Paleo is not a Fad

Paleo is not a fad diet. I can’t get behind fad diets because they are a short-term fix. They do more harm then good because you might lose some weight but you usually gain it all back plus some and a slower metabolism. You follow these diets until you lose the weight or you lose interest. They are not sustainable and usually the whole time you are on them you are thinking about what you will eat once you are off. 

Let’s be honest. We all know that most people do not lose weight following the Food Guide Pyramid unless they are monitoring and restricting calories. When you restrict calories you are choosing foods based on their calorie content not their nutritional value and we usually end up choosing foods that are nutritionally poor. Calorie restricted diets are just as bad as any fad diet but we (dietitians) dress them up by saying they are based on the USDA guidelines.

Paleo is a lifestyle – the way you should eat for the rest of your life. It is not a cookie cutter diet with a strict set of rules that you must follow or you are not in the club. You don’t count calories because you can’t overeat when you are only eating real foods. There are some basic guidelines but ultimately you set the rules based on how your body feels. 

I would love to know some of the diets that people have tried in the name of losing weight! I would encourage you to try Paleo in the name of health.