Hello there, welcome to my first blog! I've always wanted to blog, but I really wasn't passionate about anything to blog about, until now. I talk about the Paleo lifestyle a lot in real life. I worry about it being annoying to my family sometimes, but they need to hear it. Being healthy is important. So, I thought about a blog. It's a great way for me to "talk" about what I love & get information to my family & friends on their time when they feel like reading this blog.
First, I should explain what Paleo is. Keep in mind, this is not a diet people follow to lose the last unwanted pounds before swimsuit season. It's not a diet you count calories and points. It's a way of eating for the rest of your life. I know that's dramatic, but it's true. Of course, there will be times when you'll eat something not Paleo and that's ok. Life should be enjoyable and if you feel like having ice cream once in a while, go for it.
What to Eat
Let's get to the nitty gritty - I'm sure you're wondering what you should eat and what you should avoid when eating Paleo. Here it is:
Eat:
- Meat / Fish
- Vegetables / Fruit
- Fats
- Seeds / Nuts
Avoid:
- Dairy
- Legumes
- Refined Sugar
- Grains
The avoid list is probably freaking you out a little, isn't it? Grain and dairy are very prominent in the Standard American Diet, so it may seem like it's impossible to eat this way. It's not.
The main focus of the modern Paleo diet is nutrient density. Most of what you eat will have a great deal of vitamins and minerals. Those are called micronutrients, you'll see that word a lot. Even sweeteners and cooking oils will have something that will benefit your body!
Intolerance's
Now, there is wiggle room. For example, I eat grassfed butter. It's dairy, obvs. Grassfed butter is considered a super food to the Paleo community. If you tolerate dairy or that form of dairy, you should eat the butter! When you first start the Paleo diet you want to cut out all the bad foods, probably for at least a month. That's what I did. When I started eating dairy a little I found out that I do not tolerate it in the form of yogurt, cheese & milk. I can tolerate butter. Yogurt and cheese gave me digestive issues, for others it may give them skin irritation. Everyone's different. Just be aware of what symptoms you're experiencing.
Cooking Oils
Something else that's a little different is your cooking oils. You will have to stop cooking with canola oil, vegetable oil (which is probably soy), even olive oil. Those oils are unstable at high heat & canola and vegetable oils are very processed. Instead, you will cook with coconut oil, grassfed butter, ghee (clarified butter), or animal fat! I'll go into more detail on cooking fats/oils in an upcoming post.
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| The cooking fats I use most. |
Fat & Cholesterol
Eating fat does NOT MAKE you fat. When you stop eating an American Standard Diet, your body will start to burn fat for energy. You need fat! Now, I'm not talking about trans fats here. I'm talking about fats like omega 3s. Same with cholesterol, eating cholesterol only increases your cholesterol by only 1% of the amount you just ate. AND your body needs it, your cells are made of cholesterol (a great book on cholesterol is "Cholesterol Clarity" by Jimmy Moore)
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| Grade B Maple Syrup, Dried Dates, Raw Honey & Coconut Sugar |
Sugars
Sugar is bad for you. I think everyone knows that, but i want to refresh your memory. Too much sugar can cause liver disease, heart disease, and cancer. Also, sugar makes you hungrier by releasing a hunger hormone, Leptin. Not only are you eating sugar, but you are also eating more than you normally would because of the Leptin release. On this diet when you want something sweet, you should use raw honey, grade b maple syrup, coconut sugar, dates, etc. These sweeteners have micronutrients! At least when you have a treat, it will do your body some good. You may be wondering why only raw honey and not regular honey. That's because the pasteurization takes out the nutrients. Same thing for maple syrup. Try to avoid refined sugar and keep the your intake of sugar low.
Processed Foods
One last thing, no processed foods are allowed. Most processed foods are made of sugar & grain. Even food that appears to be Paleo compliant, is probably not. There's corn and soy in most packaged food. To be clear, corn is a grain and soy is a legume - both on the no list. It'd be nice if we could just have real food instead of weird additives like corn syrup and soy lecithin in our food. Take Chocolate for example - it's allowed on the Paleo diet. BUT, you have to be careful because soy lecithin is in chocolate 9 times out of 10. Why?! Who knows? A good brand of chocolate is Lindt. The 90% chocolate bars have very little sugar, no weird ingredients and are easy to find in grocery stores.
This may be overwhelming for some people. It's a lot of information and science all at once. Just take your time and research. You may not want to do it because it seems too hard. Being unhealthy is harder. Or you don't want to give up your morning cereal or ice cream. There are Paleo versions of those! You may be thinking about your budget. You can make this fit your budget. Think about the money on soda you'll save. It's up to $2 for a 2-liter now! Think about money you'll save on doctor & dentist bills! Hopefully, you get my point. Start small, don't get overwhelmed & stress out. Maybe instead of cereal for breakfast, you could eat egg muffins (just scramble the eggs and add meat and veggies. Bake in muffin tins) or Paleo granola and coconut milk. Or stop drinking soda and drink water or tea instead.
The Paleo Mom has I quote I love - "It's only effort until it's routine". So true.
I can't possibly tell you everything about the Paleo diet. I'll leave it to the experts. I really like Diane Sanfillipo's way of explaining the Paleo diet and the science behind it.
Click here to read her explanation of the paleo diet & check out her book - Practical Paleo. I think it's a great first Paleo book. It's half information, half recipes.
Here are a couple of my favorite Paleo recipes just to give you an idea of what Paleo food is like. I've made both of these multiple times & they are a couple of my husband's favorites. Click the link for the recipes.
I've touched on it here, but in my next post, I'll talk more about grains.
