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Best, Diet, Factory Farming, Fat, Grains, Grass-Fed, Health, Low-Fat, Nutrients, Packaged, Paleo, Pastured, Quality, Real Food, Saturated Fat, Vegan, Vegetarian, Vitamins, Worst
Source: eatdrinkpaleo.com.au via Irena on Pinterest
Diet… I really don’t like that word but for the purposes of this post I’m going to use it.
So the U.S. News & World Report has come out with its annual best and worst diet rankings and SURPRISE SURPRISE out of 28 diets Paleo has come out on the bottom. I mean geez I didn’t see that one coming from a mile away!
I won’t go through all of the diets that are ranked since this blog post would turn into an essay and I’m sure you don’t want to be reading for that long but I definitely suggest taking a look at the diets that are featured.
It’s the same old story… eat low-fat dairy, eat lots of whole grains, don’t eat red meat, STAY AWAY from saturated fats, eat LOTS of margarine and vegetable oil and stay away from that butter!
I mean they’ve even ranked the Slim Fast Diet above Paleo…. Uhhhhh can someone explain to me how a diet that comes from eating three snacks (half a banana, a pear, or a Slim-Fast Snack Bar, two Slim-Fast meal replacements (a bar or a shake) and one 500-calorie meal (this from the website) is better than eating whole fruits, vegetables, good quality meats and fats and removing all processed/packaged foods which is part of the Paleo ‘diet’?
Even diets based on prepackaged foods take a higher ranking over Paleo like The Nutrisystem diet. I wasn’t aware that eating prepackaged foods was better for you than cooking your own… since you know the Paleo ‘diet’ emphasises eating food that doesn’t come in a box with a label full of ingredients that you can’t understand!
Then there are the vegan and vegetarian diets that also take a higher position on the ranking. One of the most well-known ones being the Engine 2 Diet which shuns animal products because of their “artery-clogging saturated fat”…. Oh dear I better get myself to the hospital I think I’m going to die of a heart attack any second now!
I’m going to say it and I might get some people commenting and saying I’m wrong but I don’t care you NEED to eat animal products… good quality fats from grass-fed cows like ghee or butter, grass-fed meats, pasture raised chicken and pork. You need to eat things like liver from grass-fed/pastured animals, home made bone broths (yes even if they cause you accidents in the kitchen!)
Grass-fed beef for example is high in B-vitamins, beta-carotene, vitamin E, vitamin K, and trace minerals like magnesium, calcium, and selenium. Sure you could supplement certain vitamins like say vitamin B-12 but it’s not going to be the best form of the vitamin plus things like liver from grass-fed animals contain not only B-12 but things like folate as well.
If you can’t get access to grass-fed meats you aim for the leanest cuts of meat and remove as much of the fat as possible. Why? Not because we fear fat but because meat that has been raised in a factory farm setting and fed things like corn, soy, cereals and other grains i.e. meat from animals that have not been allowed to roam around eating naturally have toxins stored in their fat which is why it’s important to remove.
Basically there are certain key nutrients that you can’t get from eating a vegan/vegetarian diet that shun evil meat!
I could go on and on but for now I’ll leave you with this article that followed the U.S. News & World Report ranking of diets with a response as to why Paleo shouldn’t be featured last on the list. Have a read. It addresses some of the concerns re Paleo that the ranking system seems to have. Plus there’s a plethora of other websites, blogs, books etc that address all of these issues and more.
Finally… I’m not here to jump down anyone’s throat about having to start eating Paleo! I eat this way because I enjoy it and I don’t feel deprived of anything but sometimes I can’t just sit back while the ‘low-fat evil saturated fat train’ keeps moving along.
What are your thoughts on all this?
Thank you :) Glad you enjoyed it!
On a somewhat unrelated note: very good selection of images to go with this post. That real food pyramid up there is gorgeous, and that infographic is fun and educational to read!
Thanks Rachel! I know it really is a way of life. I’m actually just in the middle of watching ‘The perfect human diet’ I recommend watching it is very insightful!
Preach it. I’m with the rest of the ‘tried every diet on earth’ camp.
Paleo shouldn’t be on that list. It’s not a diet. It’s a way of living outside of the mental and hormonal insanity. And I, for one, will never go back to any of those diets on that list.
Thanks for linking back!
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I know…. it’s just sad to me that someone might look at that and think something like the Slim-Fast Diet was better for them than Paleo!
Thanks :)
I found that report so misleading and backwards as well, which you probably could have guessed. It’s sad how much of the population has nutrition priorities all mixed up. I’m with you on this, sister!
Thanks Mollie and you know what you’re absolutely right! I know there are those like the Weston A. Price Foundation that believe in the benefits of soaking and sprouting grains, making your own kefir and other cultured foods and having dairy in raw form. I completely agree with this, I think cultured foods for e.g. are one of the best things you can give your body BUT the problems is that the person on the Standard American Diet is not getting their grains from sprouting & souring they’re getting them from ‘whole-grain’ waffles or ‘whole-grain’ pasta, they’re not drinking raw milk or kefir but low-fat/skim-milk and well forget about the fat situation!
My own husband for e.g. is stuck on his skim-milk, his pasta and his cous-cous. He knows I don’t like it but I can’t force him not to eat it, luckily he still eats all the food I prepare using the healthy fats (I rid our house of vegetable/canola oils a long time ago).
Thanks for the nice words :) I will definitely keep writing about this and of course giving you more tasty recipes :)
Well, I admire your passion, & I mostly agree with you. There are a lot of well-meaning but misguided nutrition ideas that grab media attention, & help generate cash for the food & medical industries. (Okay, not always well-meaning, but sometimes just plain greedy.) I certainly agree with your thoughts about grass-fed & pasture raised animals.
I do also believe that individuals are unique–our bodies have varying needs that can even fluctuate as we age. For some of us, whole grains, prepared in more traditional ways such as sprouting & souring, are an important part of our diets. Same with legumes. I have yet to meet anyone who cannot benefit from eating lots of good organic veggies!
Dairy is definitely a hot-button issue. Most of the dairy consumed in the western world is the next thing to poison, as far as I’m concerned. I personally can tolerate very little dairy. But I can eat a little bit of cultured raw goat or sheep yogurt, kefir, or cheese. That’s a real treat for me, once in a while.
As your material points out, fat is another important issue. We are desperately in need of more good fats! Sometimes I think that if people like us can just get others to take a really good look at what they are eating, & get them to THINK…. oh, I don’t know, but we have to at least try, right? Sometimes, people are actually listening, & sometimes someone is really helped, so…
Keep the good posts coming. I like the way you think!
No worries! It’s people like you that I come across on a daily basis that just further prove to me that I’m on the right track. I’m glad you enjoyed this post :)
Love this! I can say I have struggled with “dieting” my whole adult life and it is very confusing when they are basically telling us to eat the exact opposite of what we probably according to paleo should be eating. Since starting paleo I feel more full and have more energy and honestly don’t miss the bagels and cream cheese or carbs!! Thanks for posting this!