What Is the Paleo Diet?
The paleo diet, short for paleolithic diet, is a nutritional plan that invites you to eat like a caveman, that is to consume only those type of foods that our ancestors indulged in 2,5 million years ago.
A paleo diet allows for the consumption of meat, vegetables, fruits, eggs, nuts, roots and fungi. When on a paleo diet, you are not allowed to eat grains, diary, legumes, potatoes and other starchy foods, sugars (except for those in fruit), processed oils, alcohol and any convenience food.
Can You Go for a Paleo Vegetarian Diet?
At first, a vegetarian paleo diet may seem impossible if only for the fact that vegetarians do not eat meat, an important source of protein, and are faced with more numerous restrictions which makes it even harder to get the necessary proteins from food.
A very strict paleo vegetarian diet is basically impossible to sustain, but it can get pretty close to the real deal. Therefore, in order to make sure that you get all the proteins your body needs, you should make sure that your diet includes hefty amounts of eggs, nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts), spinach, broccoli), avocados and hemp seeds. You may also want to include some potatoes every now and then, even though they are forbidden in the original paleo diet.
Vegetarian Paleo Meal Plan
A vegetarian paleo meal plan may include a variety of foods, besides the ones already mentioned as protein-rich products. And as they say: the sky is the limit! You may mix fruits, veggies, eggs and nuts whichever way you feel most comfortable with.
For example, go for an egg-rich breakfast, consisting of either boiled eggs or omelet with plenty of vegetables. To get through the pre-lunch food craze, snack on nuts and even veggies – carrots and celery sticks, anyone? For lunch, a hefty veggie salad with nuts could be satisfying, as well as steamed vegetables and veggie soups. For dinner, baba ganoush may be a good choice, as well as an avocado and kale salad, for instance.
Tips for Following a Paleo Vegetarian Diet
If you want to make a vegetarian paleo diet work, you should keep in mind that your main goal is to be healthy, not to shed pounds. Weight loss will probably occur anyways – but, in the mean time, you have to make sure you get enough calories on a daily basis.
You should also take into consideration the fact that you will get the highest amount of energy not from eating veggies and fruits, but from fatty products – indulge in as many nuts as you please!
You might also like:Sources of Protein in the Vegetarian DietVegetarianism: From Vegan to Flexitarian Diet
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