IT’S the diet that’s on everyone’s lips.
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The Paleo diet has well and truly dawned on the Border this year, despite it first coming to the fore during the 1970s.
But it is the diet that divides: an increasing number of people swear by it as a means to achieve a healthy lifestyle and weight loss while others argue it’s unhealthy to scrap whole food groups.
Beechworth resident Melina Gale has taken to the Paleo lifestyle and has no plans to go back on her old habits.
For the past three weeks she has cut out dairy, grains and legumes from her diet and reduced her carbohydrate intake as part of the Paleo challenge, led by CrossFit Albury-Wodonga. She says the benefits extend beyond just weight loss.
“I sleep about 10 hours a night,” she says.
“My skin is also heaps clearer and I have more energy and don’t get the afternoon lull.”
Ms Gale eats eggs, bacon, tomato and spinach for breakfast, meat or fish with salad or vegetables for lunch and nuts and fruit for snacks.
She first tried a Paleo diet three months ago in a bid to increase her performance and weight loss and has since lost about 10 kilograms.
CrossFit Albury-Wodonga owner Kara Mackinnon says she began Paleo in 2011 and lost 6.5 kilograms in four weeks.
And beyond just losing weight, Ms Mackinnon says her attitude to food and exercise changed.
“Before my Paleo challenge I was relatively negative when it came to a lot of things,” she says.
“But afterwards my whole outlook on training and life changed and I was happier.
“It sounds like a gimmick and people don’t believe me but it’s true.”
But some Border experts believe the Paleo Diet is not the healthiest option for those wanting to live well.
Border Dietitians’ Kerryn O’Brien says cutting out carbohydrates is not the way to go, especially for people living an active lifestyle.
“When people don’t have enough carbs, their muscle starts to break down,” she says. “There’s a lot of people on it (Paleo) but it’s not appropriate for people with diabetes and I don’t believe it’s all that good for weight loss.”
Ms O’Brien says eliminating dairy from the diet could increase the risk of osteoporosis.
“Bones grow until the age of 35 and if you don’t have adequate calcium you won’t reach peak bone mass,” she says.
Ms O’Brien says grains are important in any diet because the fibre prevented digestive disorders. She put the diet’s success down to people wanting an easy fix to their health problems.
“People love fad diets,” she says.
“We want to homogenise everything but we aren’t all the same and a one-size-fits-all diet doesn’t work for everyone.”
Albury nutrition consultant Anita Star works with people who have eating disorders.
“I think people who cut down too much on certain foods can suffer significant consequences,” she says. “Certainly fatigue is a big one and lacking energy.
“Seriously cutting down could also progress to things like feeling faint or dizzy.”
Dr Star did welcome the Paleo philosophy to avoid anything processed or packaged.
“But for me I think Paleo goes to the extreme in other areas,” she says.
“Everything can be included in your diet in small amounts and we shouldn’t have rigid ideas about what’s good and bad food.”
Ms Mackinnon says the only problem was people selling cookies and chocolates and labelling them “Paleo”.
“While they are still made out of Paleo ingredients, it defeats the purpose of the Paleo diet and avoiding the packaged food,” she says.
“The way we approach the diet is to
get rid of that and change the thought process.
“You don’t need to have Paleo chicken nuggets, just chicken and vegetables.”
Ms Mackinnon recommended everybody try Paleo because “you can’t judge or comment without giving it a go”.
“Paleo is just eating real food,” she says.
“You have to grow it or kill it to be able to eat it.”