Paleo Plan and Primary Protocol Outline, for My Mother
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Paleo: Where the Evolutionary and Nutritional Sciences Meet
Objective: Eliminate the foods that invite inflammation and disease and increase the type and amount of foods that are anti-inflammatory, enhancing of vitality and that guard against disease by eating the way that human beings evolved to eat.
Gradually eliminate post-agricultural revolution foods:
- grains (especially wheat)
- dairy
- legumes (including peanuts, and especially soy)
- added sugars and artificial sweeteners (naturally occurring sugars are okay)
- processed foods (as natural and whole as possible as much as possible)
INGREDIENT LISTS MUST BE READ AT THE GROCERY STORE!
Gradually increase the type and amount of ‘hunter-gatherer’ foods:
- fresh, organic fruits and vegetables
- naturally-raised meats, especially wild seafood and pasture-fed animals
- non-inflammatory fats/oils, making sure to cook with high-heat-stable oils like coconut and avocado (use olive oil raw as a part of dressings)
- spices
- vinegars
- fermented foods
Potential Elimination Steps:
- Weeks 1 and 2: No Wheat
- Weeks 3 and 4: No Grains (including wheat, corn, rice, wheat relatives and pseudo grains like quinoa)
- Weeks 5 and 6: Add: No Dairy
- Weeks 7 and 8: Add: No Legumes (note that soybean oil is in a TON of food products, including most sauces and dressings)
- Weeks 9 and 10: Add: No Added Sugar – this step is extremely difficult, as most sauces, dressings and even seasonings use sugar, usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup – to succeed you will have to be HIGHLY selective with your sauces and dressings, and consider making your own
- Weeks 11 and 12: Add: No Processed Food – if it’s in a box, bag or can, it’s likely non-whole and processed to some degree
NOTES FOR SUCCESS:
- Within 3 months all ‘trouble foods’ should be mostly eliminated, but DON’T THINK ALL OR NOTHING. When you slip, don’t fall. After indulgences, which are okay sometimes, think ‘time to get back on track,’ not ‘time to admit failure.’
- It’s highly advisable to keep track of your progress, your relative compliance (not every meal), and any pertinent thoughts and feelings in a journal, or on a calendar. This practice will increase consideration and help you process information and thoughts/feelings that are relative to your sense of progression.
- Consider purchasing one of the MANY Paleo cookbooks on the market, or browsing one of the MANY Paleo websites on the internet, for inspirations and ideas for meals.
- Finally: practice, practice, practice! Think less about what you can’t eat and more about what you can, and the limitless ways you can prepare and combine what you CAN eat: the more nutritious, disease-staving, whole foods.