What Is Paleo and NOT Food? Red Light!

What is paleo? Isn’t that a diet? Yes, it is, among other things. The paleo diet is sometimes called the Stone Age diet, hunter-gatherer diet, and caveman diet.

The paleo diet is a diet that is based on the foods we assume our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate. Given that their way of preparing food was quite limited, as well as the fact that they didn’t have access to many food groups, there are many foods that aren’t allowed in the paleo diet.

However, paleo is not just a diet. While a big part of it is what you eat, it is also a lifestyle. A paleo lifestyle involves a lot of activity, spending time outdoors, getting enough rest, and following your natural circadian rhythm. 

Another thing that’s very much paleo is – red light therapy. How? We’ll get to it. Let’s explain the philosophy behind paleo first, and then see how red light fits in.

What’s the Philosophy Behind Paleo?

A paleo diet is a nutrition plan that is based on food similar to the types of foods our ancient ancestors had access to. To be more precise, it includes foods that were accessible in the paleolithic period (2.5 million to 10,000 years ago). 

Sorry everyone, but that means no cheese or any sort of dairy. Farming, which is necessary for cheese production, emerged only about 10,000 years ago. The same goes for grains and legumes. Before that period, they were simply not a part of human nutrition.

The key to the paleo diet is something called the discordance hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that the human body isn’t adapted enough to the modern diet that came with farming practices. With farming came grains, legumes, and dairy, but the human digestive system didn’t have the time to adapt and evolve to use it as proper fuel. 

Those who trust this hypothesis to be true think that this mismatch is one of the main causes of the high occurrence of diabetes, increasing numbers of heart disease cases, and even the obesity epidemic. 

What Can You Eat?

There are more and less restrictive versions of the paleo diet, but as a general rule of thumb, you can enjoy the following:

• Nuts
• Seeds
• Fruits and vegetables
• Grass-fed animal meat
• Wild game meat
• Fish 

Which Food to Avoid?

• All types of processed foods
• Refined sugar
• Dairy 
• Grains
• Legumes
• Potatoes
• Salt

How Does Red Light Therapy Fit into the Paleo Diet and Lifestyle?

Diet is a big part of the paleo lifestyle, but it is not all of it. If there is one difference that’s immediately obvious, it’s the amount of time our ancestors spent outside. Our bodies are adapted to live under natural daylight. 

However, that is not the case for modern man. We spend less and less time outdoors. This has been happening for the last couple of centuries, so our bodies have had no way of adjusting to it so quickly. 

Sunlight is necessary for our health and wellbeing just as much as food and water are. One of the most important energizing processes your body has is using certain frequencies of sunlight to produce ATP (energetic currency of our body) and keep your body running at an optimal level.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get natural sunlight, especially if you live in a big city. Skyscrapers block the sun, you spend most of your day in transportation or an office. By the time you are home, the sun is already setting, or you are too exhausted to go out for a walk.

That’s where red light therapy comes into play. Red light therapy is an umbrella term for light therapy that uses wavelengths that correspond to the red and near-infrared light spectrum. FlexBeam, for example, uses identical wavelengths that you perceive as the red light of the sunrise and sunset. 

Those are energizing and healing wavelengths that your body needs to function. Red light therapy devices can supplement your daily exposure to sunlight and help you balance out your circadian rhythm. In other words, you can experience many benefits of sun simply by using a red light therapy device.

How Can Red Light Therapy Support Your Paleo Lifestyle?

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors spent more time outdoors, had a different diet, slept better, moved more, and had healthier gut microbiota, according to paleo lifestyle experts. These factors influenced different aspects of their lives. 

Given that the modern lifestyle is dramatically changing, it is next to impossible to maintain a healthy paleo regimen without making sacrifices. However, red light therapy can help because it helps the body heal itself and support its natural processes. Here are some of the ways paleo and red light make an amazing combination.

Boosts Immunity

The paleo diet is rich in vitamins and minerals that are essential for building and maintaining a strong immune system. This is one of the most commonly recognized benefits of red light therapy – better immunity. 

At the same time, as red light therapy can improve gut health, it can also help your digestive system make the most of all the healthy nutrients from your diet.

Balancing Hormones

The building blocks of our hormones are neurotransmitter fats (otherwise known as lipids and cholesterols), but also amino acids. The paleo diet is rich in these elements. High-quality sources of proteins and fats directly influence your hormonal balance and production.  

Red light therapy helps those building blocks come together in a more efficient way. It influences the signaling in your body necessary for triggering hormone production. Again, paleo and red light therapy make a winning combination.

Improved Sleep

Insomnias can be primary and secondary. Primary insomnia is a condition on its own and isn’t a symptom of another illness. Secondary insomnia can be caused by diabetes, restless leg syndrome, thyroid conditions, and more. According to Psychology Today, paleo helps alleviate many of these conditions, consequently helping the body get better sleep.

Red light therapy, on the other hand, helps with regulating melatonin production, which is necessary for establishing healthy sleeping patterns. Together, these two are a recipe for high-quality rest.

Once again, it is obvious that red light therapy has some amazing benefits, but not just that. It is always there to give all your other efforts a much-needed boost. 

You will get more nutrients from your diet, make your exercise more efficient, and make your sleep deeper. Those are just some of the reasons why it is essential to have your own red light therapy device handy, as your main tool for tackling the challenges of the modern world and busy lifestyle.