Practical Paleo

Designer diets have been all over the news in the past decade, and most of them stress meat, meat, and more meat. We’ve had the Atkins Diet, the Zone Diet, the South Beach Diet, and the Paleo Diet. I’m not going to say what I think of them, except that no diet works if you can’t have the foods you like. Worse, a diet that involves too little food can’t possibly work, because you’ll get hungry anyway and feel the urge to binge. Practical Paleo is a book that fills the gaps, by showing you how to fix healthy meals that allow balance.

The Paleo diet stresses fresh meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables, while eliminating all refined starches and processed foods. That means no cold cut, no hot dogs, and most breads. By doing this you cut out the starches, which mess up your blood sugar, and salts, which retain water. Come to think of it, all processed foods contain salt in some form or another, so you eliminate the great American heart disease inducing mineral right away. By cutting processed foods, you also cut the artificial colorings.

One of the greatest examples of the Paleolithic diet combined with the modern one if the savory baked chicken legs recipe. It’s a simple one, with liberal use of seasonings, but adds an unexpected twist; you’ll need either butter, bacon fat, or coconut oil. These modern foods (unavailable to cave men) may not seem healthy, but one tablespoon over three pieces of chicken won’t do any damage. That’s another problem of a lot of these diets, in that they think that any measure of butter will ruin you. But ingredients like butter, bacon, or coconut are essential for flavoring. If you can’t make them taste great, they won’t work.

The illustrations are all beautiful photos, and that’s another essential facet of eating that many of us ignore. Food tastes better when it looks great and well presented. People are attracted to nice colors, just like men are attracted to beautiful women. It’s a natural instinct. Serving the meal on artistic crockery adds vibe to what you’re eating. Think of the restaurant that has the worst food, but gets great reviews because of the atmosphere.  If you’re willing to spend a little extra time to select the ingredients, and a little extra time to prepare your meal, you’ll enjoy it more.

It’s like the old saying goes, you are what you eat!