Athletes are on the Paleo diet. Why that is - Ruut sheds light on all the pros and cons
Also referred to as the "Stone Age diet" for short, Paleo nutrition is more of a holistic lifestyle in which you only eat food that our Stone Age ancestors fed on and that is available in organic quality.
Allowed foods:
- Meat
- eggs
- Fish & Seafood
- nuts, seeds
- Vegetables
- Fruit
Prohibited foods (= cultivated, bred, refined):
- Grain
- legumes
- Dairy products
- industrially processed
Paleo Diet Incentives for Athletes!
Paleo is generally considered to be a very meat-heavy diet; it can be, but it doesn't have to be: This so-called "diet" can also be practiced in vegetarian and vegan form. However, care should be taken to ensure that you consume enough vitamins and nutrients.
There are three factors that make the Paleo nutrition concept so attractive for athletes:
Muscle mass is built up: Muscles primarily need proteins. These are supplied to the body as part of the Paleo diet through meat, fish and eggs and thus support muscle growth.
Reduce body fat percentage: Excess pounds disappear through the radical renunciation of sugar in any form.
Energy level: Especially towards the end of a workout, many athletes feel much fitter because the Paleo diet means that the body does not have to constantly digest foods that are not natural. In this way he achieves a higher energy level, which makes him more efficient.
For all amateur athletes who train about every other day, Paleo can be traded without any problems if they want to get involved. Disadvantages of this change in diet, known as the "Stone Age Diet", are:
- Since many sources of starch such as rice, bread, etc. are eliminated with Paleo, the ambitious athlete lacks these energy suppliers, which he increasingly needs to practice his sport.
- Eating too heavy before exercise as it can then suffer.
- Too much meat is often criticized for Paleo. The magic word here is: balance - because you are not forced to eat mountains of meat every day.
- The required organic quality is slightly more expensive than conventional goods.
But there are also plenty of benefits of the Paleo diet for athletes:
- Alternatively, you can get the energy you need from the cassava root, which you can use to prepare delicious dishes such as chips or – from the flour – rolls, bread or cakes.
- The high, required organic quality of the meat is also an important argument for the Paleo diet.
- The environment and livestock clearly benefit from the move towards organic quality.
- Likewise, the renunciation of industrially processed and enriched products is to be regarded as very positive.
- If you make sure that the composition of the meal plan is balanced, the body will be happy about a very high nutrient density - because then many vitamins, minerals and trace elements are involved.
- Since the whole animal should be used as part of Paleo, a few valuable additives such as collagen, gelatine, glycine and proline are added
Cassava flour “enhances” the effect for ambitious athletes
The dried cassava root is a real source of starch. 100 grams of cassava flour contains up to 77 grams of starch. It is therefore ideal as a (gluten-free) flour alternative in many recipes that would otherwise be made with wheat flour, which is not permitted in Paleo. All in all, an ideal supplier of starch - the optimal nutrition for athletes who have discovered Paleo for themselves. In addition to a gluten-free bread mix, our manioc flour can also be found in our shop, which you can also order as a convenient subscription. So you always have a supply of this strength power package.