a big change in your health removing those foods. But here’s the issue with eating paleo… it doesn’t often address your macro ratios. What does that even mean? Your macro ratios are all about the proportion of carbohydrate, fat, and protein you’re eating over the course of a day (or with each meal).
Often people will switch to a paleo diet with little knowledge of the correct macros for their body. Our western diet is high in carbohydrate, and whether that’s from sweet potato or grains at the end of the day it is metabolized through the same pathways to form glucose. The reality is a paleo diet can still be very high in carbohydrates!
Most people on a paleo diet are aware that they need healthy fats in the form of grass fed meats, eggs, nuts and oils. But what I have noticed in practice is that many are not having enough of these fats, and instead are consuming a high carbohydrate diet.
These carbohydrates may be healthier in that they have a high level of nutrients as compared to grains, therefore their bodies are being nourished on a vitamin and mineral level. However the carbohydrate pathway is still being over-utilised. Which in and of itself is still inflammatory and stressful for the body.
I’m writing this blog post to highlight to you that if you have been on a paleo diet for a while, and while you feel a bit better you don’t feel incredible yet, that this could be the reason.
How do I improve my paleo diet to work for me?
The biggest thing to improve is your ratios! My favourite app is My Fitness Pal. Track your foods for a week and check out your ratios (they do an amazing pie chart to show you each day’s ratios). Be warned, it’s a fiddly app, and it’s not the most user friendly. And it’s ok to estimate your quantities rather than weigh them specifically.
Aim to get your fat up up up! 60% fat is a great start. Be sure your fats are healthy, from oils, grass fed organic meats, eggs and nuts (as an example). The easiest way to get your fats up is to put some extra oil on your meals. I personally like to rotate my oils, I’m currently using extra virgin olive oil and macadamia oil. Rotating your oils gives your body the opportunity to utilize all the different types of fats from different sources, ensuring you’re not deficient or oversupplying your body with one type of fat.
Once you start getting your fats up, you’ll find you’re more satiated and will begin to crave less carbohydrates in general. I’m all about the easy option – adding things to improve health is much easier than removing things! Add the fat, and you will naturally in time reduce the carbs. Once you’re using more fat for fuel, you will begin to notice when your body has had enough carbohydrate as you’ll feel bloated and sluggish.
If you feel worse on a higher fat diet, you may need some nutritional support, specifically with the nutrients used to metabolise fat into fuel. This kind of support is best given specific to each individual – if you are looking for individualized care, I’m here to help.
