Can Paleo Diet Help for Heart Disease?

Why Paleo diet helps Treat and Prevent Heart Disease

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How the Paleo diet works for Heart Disease / Atherosclerosis

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Paleo Diet program for Heart Disease

The Paleo diet is an eating plan that can be followed permanently throughout people’s lives. Hence, this diet does not need to be discontinued or cycled.

There are many ways to follow the Paleo diet. The main idea behind the diet program is to avoid processed foods and focus on eating healthy, whole foods instead.

The diet program is not built around restricting calories or eating specific amounts of food. Rather, it focuses on cutting down on all the grains, dairy products, and processed foods while focusing on a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, healthy oils, and lean meats.

Paleo Diet for Heart Disease: Food Categories

The list of allowed food categories include:

- Lean meat: eat lean meats such as beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, and pork. Always go for the meats that are less processed. For example, grass-fed and organic meats are always a better choice.

- Fish and seafood: eat fish such as salmon, shrimp, trout, and shellfish. Always go for the wild-caught fish option if possible.

- Eggs: eat eggs. Always go for the organic option if available.

- Non-starchy vegetables: eat vegetables such as broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cucumbers, onions, carrots, and tomatoes.

- Fruits: eat fruits such as apples, bananas, pears, oranges, cherries, and berries.

- Nuts and seeds: eat nuts and seeds such as almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds.

- Healthy fats and oils: add oils such as extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil to your meals.

- Herbs and Spices: add spices such as garlic, turmeric, and rosemary to your dishes.

Specific Paleo Diet foods for Heart Disease

People who choose to follow a Paleo diet can eat certain foods to improve blood circulation, lower cholesterol levels, and lower blood pressure. You can find a list of ten foods that prevent heart disease below.

The Paleo diet recommends eating the following foods to maintain heart health:

- Wild salmon: salmon contains anti-inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids that prevent plaque buildup.

- Blueberries: blueberries are rich in antioxidants that decrease blood pressure and widen blood vessels improving blood flow to the heart.

- Citrus: citrus contains flavonoids and vitamin C which help lower the risk of heart disease.

- Local or organic tomatoes: lower blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels

- Spinach: contains vitamins and minerals that are good for the heart

- Avocados: helps maintain cholesterol levels

- Dark chocolate: contains a flavonoid called flavanol that lowers the risk of heart disease

- Olive oil: lowers LDL cholesterol

- Green tea: lowers LDL and triglyceride levels

- Wine: increases HDL (good) cholesterol and prevents arterial damage

Paleo Diet for Heart Disease / atherosclerosis: recommendations

- Exercise regularly: the diet recommends at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity activity each week because their hunter-gatherer ancestors were always moving around. People should also incorporate muscle-strengthening activities into their routine.

- Get enough sleep: the diet advises people to try to get at least 7 hours of sleep. It is essential for heart health because the heart repairs itself when you sleep. Good quality sleep also helps lower blood pressure and keeps the heart rate within normal ranges.

Paleo Diet for Heart Disease / Atherosclerosis: what you should avoid

The Paleo diet restricts or limits some food types. These foods include:

- Grains: avoid grains such as oats, wheat, barley, and rice. 

- Starchy vegetables: avoid starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corn.

- Legumes: avoid legumes such as beans and lentils.

- Dairy products: avoid dairy products such as milk, yogurt, cheese, and ice cream.

- High-fat and processed meats: avoid high fat and processed meats such as salami, bologna, pepperoni, hot dogs, ground meat, and ribs 

- Sugar and sugar products: avoid sugar and high sugar products such as table sugar, soft drinks, syrup, candy, cakes, cookies, and sports drinks.

- Processed foods: avoid all processed foods such as canned or frozen foods. They are high in sugar, salt, fat, and additives.

- Trans-fats: avoid trans-fat foods such as doughnuts, fast foods, fruit snacks, and baked goods.

- Artificial sweeteners: avoid artificial sweeteners that are mainly found in diet products such as soft drinks and pastries.

- Salty foods: avoid high salt foods such as crackers, chips, pretzels, and soy sauce.

Additional Paleo Diet benefits

Besides heart disease, the Paleo diet can treat several diseases like diabetes, cancer, celiac disease, gout, lupus, Inflammatory Bowel Disease. It also helps with weight loss and managing acne and other skin conditions.

A list of the Paleo diet benefits for each of the following conditions is listed below:

- Type 2 diabetes: the Paleo diet is beneficial for diabetes because it reduces sugar and carbohydrate intake.

- Cancer: the Paleo diet is beneficial for cancer because is a low carb diet. Tumors need glucose from carbohydrates to grow, so a low carb diet stops tumors from growing.  it increases fiber and fruit and vegetable intake which is important in maintaining gut health as it protects against certain types of cancer. 

- Celiac disease: the Paleo diet is beneficial for Celiac disease because it eliminates all the foods that aggravate the disease, including gluten, carbohydrates, sugar, and dairy. The Paleo diet also helps maintain the balance of good gut bacteria which allows people with Celiac disease to absorb nutrients properly.

- Gout: the Paleo diet is beneficial for gout because it eliminates carbs and sugars. This causes the liver to produce normal levels of uric acid. The lack of carbs and sugars also helps kidneys excrete uric acid properly.

- Osteoporosis: the Paleo diet is beneficial for osteoporosis because it reduces inflammation in the body by incorporates a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that have anti-inflammatory properties. The diet also eliminates gluten because it causes inflammation in the body.

- Alzheimer’s: the Paleo diet is beneficial for Alzheimer’s because it reduces inflammation in the body by incorporates a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that have anti-inflammatory properties.

- Lupus: the Paleo diet is beneficial for lupus because it eliminates foods that increase intestinal permeability, which may trigger an unwanted immune response. It particularly encourages lupus patients to avoid gluten because it causes leaky gut. It also eliminates dairy, legumes, processed foods, refined sugars, and vegetable oils because they negatively affect gut health.

- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): the Paleo diet is beneficial for IBD disease it reduces inflammation in the body by incorporating a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that have anti-inflammatory properties that can help heal the gut.

- Skin health: the Paleo diet is beneficial for the skin because it restricts foods that cause inflammation. It also incorporates a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, and fish that have anti-inflammatory properties and help prevent aging and protect the skin.

- Weight loss: the Paleo diet contributes to weight loss because it eliminates high fat, high sugar, and processed foods. People on a Paleo diet might also notice an increase in satiety due to the higher intake of proteins and fats. Hence, they will consume smaller portions of food.

Paleo Diet for Heart Disease: precautions

Before starting this diet, make sure you do not have the following conditions as the diet may exacerbate them.

Consult your doctor before following the Paleo diet if you have:

- Kidney problems: the Paleo diet increases the consumption of protein. People with kidney problems need to eat protein in moderation because eating large amounts of proteins can further damage the kidneys.

- Liver and pancreatic problems: the Paleo diet increases the consumption of fats. People with liver and kidney problems need to eat fats in moderation because eating large amounts of fats can further damage both the liver and the pancreas.

- Heart disease: the Paleo diet increases the consumption of meat, which can increase levels of saturated fats, possibly leading to heart disease. Hence, red meat should be consumed in moderation. The diet recommends that people consume lean meat.

- Type I diabetes: the Paleo diet decreases the carbohydrate intake that is normally consumed on a daily basis. To prevent hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, people with type I diabetes should consult their doctors to adjust the doses of their medication.

- Low blood pressure: the Paleo lowers blood pressure because it lowers the levels of cortisol in the body and reduces salt intake. People with low blood pressure should drink lots of water and eat foods with electrolytes to regulate their blood pressure. They should use natural sea salt if they need to add salt to their meals.

Paleo Diet for Heart Disease: side effects

The Paleo diet is recommended for all individuals. However, it can cause some side effects.

Always consult with a medical or healthcare expert before starting with a diet or treatment.

The following section contains a list of side effects you may experience while on the diet.

- Nutritional deficiencies: the Paleo diet eliminates some food groups from the diet. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies. For example, the diet does not incorporate dairy into meals, and this might lead to calcium and vitamin D deficiencies. 

- Hypoglycemia: the Paleo diet decreases carbohydrate intake. This can lead to hypoglycemia or low blood sugar because the diet decreases the amount of glucose in the body.

- Low-carb flu: following the Paleo diet decreases carbohydrate intake, and many people report experiencing low-carb flu. The symptoms include headaches, fatigue, weakness, and irritability, but these will go away on their own within a couple of days to several weeks at most.

- Halitosis or bad breath: The Paleo diet increases one’s consumption of protein. This may cause bad breath because increased protein intake causes the gut to produce hydrogen sulfide to digest foods properly but can also cause bad breath. You can also have bad breath on the Paleo diet if your body has gone into ketosis. While ketones are a great source of energy, they can also contribute to bad breath.