3 Ways a Paleo Diet Can Improve Health

Bold claim coming in 3, 2, 1….A Paleo diet can help improve lipid profiles, insulin sensitivity, and blood pressure in just ten days. This might sound like an advertisement for a shady nutritional supplement or a magic pill for weight loss…but I promise you it is not!

Recent studies conducted (which I’ll link to so you can look them up if you wish) were able to debunk what many skeptics think of Paleo. So let’s get to debunking!

*Not medical advice. As with any diet or lifestyle change, consult your competent doctor beforehand.

#1) Lowers Blood pressure

The Paleo diet encourages individuals to increase their consumption of potassium-rich foods while going easy on low junk-salt foods. (Hello, Real Salt – sans microplastics. Goodbye table salt!) This is why a Paleo diet is effective at lowering a person’s blood pressure levels.

A study was conducted which showed that Paleo dieters were able to lower their average systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings by as much as 3mmHg. This comes as no surprise to many researchers since they are already aware that a diet low in (cough cough, crappy) table salt and high in potassium has long been recommended and was found to be effective in lowering the blood pressure of hypertensive individuals.

If you are hypertensive, you need to ensure a correct balance between your intake of high-quality sodium and other minerals. This is not difficult to achieve when you’re on a Paleo diet because it exposes you to a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meat and other whole foods that are filled with a complete range of not only vital minerals but also nutrients.

#2) Improves Insulin Sensitivity

Changing to a healthy Paleo diet was also found by researchers to improve insulin levels and blood sugar metabolism. At the start of the study, participants were subjected to standard glucose tests to check their level of glucose tolerance as well as their level of insulin insensitivity. These are known risk factors for cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes.

After several weeks on a Paleo diet, study participants were found to be able to maintain stable blood sugar concentrations while also having less insulin secretion. Their insulin to glucose ratio was significantly reduced by as much as 40% while their insulin sensitivity was also improved.

In other words, their bodies will now require relatively low or normal insulin levels to be able to process glucose. People who are diagnosed with insulin resistance have very poor insulin sensitivity. This causes their body to release high amounts of insulin to be able to process glucose. Over time this leads to a host of known health issues, including type 2 diabetes.

Grab a glucose monitor here if you want to monitor and biohack your blood sugar at home.

Talk to your competent doctor about a Paleo diet (as well as adding chromium, berberine, and vanadyl sulfate temporarily to your supplement regimen) to help increase insulin sensitivity and stave off insulin resistance.

#3) Reduces “Bad” Cholesterol

A study conducted showed that thriving on Paleo for ten days was enough to improve their study subjects’ cholesterol profiles. The results were striking as it lowered the subjects’ bad cholesterol levels by up to 22 percent. (Yes, despite eating red meat and eggs!)

Out of nine subjects, only one did not show any reduction in total cholesterol and LDL levels. All nine participants were found to have lower levels of triglycerides and VLDL or very-low-density-lipoprotein. Experts revealed that this improvement in cholesterol levels was equivalent to six months of statin medication treatment.

Want to dig deeper and l learn more about cholesterol…and the more important RATIO versus total? Check out this post by Mark Sisson.