Can someone please explain this to me?

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I am all for healthy eating, but I just cannot wrap my head around some of the new diets that people seemed to be promoting these days. I mean, I get omitting or reducing fatty and sugary foods, but newly trending diets, such as the Paleolithic Diet, take food restriction to a whole new level. On these diets not only are you prohibited from consuming sugar, fat, and excess carbs, but you are also forbidden to eat much of what, heretofore, we have been told is nutritionally beneficial.

Dairy and wheat, for example, are no-nos. And, okay, I see what they're doing here. I would suspect that most people know someone who suffers from the dastardly effects of lactose intolerance, and gluten intolerance is the like the "new black" of food-related ailments. But the Paleo Diet also forbids the consumption of legumes. Legumes! Please, tell me, since when has a legume (peanut excluded) been considered more of a toxin than a healthy alternative source of protein? In addition to this, ALL grains have been removed from the list of acceptable foods. Including corn. I'm sorry, but I am Mexican, and we eat corn. A lot of it. So, that's just not gonna happen.

I can see what people are getting at with this method of changing the way people eat, but to be honest, it just seems like another trend in the long history of fad diets. In my time I have seen Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, South Beach, the Grapefruit and Acai Berry diets, juice cleansing, and fasting, just to name a few. And I am sure there were many more that came into play before I had the consciousness to realize it. I have always been skeptical of weight loss regimes, but I think it's the fact that these new plans are also being promoted as a lifestyle choice that really gives me pause. For those who have a legitimate food allergy, please understand, I would much rather you omit the food category from your menu than succumb to illness. But I am just not convinced that it is the way that all people should eat.

Here is what some other people have to say about it:

'8+ Reasons the Paleo Diet Should be Extinct'

'Paleo Diet: Healthy Of A Hoax?'


Once again, I am all for healthy eating. In the last couple of years I have taken a good, hard look at what I eat and I have made some real changes. As a result I feel better about my health and myself, and I support anyone who is seeking to do the same. I am convinced that the best way to do this involves educating yourself about the nutritional value of the things you eat. What's in it? How many calories? How much sugar, salt, and saturated fat? What are the recommended daily values and are you exercising any of it off? It sounds hard, I know, but it's actually not. And after a week or so of obsessively looking up nutrition information online, you'll get the hang of it.

Here's a head start from our good friends at Buzzfeed: 'This is what 200 calories looks like.'


Cheers to a healthy (and happy!) lifestyle, my friends, in whatever way works for you.

Love.

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