Ultimate Paleolithic Collection (2 page)

What is Paleolithic?
The Paleolithic way of eating includes various names like: Primal Diet, Cave Man Diet, Stone Age Diet, Hunter-Gatherer Diet, the Paleo Diet ™ and a few others. Basically, it consists of a low-carb diet that attempts to imitate what our ancestors ate before farming and other advancements changed our diets.

As with many other ways of eating, there is some variation and degrees of limitations practiced by those who try to eat as our “primal” ancestors did. With that said, what follows are the basic guidelines that most proponents of the Paleolithic way of eating agree upon.

Whether or not you fully embrace this way of eating by going “cold turkey,” or ease your way gently into the program, here are some basic guidelines.

What foods are “off limits?”

Refined sugars:
The rule is to avoid all sugars. These include white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, candy, milk chocolate, soda, and artificial sweeteners. Some spokespersons for Paleolithic allow small amounts of raw honey, pure maple syrup, and coconut sugar, but also advise these sugars to be an occasional treat.

Grains:
The types of grain to avoid include wheat, rye, barley, rice, oats and corn. Foods would include bread, pasta, baked goods, pancakes, biscuits, muffins, bagels, and cereals. Grains are high in carbohydrates and are calorie-dense.

Legumes:
This category includes beans of all kinds, peas, lentils, soybeans, tofu, soy products, and peanuts.

Dairy products:
Try to exclude eating dairy products like regular milk, butter, cream, fruit yogurts, ice cream, and processed cheeses.

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While many Paleolithic eaters do not eat dairy, others do. If you can tolerate dairy and want to enjoy it on occasion, start with cultured butter, Greek yogurt (not fruit flavored), kefir, clotted milks, and aged cheeses. These are fermented products that drastically reduce the lactose (milk sugar) levels.

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Next would come raw, high-fat dairy like raw butter and cream because they are minimally processed and are good sources of saturated fat. Most of these are free from lactose and casein and should come from grass-fed, pasture-fed animals.

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Avoid homogenized and pasteurized milk. If you must buy it, make it organic, hormone and antibiotic-free milk. Because nuts are allowed, consider substituting unsweetened almond milk and coconut milk in place of cow’s milk.

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Grass-fed butter is considered okay on occasion. If you want to eat cheese on occasion, too, be sure they are aged cheeses because aging drastically reduces the levels of lactose and casein.

Some meats:
Avoid processed meats like hot dogs, bologna, and lunchmeats. If eating bacon and sausage, try to eat those without nitrates and nitrites. The bacon issue is still widely debated among the Paleo community—some believe it is okay if using nitrite/nitrate free bacon that is also sugar-free. Others believe because it is cured, it is not allowed. YOU DECIDE!

Oils:
Avoid anything “partially hydrogenated,” shortening, margarines, canola oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, corn oil, and sunflower oil. Note: be sure to check the label on your mayonnaise.

What foods are allowed?

Meats, seafood and eggs:
Meats, seafood, and eggs are perhaps the most important components of the Paleolithic Diet. These include beef, pork, lamb, bison, poultry, shrimp, crab, trout, salmon, mackerel, along with other wild-caught fish, including sardines, oysters, mussels, and clams. Once again, bacon and sausage is widely debated so you decide if it is okay for you or not.

Vegetables:
Vegetables are greatly encouraged and can be eaten in unlimited quantities. Focus on leafy greens of all kinds. Whether or not to include potatoes and other starchy tubers in your diet is an area of varying opinions at this point.

Fruits:
Fruits are allowed but should be limited, especially if you need to lose weight. High sugar fruits like dried fruits and juices should be eaten only occasionally.

Nuts and seeds:
Nuts and seeds are generally allowed. They are high in fat so limit your intake if you want to lose weight. Nuts and seeds include macadamias, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, squash seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Note: Peanuts are legumes and are not allowed.

Healthy fats:
Olive oil and nut oils like coconut oil are generally encouraged. Butter, palm oil, ghee, and animal fats are on the allowable list.

Beverages:
All spokespersons agree that water is best and should be your main drink. Generally, tea is considered to be fine, while there continues to be some variations concerning coffee and alcohol. Beverages that require sweeteners by sugars or artificial sweeteners are discouraged.

Throughout this collection of recipes (and the others in my series), I have tried to guide you into this way of eating. The goal is to make positive changes toward this way of eating without making you feel like it has to be one certain way. Simply know your labels and use your best judgment.

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