With time, our society has evolved and alimentation has changed.

We went from eating “what the earth provides” to eating high quantities of processed foods: Hamburgers, French fries, industrial cakes, packaged juices, chocolates that contain everything but cacao, loads of refined sugar and very little nutrients.

This radical change of diet led our organism to develop diseases intimately related to what we eat.

The Paleo diet was born from that. As indicated by its name the idea is to “get back to our ancestor’s diet”. Meaning only eat foods that can be found on nature and unprocessed. And what did our ancestors eat? Fruits, green leafy vegetables, root vegetables, tubercles, nuts and seeds and vegetable oils. Moreover, they would also eat animal sources of food such as lean meats, eggs and fish.

Food Consultant Joana Moura and author of the book “30 days for a life change”, explains that she discovered the Paleo diet 5 years ago when, following her pregnancy, she wanted to take better care of her alimentation and understand how our body functions. She discovered the paleo diet, a diet better suited to our genes: “Composed by fresh produce in season, preferably organic, animal protein from grass fed meat, and sustainably sourced fish. It is literally an “out of the box” diet, where there is no room for processed foods and that deeply nourishes us, providing intestinal balance, maximal nutrient absorption naturally leading to a self-cure and allowing us to reach our ideal weigh”.

The paleo diet is a diet rich in proteins and healthy fats with low carbohydrates. Here are some its benefits:

• It helps to keep in shape and lead a healthier life.
• You don’t need to count calories or weight your food. Within the frame of the diet you can eat without restrictions.
• It helps fight against diseases caused by our modern alimentation such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, Parkinson and Alzheimer’s, depression, infertility, pathologies leading to auto-immune diseases or acne and inflammation.
• This diet is gluten free, therefore adapted to Coeliac’s
• Diminishes your appetite and accelerates metabolism.
• Lowers bad cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood and increases the good cholesterol.
• It supports the function of a healthy digestive system.

Nevertheless, we need to be aware of certain things about the paleo diet. In this diet (like in any other!) it is important to plan properly your foods and organize yourself. The principal criticism about this diet is the excess of protein and the consequences it can have for the body (and particularly for the kidneys).  Also, common are deficiencies in certain vitamins such as vitamin D. And that is where superfoods play a fundamental role: whether it is to increase our sensation of satiety, or to provide with more vitality or to supply some nutrient deficit that the diet may have.

Those are the superfoods we should have in our pantries if we decide to follow a paleo diet.

Matcha – this green powder is the perfect ally for anyone wishing to lose weight since it speeds up the metabolism. It contains 70 times more antioxidants than an orange juice and 9 times more beta-carotenes than spinach. Moreover, it is a positive stimulant. Unlike coffee, with matcha tea we get an energy boost that lasts much longer.

Omega 3 – One of the features of this diet is the high consumption of fatty acids. An essential part of the foods we eat in the paleo diet (such as seeds, nuts, eggs, etc) are high in omega 6, and often we do not manage to consume the omega 3 that our organism needs (it is important for our organism to maintain a healthy ratio between both). This is why that chia seeds should always be kept nearby. They are high in omega 3, potassium and iron. They balance blood sugar levels and support weight loss. With Iswari’s range you can either purchase chia seeds, or if you prefer we also got our omega 3 mix, created for the ones that need an extra dose of fatty acids in mind.

Cacao – It is one of the indispensable foods of the paleo diet. Raw cacao is highly beneficial for your health: It is antioxidant, it improves blood flow and it contains the so called “feel good neurotransmitter”. Beyond that its chocolate flavour is perfect to use in healthy desert recipes such as truffles, ice-creams or smoothies. It can be consumed in a powder form or as nibs.

The food consultant Joana Moura offers in her book “30 days for a life change” a one-month detox plan: “following those 30 days we understand how well we feel during that detox period and we manage to assess which groups of foods are wrong for us and deteriorates our health.” Joana Moura ensures us that after those 30 days so many people feel so well that they decide to change their diet for good. And you? Have you ever thought about following this diet?