Paleo Speedbumps

April 25, 2014 at 5:52 pm · Filed under At Home, Clean Eating, Eating Healthy, Family, Nutrition, Paleo, Seattle, Wellness

Written by: Carina Sanchez on April 16, 2014

So many of our patients have begun to ask us about the Paleo lifestyle. Those of you who have been in our office see the cookbooks that are just waiting to be looked at and drooled upon. Those books are all Paleo with hundreds of recipes that are not only full of nutrients but delicious too. Recently my niece and I (ok mostly me, though she is giving it a valiant effort) have tried to convert our lifestyle and eating habits to embrace the Paleo lifestyle. One of the big stumbling blocks with our new eating style, is the fact that legumes are a no-no. I grew up with beans readily available, and she has an un-natural love of tofu and all things soy. We have struggled to leave these items out of our diet. The other evening she asked very simply why she couldn’t eat soy and several of the other legumes that had previously been a main staple in her food repertoire. This is not the first time I or others here in the office have been asked this question so, we began a bit of research and found a great website that gave me 10 excellent reasons to avoid eating legumes. I am including that website here for those of you who would like to delve more into at that information, but here are the top 10 reasons:

Selection of dried legumes10 Reasons to Avoid Eating Legumes

  1. Legumes are low in nutritional value
  2. Legumes Contain Phytates
  3. Legumes Contain Lectins
  4. Legumes are High in Protease Inhibitors
  5. Legumes Have Carbs and Can Stall Weight Loss
  6. Legumes Can Contain PhytoEstrogens
  7. Cans of Legumes Contain BPA
  8. Legumes have some Protein and Fiber (this isn’t an actual reason to avoid legumes but, you can get plenty of protein in meats and fiber in the vegetables–the bad out weigh the good here)
  9. Legumes Contain Saponins
  10. Legumes Contains FODMAPs (a type of carb)

Though Blakeley (my niece) still wants to eat a huge bowl of tofu tom ka gai, she at lease is able to understand and resist her previous must have meal in the interest of her health and following the Paleo lifestyle.

Some other websites that may assist in understanding the Paleo lifestyle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_lifestyle

http://thepaleodiet.com/what-to-eat-on-the-paleo-diet/

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/

http://www.paleolifestylemagazine.com/

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