Gingerbread Cookies
High Fiber Primal Cookies
Raspberry Muffins
Peach Slushy
Banana Bread
Flourless Chocolate Delight
Berry Tart
Poached Pears
Coconut Macaroons
Primal Brownies
Chocolate Almond Butter Candies
Pecan Bark
Chocolate-Banana Milk Shake
Chapter 11: Snacks and Beverages
Caveman Trail Mix
Nutty Apple Snacks
Chunky Applesauce
Homemade Fruit Rollups
Ants on a Log
Dates Wrapped in Bacon
Coconut Almond Butter Bananas
Paleo Spiced Nuts
Brussels Sprouts Chips
Turkey Avocado Rollups
Herbed Crackers
Crispy Pepperoni Bites
Grill-Out Burger Bites
Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks
Fresh Guacamole
Caveman Hummus
Herbed Grilled Olives
Bacon-Wrapped Scallops
Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus
Energizing Green Juice
Homemade Almond Milk
Citrus Cooler
Paleo Hot Chocolate
Chai Tea
Cranberry Tea
Paleo “Coffee”
WHAT IS THE PALEO DIET?
The Paleo diet has become incredibly popular in the past few years, leading many people to assume that it’s a new way of eating. In reality, the Paleo diet has been around for almost forty years.
How the Paleo Diet Came About
In 1975, a gastroenterologist named Dr. Walter Voegtlin published a book called The Stone Age Diet. In the book, he documented how he treated patients with a diet that replicated the eating patterns of people during the Paleolithic era. The diet prescribed consuming large quantities of animal fats and proteins and very small quantities of carbohydrates. Dr. Voegtlin reported that his patients, who suffered from disorders such as Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome, showed significant health improvements when following the diet.
Unfortunately, The Stone Age Diet didn’t make much headway with the public. At that time, almost everyone believed that a low-fat, low-calorie diet was the only healthy way to eat.
An Ancient Diet for Modern Times
Ten years later, however, Dr. S. Boyd Eaton and Dr. Melvin Konner published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine that supported Dr. Voegtlin’s research and that received a lot of attention from the medical community and the media. The popularity of their paper on the Paleolithic era diet led to the publication of their book, The Paleolithic Prescription: A Program of Diet & Exercise and a Design for Living. This book established the principles most variations of the Paleo diet people follow today.
The book explained the way our Paleolithic ancestors ate and why that nutritional lifestyle was such a healthy one. The most important thing the authors accomplished was to make the ancient diet suitable for modern times. The book laid out the nutritional content of the original Paleolithic diet and then showed readers how to get that nutritional profile from modern and widely available foods. It was an adaptable way to eat like our ancestors, and it paved the way for today’s Paleo diet phenomenon.
The Paleo Diet for You, the Modern Cave-Dweller
There are several versions of the Paleo diet around today; these versions generally differ in terms of how strictly they follow the eating patterns of our Paleolithic ancestors. The Paleo diet described in this book is a version that intends to closely duplicate the nutritional makeup of a Paleolithic diet without being unrealistic, difficult or complicated. You’ll reap the health and weight loss benefits of the Paleo diet without having to turn your entire lifestyle inside out or spend time searching for exotic ingredients. You’ll be practicing a diet that is moderate in its approach, but you will likely see incredible results.
What the Paleo Diet Looks Like
The Paleo diet is designed to duplicate the results and benefits of our pre-agricultural diet without duplicating the diet’s prehistoric methods. While there are a few Paleo followers who do literally hunt, gather or forage all of their food, most people don’t have the motivation or time for that level of authenticity. Fortunately, we can achieve the same Paleolithic results with foods readily available to us in grocery stores, health foods stores and farmers markets.
The Paleo diet food pyramid is an inverted version of the one that used to be recommended by the USDA. Meats, eggs and seafood make up the majority of the day’s calories, followed by fats from plant foods, fruits and vegetables, and then nuts and seeds. The Paleo diet is a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet.
In Chapter 2, we go into more detail on what you’ll be eating from each food group and also give you a specific list of allowed (and disallowed) foods. For now, we’ll cover the basics.
What Is Not on Your Paleo Plate?
The Paleo diet is effective not only because of what you eat, but also because of what you don’t eat. Changing the components and proportions of your diet is only half of the Paleo plan. The other half involves eliminating foods that can slow your metabolism, encourage blood sugar problems and fat storage, and slow digestion. These eliminated foods include processed foods, alcohol, grains, legumes and sugar.
