What Is………..Diet?
Tiffany Wyse, December 2, 2015 in Diet and NutritionWhat is the Paleo Diet?
What is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet?
What is the GAPS Diet?
What is a Weston A. Price Diet?
What is a Vegetarian Diet?
What is a Vegan Diet?
What is a Pescatarean Diet?
What is a gluten-free diet?
What is the Paleo Diet?
A paleo diet or Paleolithic caveman diet is based on eating the way that ancient hunter-gatherer people did. They ate on average about one-third hunted food to two thirds gathered. It was primarily a vegetarian diet that varied seasonally with added high protein and low carbohydrates. The high protein Paleolithic food was mainly meat and that meat was wild-game. If you chose to adopt this diet in modern times be sure that all meats are either pasture raised or wild-game. The total fat content of wild game is much lower than the feedlot-raised meat of today, not to mention the horrific conditions and environmental impact of industrial, feedlot meat.
Aside from wild game, the bulk of what the hunter-gatherers consumed were uncultivated vegetables foods such as: beans, berries, bulbs, flowers, fruits, fungi, gums, leaves, melons, nuts, roots, seeds, stalks & tubers. Herbs were also commonly used primarily as medicines.
To incorporate this diet in more modern times can be challenging. You must be able to seek out wild game and uncultivated foods as these are not readily available at the majority of supermarkets.
Some notable books & websites with recipes include:
BOOKS:
Practical Paleo, Dianne Sanfilippo
The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, Mickey Trascott
The Paleo Approach, Sarah Ballantyne
The Paleo Solution, Rob Wolf
The Wahls Protocol, Terry Wahls
WEBSITES:
http://www.thepaleomom.com/recipes
http://autoimmune-paleo.com/recipes/
http://paleoleap.com/beginners-guide-game-meat/
What is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)?
The SCD is a carbohydrate restrictive diet that was created by Sidney V. Hass and documented by Elaine Gottschall.
It was designed to starve out the “bad” intestinal bacteria that thrive on starches and long-chain carbohydrates (polysaccharides). It is a gluten-free, grain-free, lactose-free & sugar free diet. Short chain carbohydrates (monosaccharides) like: honey, homemade yogurt, nuts, fruits and many vegetables along with fats and proteins are suggested when following this diet.
Some notable books & websites with recipes include:
BOOKS:
Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Elain Gottschall
Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Erica Kerwien
WEBSITES:
Official SCD website: www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info
Yahoo email group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BTVC-SCD/info
Archived information at www.scdiet.org
The SCD Wiki: www.scdwiki.com
Trusted sources of SCD information pertaining specifically to autism are:
www.pecanbread.com
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/pecanbread/info
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pecanbread/
SCD Legal / Illegal List
http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal/listing/
What is the GAPS Diet?
While working with children with autism, ADHD/ADD, asthma, eczema, allergies, dyspraxia & dyslexia Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride made the connection her practice that the underlying disorder for these children was an unhealthy gut filled with abnormal microbes and that healing the digestive system was the key to treatment. She came up with the term Gut And Psychology Syndrome or GAP Syndrome to describe children with these types conditions who fall into the gap of our medical knowledge. The GAPS Nutritional Programme is often a two year plan designed to clean up and heal the digestive tract so that it ceases to be a major source of toxicity in the body and becomes the source of nourishment.
The Programme involves a diet similar to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) with a few modifications. All grains, starchy beans & vegetables, sugar, lactose, commercially produced yogurt and processed foods are avoided. Along with the GAPS dietary guidelines, a supplement program is also encouraged as well as detoxification & lifestyle changes.
Some notable books & websites with recipes include:
BOOKS:
GAPS Gut And Psychology Syndrome, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
The Heal Your Gut Cookbook, Hilary Boynton
WEBSITES:
What is the a Weston A. Price Diet?
A Weston A. Price type diet is based on the research of a dentist, Dr. W.A. Price who travelled the world and studied the diets & nutrition of various isolated nonindustrialized peoples. In 1939 he published Nutrition and Physical Degeneration a book detailing these travels and concluding that industrial & processed foods of the modern Western diet such as white flour, sugar and processed vegetable fats, cause nutritional deficiencies and in turn result in not only dental disorders but overall health conditions.
A Weston A. Price type of diet encourages the use of traditional, nutrient dense foods. There is an emphasis on whole foods, organic or biodynamic farmed foods, pastured feeding of livestock, clean, certified raw dairy, cod liver oil (vitamin D) and butter oil (vitamin K2 or X-Factor) along with fermented & unpasteurized foods.
Some notable books & websites with recipes include:
BOOKS:
Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon & Mary Enig
Nourishing Broth, Sally Fallon Morell & Kaayla T. Daniel
WEBSITES:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/
What is a Vegetarian Diet?
A vegetarian diet consists of a plant-based diet with no meat.
There are a few different types of diets within the umbrella of a vegetarian diet.
The Lacto-Ovo vegetarian
The Lacto vegetarian
The Ovo vegetarian
The vegan
The Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian is the most common of the vegetarian diets.
It is a plant based diet and does not contain any animal flesh but does use eggs & milk which are byproducts of animals.
The lacto vegetarian consumes dairy products but no eggs.
The ovo vegetarian is the opposite, consumption of eggs is practiced but no dairy.
A vegan diet is one wherein neither dairy nor eggs are consumed.
A healthy vegetarian diet is one that consists mainly of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds & grains. Since these foods do not contain complete proteins food combining must be followed in order to achieve optimal health. To combine daily proteins eat:
Grains & Legumes together
- rice & lentils, wheat & peas, bean burritos
Seeds or Nuts & Legumes
- chickpeas & sesame tahini (hummus), tofu & sesame
Grains & Milk or Eggs
- rice & eggs, quiche, French toast, lasagna
Vegetables & Milk or Eggs
- avocado with eggs, salad with sliced eggs, omelet with cheese, cream soups, eggplant parmesan
Usually the lacto-ovo vegetarian diet provides adequate protein, calcium, iron and vitamin B12 all of which are the mainstays of health.
While the vegetarian diet is very healthy, potential anemia is common thus it is important to monitor iron & B12 intake.
Some notable books & websites with recipes include:
What is a Vegan Diet?
A vegan diet is a branch of the vegetarian diet. It is very strict wherein no animal products are consumed, neither dairy nor eggs, nor butter are eaten and often many choose not to dress in leather goods made from animals as well. The main components of this diet are vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts & seeds. This diet is not advisable for children as it can be difficult to obtain a balanced intake of all the nutrients that are needed during growth. It can, however, be a very good therapeutic diet in cases of heart disease & high blood pressure, obesity and cancers of the colon, breast, uterus & prostate.
Some notable books & websites with recipes include:
What is a Pescatarean Diet?
A pescatarean diet is a diet where fish is added to a primarily vegan diet. Dairy, including milk, yogurt, butter & eggs are avoided as are poiulty and meats. All of the foods eaten are high in nutrients and fish protein & oils are chosen over milk & eggs.
Although there is a concern with potential environmental toxins and heavy metals in our fish, with the occasional fish consumption from mindful sources the benefits outweigh the concern.
To see a list of Environmental Sound Fish click here: http://www.ewg.org/research/ewgs-good-seafood-guide
What is a gluten free diet?
A gluten free diet is a diet in which none of the gluten containing grains are consumed.
Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in grains such as:
wheat, rye, spelt, barley, kamut, triticale and some processed oats
Gluten responsible for the elasticity of dough.
For those with celiac disease, a gluten free diet is essential.
Unless stated otherwise, all commercially prepared breads, pastas & baked goods made with “flour”, pita breads, wraps, crackers, cookies, bagels, muffins, cakes, “multigrain” products, whole wheat, white flour, “bran”, breaded foods, semolina, couscous, bulgur, durham flour, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, gluten, MSG, soy sauce, sauces & soups thickened with flour CONTAIN gluten.
It seems that in North America in modern times we have hybridized commonly consumed grains such as wheat to contain far more gluten than traditional wheat.
This higher amount of gluten challenges our digestive tracts so much so that even those who have not been diagnosed with celiac disease are commonly sensitive to wheat.
Some notable books & websites with recipes include:
BOOKS:
Wheat Belly, William Davis
Wheat Belly Cookbook, William Davis
WEBSITES:
General Celiac Disease Information: www.celiac.ca, www.celiac.com
Gluten-free in Toronto: www.glutenfreeontario.ca/toronto.htm
Unsafe Gluten-free food list: www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsafe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Unsafe-Ingredients/Page1.html
Writing off Gluten-free foods as a medical expense: www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/clc-eng.html