Is the paleo diet good for cellulite prevention and skin firmness?

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• What is the paleolithic diet? Is it good for cellulite prevention or reduction?

• Are potatoes, honey and date paleo? How about agave syrup?

• Paleo diet, clean eating and cellulite

• Is the paleo diet good for cellulite prevention / reduction then? How about skin firmness?

• A modified paleolithic diet?

• Paleo lifestyle and cellulite

• Is the paleo diet easy or practical?

• Will the paleo diet get rid of all my cellulite or firm up my skin?

• Check our professional consultancy in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

What is the paleolithic diet? Is it good for cellulite prevention or reduction?

The paleo diet (a diet similar to the keto diet and to the carnivore diet, but not the same) is based on the premise that we should eat like our carnivore caveman/cavewoman ancestors did in the last 150,000 years.

This basically means no dairy (milk, cheese, yoghurt, cream etc), no grains (wheat, rice, corn, oats etc), no pulses and of course no sugar and no alcohol - plus lots of daily physical activity.

(This means no avocado and poached eggs on toast - not even on chickpea toast. So there goes the influencer’s instagram/tiktok post, sorry. But hey, one can post smoked salmon, eggs and avo instead, as it also looks good on social media and it is 100% paleo.)

Meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts are allowed, as they were always part of our ancestral diet.

Ideally, meat and poultry should be grass-fed and fish wild caught.

Fried food is obviously not paleo either, although some would twist all the rules to eat some unhealthy food.

Are potatoes, honey and date paleo? How about agave syrup?

There is debate in the paleo community about foods like potatoes, while some accept sweet potatoes and yams.

Honey and dates are supposed to be consumed rarely, as they have not been freely available throughout our evolution, yes some people gorge on them, erroneously thinking that sugar can be “paleo” if it’s “natural”.

For example, raw cane sugar, despite being “all natural” is obviously neither paleo nor healthy. Whoever says that raw cane sugar is natural, they haven’t seen the teeth of the indigenous people who consume 100% natural and raw cane sugar (hint: lots of rotten teeth).

Neither things like the horrid agave syrup, made up of 80% fructose (really bad for you, unless in whole fruits) and 20% glucose (bad for you unless in wholemeal starches) and found in some paleo bars, could ever be paleo. Never in a million years.

Let’s not twist everything…

Paleo diet, clean eating and cellulite

Given that our ancestors lacked the tools to create the highly processed foods of today, the paleo diet also places emphasis on minimal food processing and clean eating.

This precludes things like bacon, protein powders, potato crisps, pork scratchings, nut “milks” or protein bars, which can be unnatural / highly processed or made with unhealthy cooking processes such as frying.

Most “paleo” protein bars, specifically, could qualify as junk food, with all the hidden sugar in them, in the form of honey, dates, dehydrated apple juice (basically pure sugar) etc. Not to mention the questionable protein and fats in them and their highly processed nature.

Obviously, no ultra-processed / junk food can ever be paleo or good for cellulite, despite whether it is disguised as “paleo” or not.

Is the paleo diet good for cellulite prevention / reduction then? How about skin firmness?

Many diets can be effective against cellulite / skin looseness, as long as they are restrictive enough to reduce our modern food overconsumption and as long as they emphasise:

• Reduced calorie intake (basically less carbs and saturated fat)

• Higher lean protein intake (eggs, lean meat, fish, poultry)

• High fibre and polyphenol intake (basically veg, herbs, spices and fruit)

• No/minimal alcohol or sugar

• No trans fats, frying, BPA and other unhealthy food ingredients / food prepapring practices / additives

It is clear from the above that among all diets, the paleo diet is the closest to the ideal anti-cellulite diet.

A modified paleolithic diet?

Personally I would add:

• Pulses to this diet, as they can offer decent amounts of protein combined with some complex carbs and polyphenols (a good example is black beans) and require minimal processing (just boiling / simmering / steaming (of course, things such as lentil / chickpea crisps, are neither paleo nor healthy, as they are highly processed)

• Plus the occasional high-polyphenol “carbs”, such as black rice or black quinoa

But the last two additions would mean that we are not talking about the paleo diet anymore - perhaps a “modified paleo diet”.

Paleo lifestyle and cellulite

Since our ancestors never smoked, never took hormonal contraception and were physically active A LOT, it is obvious that an overall paleo lifestyle (i.e. lots of physical activity every day) is ideal for smooth, firm skin and healthy blood vessels, not just on the thighs but on the whole body too.

Yes, the paleo diet is restrictive, but all diets that maintain a healthy body weight have to be restrictive against today’s unhealthy habits that lead to degenerative diseases (and cellulite).

Is the paleo diet easy or practical?

Paleo can be quite practical but, like all such diets, it also requires organisation and discipline.

Plus, like all healthy diets, it requires constant conscious decisions not to succumb to the unhealthy temptations all around us, especially in a world obsessed with things like ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and how to make the perfect cake (i.e. the most fattening, sugary, fatty, diabetes-producing, unhealthy cake).

By definition, that is not very easy.

But hey, if healthy living in today’s world was easy, almost no one would suffer from obesity, diabetes, heart disease or cellulite.

Will the paleo diet get rid of all my cellulite or firm up my skin?

A paleo lifestyle, as defined above, can definitely prevent cellulite and can also help reduce it too.

But no diet (or even treatment) can ever “get rid” of cellulite, unless the cellulite is recent or minimal.

A good cellulite treatment (basically deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and high-power ultrasound cavitation) and/or real cellulite cream (basically one with multiple, high-purity anti-cellulite actives in high concentrations) will help with fast cellulite reduction.

But in all cases, healthy diet (paleo or not) and exercise are absolutely essential for cellulite reduction - even when you receive a cellulite treatment and/or use a cellulite cream.

Check our professional consultancy in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

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