What are humans supposed to eat?

Diet is a hot topic, and which "Diet" to follow is an ongoing argument.

As a Personal Trainer I've studied nutrition for nearly 20 years. 

I've completed courses and qualifications on nutrition, read multiple books, spoken to other coaches and clients, and basically absorbed as much information as I can on the subject in order to come to my own conclusions based on education and evidence, not just taking someone's word for it (no matter who they are).

And I've got to say it's a mess!

Not all people are the same, not all "Diets" are the same, and there's no one-size fits all "Diet".

What you have to do is look at what all of the most successful "Diets" have in common.

Usually it's:

- Appropriate calorie intake for the desired outcome

and

- A focus on real food, not fake foods

Really good "Diets" will also look at:

- Hydration (and what you're drinking)

- Sleep

- Lifestyle 

and

- What training you're doing

However, the most logical approach to nutrition, in my eyes, is to simply look at what humans have been eating for thousands of years, not the last few decades.

And I've got to say, the carnivore diet makes the most sense to me.

Whilst I'm still wrestling with the idea that vegetables may actually be bad for us, which goes against literally every nutrition course I've ever done, it does make sense.

Humans are hunters.

A tribe that was unsuccessful hunting would have died out pretty quickly.

They wouldn't have survived eating just plants.

Whilst animals can run, hide and fight to protect themselves, plants are stuck in the ground. And they don't want to be eaten.

So if they can't run, hide or fight, how would they protect themselves???

With chemicals that stop them from being eaten. Toxins.

And by eating plants, we are taking in those toxins - which explains why many people can't eat certain vegetables - because they're more sensitive to those chemicals.

The rest of us may be able to 'tolerate' them better, but that doesn't mean they're not doing us harm at some level.

The most successful humans were the best hunters.

Those are the tribes that thrived.

This, to me, says it all.

We'd have hunted for our food (animals), and only supplemented that food with plants if there wasn't enough.

Plants were for survival only, not to thrive.

Yes, there's an argument for vitamins and minerals in vegetables, but we also need to consider what the most prized parts of the animals were...

The organs.

Organ meats (liver, kidneys, heart, brain, eyes, testicles etc.) contain ALL of the nutrients we need to survive and thrive.

Our ancestors knew, either intuitively or by trial and error, that the organ meats were the most important parts to eat.

So, while I'm not saying at this point that you should stop eating vegetables, I am an advocate of eating meat, and organ meats (and eggs) for the bulk of your nutrition, and maybe questioning if vegetables are actually as good for us as we've been led to believe.

Obviously the quality of your meat is important (but let's face it - with everything they spray on crops these days, if the plant toxins don't kill you, the cocktail of chemicals they've been sprayed with will certainly do some damage!), so try to get the best that you can afford - organic and grass-fed is good.

(I get most of my meat here - it actually works out cheaper than the supermarket most of the time!)

I've never been a fan of vegetarian or vegan diets, and this is yet another reason why I truly believe that meat is an essential part of the human diet, and you need it to thrive.

Yes, I know there are healthy, fit and strong vegans out there, but that's not the majority, and the ones who make it work (long-term) use everything we know about food science to ensure they're getting it right - not just foregoing meat and living on banana sandwiches! 

Sorry vegans. I'm just not convinced. There are certain nutrients that we just can't get from plants.

Diet is a HUGE topic, so this is only a small part of it.

If you want my help with it, by all means get in touch and we can talk about Coaching.

I just hope after reading this you at least start to question what the best diet for humans might be, and maybe experiment a little.

For further reading I'd highly recommend The Carnivore Code

To your health!

The Paleo Diet – What’s it all about?

Gaining more and more popularity these days is the Paleo Diet (also referred to as the caveman diet, the primal diet, or paleo 2.0); and for good reason.

Although everyone’s different, and what works for one person may not work for another (I’m sure you can think of an example of someone who’s had success with a diet that just didn’t work for you), this diet pre-dates all of the modern “diets” that tell you to cut back on fat, increase your carbs, decrease your carbs, increase protein, increase fat etc etc.

The Paleo diet looks back at how we’ve evolved. What were we eating for the hundreds of thousands of years that we were evolving into who we are today?

Through common sense, studies of other primate diets, study of fossils, anthropological accounts of modern-day hunter-gatherers, and examination of our own biochemistry, this diet whittles it down to the only options we would have had available to eat during our evolution.

The Paleo diet cuts out any foods that wouldn’t have been available to us – anything processed, grains, dairy, refined sugars, and foods only made available to us through agriculture.

Instead, it focuses on the ONLY foods that would have been available – fresh meat, seafood, seasonal fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Now although we are all different, common sense tells us that eating the way we’ve evolved to eat will be optimal for our health, all of us. Put simply, you’d have a hard time getting fat if you stuck to just those foods that were available to us 10,000 years ago.

So the Paleo diet focuses on real foods, and avoids any and all “modern” foods that have only been around since the introduction of agriculture and modern processing techniques.

The emphasis is on lean meats, and fresh vegetables; along with some fruit, nuts and seeds (which would have been available during certain seasons).

By eating the way we were designed to eat, your body will function optimally. Feed it the right fuel and you’ll have more energy, think more clearly, lose weight if you’re overweight, gain weight if you’re underweight. Everything works as it’s supposed to.

Not only will eating this way strengthen your immune system, but cutting out the toxins and stresses of modern foods will also make you less susceptible to illness; meaning you won’t get sick as often, and if you do, it won’t be nearly as bad because your body can deal with it efficiently.

There’s a reason this diet is gaining momentum, and it’s because it makes sense. Anyone following the dietary recommendations laid out in this plan will see great results, not just in terms of weight, but body composition and shape, health, energy levels, resistance to disease, and general well-being.

I strongly advise anyone with an interest in improving their health to take a serious look at the Paleo diet and give it a try. You won’t regret it.

Bear in mind that since we are all different, once you’ve got the basic principles down, it might be worth tweaking the meal proportions and timings to suit your individual needs (this is where the protein/carb/fat ratios come into play). But to begin with, focus on eliminating all non-paleo foods, and eating only the foods that were available to us since the beginning.

Basically there is no one, perfect diet that will suit everybody, but it’s my belief that there are still underlying principles that are true for everyone, and the paleo diet covers these principles perfectly. Cut out the crap, and eat real food.