The Truth About the Origin Diet
The Origin Diet is one of a number of diets that belong to the trend of Paleolithic Dieting. The central idea of this diet and others like it is that the best way to increase longevity through diet is to consume a diet that is similar to that which our ancient ancestors would have eaten in the Stone Age. Today, we eat and drink many things that our bodies are not optimally designed for. This is actually one of the reasons why obesity has become such a major health epidemic in the United States.
Our bodies are designed to store calories more efficiently than we can burn them off in order to help us survive periods where food availability is scarce. Now that we live in a country where food is plentiful, we still crave the foods that help us survive when things get tough, but we no longer have any appreciable risk of starvation, and many people actually suffer from malnutrition while simultaneously being obese.
The Origin Diet at a Glance
The Origin Diet revolves around taking up habits in diet and nutrition which attempt to replicate those of our ancestors from the stone age.
This diet avoids processed foods and is heavy on whole grain foods.
Exercise is central to the Origin Diet.
Who Should Try the Origin Diet?
This is actually an incredibly safe diet which is suitable for any person with the drive and desire to institute significant changes in both their lifestyle and their diet. This health plan could work for nearly anyone.
Who Should Not Try the Origin Diet?
Unlike many other fad diets, there really is no common group that this diet is not recommended for. The primary barrier with regard to this diet is price tag. The types of foods recommended with this diet are a bit more expensive than the common processed foods which flood our grocery stores. Before starting this plan, make sure that you have the budget to fulfill the requirements of the diet.
Also, this diet is fairly strict, and if you are the type of person that can’t resist temptation, you may need to look elsewhere for a diet plan which gives more wiggle room when it comes to cheating.
The Specifics of the Origin Diet
The author of the Origin Diet is a dietitian named Elizabeth Somer. She explains that two of the main reasons that Americans are getting sicker is because they don’t engage in enough physical activity and they eat too much unhealthy food. She argues that these two facts alone are responsible for at least half of the cases of heart disease and over two thirds of the cases of cancer in our society today.
She believes that the weight gain that occurs in middle-aged men and women in America is not primarily the result of hormone imbalance or factors associated with aging, but to the increasingly sedentary lifestyles of people in the United States today. Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone Levels do decline slowly over time, but this alone is not responsible for weight control issues in American society, although it does play a role, and poor diet and exercise habits do have a negative impact on healthy hormone production while increasing the concentration of hormones like cortisol that are associated with increased mortality risk.
Somer believes that by engaging in a diet which follows the patterns of our ancestors, we enhance our health and hormone balance and keeping our bodies stronger and healthier deeper into the lifespan. She goes on to site specific risks that the Origin Diet serves to mitigate. It reduces the risk of cardiovascular issues such as high blood pressure and heart disease, and it reduces the risk of psychological issues such as depression and memory loss.
There is even evidence that such a diet can encourage bone health and help prevent cataracts. Finally, the Origin Diet increases metabolism, which both burns excess fat and increases metabolism which vastly increases energy levels and reduces fatigue. All of these benefits come together in order to help individuals live longer lives and drop pounds more effectively.
It is important to note, that, like the Eat Better, Live Longer Diet, this is not explicitly considered a weight loss diet, although it can easily encourage weight loss through healthier eating choices. This diet is designed primarily to optimize your health and the processes of your body so that you can live longer and healthier.
The Idea Behind the Origin Diet
Most of the nutrition recommendations of the Origin Diet are deeply rooted in scientific research. Somer’s diet plan places an emphasis on the consumption of unprocessed foods eaten in their purest forms. There is strong evidence that foods like these provide nutrients optimally, especially compounds known as phytonutrients which have the capability to ward off illness and disease.
The Origin Diet also includes a lot of nutrition options which are high in fiber, because these foods have the ability to both control cholesterol and balance blood sugar, reducing the prevalence of Insulin spikes and reducing the risk of Diabetes significantly.
The Origin Diet is not only a nutrition plan, however, it is a way of life. Somer relates Five Stone Age Secrets that have the ability to supplement and amplify the benefits provided by this diet. She argues that this diet is healthier for human beings because it works better with the way that our bodies have been designed over thousands of years. The Origin Diet also gives you the opportunity to adapt to its precepts over time. These five principles when combined help develop your body into the finely tuned machine that it was designed to be by evolution.
Exercise is vitally important to this diet, because we were historically hunter-gatherers living off of the land. If we wanted meat we had to hunt down wild game or herd domestic animals. If we wanted other foods, we had to forage for them. Our Stone Age lifestyle was an incredibly active lifestyle, and the Origin Diet seeks to replicate this high level of physical activity.
The Specifics of the Origin Diet
The Origin Diet places a powerful emphasis upon natural foods that one would find in the wild, and foods which are nutritionally similar to these foods. Although this diet is highly Paleolithic, you won’t be rooting and foraging yourself. Canned foods will often suffice for your diet, and just because a food is frozen, doesn’t mean that it is bad for you. Some processed foods are even allowed, as long as they meet certain guidelines. Even fat-free salad dressing is okay in moderation
In her book, Somer provides a number of suggestions for meals, which can be prepared to meet the daily requirements of the diet each day. The book also provides recipes to make a number of dishes which fit the specific needs of the diet.
Unlike many other forms of diet, there is no explicit nutrition plan and there are no complicated dietary exchanges. As an alternative, the Origin Diet provides a set of specific guidelines for you to follow in order to change the way that you eat.
The Origin Diet suggests the following every day:
Two servings of lean protein
Three servings of starch from vegetables
Three servings of foods rich in calcium
Six servings of whole grains
An acceptable dinner would be something along the lines of chopped walnuts, raisins, wheat germ, and soy milk. A typical lunch would be nonfat milk, green salad with no-fat dressing, and a whole wheat grilled chicken sandwich. Dinner would be nonfat milk, broccoli, baked potato, and baked salmon with veggies.
One of the central tenets of this diet is to limit the intake of unhealthy fats. The primary sources of meat-protein should be wild game, shellfish, fish, and poultry breast. Another thing this diet shares with many other successful diets is a concept she refers to as grazing. She believes that it is generally better to eat five or six modest meals and snacks across the entire day, rather than packing all of the calories into breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Expert Opinion on the Origin Diet
Nutrition specialists pretty much universally agree that the Origin Diet is an incredibly healthy diet, although they do have some concerns regarding the viability of the diet for some people. Avoiding overly processed food is very important, and if you don’t have time to prepare your own meals or you have to eat conveniently this may be hard to do.
Also, some may find it hard to switch from beef and pork to wild game, either because of a lack of availability or because of the increased cost added to the food budget. On the other hand, many experts believe that you could replace wild game with lean cuts of beef and pork and still have a successful and workable diet. If you can work with the restrictions of this diet, you will inevitably have success in improving your health.
Like most other effective diets, the Origin Diet does not only concern nutrition, but also stress control and exercise. The Origin Diet includes a variety of suggestions regarding ways that you can include physical activity into your everyday life, and also provides a list of suggestions regarding ways that you can alleviate stress and take the time to relax.
Overall, this is a very balanced and healthy diet. It revolves around the consumption of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and places a high emphasis on healthy soy products. Overall, there are really only two ways that this diet is deficient: Vitamin D and Calcium. If you are under the age of fifty, Vitamin D won’t be a problem, because you can easily get what you need with a little bit of healthy and conscientious sunlight. On the other hand, you may need to start looking for fortified foods and supplements if you are over fifty years old, because our bodies start to make Vitamin D less efficiently.
The Origin Diet only recommends up to three servings of dairy each day. This is more than many other nutrition plans, but this is still not enough to meet your Calcium needs for the day. Men and women over the age of fifty need between 1,200 and 1,500 mg of Vitamin D and Calcium every day.
The best ways that you can get Vitamin D without turning to supplements are through fortified yogurts and milk. If you start trading dairy milk for soy milk, make sure that your soy milk is properly fortified with Vitamin D and Calcium, because this is not always the case.
The good thing about this diet is that there isn’t a real necessity to compulsively count calories throughout the day, because the basic rules of the diet limit your ability to overeat, because of a focus on nutrition dense rather than calorie dense foods.
This diet is also great because the foods that you eat will both have a high fiber content and will for the most part be unprocessed or lightly processed, meaning that your hunger will be abated more quickly which will also help you eat more reasonable meals. This, in combination with the required exercise of the diet, will make you be sure to lose weight as long as you follow the diet appropriately.
What is the Calorie Count for the Origin Diet?
Unlike a lot of other diets, there is no explicit calorie count for the Origin Diet. The main thrust of this diet is learning about the foods you eat and choosing foods that are densely nutritious and high in fiber. Also, the strict limit on processed grains, sugar, and unhealthy fat will also go a long way to naturally curtail your daily intake of calories, even without explicitly trying to cut calories.
The Origin Diet Diet Recommendations
Wild Game, Seafood, Chicken Breast, Legumes, Fresh Vegetables, Fresh Fruits, Whole Grains, Canola Oil, Olive Oil, Exercise
The Origin Diet Things to Avoid
Fast Food, Whole Fat Dairy, Fatty Meats, Refined Foods, Processed Foods, Inactivity
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The Truth About the Origin Diet