What is Paleo? Why do I eat this way?

There seems to be some confusion about what I eat and what it means to be on a grain free diet.  I understand the confusion because I use the words "gluten free" in my blog.  The reason I do this is because my absolute non-negotiable, never eat food is wheat.  Wheat has the worst effects on my body and I choose to eliminate it completely. I eat mostly grain free, but not exclusively. Occasionally I eat rice and other grains like Amaranth, and some legumes. However, this is about 5% or less of the time.  So it is fairly unusual.

Most of my diet is Paleo-ish.  The main thing I incorporate into my own diet that strays from Paleo is cheese and yogurt.  For my dad, I keep him on a more strict diet than my own - he has a sensitivity to dairy while I do not.  He has multiple conditions that are impacted by his diet.  For my dad I never give him legumes, dairy, or any grains.  So, to eliminate any confusion, I am going to try to explain what my dad's diet is like and my own, for the most part:

What do you eat on a Paleo diet?

• Eat meat -- ideally high quality meat (poultry, beef, shellfish, bison, other game meats).  
• Eat plenty of vegetables and some fruit.   
• My plate is usually a source of good protein and a plate full of vegetables. 
• Use quality fats for cooking and dressing your food.   
• I tend to use olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and occasionally I use butter and ghee
• Use the best quality ingredients you can.  
• Organic food and grass fed beef, etc. is fairly expensive.  I don't always use this level of high quality ingredients because I can't afford it, but when I can, I do.   Do the best you can given your budget. 
• Eat as much variety as possible.    
• Eat little to no processed food.    
• This point is key and always a point of confusion. DO NOT be fooled by the "gluten free" label and think that is good for you.  Read the labels carefully.  Most things that are labeled gluten free still have grains such as corn, are packed with sugar, and have so many artificial ingredients and preservatives that it is just plain scary.  If you do buy pre-packaged foods, read the labels carefully. 

What should you AVOID on a Paleo diet? 

• Packaged foods that say "gluten free" - most will have sugar, other grains, and just a lot of stuff you don't want in your body.  For example, I just looked up Betty Crocker's Gluten free brownie mix and these are the ingredients: Sugar, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Corn Starch, Xanthan Gum, Salt. Scary right? It still has grains, and corn starch, sugar, soy and other things that are important to avoid on a Paleo diet.  
• Grains like corn and rice
• Gluten
• Legumes
• Dairy
• Refined and processed sugars and oils

Why does a Paleo diet help people with autoimmune disorders (including Alzheimer's, Asthma, Celiac, Chronic Fatigue, Eczema, Hashimoto's, Lupus, MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis) and diabetes? 

• A leaky gut is necessary for autoimmune conditions to develop and a leaky gut is caused by: the proteins in grains including gluten, agglutinins; digestive enzyme inhibitors in grains, legumes, and dairy products (for a full discussion on this you can read Sarah Ballantyne's book or Cordain's book). 
• A high carbohydrate diet causes insulin resistance and leptin resistance.
• Regulating blood glucose levels and insulin release by eating low to moderate glycemic load foods is important for regulating insulin. 
• Gluten can be a trigger in all autoimmune disorders.  

There is so much more you really want more information in detail on the nutrition and science behind the diet, I recommend that you read The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain.  Dr. Cordain has an excellent list of references if you would like to take the additional step of reading the studies yourself.