The term diet has been spun into something that it is not.  More often than not if one says 'Diet' it is seen as a temporary or fad like thing in order to lose weight or augment your lifestyle for temporary gain.  Diet in its definition means the continual eating habits of a creature.  So, we know cows mostly eat grass and that is their diet.  Predators are carnivores and subsist mostly on meats.  Somehow a diet has become misconstrued over the years as something else.  It is now a marketable term and not true to its meaning.  So, with trepidation, I often say I am on the Paleo diet and it is misunderstood as something akin to the Atkins diet for meat eaters or that I only consume what cavemen ate which is wholly untrue and often leads to crooked eyebrows or being told I don't need to be on a diet, that eating red meats will kill me, or some other myth perpetuated by misguided information.  This mental programming of the word diet along with the 'diets' in question is part of the problem with health and nutrition.  Diet is part of your lifestyle and what you can handle ingesting on a continual basis and what your body should be fed habitually.

We as humans don't really have a solidified diet per se according to nature.  There are things which we should and should not eat but we have a very robust system that allows us both meats and vegetables and some in-between items.  There are a lot of things that we cannot adapt to though and should be removed from the body altogether in order to achieve optimal energy levels and ease digestion.  We can eat and pass pennies but that doesn't mean it is good for our body and you may or may not have adverse affects from doing so.   The same can be said for gluten, legumes, dairy, sugar etc. all of which can have adverse affects, hidden or visible.

Raise your hand if you have a soda within arms reach (that's Pop to you northerners)?  I used to be right there with you.  I was drinking a 2 liter about every 2 days along with hitting up drink machines through the day.  I was a Pepsi-aholic.  I drank Pepsi for the better part of my life which was the greater part of my nearly 37 years on the planet.  That's a LOT of soda.  I remembered in the 80's that Pepsi had a very distinct difference in flavor and it wasn't until the Throwbacks came out did I come to understand the difference in sugars.  I won't lie.  I loved the taste and the carbonation and I still have the urge to grab one every once in a while but for the most part my addiction is curbed.  Addiction.  Yeah that's exactly what it is and studies are now showing that sugar has a higher addiction rate than cocaine (at least according to some rats that the tests were run on).

I won't be one of those ex-people that tells you that it's a bad habit and you need to quit but I will expose the potential harm, why I stopped, and what exactly you're consuming.

If this is your first approach at a Paleo or Primal diet after years of living on the SAD (Sandard American Diet) it is likely you will have detox symptoms. This isn't so different than that of a drug addict but less severe. You will have insatiable cravings for foods, you may have flu like symptoms, and you may just have lethargy and general fatigue. This may be referred to as a Herxheimer reaction. This is typically relegated to those taking antibacterials and resembles bacterial sepsis but I use the term for detoxing, while maybe not clinically correct in its usage it does apply here.

Detox reactions are occurring due to the fact that you're eliminating the diet of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract. The die-off of critters in your gut happens at such a rate that the liver cannot handle the load and the result is a feeling of malaise. There's really little that one can do during this period which, depending on your state of health, may be a couple days or even weeks. Don't let this discourage you from taking on the change in diet though. You may go in feeling awful but on the other side it is worth the trouble and the elimination of the bad bacteria floating around the body. A lot of Paleo websites fail to mention this portion of things since there may be trepidation of those looking to change their diet and lifestyle. All I can say is to stay the course with it.

Things that can help during Detox:

• Epson Salt baths
• Magnesium Supplements
• Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
• L-Glutamine (which helps rebuild the gut lining)
• Plenty of fluids to help flush
• Milk Thistle to aid the liver
• Relaxation and Patience