What is a paleo/primal diet?
I know there are plenty of sources that can explain it better than me (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz27RTkFCxQ, for one)...but I've had many friends request more information about the way we eat...so I thought I'd give a (somewhat) simple breakdown.
The main thing with a paleo/primal diet is no wheat, no refined sugar. Basically the whole gist is to eat all REAL foods (meat, fruit, veggies, nuts). Stay away from anything that is processed or has additives in it...and limit your sugar intake (even real things like honey). Also, cook with good fats (coconut oil, butter, ghee, olive oil) and not with corn/vegetable oils.
If you want to be hardcore paleo, they say absolutely no grains at all (no wheat, no corn, no rice, etc.), no sugar, no white potatoes (only sweet potatoes), and no dairy. I'm not a hardcore paleo person...though when I started, I did full paleo plus dairy. Now, I've added back into my diet potato and some white rice. I don't feel those two things have as negative of effects as some of the other items excluded from the paleo diet...and adding them back hasn't seemed to affect my weight any (I've actually lost more since adding them back in), so I'm not worried about it. I've also, since beginning, cut out the dairy from our diets. My son has Celiac's and was still having some issues even though we've been gluten free for over 5 months. I'd read that the casein in dairy often causes similar reactions in people with Celiac's as gluten does, so I decided to cut it out for a few weeks. Low and behold, his symptoms disappeared...so we've been dairy-free ever since. On the occasions he has had dairy, I see flare-ups of his symptoms.
Anyway...to get back on topic. What can you eat on a paleo/primal diet? Well, you can have all the fresh meat you want. Stay away from processed meats with additives and buy all natural bacon/sausages if you must have them. You can eat all the vegetables you want. You can eat fruit...though fruit just turns into sugar once it enters your body, so I wouldn't go too crazy with the fruit if you want to maximize your weight loss. You can eat nuts...except for peanuts as they are legumes. You can eat sweet potatoes. You cannot eat wheat and other grains (corn, rice, barley, oats, etc.). You cannot eat legumes (no peas, beans, peanuts). You cannot eat refined sugar (HFCS, table sugar). You CAN eat natural sugars (honey, stevia, etc.)...but I, again, would limit your consumption of these for maximum weight loss. You cannot eat dairy (though I know many paleo people who disregard this one).
The above is the technical paleo/primal diet. As I already said, I'm not a super strict paleo person. We eat a mostly paleo and all gluten free diet. The only non-paleo items we eat now are white potatoes and white rice...though when I started this diet, I didn't eat either of those but still ate dairy.
What I always tell everyone when they're starting is to first give up wheat and sugar. If you can't go completely cold turkey with it (I know I couldn't myself), then keep track of how much you eat in a day and try cutting that amount in half and slowly weaning yourself off of it until you're able to completely go without. I always read how many carbohydrates were in each item I ate (I never counted the natural carbs in fruits/veggies in this) and tried to keep myself under 150g for the day. Then, I lowered that to 100g/day...then 50g/day until I felt able to just go without. Point being, if you need to do the transition in baby steps, then by all means, do so.
I feel like I should add in here that, once you go completely wheat/sugar free, you will feel bad for the first few days without the added carbs. You will likely be irritable and have a headache. You might even wake up multiple times at night dying of thirst. But, in the end, these things will pass. The way you will feel once your body gets used to the change will be well worth the few days of discomfort. Believe me. Just stick it out.
For my pescetarian/vegetarian/vegan friends, you can definitely be pescetarian paleo (just eat lots of fish instead of other meats). For full vegetarian/vegan paleo, I know it's difficult to get enough calories without "cheating" in some way.
The following website allows cheats with potatoes, peanut butter, and beans for vegans/vegetarians...which I don't think is a bad alternative if you're not eating meat...even though those things aren't technically paleo. As I keep repeating, I'm not a strict paleo person, but the main thing that I think is important with paleo is no wheat or sugar...so maybe you could just focus on cutting out bread but not being 100% paleo on the other things if you really want to try it.
http://www.gouri.info/green-living/go-vegan-paleo-the-best-diet-for-your-health-and-conscience
...oh...and there are "paleo" breads, muffins, pancakes, etc. you can make (using almond flour or coconut flour, usually)...so you would have some options of doing those occasionally if you wanted to to help fill in the gaps.
Here are some vegan paleo recipe sites:
http://www.vegiehead.com/vegan-paleo-recipes.html
http://vegafarmista.blogspot.com/2012/05/vegan-paleo-challenge-recipes-included.html
http://glutenfreewheatfreeveganentrees.blogspot.com/
For this one, some of these aren't technically paleo...but you could replace any of the wheat flours with almond/coconut flour and use spaghetti squash or chopped squash for noodles/lasagna-type pastas instead of regular noodles/pastas:
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-recipes-for-athletes/
Then there's this girl who only breaks the paleo rules by eating soybeans. I don't think soybeans are all that healthy for you and would advocate other beans/lentils instead of soybeans:
http://oliviadesantis.com/vegan-paleo.html
My favorite paleo recipe site is http://fastpaleo.com/category/all-recipes/. It does have meat on there...but also has categories for salads, veggies, smoothies, fruits, and baked goods...so it could be useful to you all.
As for my meat-eating friends, I always like to end with some food suggestions for what people can eat...as that seems to make things clearer in their minds as to what they can (and can't) have.
For breakfast, I always have eggs and bacon. My children usually have a big baked potato with lots of butter (or ghee or bacon fat if you can't use dairy). Sometimes they eat eggs and bacon too. For lunch, I have leftovers from dinner the night before. My kids have fruit/veggies (I usually halve a banana, halve an apple, give them a celery stick, and add berries/grapes to give each of them). For my kids' snacks (after naps), I usually give them something that they didn't have with their lunch but in the same category (fruit/veggie)...such as a banana or strawberries or yogurt (when they still ate dairy) or a smoothie (which is usually almond or coconut milk with berries and maybe a banana)...sometimes a veggie (usually carrot) <--and they only have one of those options for a snack, not all of them. lol. For dinner, we usually all eat the same thing...which is generally a meat with veggies and, sometimes, rice.
Here is an example dinner menu that usually lasts us 2 weeks...I never do a breakfast/lunch menu as we generally eat the same things every day for those (eggs/bacon for breakfast, leftovers for lunch):
Bun-less bacon burgers (usually served with a salad and sauteed mushrooms)
Baked Salmon with Lemon and a side of squash
Shepherd's pie (the potatoes aren't technically paleo, but many used mashed cooked cauliflower instead. Just look up a "cauliflower mashed potato" recipe)
Beef liver with mushrooms
Spaghetti and meatballs (using spaghetti squash)
Stuffed portabello mushrooms
Pork carnitas (no cheese or tortillas...just meat and veggies)
Roasted whole chicken with carrots and squash
Orange chicken with white rice (again, the rice isn't technically paleo...you can just eat with veggies instead if you want to be more strict than we are)
Brisket with carrots and spinach
Beef hash (use sweet potatoes in the hash to be strict paleo)
Taco meat with Spanish rice (skip the rice and eat on a salad or with veggies for full paleo)
Here are some paleo sites I like to look at for recipes. They've been useful to me and I hope they'll do the same for you:
http://www.paleoplan.com/recipes/
http://www.thefoodee.com/
http://fastpaleo.com/
http://www.health-bent.com/
http://www.chowstalker.com/
http://punchfork.com/paleo
http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-diet-recipes/#recipes
http://paleodietrecipes.net/wholesome-smoothie-recipes.html
http://nomnompaleo.com/
http://www.againstallgrain.com/main-dish-recipes/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-paleo-recipes/#axzz2pCFPHGlX
...and here are sites you can look into for additional information about the diet (and probably better explanations of it as well) if you want to:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz2HcfQ8Amc
http://chriskresser.com/
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/
http://www.archevore.com/
http://whole9life.com/2012/08/the-whole30-program/
The main thing with a paleo/primal diet is no wheat, no refined sugar. Basically the whole gist is to eat all REAL foods (meat, fruit, veggies, nuts). Stay away from anything that is processed or has additives in it...and limit your sugar intake (even real things like honey). Also, cook with good fats (coconut oil, butter, ghee, olive oil) and not with corn/vegetable oils.
If you want to be hardcore paleo, they say absolutely no grains at all (no wheat, no corn, no rice, etc.), no sugar, no white potatoes (only sweet potatoes), and no dairy. I'm not a hardcore paleo person...though when I started, I did full paleo plus dairy. Now, I've added back into my diet potato and some white rice. I don't feel those two things have as negative of effects as some of the other items excluded from the paleo diet...and adding them back hasn't seemed to affect my weight any (I've actually lost more since adding them back in), so I'm not worried about it. I've also, since beginning, cut out the dairy from our diets. My son has Celiac's and was still having some issues even though we've been gluten free for over 5 months. I'd read that the casein in dairy often causes similar reactions in people with Celiac's as gluten does, so I decided to cut it out for a few weeks. Low and behold, his symptoms disappeared...so we've been dairy-free ever since. On the occasions he has had dairy, I see flare-ups of his symptoms.
Anyway...to get back on topic. What can you eat on a paleo/primal diet? Well, you can have all the fresh meat you want. Stay away from processed meats with additives and buy all natural bacon/sausages if you must have them. You can eat all the vegetables you want. You can eat fruit...though fruit just turns into sugar once it enters your body, so I wouldn't go too crazy with the fruit if you want to maximize your weight loss. You can eat nuts...except for peanuts as they are legumes. You can eat sweet potatoes. You cannot eat wheat and other grains (corn, rice, barley, oats, etc.). You cannot eat legumes (no peas, beans, peanuts). You cannot eat refined sugar (HFCS, table sugar). You CAN eat natural sugars (honey, stevia, etc.)...but I, again, would limit your consumption of these for maximum weight loss. You cannot eat dairy (though I know many paleo people who disregard this one).
The above is the technical paleo/primal diet. As I already said, I'm not a super strict paleo person. We eat a mostly paleo and all gluten free diet. The only non-paleo items we eat now are white potatoes and white rice...though when I started this diet, I didn't eat either of those but still ate dairy.
What I always tell everyone when they're starting is to first give up wheat and sugar. If you can't go completely cold turkey with it (I know I couldn't myself), then keep track of how much you eat in a day and try cutting that amount in half and slowly weaning yourself off of it until you're able to completely go without. I always read how many carbohydrates were in each item I ate (I never counted the natural carbs in fruits/veggies in this) and tried to keep myself under 150g for the day. Then, I lowered that to 100g/day...then 50g/day until I felt able to just go without. Point being, if you need to do the transition in baby steps, then by all means, do so.
I feel like I should add in here that, once you go completely wheat/sugar free, you will feel bad for the first few days without the added carbs. You will likely be irritable and have a headache. You might even wake up multiple times at night dying of thirst. But, in the end, these things will pass. The way you will feel once your body gets used to the change will be well worth the few days of discomfort. Believe me. Just stick it out.
For my pescetarian/vegetarian/vegan friends, you can definitely be pescetarian paleo (just eat lots of fish instead of other meats). For full vegetarian/vegan paleo, I know it's difficult to get enough calories without "cheating" in some way.
The following website allows cheats with potatoes, peanut butter, and beans for vegans/vegetarians...which I don't think is a bad alternative if you're not eating meat...even though those things aren't technically paleo. As I keep repeating, I'm not a strict paleo person, but the main thing that I think is important with paleo is no wheat or sugar...so maybe you could just focus on cutting out bread but not being 100% paleo on the other things if you really want to try it.
http://www.gouri.info/green-living/go-vegan-paleo-the-best-diet-for-your-health-and-conscience
...oh...and there are "paleo" breads, muffins, pancakes, etc. you can make (using almond flour or coconut flour, usually)...so you would have some options of doing those occasionally if you wanted to to help fill in the gaps.
Here are some vegan paleo recipe sites:
http://www.vegiehead.com/vegan-paleo-recipes.html
http://vegafarmista.blogspot.com/2012/05/vegan-paleo-challenge-recipes-included.html
http://glutenfreewheatfreeveganentrees.blogspot.com/
For this one, some of these aren't technically paleo...but you could replace any of the wheat flours with almond/coconut flour and use spaghetti squash or chopped squash for noodles/lasagna-type pastas instead of regular noodles/pastas:
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-recipes-for-athletes/
Then there's this girl who only breaks the paleo rules by eating soybeans. I don't think soybeans are all that healthy for you and would advocate other beans/lentils instead of soybeans:
http://oliviadesantis.com/vegan-paleo.html
My favorite paleo recipe site is http://fastpaleo.com/category/all-recipes/. It does have meat on there...but also has categories for salads, veggies, smoothies, fruits, and baked goods...so it could be useful to you all.
As for my meat-eating friends, I always like to end with some food suggestions for what people can eat...as that seems to make things clearer in their minds as to what they can (and can't) have.
For breakfast, I always have eggs and bacon. My children usually have a big baked potato with lots of butter (or ghee or bacon fat if you can't use dairy). Sometimes they eat eggs and bacon too. For lunch, I have leftovers from dinner the night before. My kids have fruit/veggies (I usually halve a banana, halve an apple, give them a celery stick, and add berries/grapes to give each of them). For my kids' snacks (after naps), I usually give them something that they didn't have with their lunch but in the same category (fruit/veggie)...such as a banana or strawberries or yogurt (when they still ate dairy) or a smoothie (which is usually almond or coconut milk with berries and maybe a banana)...sometimes a veggie (usually carrot) <--and they only have one of those options for a snack, not all of them. lol. For dinner, we usually all eat the same thing...which is generally a meat with veggies and, sometimes, rice.
Here is an example dinner menu that usually lasts us 2 weeks...I never do a breakfast/lunch menu as we generally eat the same things every day for those (eggs/bacon for breakfast, leftovers for lunch):
Bun-less bacon burgers (usually served with a salad and sauteed mushrooms)
Baked Salmon with Lemon and a side of squash
Shepherd's pie (the potatoes aren't technically paleo, but many used mashed cooked cauliflower instead. Just look up a "cauliflower mashed potato" recipe)
Beef liver with mushrooms
Spaghetti and meatballs (using spaghetti squash)
Stuffed portabello mushrooms
Pork carnitas (no cheese or tortillas...just meat and veggies)
Roasted whole chicken with carrots and squash
Orange chicken with white rice (again, the rice isn't technically paleo...you can just eat with veggies instead if you want to be more strict than we are)
Brisket with carrots and spinach
Beef hash (use sweet potatoes in the hash to be strict paleo)
Taco meat with Spanish rice (skip the rice and eat on a salad or with veggies for full paleo)
Here are some paleo sites I like to look at for recipes. They've been useful to me and I hope they'll do the same for you:
http://www.paleoplan.com/recipes/
http://www.thefoodee.com/
http://fastpaleo.com/
http://www.health-bent.com/
http://www.chowstalker.com/
http://punchfork.com/paleo
http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-diet-recipes/#recipes
http://paleodietrecipes.net/wholesome-smoothie-recipes.html
http://nomnompaleo.com/
http://www.againstallgrain.com/main-dish-recipes/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-paleo-recipes/#axzz2pCFPHGlX
...and here are sites you can look into for additional information about the diet (and probably better explanations of it as well) if you want to:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz2HcfQ8Amc
http://chriskresser.com/
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/
http://www.archevore.com/
http://whole9life.com/2012/08/the-whole30-program/
You don't like using hyperlinks do you? Black...
ReplyDeleteI've had many people ask me for sites to look at and recipe links. I figured it'd be easier to list them all in one post and then I could just start directing friends to that post instead of having to copy/paste the links all over again. :P
Delete