Paleo Diet for Athletes

Paleo Lunch :

Athletes looking for a way to maximize their training results may have heard of the Paleo Diet for Athletes. While misunderstanding abounds, the Paleo Diet is founded on the type of foods our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived on many thousands of years ago. With a few modern tweaks, the Paleo Diet for Athletes can provide a competitive edge, allowing for greater muscle build-up with decreased recovery times and thus increased performance. Scientific studies continue to demonstrate its safety and efficacy.

Paleo Diet for Athletes

Paleo Diet Philosophy

At its heart, the diet's philosophy is very simple: consume the types of foods that the human body evolved to consume. In the words of the diet's creator, "the optimal diet for the athlete is the same one that we as Homo sapiens have thrived on for nearly all of our existence on the planet - a Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, diet, albeit one slightly modified to meet the unique demands of athletes". The Paleo Diet follows a low-carbohydrate, high-protein plan, but for athletes, it also takes into account the need for glycogen restoration after exercise. While similar to some other diets, "the greatest differences of what we propose here may be found in the timing of carbohydrate and protein ingestion, especially branched-chain amino acids; selecting foods based on glycemic load at certain times relative to training; the base-enhancing effects of our diet on blood and other body fluids; and periodization of diet in parallel with training". In this way, the diet is organized to best benefit training and cut down on recovery.

Athletes should be clear that this diet is very different from the traditional high-carbohydrate diets espoused by most trainers. In fact, athletes will need to forego most all carbohydrates since "grains, like dairy products and refined sugars, were not part of the native human diet". The diet is founded on consumption of "healthful fruits, veggies, lean meats, and seafood". Dietary strategies are intended to increase performance and for overall health; this is not a weight-loss diet, despite that followers do lose fat and gain muscle.

Paleo's Competitive Edge

The Paleo Diet for Athletes offers a competitive edge to those who follow it. The diet evolved through training needs thus maximizes athletic performance. Researchers "found this way of eating to be 'ergogenic,' a term exercise physiologists use to describe nutritional supplements that can enhance athletic performance". It "is high in animal protein, which is the richest source of the branched-chain amino acids - valine, leucine, and isoleucine...potent stimulants for building and repairing muscle". It provides the building blocks for muscle growth and repair, essential to any serious athlete.

It offers several other benefits. The diet "prevents muscle protein breakdown because it produces a net metabolic alkalosis." The foods commonly eaten by Americans are acidic. To neutralize an acidic diet, the body breaks down muscle tissue, obviously bad for athletes wanting to build up muscle stores. Since the Paleo diet is net-alkaline, the body has no need to break down muscle tissue. In addition, the diet also protects health. All the fruits and vegetables provide a rich array of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, which promote immune-system function. Indeed, researchers have found that "the frequency and duration of colds, flu, and upper respiratory illnesses are reduced when athletes adopt the Paleo diet". Athletes build muscle faster, don't break it down, and bolster their immune systems at the same time - all good things for performance.

Diet Regimen

The key to the Paleo Diet regimen is its tailoring to the athlete's training schedule. In "recognition that consumption of starches and simple sugars was necessary and useful only during exercise and in the immediate postexercise period," it allows athletes to ingest certain carbohydrates only when it best suits them for training, in the pre- and post-exercise windows. At all other times, "eat as much lean meat, poultry, seafood, fresh fruit, and veggies as you like". Thus, the diet is high in protein, but because of the preference for lean proteins, saturated fat consumption is lower than some may expect. The Paleo Diet is not the high-fat Atkins diet; it preferences the "good" fats such as omega-3 fatty acids, which lower cholesterol and protect health.

Foods barred from the diet include "cereal grains, dairy products, high-glycemic fruits and vegetables, legumes, alcohol, salty foods, fatty meats, refined sugars, and nearly all processed foods". Instead, athletes eat low-glycemic fruits and vegetables, which provide the vitamins and minerals that are so helpful for those lost during exercise. But in recognition of depleted glycogen stores, "Immediately before, during, and after a workout or competition, certain non-Paleo foods should be eaten to promote a quick recovery".

Example Daily Menu - 2200 Calories

Breakfast:
Cantaloupe - 276g
Broiled Atlantic salmon - 333g

Lunch:
Walnut-Vegetable Salad
Romaine lettuce - 68g
Carrot - 61g
Cucumber - 78g
Tomatoes - 246g
Lemon juice dressing - 31g
Walnuts - 11g
Broiled lean pork loin - 86g

Dinner:
Veggie and avocado-almond salad
Mixed greens - 112g
Tomato - 123g
Avocado - 85g
Almonds - 45g
Red onion - 29g
Lemon juice dressing - 31g
Steamed broccoli - 468g
Lean beef sirloin tip roast - 235g

Dessert:
Strawberries - 130g

Snacks:
Orange - 66g
Carrot sticks - 81g
Celery sticks - 90g

Timing of Eating for Athletic Events

Eat at least two hours before exercise, consuming 200 to 300 calories per hour prior to the start of the event (so 400 to 600 calories if two hours before or 600 to 900 calories if three hours before). These should be low- to moderate-glycemic-index carbohydrates that are also low in fiber. If exercise lasts less than an hour, no carbohydrates are needed during the event. If lasting for more than an hour, athletes should consume high-glycemic-index carbohydrates during the event, in the form of sports drinks.

Within thirty minutes of completing a competitive event or long/intense exercise period, athletes need to consume both protein and carbohydrates in a 45:1 ratio. Commercial protein shakes are an easy choice, but homemade ones work just as well, so long as they're consumed within thirty minutes. For the post-exercise period, up to the amount of time spent exercising, athletes should continue to eat moderate- or high-glycemic-index carbohydrates along with protein, at a ratio of 45:1. During this time, athletes may eat non-Paleo foods like bread, pasta, or other glucose-rich foods. After this stage, athletes should return to eating according to the Paleo Diet - lean proteins and low-glycemic fruits and vegetables.

Paleo in the Long-term

The Paleo Diet has been helping athletes improve performance for more than ten years. It's heavily based on science and proven effective in the real world of athletics, yet many still balk at the notion of eating as our ancestors did. Studies of remote populations, of people who follow much the same diet as Paleo advocates, reveal some sobering information. For example, "despite diets rich in animal foods, these people have healthful blood cholesterol levels that leave the average Westerner in the dust". High blood pressure is rare, as is obesity. These populations don't have many diseases of the Western world. That current scientific data is confirmed by historical accounts written when Westerners came into contact with hunter-gatherer societies.

Recent medical studies bear out the effectiveness and safety of low-carbohydrate diets. Studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine have demonstrated that low-carbohydrate diets cause lower cholesterol, improved glycemic control, improved insulin sensitivity, improved triglyceride levels, as well as better weight loss when compared to other diets. These studies, conducted over years, also dispel the persistent myth that low-carbohydrate diets are deleterious to health. All of this data shows that the Paleo Diet for Athletes is the best way to bring diet in line with training goals to achieve optimal results.

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1000 Calorie Diet Plan Thats Simple Yet Powerful!

Paleo Lunch :

Ok we are about go over a simple 1000 calorie diet plan that can have you losing weight at a natural steady rate. Its important that you lose weight at a steady rate otherwise you will just gain the weight back in the future.

1000 Calorie Diet Plan Thats Simple Yet Powerful!

OK lets get started shall we? If you follow this simple little plan you should see some gradual weight loss.

Breakfast:

You want to eat 300 calories here! This will be one of your biggest meals because it raises your metabolism early in the day to aid even more fat burning. I suggest you eat a bowl of Quaker Oatmeal here along with some apple juice and a fruit of your choice. Oatmeal is full of fiber and actually makes you feel full because of its abundance of fiber.

Lunch:

Eat Around 300 calories here also. You shoul choose a lean meat thats around 120-150 calories like a piece of Salmon or lean chicken. Now add some green beans and another fruit. This should set you right at 300 calories. You can even mix things up and get something like a lean cuisine meal which are low in calories.

Mid Afternoon:

So you already have eaten 600 of the 1000 calorie diet plan calories allowed. This meal you want to eat around 200 calories. I suggest a nice decent sized sandwich for this meal because you need some carbs in your diet like bread.

Dinner:

I suggest you keep your dinner around 200-300 calories. Dont worry about how late you eat as long as its not past 9 pm at night. Eating a small meal late can actually help to raise your metabolism before bedtime. But if you eat too long you run into risking weight gain due to your metabolism naturally slowing down at night. But you should eat something in the range of 200-300 calories here such as a low calorie frozen diet meal. You could also eat some pasta here but I do not recommend it because you already got enough of your carbs in with your bread.

Basically dont feel bad if you slip up and eat say a cookie during one meal as long as you keep the calorie intake at 1000-1100 per day. Ihope this 1000 calorie diet plan has helped you see how easy it can be to lose weight. Follow this little program and you will see weight loss within a week. Its really not that hard either, good luck!

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The Most Common Pitfall In A Weight Loss Program Nobody Talks About

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How many times have you started a diet and exercise routine only to throw the towel in after just a few weeks because you weren't seeing the results you wanted? Losing weight doesn't have to be that difficult but unfortunately misinformation has caused a lot of people to take the wrong approach and suffer in frustration because of it. If losing weight was as simple as "eating less and exercising more" you wouldn't be reading this article.

The Most Common Pitfall In A Weight Loss Program Nobody Talks About

The reality is you have to set the right conditions in your body for fat loss to occur. It's important to understand that fat loss is 100% controlled by the hormonal balances in your body. The objective is to create the right hormonal balances with your diet and exercise to open up the window for fat burning to take place.

Eat the wrong foods or take in too few calories and fat loss comes to halt. No amount of extra cardio will do the trick. In fact, many times doing excessive cardio in a calorie restricted state only makes things worse. When your body is not able to meet energy demands for resting metabolic function you get into what's called a catabolic state where lean muscle is broken down. The end result will be your body holding onto fat and as your hormones adjust to slow down your metabolism.

It's no secret that eating too few calories over a prolonged period of time causes a down regulation in metabolism that triggers a primal starvation response. That's the primary reason why most diets fail. It's not that a short term restriction in calories can't trigger a fat release by the cells, it does. But the problem is your body quickly adapts to the decreased caloric intake and adjusts thyroid hormone production to reset metabolism.

Instead of trying to starve your body into releasing fat, which is a poor strategy, you need to give it a reason to let go of the stored fuel. You do this by changing the way your body meets energy demands. The most common mistake I see people making is failing to condition their body to fuel off of fatty acids and amino acids from proteins through gluconeogenesis.

You see in the absence of readily available blood sugar your body will turn to other substrates for fuel to meet energy demands. But here's the kicker, if there's always readily available sugar for energy, your body never has a need to tap into stored body fat. Make no mistake about it as sugar is the real enemy in any weight loss program. You absolutely must reduce sugar intake if you want to optimize hormonal balances for fat loss.

This is exactly where most people get hung up because of misinformation. They think if they just cut calories or start eating "healthier" the weight will naturally come off. When the scale doesn't budge they beat themselves up and figure it must have been because of that one piece of pie. That's never the reason. The problem is they don't give a second thought to all the whole grains and starches in their diet, because these foods are supposed to be healthy and weight loss friendly, or at least that's what they'd be told.

What they don't realize is the majority of people who are overweight suffer from some degree of insulin and leptin resistance. This simply means their body doesn't handle sugar and fat like it's supposed to because of hormonal imbalances.

The primary cause of these imbalances is eating the wrong foods and having an unbalanced lifestyle with stress, lack of exercise, etc, over a prolonged period of time. When the body can't handle blood glucose properly because of tissue degeneration and receptor problems, you've got to take very specific measures to fix it. Following a diet of "all things in moderation" will fail miserably for individuals with hormonal imbalances.

If you're stuck in weight loss plateau because of hormonal imbalances like insulin resistance, the words "moderation" can't apply to you until the root of the problem has been fixed.

I can't tell you how many individuals I've seen do things like switch from white bread to whole grain bread and think they were eating "healthy" for weight loss only to be left frustrated after continual backsliding with sugar cravings and junk food binges.

When the body is addicted to sugar you can't reverse the problem by simply switching out the source of the sugar. This will only keep you caught up in the vicious cycle of constantly craving bad foods and trying to use willpower to stay on your diet.

People who try to lose weight by winning the battle of willpower need to realize how impossible it is to fight the biology of your body. It's not willpower but more importantly physiological changes that need to occur on a hormonal level.

Think of it as having to reprogram the cells of your body to fuel off of something different than sugar. Pulling out all the junk foods and replacing them with more "healthy" starches won't do the trick. You need to pull out the refined sugars and starches altogether for a while. Fruits and vegetables contain natural sugars (fructose and glucose) but they're used differently by your body and should still be consumed.

I'm talking about removing all grains, breads, pastas, dairy, cereals, along with anything processed and refined. What in the world do you eat then? The secret is following what's called a Primal Blueprint or Paleo type diet where you consume lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats. These are foods that the human body was designed to fuel off of. It's the key to correcting hormonal imbalances by regenerating tissue at the hormonal glands and reducing acidosis.

The thyroid, pancreatic, and adrenal glands are all very susceptible to damage from poor dietary habits. When you're eating a diet high in starches along with processed and refined foods, it causes a host of imbalances due to acidosis, inflammation and tissue degeneration.

You need to heal your body with natural, whole foods, and not focus on cutting calories. It's much easier and appealing to do Lean Cuisines for lunch instead or lean proteins and vegetables but it's never going to work the same. Forget all the talk about the glycemic index and low fat content of processed and refined "diet foods." Don't fall into this trap, there's absolutely no chance of healing your body by eating processed and refined foods. It may work for a while but you're likely to put the weight back on because you didn't correct the root problem.

One quick thing about fruits as a lot of people have been told you can't eat fruit on a weight loss program. This is completely false and misguided information. Your body can use fructose from fruit almost immediately for energy through a diffusion process which send it directly into the cells. The fructose from fruit is not the same as high fructose corn syrup and other unnatural sugars.

If you're going to follow a Primal Blueprint of Paleo type diet, fruits can and should make up a portion of your daily diet. If you're aggressively working on breaking a sugar addiction you'll just want to have 1-2 servings a day, mostly from high fiber sources like berries, apples, oranges, etc. Avoid melons and other high sugar fruits until your body gets good at burning fat.

The reason fruit often gets a bad rap is because people try to include it on top of a diet that already has a lot of starches. Eating an apple after you already had 60-70 grams of carbohydrates from that 6" Subway melt and bag of Baked Lays chips is never going to work. You're just adding more sugar into your system than your body needs. Compare that to eating an orange with a chicken breast and large garden salad. Big difference because now the natural sugar from the fruit can be readily used for energy without sending excess glucose floating around in the bloodstream.

Bottom line is fruit in moderation can be part of a naturally low-carb diet along with adequate protein and fat to balance out your hormones and increase metabolism. I've seen some of the best results with correcting hormonal imbalances and regenerating tissue health by individuals following a raw food diet of exclusively fruits and vegetables for a while.

Green juices are one of my favorite strategies to use from a healing standpoint. If fruits were really a problem, these people would never lose weight. The reality is most everyone who follows a short term strategy like this loses a significant amount of weight.

So why don't more people do it? Because it requires preparation, work, and sacrifice. It's much easier to just eat that low calorie wrap and try and convince yourself that it will promote weight loss.

You'll have to trust me on this one as your body simply doesn't need extra starches. Your best bet is to follow a Primal Blueprint or Paleo type diet, or better yet start off with a detoxification and cleansing phase with green juices and raw fruits and vegetables only. Do it for a week then progress to a Primal way of eating by including back in the proteins and fats.

Just know when you do this your body will likely resist the sudden decrease in sugar and starches pretty hard. Anyone who has ever pulled out sugars can attest to the initial headaches, cravings, irritability, and mood swings that occur during the first 7-10 days.

But a funny thing happens when your body gets the message that it needs to fuel off something other than sugar. It changes fuel sources and starts to almost immediately function better. All of a sudden you have more energy, you sleep better, you're not hungry all the time, and the sugar cravings subside. It's like someone flipped a switch.

I tell you this because making the decision to change the way you eat can truly change your life. But you need to make the decision to go through short-term sacrifices and discomfort in order to fully experience the freedom on the other side. One doesn't come without the other.

Give yourself 30 days and transform the way you fuel your body. You've got nothing to lose and could end up transforming your life. Just don't go half way and tell yourself that you can still eat healthy starches or your favorite foods in moderation. Save the "moderation" part until you've fixed the problem or you're likely to keep riding the weight loss yo-yo.

New research is showing that sugary, processed, and refined foods have addictive properties comparable to drugs like heroin! This is no joke. If you want your body to change you must reprogram what it uses for energy. Breaking the addiction to carbohydrates will only come once your body has been conditioned to fuel off of fat instead. This means until your body adjusts, even seemingly "healthy" starches can keep you stuck.

I know it may be hard to visualize right now but when you change how your body uses and processes food, things become almost effortless. You have to experience it as my words will do little to explain it. If you're suspect on anything I've just shared with you or think sugars and starches aren't the problem as long as your calories are low, I challenge you to follow a Primal Blueprint diet for just 30 days and then tell me what you think.

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How to Make Easy Fish Soup Recipes

Paleo Lunch :

Fish soup might not be the most common type of soup but it does make a warming lunch or a deliciously different dinner. When was the last time you made fish chowder or a fish soup recipe? Fish soup can be really flavorful and you can even invent your own fish soup recipes.

How to Make Easy Fish Soup Recipes

Aromatic herbs like dill and parsley go well with fish and you can make fish soup with all kinds of fish, such as tilapia, salmon, tuna, cod and more. Remember that fish only takes about ten minutes to cook in this way, so add the fish near the end of the cooking time, else it might become tough. As soon as the fish is opaque and flakes easily, it is done.

Famous Soup Recipes

There are lots of famous fish soup recipes, such as French bouillabaisse and Singaporean sliced fish soup. Vietnamese sour fish soup, Hungarian paprika-spiced fisherman's soup and Scottish "Cullen Skink" which is a delicious combination of potatoes, onion, cream and smoked haddock, are other examples.

Cioppino is an Italian-American fish soup made with different types of fish, as well as tomatoes, and clam chowder is also a well known dish. You can use many different types of fish and seafood to make fish soup recipes. Simply add some herbs and vegetables to water to make a broth and add some chopped fish.

How to Make Tilapia Soup

This recipe is really easy and you just need to simmer the soup ingredients and fry some bread to make homemade croutons. The soup is flavored with dill, lemon, and parsley and the flavor of the tilapia clearly shines through.

This is one of the most easy soup recipes and it makes a change from the chicken soup recipes and pumpkin soup recipes you might usually make or buy. If you see some tilapia on sale, snatch it up, because this soup is really tasty and well worth making.

What you will need:

• 2 tilapia fillets
• 1/2 teaspoon dill
• 1 pint water
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Juice from half a lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley
• 1 slice bread, for making croutons
• Salt and pepper, to taste

How to make it:

Bring the water to a boil in a pot, then add the celery, carrots, and onion and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the dill, parsley, and pepper, and then let the soup boil until the carrots are soft. Add the tilapia fillets and let the soup simmer gently.

Cut the bread into cubes and fry them in the oil to make croutons. Add the lemon juice to the soup when the tilapia is opaque and white and break up the fish fillets using a spoon.

Blend the soup a little bit with a hand mixer but leave it chunky. Add some salt to taste and serve it hot, topped with the croutons.

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Figure Competition Diet Plan - Proven Figure Competition Diets to Help You Win!

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If you are looking for figure competition diet plans to help you win your figure competition then this article is perfect for you.

Figure Competition Diet Plan - Proven Figure Competition Diets to Help You Win!

So you are training for your fitness figure competition and want to learn what kind of competition diet is right for you. Here's a sample diet plan that can help you reach your dieting goals.

6.30am - Breakfast

5/6 egg whites and 2/3 whole eggs with 2 slices of wheat toast or oatmeal.

10 am - Snack

Non fat yogurt and fruit or protein drink.

12 noon - Lunch

50 - 60 gms protein, 1/2 cup of green veggies, 1/2 green beans.

3 pm - Snack

Protein drink or dozen almonds.

6 pm - Dinner

6 oz Protein from fish or poultry. 1/2 cup of spinach and 1/2 yams.

9 pm - Snack

4 oz Protein Drink

Right before the figure contest date you should aim for about 1,700 calories per day on average. The carb range should be 160-180 per day and ideally you should get them from yams. For great results you should switch your carb source 3 days before your competition date. Try going from yams to red potatoes for example. Brown rice is also a good source. As for protein you should try to eat top sirloin steak or flank steak, VPX zero carb protein, and chicken on occasion mixing up the source every now and then.

If you want to maintain a lean body fat and still make gains, your calories count needs to be 300-250 more than they were while you were dieting.

You should try to manipulate your carb primarily, and throw in some dietary fats as well every now and then. Your intake can change from 175g protein/100g carbs/25g fat during the season to 150g protein/150g carbs/35g fat during the off-season. You may need to try several different plans to see what feels the best for you.

Don't cheat! As much as you may crave for a cheat meal fight the temptation. If you rarely cheat, you will be able to consume more calories from clean foods and still stay lean. If you must cheat then cheat no more than once per 2 weeks, and not going crazy on those cheats. By not going crazy, I mean eating 3-4 slices of pizza instead of 8 plus breadsticks!

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Keep Your New Year's Resolution to Lose Weight With the Paleo Diet Cookbook

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Are you tired of not feeling comfortable in your own skin. Have you tried everything without getting the long term results you want? Do you want to lose weight for once and for all this year, no excuses, no ifs, ands or buts? If this speaks to you, continue reading. In this article I we will explore why most diets fail, and how the Paleo Diet Cookbook overcomes these obstacles.

Keep Your New Year's Resolution to Lose Weight With the Paleo Diet Cookbook

Why Most Diets Fail

You get tired of the same thing
Really, how may times can you eat a diet bar for lunch and a dry chicken breast and carrot sticks for dinner.

Unrealistic Restrictions
This is a big one, diets that require you to stay under 800 calories a day, or to replace meals with shakes or meal bars are too strict and never work for the long run.

No education on how to change eating habits
Some diets fail because although you may follow the guidelines for a diet, or eat the meals that were pre-made and distributed by your diet program, you are lost the minute you are left to your own devices.

Weight loss is the focus not health
Many diets are focused on losing weight, but don't come close to helping you meet your nutritional needs. When your nutritional needs are not met, you have intense cravings, making it impossible to keep weight off.

Why the Paleo Diet Cookbook Works

Endless Options
In the Paleo Diet Cookbook, there are over 370 recipes which are nutritious and delicious including things like:
-Beef Kabobs with BBQ Eggplant
-Mustard Glazed Drumsticks with Creamy Coleslaw and even
-Double Chocolate Cookies

It's easier to stick to a plan when there's so much goodness to choose from; you will never feel deprived.

Realistic Plan You Can Stick To
There is no calorie counting involved and you actually get to have foods you can sink your teeth into. This is not a meal replacement situation, because there is no reason to replace meals that are both yummy and healthy.

Learn How to Eat Right
By using the Paleo Diet Cookbook, you will learn what foods to eat to keep your body at its optimum health. You will also have fun exploring foods that you may have never eaten before such as:
-Chicken Liver with Grapes and Onions
-Tripe soup with ginger sauce and mint or
-Apple cinnamon omelet

This cookbook expands your food options rather than limits them.

Health Focus
Unlike diets that focus on weight loss the Paleo Diet Cookbook focus is on meeting your nutritional needs by eating the natural, wholesome foods that mother nature has provided for us. When you are eating healthily, you will lose weight without having to obsess over it. You also wont have terrible cravings that drive you to binge eating.

Keeping your New Year's Resolution to lose weight doesn't have to feel impossible, it can be fun, exciting and obtainable.

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Paleo Meal Planning - Ideas for Daily Meals

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Due to the strict restrictions of the Paleo diet, Paleo meal planning is extremely important so that the diet is followed properly. If you are not aware of the Paleo diet, the focus is to consume "natural foods." In other words, the Paleo diet does not include foods that are processed in any manner.

Paleo Meal Planning - Ideas for Daily Meals

The Paleo diet tries to focus on foods consumed in the Paleolithic time period. The main food groups in the Paleo diet include fresh fruits and vegetables, and lean meats and seafood.

Foods that are processed are not allowed in any form. Also, food and drinks such as coffee, alcohol and soda pop are off limits because they were not consumed during that time period. Also, potatoes are not allowed because they have been genetically altered.

As stated earlier, Paleo meal planning will allow you to ensure that you follow the Paleo diet and can reap the health benefits of the diet. Here are some sample meal plans:

Breakfast:

• Two scrambled eggs with a cup of fresh strawberries
• Lean steak with over easy eggs on top and grapefruit
• Lean turkey sausage and sautéed spinach with eggs
• Grilled peaches with fresh mint

Lunch:

• One grilled chicken breast with steamed garlic broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots
• Ground lean chicken burgers with hot peppers and salad
• Grilled tilapia with lemon and fresh salsa
• Guacamole deviled eggs with papaya and mango

Dinner:

• Grilled steak salad with lettuce, onions, and green peppers
• Hot BLT salad with turkey bacon and hard-boiled egg
• Meatballs and mushrooms in the crockpot with bok choy and green onions
• Turkey medallions spiced with poultry seasoning and served with baked apples

Snacks:

For snacking, enjoy fresh fruits such as strawberries or blueberries. You can also snack on nuts such as almonds, peanuts, or cashews.

The Paleo diet does not restrict the amount of food you eat, just what kind of food that is consumed. By eating natural foods, you prevent your body from consuming fattening additives that are often put into processed foods such as chips, bread, and pasta.

The best way to properly plan your meals is to plan out an entire week at a time. Schedule your meals on one specific day each week and go to the grocery store on that designated day. By doing so, you will only buy exactly what you need and prevent yourself from overspending on food you will not consume.

For some of you, it might be difficult to make these changes, if you are very used to eating unhealthy, processed foods. The body actually can become addicted to these types of foods. This results in a vicious cycle of needing a fat or sugary food, eating it and immediately needing it again. By giving the Paleo diet a try for just two weeks, you can transform how your body responds to these impulse cravings to unhealthy and unnatural foods.

The dietary restrictions of the Paleo diet make it relatively hard to follow so proper Paleo meal planning is vital so that you can stay focused on consuming the proper foods and drinks.

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