My Paleo Lifestyle

Let me preface this enter page by saying, I’m in no way an expert on Paleo, in fact, with all the information I’ve read and heard, I don’t think there is such thing as an expert.   I’ll leave the real educating to the professionals.  There are so many tweaks and allowances that I feel each person does their own Paleo meal plan.  This is MY PALEO based on MY UNDERSTANDING and MY BUDGET.

The core belief is that we should eat like people did in the Paleolithic age. Now, I’m still not clear if “they” are talking about Lower or Upper Paleolithic, which is anywhere from  2.5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. Which location, seaside or inland? What part of the world? I don’t know!  Regardless, it was a looooong time ago and we’re basically going off of “What did people that had to rough it and live outdoors eat?”.

The Paleo “contemporary” meal plan includes grass-fed animal protein (that includes eggs), veggies, fruit, fungi, roots, nuts and unprocessed oils such as coconut.  It excludes legumes, dairy, white potatoes, refined salts & sugars and processed oils.   One of the blurry areas has been dairy.  I’ve heard some people are strictly anti-dairy, where others allow ghee and full fat dairy into their meals. Personally, I do use grass-fed butter and raw milk on occasion and do the best I can do buy free-range grass-fed animal protein most of the time, but sometimes it comes down to which I want more, electricity or a grass-fed burger.  I’m sure the paleolithic cave people, that lived by a fire, would trade their beef for a heated dwelling ANY DAY. Sometimes you just have to make exceptions.

The one thing a Paleolithic meal plan aka PALEO is NOT, is a “DIET”, it’s a way of eating. I refuse to call this the “PALEO DIET”, which I’ve heard and read so many times.  The word diet has such a negative vibe about it.  With the word “diet” you expect the best body ever or a quick fix. Paleo, alone, is neither of these, it’s away to cut out the crap we’ve been consuming for way too long, let your body heal and work at it’s optimum level. Vegetarianism and Veganism aren’t considered diets, well, Paleo is on the other side of that spectrum,  I was both a Vegan & Vegetarian, so I do have some experience in that arena.

The pyramid above shows the basics, but I strongly recommend, if you’re interested, doing your own research and finding what works best for your body.  Below are some great books as well as some incredibly knowledgable people on this subject. Start with Dr. Cordain’s book for the fundamentals, Robb Wolf helps build on that and Diane Sanfilippo’s book is a great guide when getting started.

There are some Paleo Elite out there that are super hardcore (but still use the internet to search for those that are not) and will tell you no this or no that FOREVER and, like Prince said, forever is a mighty long time.  The main goal is to DO THE BEST YOU CAN to fuel your body properly and eliminate the processed toxins we so freely eat that are slowly killing you.

Now for my “Springer” moment/wrap up…

You have to do the best you can with the skills, tools and knowledge you currently have, no less.  Sometimes those traits are very sparse.  The objective is to continue to educate yourself, evolve as well as helping your friends and family evolve.  Don’t settle, don’t be complacent , don’t be that typical American, be the best version of you possible.

Check out my Quick Paleo Start-Up section for more info.