A paleo diet could help you slim down
There are plenty of weight loss plans out there, but which is the best? New research suggests that eating like a caveman might be the answer.
Following a diet similar to our Stone Age ancestors could be one of the most effective ways to slim.
Scientists found that after following women for two years, those who ate like their predecessors lost twice as must body fat in the first six months as those on the modern-day diet.
Waistlines also shrunk be a greater amount and the levels of harmful blood fats declined more sharply.
The cavewoman – or paleo – diet focuses on foods like berries, nuts, vegetables and lean meat and forbids foods like cereals, beans, dairy products and pasta.
In a report on their findings, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the researchers said: 'A paleolithic diet has greater beneficial effects than a Nordic diet regarding fat mass, abdominal obesity and triglyceride levels in obese postmenopausal women.'
By the end of the two-year study, there was much less of a difference between the two groups, suggesting weight loss slowed in those on the Stone Age diet.
Catherine Collins, chief dietician at St Georges Hospital in London said the Stone Age diet appeared to accelerate weight loss in the first six months.
But she stressed women appeared to lose less fat as the study progressed.
She said to the Mail Online: 'This may be because the paleolithic diet is very low in protein, lacking in meat, eggs, cheese and milk. One of the effects of that is to slow the body's metabolic rate (the rate at which it burns calories). As the metabolic rate declines, at some point that will stop you losing weight.'
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