Wellness Coaching – The Benefits of a Paleo Diet
Our paleo ancestors maintained a diet where blood glucose levels were consistently low. This allowed the body to depend on ketones, rather than blood sugar for fuel. Ketones are the energy units of fat and are a much more consistent and abundant source of fuel for our brain and other organs to depend on. Only our red blood cells require glucose for fuel instead of fats.
Recent human longevity studies have shown that by not allowing glucose levels to spike higher than 40 mg/dL over a normal fasting value of 70 to 85 mg/dL following meals has a favorable effect in activating sirtuins (our longevity genes). In other words, by reducing or eliminating sugar and starch from your diet, you will allow your body’s longevity DNA to be turned on. Two slices of bread contains about 6 teaspoons of glucose — six times what is normally allowed in the bloodstream. Cereal, pasta, and potatoes can raise blood sugar levels faster than a candy bar!
Excessive glucose and lactose in the bloodstream auto-oxidizes, which produces free-radical activity that damages arterial walls and forms cross-links with proteins called AGEs (advanced glycosylation end products). AGEs are known to cause genetic mutations. They also combine with receptors (RAGEs) that results in inflammation, leading to cardiovascular disease.
Glucose ages the body. It’s somewhat of an irony that what we require to fuel anaerobic process and feed our red blood cells also degenerates and eventually kills the body. Some glucose is required for our body with the exception of the brain. The brain actually performs much better on ketones. The lower we maintain our blood sugar levels, the slower the aging process occurs and the healthier we live along the way. Furthermore, chronic diseases associated with aging and mental decline (such as Alzheimer’s), may be directly related to blood sugar metabolism.
Another consequence of our collective addiction to a high-carbohydrate diet is candida yeast overgrowth. Unfriendly or yeast-producing bacteria in the gut in a healthy body should be about 15% of the total bacteria population. Candida overgrowth is caused from antibiotics, chronic stress, and/or a diet that consists mostly of sugary, starchy foods. High cravings for starchy foods such as chips, alcohol, pizza, pasta, breads, as well as sweet foods such as candy, cookies, doughnuts, and pastries, is indicative of an unnatural balance of candida in the gut. Complete avoidance of all of these foods is necessary to bring candida under control.
Jason Lincoln Jeffers is a health Coach, Spiritual Life Coach and the founder of The Art of Transformation, a company devoted to teaching Spiritual Enlightenment to the world. His Spiritual Life Coaching practice uniquely synthesizes spiritual wisdom with ego transcendence, holistic health, life path astrology, heart-based intention, the power of presence, and the law of attraction.