For the last 8 days I have been plugged in to an intense series of lectures for the Paleo Summit. Paleo, short for Paleolithic refers to a big new craze in the diet world – the Paleo diet, or eating like our cavemen ancestors did.

The theory goes that our brains have developed far more quickly than the rest of our bodies, and in particular our digestive systems. Therefore, the Pro-Paleo  folk believe we should be eating as the cavemen did in order to be in peak health.

The serious Primal-eaters stick to grass-fed free-range meat, especially red meat, fish, seafood, eggs, vegetables – mainly non-starchy, a little fruit, nuts and seeds, lots of certain fats. That’s pretty much it. Meaning no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no sugar, obviously, with fructose (fruit sugar) being more of a no no than ‘table’ sugar and no seed oils. That is pretty restrictive.

At one point I was getting seduced in to this way of thinking as the speakers were mostly of a really high caliber. There was a neuro-scientist talking about leptin circadian cycles, a medical doctor talking about gluten consumption and auto-immune diseases and a research biochemist talking about the benefits of a non-grain, very low sugar diet on athletic performance and endurance, to name but a few.

This approach to health is so far removed from what is generally considered healthy eating. The recommendation of wholefoods like brown bread and brown rice, beans and lentils, plenty of fruit etc, while cutting back on red meat and saturated fats would be regarded by many to be a sensible healthy approach to eating. The Paleo lot are adamant that grains and legumes are the most important food groups to avoid as they contain naturally occurring anti-nutrients that inhibit the absorption of nutrients in the body while  gluten, the protein found in grains, triggers inflammation, gut irritation and potentially many other serious aliments. Nuts, seeds and seed oils like sunflower, rapeseed, corn oil etc. are too high in omega 6, an essential fatty acid that is known to be pro-inflammatory and therefore considered something to be avoided as much as possible.

Fruit is limited as it contains high levels of fructose and tubers and starchy veg are limited due to their natural sugar content. So, it is a high protein, high fat, low carb diet. They do also recommend  getting back to a simpler, more natural way of living, with outdoor exercising rather than going to the gym to slog it out in an artificial environment.

This philosophy has some science behind it and, as I said, I was becoming seduced, but I have come away thinking that this is just too extreme to be healthy. Even if eating high levels of red meat, eggs, fish and veg is a healthy way to fuel the body, I don’t think it can be healthy for the head! Having to be so restricted with food choices makes me feel uncomfortable.

Saying that, there are certainly elements I do agree with – I do believe gluten is probably a major culprit for many digestive disorders. I definitely believe most people rely far too heavily on refined grains and dairy as food staples. I am all for eliminating as much processed food from the diet a possible and I strongly encourage regular intake of good quality, grass fed red meat, oily fish and seafood. I strongly agree with staying off industrially manufactured cooking oils and eating loads of fruit every day does result in fructose-overload which is not good for weight management or liver function.

One thing that was consistently recommended by various speakers throughout the summit was to try going grain-free for 30 days and see how you feel. They were all convinced that no-one would go back to eating any grains once they realise how much better they feel staying off them. I am psyching myself up to do this – not that I eat many grains at all, compared to most, but I do love my oats for breakfast and brown rice, quinoa, pot barely and rye bread here and there.  So, I will be trying it soon and I would LOVE to know if any of you give it a go and how you feel as a result.

P.S. they talked a lot about giving up grains, saying many people find it hard, but they gave very little time to giving up legumes as they seemed to think that no-one is very bothered by having to give up beans and lentils – uh, hello!  Life without lentil soup, hummus, sausage and bean casserole – is it really a life??!?

  If you’re struggling to lose those extra few pounds that you put on over Christmas and new year, the temptation to go to extremes and massively reduce your calorie intake can be immense, especially when you’re bombarded with diet programmes wherever you look.

I really hope I can persuade you to ignore all the hype and not be seduced by the hype. To be fair, dramatically restricting your calories will result in weight loss – absolutely! The various programmes that offer meal replacement bars and drinks, giving you between 500 – 800 calories a day will work – but for how long?

I see SO MANY clients who have been on these programmes, often many times over,  only to  put the weight back on, and often end up weighing more than before they started the miserable process of being hungry and bored on one of these plans.

There are a number of problems with low-calorie regimes that make long-term success highly unlikely:

There’s the psychological issue of deprivation and boredom: once you’ve committed to a low calorie diet, it won’t take long before you’re craving and obsessing about the foods you enjoy but can’t have. Soon you’ll be cheating, then beating yourself up about cheating and invariably this leads to feeling useless, hopeless and depressed.

Then there’s the inevitable problem of your body’s response to being deprived of energy – it will very quickly adapt to the reduced calorie intake and manage to do exactly what you demand of it i.e. your typical daily activities, on less. Your metabolic rate drops to accommodate your energy output in comparison to your energy input. End result, your metabolic rate will be more efficient i.e. slower than when you started. The less you eat, the less you will need to eat – simple!

Finally, my biggest issue with these diets is that they prevent you from learning how to feed yourself well and manage your weight using fresh, natural foods. The artificially flavoured meal replacements  may be packed full of added vitamins and minerals, but you will not be getting the goodness, the enzymes, fibres and flavours that will satisfy you; the diet will not nourish you properly on a physical or psychological level and it will suppress, not stimulate your internal furnace.

These diets can never be long-term because they are so restrictive. Once you resume your ‘normal’ eating, the pounds will pile back on.

Learn to eat well and you will never have to think about a diet again – really!

Oh the joy of Sunday radio 4 listening. There’s Desert Island Discs, some whacky quiz-type show, and then, the very wonderful Food Programme. I’ve listened to this show for years and it retains my interest because the subjects covered are so varied and extremely current.

This weeks show was on the notion of calorie counting – arrgghhhhhh! It was so wonderful to hear some well-qualified experts in the field of nutrition and dietary science making it unequivocally clear that calorie counting as a guide to weight loss is a waste of time.

I won’t go in to the scientific details, you can get those by listening again on the iplayer, but the point is well made that all calories are not equal. I have been trying to convince dedicated yo-yo dieters for years that they have to stop being guided by the calorie content of foods. The old adage of ‘energy in, energy out’ as an equation for weight loss is just not true. 100 calories (a measure of energy) from a piece of cake is absolutely not going to have the same effect on the body as 100 calories of carrots or a 100 calorie piece of steak.

What I didn’t know is that Weight Watchers this year dropped their calorie counting system all together in favour of a colour-coded scheme – hallelujah!  The whole concept of calorie counting and how many calories are required is seriously flawed. How can a sedentary woman of 5’2″ with very little muscle tone need the same calorific intake as a woman of 5’10″ who is fit and active with a lot of muscle – bonkers!

The resounding message from the programme, which I agree with wholeheartedly, was this: there’s no need to worry about calories if you are making your own food from fresh and minimally processed foods; calorie counting drives people to eat the wrong foods, choosing calorie content over nutritional benefit e.g. nuts are super healthy but a high calorie food. Eat real food and you never need think about calories ever again.

If you’re struggling with this concept, think of it like this – our bodies need a fairly constant supply of nutrients to maintain all the very many complex functions in the body. Eating real food that provides the body with these nutrients,  your body will use, not store the food you eat. Processed foods, comprising ingredients that our bodies don’t recognise and cannot use i.e. foods that have been messed around with,   cannot be used by the body so will be stored instead, as fat.

For all you meat eaters out there – it’s coming in to Game season and I strongly urge you to make the most of it.

Pheasant is a great meat. It can be a little dry so I recommend you use the breast meat, cut in to strips, and quickly sauteed with lots of veggies to make a fabulous, healthy dish that keeps the meat moist. Or roast the whole bird just like you would a chicken, basting regularly. If your butcher does not have any, request they get some in.   Pheasant is lean, low in fat and has a lovely flavour.

For me though, the most fabulous wild game is venison. Another lean meat that is super healthy. It is an amazing deep purple colour because the animal is so active. Deer are not intensively reared so they live a naturally free life before being culled. Different cuts require different treatment. The steaks can be flash fried in a little butter and olive oil or you can get diced venison which makes amazing stew -    pop it in a slow cooker or casserole dish with lots of root veg, mushrooms, juniper berries and a little stock and 6 hours later you’ll have a fantastic, hearty meal (there are loads of great recipes online).

These clean, lean, tasty meats are satisfying and nourishing, providing lots of the amazing amino acid L-Glutamine which heals the gut lining; supports immune function; aids in muscle recovery after exercising and improves stamina.