Interested in the Paleo diet

KimHam17

I'm interested in starting the Paleo diet.
I eat really badly, like lots of processed stuff, I don't eat many vegetables, although I do eat lots of fruit (but not recently) and I would really like to just eat healthier and cleaner.

However I know what it entails exactly but then I don't.
So what foods are we meant to eat more of, foods to eat less of and foods to cut out altogether?

And will I get enough iron and protein? I don't get enough of them!

green_owl

paleo diet means - no grains (bread, pasta, rice etc), no sugar (honey is allowed), no dairy, no alcohol, no legumes, no potatoes( sweet potatoe is ok), no processed foods.
You can eat as much meat, fish, seafood, eggs and vegetables as you want. and you can eat some nuts, seeds and fruits.
you will definitely get enough protein and all essential minerals and vitamins.
try it very strict at least for couple of weeks. it's a very good base for healthier eating, because it means a lot of home cooked meals using fresh, whole ingredients.

JesterMFP

I'm interested in starting the Paleo diet.
I eat really badly, like lots of processed stuff, I don't eat many vegetables, although I do eat lots of fruit (but not recently) and I would really like to just eat healthier and cleaner.

So why don't you just gradually make changes to your diet so that you're eating less of the stuff you don't want to eat, and more vegetables? You don't have to do a specific named diet plan to achieve that. Just make the changes you want to make, slowly and sustainably.

Akimajuktuq

The Paleo LIFESTYLE is great for people who understand it, know why they are eating certain things and excluding other things, and are fully committed. If it's just something else to try only with the intention of a quick fix, then it is a fail. For me, it's a sustainable way to eat forever. For others, not so much.

Do some research. A proper Paleo lifestyle will be deficient in NO nutrients. That's the point. Everything you need to know is online. I won't give much advice or personal experience in the general forums because I just get too annoyed by the ridicule that occurs in response to anything Paleo.

Something easy to do right now: replace some of the fruit with vegetables. Stop eating processed foods.

MermaidTX

I'm interested in starting the Paleo diet.
I eat really badly, like lots of processed stuff, I don't eat many vegetables, although I do eat lots of fruit (but not recently) and I would really like to just eat healthier and cleaner.

However I know what it entails exactly but then I don't.
So what foods are we meant to eat more of, foods to eat less of and foods to cut out altogether?

And will I get enough iron and protein? I don't get enough of them!

There's a Primal/Paleo group forum on MFP if you could check out:

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

or even the Low Carbers group:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-group

mosseho

On Paleo all you can eat is meat, fowl, fish, eggs, vegetables, oils, fruits, nuts and tubers. It might seem you cannot eat almost anything, but actually, there are plenty of recipes for very tasty foods.
I liek the Paleo, because you don't need to count anything, you just eat what is allowed and thats it. And you can eat how much you want, because you eat mainly vegetables and you won't be able to gain weight with that.:) The only source of sugar that makes you fat comes from fruits and nuts, so if you want to loose weight, you will have to reduce these in order to supply to your body max 150g of sugar a day.
I recommend you to give it a try for a few weeks, set up your meal plans with your favourite Paleo recipes ( http://paleofoodcooking.net/ ) and just follow it. DOn't worry that you will miss some foods. Paleo dishes are so tasty that you will forget the old recipes and fall in love with the new ones.;)

darkangel45422

Try looking around marksdailyapple.com - it's got great information on how to go Primal (very very similar to Paleo; I believe the main difference is that Primal allows dairy if you find you're not sensitive to it).

As for how to begin, it's really up to you - you can jump right in and immediately try an elimination type diet to figure out just how sensitive you are to legumes, grains, dairy, sugar, etc. or you can start slowly and make gradual changes.

For the diet part of living Paleo/Primal, the emphasis is on eating meat, healthy fats and vegetables, with nuts, seeds, fruit, tubers, etc. being other healthy choices (but you might want to at least keep an eye on how much you eat of them if you're watching your weight since they either pack a lot of calories or a lot of carbs/sugar and can easily impede weight loss if they form too much a part of your diet). Concentrate less on what you "can't" have (I put it in quotation marks because I personally don't believe in saying any food is off limits; having some grains once in a while won't kill you) and more on trying to eat healthier choices.

Obviously trying to get as natural of sources as you can is good, but the way I found it easiest to go about turning Primal was to focus first on eating the healthiest foods and slowly build towards eating the cleanest possible variants of those foods (because it can sometimes be a little trickier to find organic, naturally raised, grassfed and finished meat, for example).

leliza09

My husband and I started Paleo about 12 days ago and we dived into it. My husband couldn't follow calorie counting so we switched to paleo lifestyle. The first thing I did is to look into the different recipes I can make. I need to be ready and see that there are recipes that appeal to me. Then I told my husband that he can eat as much as he wants except for what we chose not to eat like dairy, grains, legumes, etc. We committed for 1 week with absolutely no processed items, no bread/rice/pasta, no soda/juice/energy drinks. The first thing I did is to get rid of all the "processed" items in my pantry. I did it when it was time to go grocery shopping. I planned the first week's meals. Because we are busy and if we didn't have time to cook, we would break our commitment. My husband lost 8 lbs and I lost 6 lbs in the first week. Of course, you have to keep moving and exercise. Its our second week and we are now used to the lifestyle. It's hard when fresh baked bread and pastries are right in front of you (I work at a hotel & restaurant), but once you get through the first week, it gets easier.

These are the websites that helped me:
www.whole9life.com
paleohacks.com
justeatingrealfood.com

they are all on facebook and posting pictures of different recipes helped a lot.