Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

The Paleo Diet: A Good Alternative For Those With Celiac and Gluten Intolerance?

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I’m a carb and sugar lover, and I’m guessing I’m not alone among Americans.  Pizza, bread sticks, pasta, bread. . . we are a nation that loves carbs.  For many of us, though, digesting carbs is a challenge.  Dr. Joseph Murray of the Mayo Clinic analyzed blood samples from the 1950s to those now and “confirms estimates that about 1 percent of U.S. adults have [Celiac] today, making it four times more common now than it was 50 years ago”  (CBSNews.com).  Nearly that same amount has Celiac disease but have not yet been diagnosed

Even if you don’t have Celiac, you may have trouble with carbs.  I’m intolerant to gluten, wheat and many other grains.  When I eat them, I feel like I can’t breathe and get dizzy.  Thanks to my many intolerances, I turned to the Paleo Diet.

What Is the Paleo Diet?

The Paleo DietThe Paleo Diet is based on the idea that you’re health will be optimal if you eat like our Paleolithic ancestors did.  That means eating grass fed meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, eggs and nuts.

What’s off limits?  Grains, rice, sugar, beans, processed foods, dairy, and certain types of oil.  If you’re like most Americans, the off limit items probably make up a large portion of your diet, so if you’re thinking of moving to a Paleo diet, I recommend transitioning slowly.  Maybe first give up sugar, then dairy, then grains, etc.  Give yourself at least a month to transition off each so you don’t feel deprived giving everything up at once.

Why Grass Fed Meat?

Traditional meat on the market today comes from animals that are fed a diet heavy on corn and are fattened up on feed lots.  Their diet causes them to produce less omega-3.  When we consume the meat, we develop high levels of omega-6, which is bad for the human body and can cause inflammation.

Cows and lambs especially that are fed an entirely grass fed diet are rich in omega-3, which is good for your body.  According to a 2011 study in the British Journal of Nutrition, “Eating moderate amounts of grass-fed meat for only 4 weeks will give you healthier levels of essential fats.  The British research showed that healthy volunteers who ate grass-fed meat increased their blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids and decreased their level of pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids.  These changes are linked with a lower risk of a host of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, and inflammatory disease” (Eat Wild).

If you’re going to be eating a large quantity of meat on the Paleo diet, you want it to be the best meat available.

Other Health Benefits of the Paleo Diet

You may have seen the project where a photographer captured what families around the world consume in a week.  What is most startling is how much processed foods and how few fruits and vegetables Americans eat.

If you follow the Paleo diet, yes, you’re eating a diet heavy in meat (but if it’s grass-fed, it’s healthier meat), BUT you’re also eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.  Before I began the Paleo diet, I’m ashamed to admit that I only ate 2 to 3 fruits and vegetables a day.  Now I easily get 7 to 10 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables a day.

What Comes Next

Sure, maybe now you’re convinced that there are benefits to following the Paleo diet, especially if you have a gluten or even dairy intolerance.  However, I’m guessing you’re probably ready to argue that the Paleo diet is too expensive to follow.  While it IS more expensive than a traditional American diet, there are ways to cut corners and make the Paleo diet more affordable, which I’ll explain in my next post.

Have you tried the Paleo diet?  What are your thoughts?

Original Image Credit: Banksy’s Caveman by Lord Jim, on Flickr

The Financial Toll of Special Diets

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wheatSpecial diets (unlike regular old diets like Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, or even simpler ones like the Slow Carb Diet) are almost always a result of some sort of food intolerance or disease.  Lactose intolerance requires that the afflicted person refrain from milk and dairy product that contain lactose.  Of course, there are milk and dairy replacements.  You can buy soy milk or almond milk, for instance, to replace the commonly used cows milk.  The difference is cost.

Another special diet is the gluten free diet.  Gluten is one of the building block proteins in grass grains like wheat, rye, and barley (and others).  Stop for a second and think about that.  Do a mental assessment of your pantry.  How much of that stuff has one of those grains in it?  Now, add about 20% or so, because much of it that you wouldn’t think has those grains (or their by-products) in it, does.  Soy sauce?  Wheat.  Soup?  Wheat flour for thickening.  Seasoning mixes?  Wheat flour.  There are replacements for almost all of those things.  And, again, the main difference is cost.  (well, some flavor too, but that’s another topic for another day.)

It’s how much?!?

How much of a price difference are we talking?  Around here, a gallon of 1% fat cows milk costs about $3.50.  On Amazon, right now, you can buy an 18 pack of 8.25 ounce Silk Soy Milks for $20.  Let’s compare ounce for ounce.  The cows milk costs about $0.028 per ounce.  ($3.50/128 ounces)  The soy milk?  $0.135 per ounce.  ($20/148.5 ounces)  That’s a difference of over $0.10 an ounce.  There’s 128 ounces in a gallon.  How many gallons of milk do you and your family use in a given week or month?  If you want to talk about gluten replacements, the average price for a loaf of gluten free bread is about $6.  I bought wheat bread at the store the other day for $1.29! Pasta is just as bad.  A package of gluten free spaghetti is usually about $3-5.  The wheat stuff can be found, on sale, for about $0.25-$1.00 for an equivalent size package.

Budget Breaker

It doesn’t take an accountant to add that up and figure out how much of a difference in your finances a special diet can make.  Or, how much of a skewing factor it plays in a budget.  Suddenly, your budget for food has to be quite a bit higher than it used to be.  And, of course, the financial toll is that it sucks up funds that could easily be used for something else should the diet not be necessary.

Planning for the Extra Cost

If you have to eat a special diet, you probably know the added cost that it adds to your budget.  But, what about someone just venturing into a special diet?  How do you budget for the extra cost?  You can either do your research and get a really good idea of what it will cost, or you can just leave yourself a very nice cushion until you know for sure.  Researching is probably the more likely choice, I would think.  Take a look on Amazon and see what some of the replacement items will cost.  Compare to what you normally buy.  That should give you a rough guess as to how much your costs will increase for certain items.  Using your normal expenditure as a starting point, you can then make an educated guess as to how much you should budget for in the coming months as you begin your special diet.

Eat Fresh

Another way to offset some of the cost is to eat more fresh food.  Adding more fruit and vegetables into your diet won’t increase your cost any more than the new special diet food and will likely make you healthier for it.

Photo Credit: wheat by sky_mitch