Well, you might have noticed that the recipes I’ve posted so far are not quite the norm. They follow this strangely named diet- the Paleolithic (Paleo) Diet.

If you’re new to this term describing a diet, you may be wondering if somehow dinosaurs are involved. Well I suppose they did eat meat and veggies, but sadly this really has nothing to do with them.

Scientists and nutritionists alike have looked at what humans ate back in the day of hunting and gathering. Back when there were far fewer health problems. They found that their diet looked far different from our current American cuisine. From all of these findings, the modern Paleo Diet was born.

Chris Kresser created a basic template for the Paleo Diet. From his post: http://chriskresser.com/beyond-paleo-moving-from-a-paleo-diet-to-a-paleo-template

• “Don’t eat toxins: avoid industrial seed oils, improperly prepared cereal grains and legumes and excess sugar (especially fructose)
• Nourish your body: emphasize saturated and monounsaturated fat while reducing intake of polyunsaturated fat, favor glucose/starch over fructose, and favor ruminant animal protein and seafood over poultry
• Eat real food: eat grass-fed, organic meat and wild fish, and local, organic produce when possible. Avoid processed, refined and packaged food.”

We follow this template and have chosen to eliminate all legumes, grains, refined sugar, nightshades and refined oils from our normal day to day diet. Which is a basic line up of the “Avoid List” on the Paleo Diet. Occasionally grass-fed dairy may show up in our diet. For Ryan, it is in the form of Kerigold grass-fed butter. For me, it is a trip to Jeni’s Ice Cream (totally worth a possible belly ache). And occasionally some nightshades- tomatoes and onions for the most part.

Besides using Chris Kresser as a resource, we love the book, The Perfect Health Diet. It’s basically the Paleo Diet taken to a whole new level and totally defined. It’s by some Harvard scientists who really went deep into what food does to our bodies. We refer to them all the time. I often find myself asking Ryan what they say about a certain ingredient I want to use. Especially when it comes to fats- they grade each one. Some of the fats it grades at the best everyday fats are coconut oil, beef tallow, olive oil, duck fat and nut butters. I really recommend it!

Alright, so that hopefully gives you an intro to what this whole Paleolithic Diet is about. Everyday this week I will be posting helpful tips and pointers on how to begin to eat healthy, where to buy all the crazy ingredients AND how to afford it.

Enjoy 🙂