Pegan Diet: What You Should Know

The stick diet is based on the consumption of plant-based foods. It consists of a combination of the paleo diet with the vegan diet. The paleo diet is the one that follows the diet that our ancestors had in the Palaeolithic age and that ensures an improvement in health in the medium term.

Before starting we want to emphasize that the intake of vegetables is positive. Eating these products frequently is associated with a lower risk of complex diseases. However, variety is taste and to ensure a good diet it is necessary to vary the ingredients that make up the dishes. Tight restrictions often lead to deficits.

What is the stick diet based on?

The stick diet has been developed by the American nutritionist named Mark Hyman. The main idea of ​​the paleo diet, and that adopts the stick diet, is not to consume processed foods of any kind.

It is not just about eating the food our ancestors ate, but also consuming it the way they ate it. That is why you cannot consume refined foods, cold cuts, sausages, etc.

In addition, when combining the vegan diet with the paleo diet, only foods of plant origin are consumed, but the rule of not being able to consume processed foods will be maintained. For this reason, foods such as tofu or tempé are discarded.

It should be noted that the restriction of this type of products is positive for health. This is demonstrated by a study published in the journal BMJ, where the intake of processed foods is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk.

What are the keys to the diet stick?

The success of this diet is in the ingredients, which have to be natural, free of chemicals and other artificial transformations. 75% of the diet must be based on vegetables and vegetables, which must be natural, of authentic origin, ecological and sustainable.

Healthy fats are necessary, as they play a fundamental role in the health of the body. Avocado, coconut oil, nuts or extra virgin olive oil are more than welcome. Healthy fats provide, among other nutrients, essential fatty acids.

In the diet they stick the meat is from grass animals, the fish must be wild and the eggs must be organic. Legumes, and especially lentils, are allowed. The daily intake of legumes should be one cup.

Gluten-free cereals such as quinoa, amaranth, gluten-free oats, corn, rice or millet are consumed. However, sugars and refined grains are eliminated. The consumption of sugars increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and excess weight.

In addition, the paste diet eliminates dairy products and replaces them, for example, with vegetable drinks such as soy or oatmeal drinks. However, this is not a positive aspect, since it could incur a calcium deficit. The latest studies show that dairy consumption protects against long-term bone pathologies.

What benefits does the diet stick?

This style of eating does not exclude any essential ingredient for the body. However, it gives you, in balance, everything you need to have energy and function well. Its main properties are the following:

Balances blood glucose and insulin levels

As it is a diet with a low glycemic load, it balances the levels of insulin and glucose in the blood, since it contains little or no flour and no refined carbohydrates.

Following the paste diet  helps to improve the symptoms of diabetes, stress, anxiety and other pathologies associated with alterations in blood sugar.

Regulates cholesterol

This action on cholesterol also reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, it improves inflammation thanks to the contribution of omega-3, which can be obtained from flax, oily fish, seaweed and walnuts, and the decrease in meat consumption.

Regular intake of omega 3 series lipids has been shown to be a protective factor against multiple diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.

Low toxicity

This type of diet promotes the consumption of local, ecological, non-toxic products and of animals raised with respect. It can help you lose and maintain a healthy weight.

How healthy is sticking to the diet?

The question is whether diet stick is really healthy and can help us maintain a healthy weight. The biggest problem with this diet is that it becomes too strict, precisely because of the combination of the other two.

In addition, it also limits the consumption of legumes, some proteins of vegetable origin and any food that has been minimally processed. In case you decide to follow it, it is best that you do it under the control of a nutritionist.

Diet stick could improve health

It should be remembered that, so far, no evidence has been found that this type of diet has any advantage over other types of less strict diets.

Despite its benefits, any of the other two diets that the diet combines, both the paleo and the vegan, are less strict and more recommended in the long term.