Paleo Diet Plan | 7 Days Paleo Meal Plan (With Printable PDF)

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

Printable Paleo Meal Plans
1000 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
1100 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
1200 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
1300 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
1400 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
1500 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
1700 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
1800 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
2000 Calorie Paleo Meal Plan
Paleo Vegan Meal Plan
Paleo Meal Plan for Athletes
Paleo Low Carb Meal Plan
Paleo Diet Meal Plan for Diabetics

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

Paleo diet plan - dark chocolate

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

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

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)

DaysBreakfastLunchSnackDinnerTotal Calories per day
SundayAvocado, banana and apple smoothie with almond milk Calories: 429Veggie salad with tuna and hard boiled egg Calories: 456Lara bar   Calories: 200Turkey and veggie skillet Calories: 4171502
MondayVeggie and egg scramble with avocado Colories: 190Mixed salad leaves with left over turkey Calories: 186Carrots stick with mustard or mayonnaise Calories: 188Salmon and roasted veggies Calories: 340904
TuesdayChopped bananas with blueberries and almond Calories: 227Mixed salad leaves with leftover salmon Calories: 198Banana with almond butter Calories: 190Beef stew and greens salad Calories: 326941
WednesdayBroccoli fried in coconut with toasted almonds and a poached egg calories: 156Salad with canned salmon, mustard and vinaigrette Calories: 163Handful of nuts or trail mix Calories: 160Chicken and veggies   Calories: 200679
ThursdayEggs, bacon and veggie scramble Calories: 300Butter nut squash, broccoli and tomato omelet with mixed salad Calories: 321Lara bar Calories: 200Instant pot meatballs and zoodles Calories: 3251146
FridayVeggie and egg scramble with avocado Calories: 309Mixed vegetable and chicken soup Calories: 136Half an avocado sprinkled with sea salt and balsamic vinegar Calories: 140  Brussel sprouts with bacon     Calories: 101686
SaturdaySpring onion, tomato and mushroom omelet Calories: 227Mixed salad with tuna, boiled eggs and olive oil Calories: 320Frozen berry with a drizzle of coconut milk Calories: 128Buffalo Chicken with sweet potatoes Calories: 319994

See Also

Paleo vs vegan

Semilla de brazil

1500 Calorie Diet Plan

7 Day Low Cholesterol Meal Plan

7 Day Intermittent Fasting Diet Meal Plan