It seems like every week a new diet pops up but there’s one in particular that’s been hanging around for a while that’s leaving a lot of us with the question – what exactly is the Paleo Diet?
There’s been a lot of talk in the past year or two about the diet. Blog posts, recipe books, and personal stories have been popping up all over the place, and particularly our Pinterest pages.
“Paleo” comes from “Paleolithic”, referring to the Paleolithic Era of the Stone Age. The idea is that you eat what early humans would have eaten during that time. Things that you can butcher, grow, or harvest yourself. Mostly meats, vegetables, and fruits. Nothing requiring processing or extensive harvesting, which means no cheese or bread. But hey – you can still eat steak and bacon!
Roy Williamson, sophomore accounting major, tried out the diet first hand after deciding he wanted a lifestyle change.
“I admit that I have been overweight pretty much my entire life so I just wanted to clean it up, get in shape.” Williamson said.
The diet worked too. Within the couple months of trying it out, Williamson said that he could see big changes in his weight loss as well as the way he felt overall. His mother also tried out the diet and she continues to follow it today. “She loves it. She’s lost probably close to 50-60 lbs since starting it 2-3 years ago.”
However, the diet isn’t without its fault. Williamson admitted to the struggles of food cravings during the first couple of weeks but that wasn’t the main issue.
“Just the aspect of preparing your own meals, especially going through college and high school. Trying to squeeze in lunch, supper, breakfast whenever you have to actually cook it all instead of just grabbing a burger or something. I’d have to wake up early, cook my food, go to class, and within like an hour’s span go back home, cook, and then go back to class. That’s really just the thing it’s time consuming.” Because of this, Williamson chose to stop the diet after just two months – but he still highly recommends it.
“It is a difficult diet especially since we’re in a world of processed foods today. That’s mostly why I went off of it, just the pressure of having to cook all my meals. But I have seen a lot of results with the Paleo diet, especially with weight loss.”
Williamson highly recommends the diet and says that he would go back on it again if he ever felt he needed to make another lifestyle change. His number 1 tip? “Determination.”
If you feel like you need a change in your diet or health, maybe you should give this a try. Who knows – this might be just the lifestyle change you were looking for.
