Paleo Diet

kristacky

A friend and I are interested in starting the Paleo Diet. I understand that you can only eat natural/organic meats, veggies, fruits, and nuts. I currently eat somewhat healthy already but have a habit of eating processed foods when I'm in a hurry or don't have time to cook (example: quaker granola bars, lean pockets, goldfish, ramen). Any advice or suggestions to help get started with this diet? Any quick and easy recipes? Also any good, all natural and quick snack choices recommended? I eat 3 small meals a day and snack in between, so snacks are pretty important for me not to get hungry

KarenisPaleo

Marksdailyapple.com
nerdfitness.com
http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/

Read about it. Then ask questions on the Paleo message board or the Low carber one.

Good luck!

P.S. NONE of the items you mentioned are Paleo. Snacking should lose it's importance if you're eating Primal/Paleo.

(edited for the "you're" contraction, oops)

Wonderwoman2677

FOLLOWING...

amethystWARRIOR1

My biggest word of advice: plan ahead.

I do a lot of seeds and cans of tuna or sardines as back up "emergency food" at work. I also have 85% dark chocolate on hand for emergencies. Clean sourced beef jerky would be good too.

I usually make my meals ahead of time. I am a fan of the Paleo Slowcooker cookbook. I also will make a bunch of eggs and chicken breasts ahead of time but I also like both cold. I've also been known to drink coconut milk for the fat when nothing else was around.

This gets me alot and I've been going on and off Paleo for about two years now. My biggest hurdle is the lack of support from my friends and family. Everyone I know is on Weightwatchers.

SnicciFit

Plan, plan, plan. And have fun trying new recipes/foods...etc. Also, there's a Paleo/Primal group in the forums you may want to look into. Posting here in the general forums usually results in some negativity.

Some of my favorite recipe sites:

http://www.wholelifeeating.com/

http://www.eatingforidiots.com/

http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/

http://paleoparents.com/

http://www.paleoeffect.com/

http://beta.primal-palate.com/

http://www.fivestarpaleo.com/

http://paleotable.com/

http://bestpaleorecipes.com/

http://www.paleoplan.com/

http://nomnompaleo.com/

http://www.thefoodee.com/

http://www.foodrenegade.com/

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/

http://paleomg.com/

http://robbwolf.com/

http://www.againstallgrain.com/

http://idreamofprotein.wordpress.com/

http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/

http://whatthisfoodieeats.com/

http://caughtsomewhereinthyme.blogspot.com/

http://sleeploveeat.com/

http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/

http://paleorecipes.com/

http://mycrossfitpaleojourney.wordpress.com/

http://www.elanaspantry.com/

http://grokettesprimalmusings.blogspot.com/

http://guiltykitchen.com/

http://www.paleocupboard.com/

caribougal

Any quick and easy recipes? Also any good, all natural and quick snack choices recommended? I eat 3 small meals a day and snack in between, so snacks are pretty important for me not to get hungry

One word: nomnompaleo.com (and her iPad app).

When I started out, I ate 3 meals, stocked my car and office with lots of Paleo-friendly snacks and carried Sophia's Survival beef jerky in my purse to eat when I was somewhere surrounded by fast food.

Over time, I found less and less urge to snack. Eat lots of veggies, fat and protein and you'll feel full from meal to meal. The urge to snack also comes from the sugar swings you may be used to which have you reaching for those granola bars. But once you lower your sugar intake, your need for it all day long disappears. It's pretty awesome.

But, if you must snack on the go...
- any cut up veggie. I cut up carrots, celery, bell peppers to have within easy reach.
- a little container of berries
- apple with almond butter
- almonds, macadamia nuts, cashews... just don't go overboard
- jerky
- Kind or Lara bar, or another bar that's mostly nuts and honey or other natural sweetener
- avocado
- hard boiled egg
- dark chocolate
- Sea Snax

Good luck.

armommi

My take on this is choosing the Paleo plan as a long-term lifestyle change. This is not a diet that I plan to be on until I lose a certain amount of weight. This is the way I intend to eat for the rest of my life. This is the way I was intended to eat to stay fit and healthy and disease-free. This is the responsible thing to do. When I started this plan, I wanted something simple. The most important advice I was given is not to eat anything that had to pass thru a factory to get to your market. Plain and simple. Most important is not buying in to the marketing strategies by the manufacturing companies that peddle food as natural when it's anything but "all natural." It can take a bit of sleuthing to get the quality products you need to live on, but it's a whole lot of fun. Finding a local farmer who raises animals humanely where they're able to roam freely in stress free conditions and have friends and have names ....can be a real weekend adventure.

Many farmers offer co-op plans where you purchase a portion of a cow and they find the other people to do the same. These same farmers are your best resources for others who grow organic vegetables., raise free-range chickens and have organic eggsl As mentioned in previous replies, it's important to plan ahead and always have something available for in between meals, but avoid all snack foods that are processed. Make a list of your favorite paleo foods, things you don't mind eating all the time, and gradually add other foods to that list so that you get all the nutrients you need from your food supply. I make an amazing bone broth from beef neckbones and bones with marrow in them and by cooking them slowly and adding just a bit of distilled water, it makes it's own broth. I add celery, onions and carrots, Himalyan pink salt and black cracked pepper and that's it. The hunter-gatherers didn't worry about recipes. They used fire to cook the toxins out of some foods that are best when cooked. You won't find any recipe books from Paleo era. They kept it simple and cooked what they caught and found and when that was gone they went out and got some more. if you think you'll get bored with the same foods, there are some powerful links to many resources above. Great job up there. The Internet is your friend on the Paleo plan and you can find anything and especially google your own area and see what's available to you locally. Go on that adventure. Years from now, when you're still as healthy as the caveman, and your friends who chose that other plan are dealing with their health conditions brought on by our tainted food supply today, you'll thank yourself. Good luck, and good eating.

pastryari

While I believe that this diet is restrictive and unnecessary in achieving weight loss, here are some links that you'll find helpful.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/37-primal-paleo-support-group

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/621-the-primal-life-tips-from-the-cave

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/438-primal-paleo-challenges

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/852-paleo

kristacky

Thanks everyone! Lots of good info. I don't plan to do this diet as a temporary thing, I'm hoping it'll become a lifestyle to eat only clean and natural foods instead of going for processed things that are just easy but unhealthy. I will look into the links and articles you guys posted to get good ideas about meal planning and "emergency" snacks

SnicciFit

Thanks everyone! Lots of good info. I don't plan to do this diet as a temporary thing, I'm hoping it'll become a lifestyle to eat only clean and natural foods instead of going for processed things that are just easy but unhealthy. I will look into the links and articles you guys posted to get good ideas about meal planning and "emergency" snacks

Larabars make great emergency snacks, but can easily become like candy bars, so use with caution

Mamafood

Bump

agdyl

I keep bags of fresh veggies in my fridge at the office and at home - sugar snap peas, green beans, celery, etc. - those make perfect snacks, or a side to the crockpot meals that I bring with me. And frozen blueberries are one of my favorites too. As far as fruits go - berries are some of the best because they have good amounts of fiber. Raspberries have as much fiber as natural sugar.

And nuts and hard boiled eggs save me when I'm traveling. I keep a supply of raw nuts with me, which are nice because they don't need refrigeration. And hard boiled eggs are easy to find these days - I know Maverick gas stations all tend to have the little packages of 2 peeled hard boiled eggs in the refrigerated prepared food section. Great for emergencies when you're driving around with nothing but fast food in sight.

And I agree on the Larabars - they're easy to go overboard on and have them become a replacement candy bar. I save anything with dates for times when I'm exercising. I often go on long road bike rides and only eating nuts wasn't enough, but fresh fruit, etc. is too much to carry with me, so dates and nuts (i.e. what's in a larabar) work perfect if I'm exercising for more than about 90 minutes. But I reserve that for a treat to keep me going when I'm exercising and don't make it part of my regular diet or it feels like too much sugar.

Tann19

Plan, plan, plan. And have fun trying new recipes/foods...etc. Also, there's a Paleo/Primal group in the forums you may want to look into. Posting here in the general forums usually results in some negativity.

Some of my favorite recipe sites:

http://www.wholelifeeating.com/

http://www.eatingforidiots.com/

http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/

http://paleoparents.com/

http://www.paleoeffect.com/

http://beta.primal-palate.com/

http://www.fivestarpaleo.com/

http://paleotable.com/

http://bestpaleorecipes.com/

http://www.paleoplan.com/

http://nomnompaleo.com/

http://www.thefoodee.com/

http://www.foodrenegade.com/

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/

http://paleomg.com/

http://robbwolf.com/

http://www.againstallgrain.com/

http://idreamofprotein.wordpress.com/

http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/

http://whatthisfoodieeats.com/

http://caughtsomewhereinthyme.blogspot.com/

http://sleeploveeat.com/

http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/

http://paleorecipes.com/

http://mycrossfitpaleojourney.wordpress.com/

http://www.elanaspantry.com/

http://grokettesprimalmusings.blogspot.com/

http://guiltykitchen.com/

http://www.paleocupboard.com/

Good post!

mspoopoo

Great thread. I am enjoying the paleo way so much. I don't snack anymore. My cravings are gone.

These weird achy and just weird feelings I was having is gone.

MissMdM

Bump

mahjohweeee

Great suggestion for links! Thank you for all the info! I have been doing paleo for about 10 days and am really loving it. Would love any friends for support if anyone is interested! Feel free to add me! I will def check out the forums. Thanks again!

ausheli

Bump

kristacky

So far so good! I know I'm not doing it exactly right, but I've cut out all processed foods. I think since I'm eating more protein than before and probably getting more vitamins/nutrients I'm finding myself less hungry and not snacking as much Right now my main go-to is tuna with avocado or green beans with caramilized onions and mushroom. Yum!