Please find below the Top 10 Rules of Primal Nutrition.
For more information, check the latest blog articles, or contact one of the Primal Team to arrange a one to one nutrition consultation.
1. DO EAT:
Animal products.
Animal products are the most nutritionally dense foods, packed with proteins, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. Though most people associate vegetables with vitamins and minerals, animal products are actually a better source of nearly all of them (except vitamin C), and in more digestible forms.
Most notably, a large proportion of people cannot synthesise Vitamin A from plant sources, and Vitamin B12 is only found in animal products. Although it is certainly not necessary to eat steak every night for dinner, some animal products are necessary for optimal health, mental well-being and fertility.
Organ meats and bone broths from free range grass fed ruminants (beef and lamb), seafood, wild caught fish and organic egg yolks are the real “super foods”!
Remember though, “You are what you eat eats” – Beware the standard supermarket fare that tries to pass as meat or fish!
2. DO EAT:
Plants
Eat the leaves, stalks, roots and fruits of plants.
Preferably organic, local and in season.
Remember, it is not normal to get a seedless banana anywhere, let alone in the UK in the Winter!
3. DO EAT:
Fermented Foods
The study of gut flora is in my opinion likely to be the future of modern medicine. The number of bacteria cells in your gut outnumber the number of cells in your body by more than 10-1, and the make up of these bacteria has a wide ranging effect on your health and well-being.
The latest research not only shows that the types of bacteria living inside you affect your susceptibility to communicable diseases, obesity and chronic degenerative disease, but can even effect your behaviour and mental health!
Promote a healthy gut environment by avoiding sugar and processed foods, and making your own fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchee and kefir.
Remember, “You are what eats what you eat”!
4. DO EAT:
Saturated Fat
Despite what the government and the mainstream press are still saying, there is no evidence, and never has been, that saturated fat consumption causes heart disease or any other chronic illness. On the contrary, its consumption seems to be preventative of many diseases, and most fatty foods also come packed with fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, essential for optimum health.
Don’t be afraid of eating fattier cuts of meat (providing they are well fed and cared for), and use butter, ghee or coconut oil for cooking rather than industrially processed seed oils.
5. DON’T EAT:
Industrial seed/soybean/vegetable oils
Omega 6 fats, commonly found in nuts, seeds and legumes, are essential to human health, but only in very tiny quantities.
Too much of these fats, particularly when coupled with a lack of omega 3 can lead to numerous problems, including chronic inflammation, problems with hormone signalling and appetite regulation, and depression.
To make matters worse, when these fats are extracted at high temperatures using chemicals, these delicate polyunsaturated fats become damaged turning them into dangerous potentially cancer causing oxidants.
To add insult to injury, these already rancid fats are then often hydrogenated, turning them into trans-fats so that they are solid at room temperature, meanwhile increasing the health risks even further.
Do not eat any food that contains any of these items on its label:
Vegetable Oil, Soybean Oil, Sunflower Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Vegetable Fat, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, or anything similar.
6. DON’T EAT:
Wheat or Soy Containing Products
Grains, Legumes, Nuts and Seeds are not plants, but the offspring of plants.
Whereas eating a fruit benefits the plant by distributing its seeds, eating the actual seeds themselves would destroy them, thus meaning no next generation.
To try and prevent this, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds contain defence mechanisms to try and ward off predators.
Phytates – These bind to the minerals inside making them unavailable to predators. These phytates are so powerful, they can even bind to the minerals in other foods being consumed at the same time, and those already in the body, leading to diseases such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and tooth decay to name but a few.
Lectins – Lectins are plant proteins that can pass through the gut lining into the blood stream intact. This creates an immune response which can in turn lead to chronic inflammation (now thought to be a major cause of heart disease, diabetes and many other chronic diseases of civilisation), and in genetically susceptible individuals auto-immune conditions such as multiple-sclerosis, ceoliac disease, arthritis and lupus etc.
Some of the harmful effects of these defences can be neutralised through proper preparation techniques, such as soaking, sprouting and fermenting, therefore occasional consumption of rice, beans and nuts etc might not necessarily be a problem for healthy people (though still nutritionally inferior to meat and vegetables).
Wheat’s defences are by far the most problematic, however, and therefore products such as bread, pasta, pastry, cakes, biscuits etc should be avoided at all costs. Always check food labels too as gluten (the lectin in wheat) is often used as a thickening/binding agent in packaged foods.
Traditional soy products such as miso, tempeh, tamari etc are all prepared via fermentation, and consumed in relatively small quantities. This is very different to the processed forms of soy used in modern manufactured foods which are laced with phytates, anti-nutrients, phytoestrogens and omega 6 fats and should also be avoided, having been linked to infertility, breast cancer, and thyroid issues amongst other issues.
7. DON’T EAT
Sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup
Fructose has been a natural part of the human diet since paleolithic times, but only in very tiny quantities.
We evolved to naturally crave sweetness in order that we would search out fruits and berries, which would provide a small amount of fructose packaged with an abundance of essential nutrients.
Modern food processing has brought us refined sugar (50% fructose/50% glucose) and high fructose corn syrup (56% fructose/44% glucose). Unlike fruits, foods made with these ingredients contain huge amounts of fructose, and typically no beneficial nutrients whatsoever.
As fructose can only be processed by the liver, this puts incredible strain on the body, leading to conditions such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, diabetes and insulin resistance.
It has also been shown that fructose is around 10 times more likely to form advanced glycation end products (AGEs) than glucose, which are thought to be one of the major factors in the ageing process and chronic age related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cataracts, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, arthritis to name but a few.
Finally, fructose has also been show to be the primary fuel for cancer cells, promoting their rapid growth and development.
There is nothing wrong with eating a couple of pieces of fruit per day (though you may want to limit this temporarily if your goal is weight loss), but avoid foods with added sugars. Check the label for sugar in any of its many guises – There are over 50 commonly used names, these are a few of the more common ones:
Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Carob Syrup (or any kind of syrup), Fructose, Galactose, Dextrose or any other -ose, Maltodextrin, Fruit Juice Concentrate, Cane Juice Crystals (you have to give them points for ingenuity!), Agave Nectar (possibly the worst of the lot!), Diatase, Ethyl Maltol, Panocha, the list goes on!
8. DON’T EAT
Manufactured Foods
99% of manufactured foods are some combination of the above 3 ingredients, with added flavourings, additives and preservatives of dubious safety to make them look, taste and smell like real food. If you’re lucky you might get the addition of some factory farmed meat and some GMO, pesticide laced vegetables.
While it can be useful to understand food labelling, in reality, if a product has a food label it is not a real food! Generally speaking, if it comes in a box, tin or packet, don’t eat it.
Food comes from fields, not factories.
9. DON’T EAT
When you’re not hungry
2-3 meals per day of satisfying, nutritious real food is all you need to be eating. Constantly grazing and snacking all day only benefits food manufacturers who want you to keep spending.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – For Kellogg’s share holders! In reality, the need for breakfast is a myth, and skipping it can be one of the best things you can do for your health.
We eat for many reasons – Convention, habit, boredom, depression, social pressure to name but a few.
Before you eat, ask yourself if you’re really hungry, or just trying to fill some other void? If you are really hungry, eat some real food, and stop when you are satisfied, not bloated and ready to burst.
10. DON’T DRINK
Calorie Containing Drinks
We’ve already covered the dangers of sugar in point 8, but many people are unaware that often its major source in the diet is from soft drinks.
Fizzy drinks, flavoured water, sports drinks, fruit juice (even freshly squeezed) all have the effect of loading huge amounts of sugar straight into your bloodstream where it has disastrous effects on your health.
Diet drinks usually contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener of dubious safety that has been show to increase sugar cravings and weight gain.
Drink water, teas and coffee without sugar, preferably black.
So there we have the Top 10 Rules of Primal Nutrition.
Following these rules are easy – If you live in the wilderness!
The benefit of this type of eating is that it is tasty, satisfying and produces rapid results, but making the transition is not always easy.
In our fast food nation, however, temptation is everywhere, and though with time eating Primal will become second nature, to begin with it takes planning, preparation and discipline.
To help you on the way, why not book in for a one to one nutrition consultation with one of the Primal team, where we can put together a personally tailored plan to get you on the road to optimum health, physique and performance.
The plan will take into account:
Your Personal Goals
Your Work/Life/Social Schedule
Your Budget
Your Household/Family needs
Your Tastes and Personal Preferences
Any Allergies, Intolerances and Medical Conditions
For more information, or to book a consultation please Contact Us today!
To make things even easier, you can also order top quality, real food delivered direct to your door from The Primal Store!
