Drs. Ralph & Lahni de Amicis, Consulting & Products

I so consistently tell people about the value of the Paleo diet in general health and healing that I finally made fold over business cards that explain the basic principles. So far no one has said to me ‘Don’t give me that, I don’t want to be thinner or in less pain’. It could happen! Instead, the next time I see them they still have the card on their desk or in their wallet. Sometimes they’ve ventured into the diet and they understand why I’m so enthusiastic about it.

The point I want to make is that it is not just about fatitude, the extreme need for our population to lose weight. The use of the diet makes the entire healing process easier. Sometimes you get tired of pushing rocks uphill, and when you work with clients who are causing their own health problems through the foods they are eating it feels like that. The Paleo diet provides an easy dietary guideline that seems to work well for everyone.

What is most telling, and in truth is most entertaining in an ironic sense, are people’s reactions when I tell them about the diet. First I tell them what the diet consists of, lean meats and fish, vegetables and fresh fruit, nuts and seeds, and they nod their heads because it all sounds good. But then I tell them what it leaves out, grains (AKA bread, cereal, bagels, the rice under sushi, etc), beans (hummus, chili, chickpeas, etc), sugar (which is in almost everything) and dairy (which is mostly milk sugar). In its most effective approach the Paleo Diet also leaves out starchy vegetables like potatoes and yams, although these can be included after some serious exercise to restore glucose levels in the muscles.  

It’s when I tell them what it leaves out that their eyes go wide and their mouths drop open because I’ve just described 80% of their diet and they can’t conceive of how they could live without these low vitality foods. The reason they feel that way is that these manufactured foods are addictive and they cause cravings and have side effects. Do you really think that the huge packaged food companies would have gotten so big if they just satisfied your hunger and nurtured your body? Of course not, white sugar is almost as toxic and addictive as tobacco, another huge industry. Each one of these food groups have their own considerable downside.  

When you live with the Paleo Diet you’ll notice that more of your food is local and unprocessed. The ingredients on the labels are fewer in number and you’ll feel better for that in so many ways. As we titled one of our books, Good Health is Easy.