Dinner with Your Ancestors: Your Guide to the Paleo Lifestyle by Nikki Burnett
Nikki Burnett MS MNT CNTP is a Functional Nutritionist at Taste Life Nutrition. Nikki works with ambitious professionals to help them overcome hidden barriers to both health and success. Challenges such as chronic stress, brain fog, low energy, and stubborn chronic issues frequently have their roots in unhealthy foods and unknown inflammatory conditions. Functional nutrition is based on the science of functional medicine. The goal is to understand the body through functional lab testing, genetic testing, environmental factors, stress, and lifestyle. Nikki writes about the Paleo lifestyle in this month’s issue.
I am not a fan of fad diets – I’m not a fan of “diets” period. In my mind, this conjures up feelings of frustration, resentment, lack, blame – increasing the stress response, which is inflammatory.
Nikki Burnett
That doesn’t mean some are not beneficial but may be misguiding. How frustrating is it when you try a “diet” that worked for your best friend but didn’t work for you? Now, to be fair, I will use the word diet under certain circumstances – when they are therapeutic. Examples would be the ketogenic diet and the vegan diet.
I am a supporter of the Paleo lifestyle (notice I didn’t say diet), but probably not for the reasons you think. Many believe that paleo is high meat and high fat - Eggs, bacon, burgers on a lettuce bun. Nope!
Paleo is about the SOURCE of the food and eliminating processed foods.
Macronutrient (protein, fats, carbs) need is different for everyone. Genetics, lifestyle, health status – all affect the macro- and micronutrient needs of an individual. But what everyone does need is a wide VARIETY and OODLES of vegetables.
Paleo is about eating CLEAN – well raised, 100% grass-fed and pasture-raised animals who eat the food intended for them, which in turn nourishes us. Vegetables and a little fruit that has not been genetically modified, grown in fertile, healthy soil, and have not been touched by chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. The fat that comes from healthy sources, including healthy animals, nuts, seeds, coconut, olive, and avocado.
Processed foods and oils such as cottonseed (GMO), canola (GMO), corn (GMO), vegetable oils are never consumed. Please take this to heart (pun intended!), canola oil IS NOT HEART HEALTHY - It is inflammatory and toxic.
Sugar intake is very low and comes from fruit, stevia, monk fruit or a little coconut sugar.
Healthy eating is a lifestyle, not a diet. But the key is, find the dietary lifestyle that suits YOU. The Paleo lifestyle is great a starting place, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. Go deeper - health status, movement, stress, mental & emotional health to start. Functional lab testing is an amazing tool to help understand your body’s biochemistry but to go even deeper, your ancestry and epigenetic potential could be a key factor in understanding the foods best suited for you.
In considering what your ancestors ate, you’ll also want to consider when they ate. We have easy access to foods that may not be a part of your ancestry, therefore it may not be ideal for your unique makeup. We also have access to many foods year-round, 24/7. Our ancestors ate with the seasons and the light. Studies have shown that eating fruit out of season leads to the accumulation of adipose tissue – fat. They also experienced times of abundance and scarcity. Intermittent fasting is a way of tapping into ancestral eating patterns and while it’s not for everyone, it can have significant health benefits.
Also consider your current location, which may be the other side of the world from where your ancestors originated. Your ideal way of eating combines physical location, ancestry, and epigenetics.
“Each bite of food has a lineage that connects us to our ancestral lineage.” Deanna Minick, PhD
By choosing foods available in your location, during the current time of year, suited to your heritage and tradition, and abundant in plant diversity, you build a foundation of health. Diversity in plant-based foods creates diversity in your microbiome leading to a more robust immune system, better mental and emotional health, and better nutritional status – all creating more energy, focus, and joy.
There are a few differences in some of these traditional foods and today’s Paleo lifestyle; Paleo never includes grains, but legumes and dairy may or may not be included. Most often, when grains and legumes were included in traditional meals, they were fermented or sprouted. This process significantly decreases the amount of “antinutrients” that are natural to these foods, making them more digestible and nutrient-rich.
Some cultures consume sheep or goat milk, others consume cow milk, while some consume no dairy. Any dairy product that has been processed, pasteurized, and/or homogenized is not a traditional food and there is virtually no benefit to the body, only damage. Raw dairy may have some benefit for some people who genetically have the ability to break it down.
We live in a world of cultural and traditional diversity when it comes to food and eating patterns, but they all have commonalities – traditional foods are colorful, plant-based, with quality protein and fat. Eating in community and respect for the ecosystem is tradition. Food is life – Taste Life!
