What is Paleo Diet Plan?
Paleo diet plan is patterned after what our hunter-gatherer ancestors did.
Although it’s somewhat impossible to know precisely what our ancestors ate in different locations worldwide, researchers think that their diets consisted mainly of whole foods.
This diet is based on the premise that our hunter-gatherer ancestors, by eating a whole-food-based diet and leading physically active lives, had much lower rates of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
Therefore, this diet can lead to significant weight loss and significant improvements in our health.
This post explains how the paleo diet plan works and includes essential information, including a sample meal plan.
Paleo Diet Meal Plan
Imagine an eating habit that’s 100% enforced by nature! An eating habit that gave paleolithic humans enough strength to go through the day to stay alive (no grub-hub back then).
What food humans eat has been dictated by what is available and the geographical location. As such, there is no right “way” per se for everyone to eat.
Therefore, paleolithic humans ate and thrived on different diets dictated by where they lived and what was available at the time.
While Some had a low-carb diet high in animal foods, others ate a high-carb diet with many plants.
As such, there is no paleo meal written in stone, and the plan given in this article is more of a guideline.
You can experiment and adapt any of it to your taste. Here are the basics before you print the paleo diet plan or save it as a PDF:
Eat Eggs, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs, healthy fats and oils, and spices.
Avoid Sugar, processed foods, soft drinks, grains, most dairy products, legumes, artificial sweeteners, margarine, vegetable oils, and trans fats. See the Paleo diet grocery list for more details.
Here is a list of printable Paleo diet meal plans
Foods to Avoid During Paleo Diet Plan
- Avoid these foods and ingredients. Note that this list is by no means exhaustive:
- Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup: Fruit juices, soft drinks, table sugar, candy, pastries, ice cream.
- Grains: Includes bread and pasta, spelled rye, wheat, and barley.
- Legumes: Beans, lentils.
Avoid beans during the paleo diet
- Dairy: Avoid most dairy, especially low-fat.
- Some vegetable oils: Soybean oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and grapeseed oil.
- Trans fats are found in processed foods and margarine. Also, “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oils.
- Artificial sweeteners: Aspartame, cyclamates, saccharin, sucralose, acesulfame potassium. Use natural sweeteners in their place.
- Highly processed foods
- The simple rule of thumb for the paleo diet plan is to avoid it if it was made in a factory.
Foods to Eat on Paleo Diet Plan
Eat whole, unprocessed paleo foods like:
- Meat: Beef, lamb, turkey, pork, chicken.
- Fish and seafood: Salmon, haddock, shrimp, trout, shellfish.
- Eggs: preferably pastured, free-range, or omega-3 enriched eggs.
- Vegetables: Tomatoes, broccoli, kale, onions, carrots, peppers.
- Fruits: Oranges, apples, bananas, pears, avocados, blueberries, strawberries.
- Tubers: Sweet potatoes, potatoes, yams, turnips.
- Nuts and seeds: Walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.
- Healthy fats and oils: Coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil.
- Salt and spices: Turmeric, sea salt, garlic, rosemary.
Modified Paleo Diets
dark chocolate
The paleo diet has evolved over the past few years, and there are now several variants of the paleo diet. Now, many diets admit some modern foods that science says are healthy.
These foods include quality grass-fed butter and gluten-free grains like rice.
As a result, many people think of the paleo diet as a template to build your diet around and not necessarily a strict regime.
Also, when on a paleo diet, you have sensible indulgences like small amounts of red wine and dark chocolate from time to time.
Furthermore, water should be your drink when on a paleo diet plan. Many people also drink tea and coffee.
One Week Sample Paleo Diet Menu
This sample menu contains a balanced paleo diet. By all means, alter this plan based on your preferences.
Monday
Coconut oil
Breakfast: Eggs and vegetables cooked in coconut oil and a piece of fruit.
Lunch: Chicken salad with olive oil and a handful of nuts.
Dinner: Burgers (no bun) cooked in butter, salsa, and vegetables.
Tuesday
Bacon
Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, and a piece of fruit.
Lunch: Leftover burgers.
Dinner: Salmon fried in butter, with vegetables.
Wednesday
Fried bacon and vegetables
Breakfast: Meat and vegetables.
Lunch: Lettuce leaf sandwich, meat, and fresh vegetables.
Dinner: Ground beef, vegetables and berries.
Thursday
Breakfast: Eggs and fruit.
Lunch: Leftover ground beef and vegetables and nuts.
Dinner: Fried pork and vegetables.
Friday
Chicken salad
Breakfast: Eggs and vegetables cooked in coconut oil.
Lunch: Chicken salad, olive oil, and nuts.
Dinner: Steak, vegetables, and sweet potatoes.
Saturday
Baked salmon
Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, and fruit.
Lunch: Leftover steak and vegetables.
Dinner: Baked salmon, vegetables, and avocado.
Sunday
Paleo diet plan – Grilled chicken wings
Breakfast: Leftover meat and vegetables.
Lunch: Lettuce leaf sandwich, meat, and vegetables.
Dinner: Grilled chicken wings, vegetables, and salsa.
When on the paleo diet, you don’t have you track your calorie consumption rate.
However, you might have to do so if you need to lose much weight. In that circumstance, it will be advisable to limit your carbohydrate intake as well as high-fat foods like nuts too.
Simple Paleo Snacks
Some simple paleo snacks are a bowl of berries with some coconut cream, a handful of nuts, a piece of fruit, apple slices with some almond butter, baby carrots, hard-boiled eggs, homemade beef jerky and leftovers from the night before.
Conclusion
The paleo diet is designed after the diets that hunter-gatherers likely followed.
While there is no right way to follow the paleo diet, the central idea is to eliminate processed foods and eat healthy, whole foods instead.
Here is another chart for the Paleo diet if you want to keep it fancy:
Printable Paleo Diet Plan (PDF)
| Days | Breakfast | Lunch | Snack | Dinner | Total Calories per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Avocado, banana and apple smoothie with almond milk Calories: 429 | Veggie salad with tuna and hard boiled egg Calories: 456 | Lara bar Calories: 200 | Turkey and veggie skillet Calories: 417 | 1502 |
| Monday | Veggie and egg scramble with avocado Colories: 190 | Mixed salad leaves with left over turkey Calories: 186 | Carrots stick with mustard or mayonnaise Calories: 188 | Salmon and roasted veggies Calories: 340 | 904 |
| Tuesday | Chopped bananas with blueberries and almond Calories: 227 | Mixed salad leaves with leftover salmon Calories: 198 | Banana with almond butter Calories: 190 | Beef stew and greens salad Calories: 326 | 941 |
| Wednesday | Broccoli fried in coconut with toasted almonds and a poached egg calories: 156 | Salad with canned salmon, mustard and vinaigrette Calories: 163 | Handful of nuts or trail mix Calories: 160 | Chicken and veggies Calories: 200 | 679 |
| Thursday | Eggs, bacon and veggie scramble Calories: 300 | Butter nut squash, broccoli and tomato omelet with mixed salad Calories: 321 | Lara bar Calories: 200 | Instant pot meatballs and zoodles Calories: 325 | 1146 |
| Friday | Veggie and egg scramble with avocado Calories: 309 | Mixed vegetable and chicken soup Calories: 136 | Half an avocado sprinkled with sea salt and balsamic vinegar Calories: 140 | Brussel sprouts with bacon Calories: 101 | 686 |
| Saturday | Spring onion, tomato and mushroom omelet Calories: 227 | Mixed salad with tuna, boiled eggs and olive oil Calories: 320 | Frozen berry with a drizzle of coconut milk Calories: 128 | Buffalo Chicken with sweet potatoes Calories: 319 | 994 |
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