Paleo Food

True Paleo...last night I made meatloaf and this is a "goof" picture of me pretending to bite into it raw!...haha!

Have you heard of The Paleo Diet? This is the way I have been living my life for over a year now and I have never felt this good, been this lean, been this healthy. I've been active my entire life and have been what I thought was healthy my entire life. From the age of 3 I was hiking 10 miles in the mountains with my family, I have been in sports since the age of 8, I've been a personal trainer for 6 years and I have always eaten "healthy" according to the food guide pyramid and what our society preaches.

Last March I was approached by Robb Wolf (www.robbwolf.com) about this thing called The Paleo Diet. Being a fitness professional and studying some nutrition in college, I was skeptical at first but agreed to try it for a month. The month of March 2009 changed my life. I could go into depth about the science behind this way of eating, but instead I am going to give you the simple version of why this is the way we need to eat. To check out more go to www.thepaleodiet.com and order "The Paleo Diet" or "The Paleo Diet for Athletes".

First of all, The Paleo Diet stems from the word paleolithic...basically time of cavemen. This approach to nutrition suggests eating what is natural and whole - lean protein, vegetables, nuts/seeds, and some fruit. This is a low carb diet (no sugar, no grains, no corn, no beans, no potatoes, no salt). Gluten (ie: wheat) is probably the worst of all. We have harvested all of these things. Even though they come from the ground, we have brought them here and grow them. They weren't around way back when.

Science proves that high carb diets negatively effect our body because we are not made to break them down. They cause insulin spikes in our systems leading to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. This list goes on and on with the negative effects of a high carb diet.

All of the diseases that are plaguing our society can be drastically reduced by a simple change in diet. That is something that our doctors often don't tell us, they just simply get on on some meds to "help". Low fat, high whole grain diets are all over the nutrition industry right now, however the percentages of people effected by these diseases continue to rise. What does that tell us? With fast food, processed food, and chemically enhanced food, our bodies are being fueled with crap. That's the other aspect of eating Paleo. Not only will you be healthier on the inside, but you also will feel better, perform better, sleep better, and look better. Getting rid of the high carb diet will lean you out, better fuel your muscles, and better feed your body/mind.

So basically you want to think each meal should have good lean protein, vegetables, and healthy fat. Cutting out carbs your body's primary fuel source will now be fat so getting in good healthy fat is critical to making this diet work.

Expect when starting this diet to feel a little fatigued the first 3 weeks or so as your body is in transition mode. Key is to get enough protein and fat.

Below I am going to list a "go to" grocery list that you can make several healthy paleo meals from...there are some foods missing that would qualify as Paleo I am sure, but this is a solid list.

Protein: (Grass fed beef, Free Range Chicken, FAS Fish if not fresh, salt free)

-Chicken Breasts

-Lean Steak

-Fish

-Pork Loin

-Lean Beef or Bison Burger

-Ground Turkey or Chicken

-Bacon (beef or turkey)

-Lean Sausage

-Eggs (cage free)

Vegetables: (Locally grown/raw is best, but frozen will work, no canned)

-Broccoli

-Cauliflower

-Spinach

-Lettuce (dark leaf)

-Cabbage

-Onions

-Zucchini

-Brussel Sprouts

-Bell Peppers

-Eggplant

-Tomatoes

-Parsnips

-Jicama

-Turnips

-Radishes

-Carrots

-Celery

-Squash

-Sweet Potatoes/Yams

Fruit: (Locally grown/raw is best, but frozen will work, no canned)

-Avocado

-Berries

-Lemons/Limes

-Melon

-Grapes

-Oranges

-Grapefruit

-Apples

Healthy Fat:

-Fish Oil (take EVERY day)

-Avocado (in fruit list too)

-Olive Oil

-Coconut Oil

-Coconut Milk

-Raw Nuts (Walnuts, Macadamia, Almonds)

Drinks:

-WATER, WATER, WATER

-Tea and Coffee (decaf in my opinion)

Spices:

-Anything except salt or products with salt in them