The Paleo Diet-Rules, Recipes and Example Menu

The paleo diet primarily provides a lot of proteins. No wonder that the basis of the nutritional system are fish and meat. Thanks to this diet, a human is healthier and can lose some kilos. Is it really true? Learn the rules, recipes and menu by the paleo diet.

What is the Paleo Diet?

The Paleo diet (named after the Paleolithic era) is also known as the primitive human diet.

• It is a way of nutrition that reminds the way our ancestors were nourished.
• It is based mainly on meat, vegetable products and grains.
• It is important to avoid processed or genetically modified products.
• You should reach for natural products.

The main assumption of the paleo diet is that the human body is adapted to the diet that was already used by the first humans. The modern diet is not consistent with what our bodies are used to. The purpose of the paleo diet is to return to eating habits that are compatible with our nature.

The Paleo Diet Rules

The Paleolithic diet has a few simple rules that you can easily get used to after a while.

First of all, you should avoid cereals, sugars and rafined oils. At the beginning it may seem difficult and impossible to achieve – because how to eat breakfast or supper without sandwiches? Well, there are many possibilities – you can eat omelettes, scrambled eggs, potato pancakes or salads. There are really many options, those are just some of them. It is also good to involve your family in this diet – it will make it easier to get used to it and it will be much easier to avoid temptations, for example  sweets.

• The paleo diet consists mainly of vegetables and fruit, meat, fish, mushrooms, eggs and nuts.
• You should also eat fewer dairy products and legumes.
• To make it easier to maintain this diet, you can prepare yourself some sweet snacks – for example, nuts or apples, and even dark chocolate.
• The Paleo Diet- Allowed and Forbidden Products
• The most important things in the paleo diet are those which are natural.
• It is worth focusing on this principle when choosing the meat to eat – it is the best to eat the meat of animals living in the wild, e.g. of wild boar, roe, deer or quail.
• When it comes to livestock, instead of the popular poultry and pork, you should rather choose veal, beef and lamb.

In the paleo diet it is important to eat fish – they contain a lot of Omega-3 acids, which are very good for health. The examples of such fish are:

1. salmon,
2. flounder,
3. cod,
4. halibut,
5. tuna,
6. trout.

Eggs are an  important nutrient in the paleolithic diet. They are especially helpful when looking for ideas for a good and quick breakfast – they can be used, for example, to make scrambled eggs or omelettes. However, it is worth paying attention to the fact that eggs should come from organic farming. In the shops, producers offer us many types of eggs, but let’s not be fooled – often the higher price does not speak for the better quality. Let’s read thoroughly on the packaging where the eggs come from – we’ll be sure what we eat.

It is worth reaching for eggs marked as „0”, from organic farming (these come from free-range chickens that are fed with grass and organic food and can take a bath in the sand) or „1” – free range (the chickens can leave chickencoops, have their own chicken perches, they can take a bath in the sand).

Eggs marked as „2” (deep litter) or „3” (cage farming) are not suitable for eating. The hens live in terrible conditions, in tight cages, fed with antibiotics, cannot stretch their wings and have their beaks cut off. Such eggs are full of the stress hormone and substances harmful to health, so be an aware consumer and choose what is healthy and ethical.

When it comes to fats in the paleo diet, it is best to consume animal fats. You’d better place vegetable fats in the background. It is also worth eating nuts, grains and seeds that also contain fats. Recommended products are:

• palm and coconut oil,
• olive oil,
• butter,
• lard,
• MCT butter,
• an avocado,
• sunflower,
• pumpkin seeds,
• walnuts and hazelnuts.

It is worth arguing with this assumption of the diet because – as you know – animal fats have a negative effect on our health. Try to slightly modify the diet and choose fats that are primarily healthy.

Menu in the paleo diet should be arranged so that it contains a lot of vegetables and fruit. Avoid vegetables with a high starch content. Recommended products include, for example:

• onion,
• pumpkin,
• broccoli,
• cauliflower,
• eggplant,
• broad bean,
• beetroot,
• celery,
• lettuce,
• spinach,
• carrot,
• apple,
• plum,
• lemon,
• banana.

You can prepare them in many ways – eat raw, cook or prepare salads. It is worth remembering that fruit and vegetables contain a lot of vitamins, so instead of reaching for supplements, go to the nearest marketplace.

What shouldn’t be eaten in the paleo diet?

The products forbidden in the Paleolithic diet are dairy products. It is known that it is difficult to completely exclude them from the diet, but you should at least eat less of them and try to slowly eliminate them.

Different types of sweets, sweet drinks, crisps, sticks or other salty snacks are also forbidden.

Remember to exclude cereals – including bread and rolls, but also rice – you should eat definitely less of it.

Of course, you cannot eat fast food – fries, hamburgers or casseroles cannot be included in our diet.

Remember to eat mainly natural products. Products processed by humans cannot be eaten in the paleo diet!

The Paleo Diet- Example Menu

There are really many ideas for delicious dishes on the internet. We can also rely on what we’ve eaten before, just change it a little bit and replace some products with others.

For breakfast you can eat potato pancakes with vegetable sauce with the addition of chicken.

Stewed beef with onion and pumpkin puree can be for dinner.

As lunch, an apple and two cubes of dark chocolate will be good.

A supper can consist of a salmon and arugula salad.

The Paleo Diet- Reviews

Opinions on the paleo diet are different. People often find it difficult to exclude cereals and dairy products because they used to eat them every day. It is worth remembering that the value of bread and dairy products is overrated. These products do not contain as many nutrients as it seems. Considering the problems of lactose intolerance, which every third person suffers from, exclusion of milk and its products from the diet is quite a good solution that will allow the bowels to return to a good shape. People who have decided to use the paleo diet must first get used to it. In addition, some do not understand why you should not eat legumes in this diet – they are very good and healthy, though. Many people, however, say that this diet helps them develop good eating habits – thanks to it they began to eat more fruit and vegetables and learned to avoid sweets and artificially processed products. It also involves losing extra kilos. Is the paleo diet really effective? It is worth taking the challenge and checking it in person.