I started this website long before anyone have even heard about Paleo diet, but I wasn't at all surprised to find out that, even without specifically creating a single Paleo recipe, many of my recipes are already Paleo, or easily adjustable to fit a Paleo diet.
I find that my personal food philosophy covers at least 80% of the basics of the Paleo diet philosophy.
The name "Paleo Diet" refers to the dietary practices of the Paleolithic humans. Although there isn't any proof that the Paleolithic man was healthier than a contemporary man, or that their diet was affected by any other consideration other than what was available to them, it still makes a lot of sense to me that human beings should eat only natural, non-processed food, the way nature has intended us to eat.
Here are some of the foods you should or shouldn't eat if you are on a Paleo Diet:
EAT: Sustainable fish and seafood; Free-Run or Organic eggs; Fresh in-season fruits; Nuts (except GMO peanuts, I guess); Fresh vegetables; Grass-fed or organic meats; Seeds; Cold-pressed oils (EV Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, macadamia oil), Unpasteurized honey; Grass-fed butter; Game meat; Himalayan salt or rock salt; Fresh or dried herbs; Organic animal fat is permissable (after all, the Paleo man likely knew only this fat, and valued it a lot).
DON'T EAT: Refined sugars; Processed foods; Candy; Pop; GMO Oils or oils extracted by chemicals; Dairy products; Legumes; Potatoes; Beans; Table salt; The so called "Energy" drinks are garbage that shouldn't be consumed no matter what diet you are on; Commercial fruit juice; Alcohol; Artificial sweeteners.
My own personal take on Paleo Diet:
While I agree with the "EAT" list, there is a lot to debate on the "DON'T EAT" list for me. For example, while true that the Paleolithic man might not have had access to potatoes, I am sure that they would have found out what to do with them if they had.
I don't find anything wrong with eating organic yogurt or lentils, for example. If the caveman didn't have those, well, sorry caveman.
I would also add to the "DON'T EAT" list tap water, or any food cooked with tap water. If you are careful what food goes into your body, why not worry even more about the water, since your body is mostly water. I, personally, always cook with water purified by reverse-osmosis. Yeah, no brainwashing cocktail for me, thanks.
As with most food these days, it is not that the food is wrong, it is the farm chemicals, food-processing chemicals, artificial colors and flavors that make many foods unhealthy.
Why the potatoes are in the bad list, I don't really understand. In the same logic, I doubt that the Paleo human had ever seen peppers and tomatoes, but they are in the good foods list. I do recommend eating potatoes, but mostly organic potatoes. If you must buy conventional potatoes, at least peel them. I also recommend brown and wild rice, although I am not sure if they are part of the Paleo Diet, or not.
To be honest, though, I think that nobody knows exactly what people ate 100 000 years ago. Carbon dating is extremely over-rated scientific procedure. The best thing to do, I believe, is to follow your intuition and common sense, and those two do not exclude each other.
Below are a selection of my delicious Paleo diet recipes. If an ingredient needs to be skipped or substituted in order to make the recipe purely Paleo, I have indicated so under the name of the dish. Please note, that I use a splash of dry wine in some of my recipes, but I believe that this is allowed if you were on a Paleo Diet. After all, the Paleolithic man must have known the taste of fermented fruits, one would suspect. Few of the dishes below are served with a side of potato, however, you could easily omit this from the recipe if so desired.
The prosciutto that I have used in few of the Paleo recipes below, I do not consider to be processed food. The original prosciutto is simply dry preserved with just salt. If it includes any other ingredients, such as preservatives, then it is not considered Paleo. |