paleo {week one}

I did a post explaining Paleo a few months ago. More and more places I go I’m finding people who are either eating a strict Paleo diet or watching their carb intake. The biggest question we get asked is: What in the world do you eat? I’ve been asked it so much over the last two weeks that I thought I’d do a quick post.

First, a daily menu looks something like this:

Breakfast: Eggs or nutrient-rich smoothie

Lunch: Salad with protein on it (i.e., left over meat from the night before and nuts); leftovers; or lettuce wraps

Dinner: Grilled or baked meat, and one or two vegetables (NOT to include potatoes, peas, lima beans, or corn)

Snacks throughout the day: nuts, fruit, raw vegetables

A great snack is something I call Paleo Antipasto. You're not technically supposed to eat processed meats like bacon, sausage, or lunch meat, but we include them in our diet. For Paleo Anitpasto I use summer sausage or salami slices, blackberries, and snap peas (you can substitute other crunchies like apples slices or carrot sticks.) The trick is to have salty meat, crunchy fruit or veggie, and sweet fruit like berries, pineapple or melon. This makes a satisfying lunch or a great evening snack for two.

Here’s a sample weeknight menu to get you started:

Week One:

• Grilled Chicken, roasted broccoli, and Steamed Carrots
• CabbageRolls (substitute milled cauliflower for rice, delete sour cream - I use Paula Dean's recipe), roasted brussel sprouts
• Baked/Broiled Salmon (I use salt/pepper lemon and dried dill), Asparagus, roasted beets
• Spaghetti squash with meat sauce, green salad
• BBQ Pulled pork, sautéed zucchini, pineapple chunks, raw cabbage with a little lime juice and salt

For lunch, I basically eat one or two different salad types a week, then switch it out the next week. 

Salad ideas:

• Greek Salad – greens, kalmata olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, diced onion (feta: optional). Dressing – red wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, 1 clove garlic minced, salt/pepper
• Cobb Salad – greens, chicken, bacon, hardboiled egg, diced avocado, diced tomatoes (blue cheese: optional), vinegar and oil dressing
• Garden Salad – greens, all the veggies you can handle, handful of nuts, left over chicken or steak
• Spinach Salad – spinach, strawberries, walnuts or pecans (goat cheese: optional), balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil dressing
• Spinach Salad 2: spinach, tomatoes, bacon, walnuts or pecans, hardboiled egg
• Harvest Salad – greens, diced sweet apple (like fuji or gala), raisins, walnuts or pecans, balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil dressing

Protein salads for lettuce wraps or on top of greens: 

• Chicken Salad – Greens topped with chicken salad made with shredded chicken, dollop of mayo, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and scallions, salt/pepper to taste
• Curry Salmon Salad – Greens topped with salmon salad made with shredded salmon, dollop of mayo, shredded carrot, curry to taste, salt/pepper to taste
• Tuna Salad – Greens topped with shredded tuna or albacore, dollop of mayo, diced celery, grapes (halved) or chopped pickles, salt/pepper to taste

 Snack Ideas: 

• To curb a sweet craving: 1-2 dates, 1-2 figs, handful of raisin, “baked” apples with cinnamon and raisins
• To curb a salty snack craving: sunflower seeds, kale chips
• To curb a chip craving: snap peas, raw carrot sticks, kale chips
• Decadence: bacon wrapped date, dates rolls with coconut and almond

Stocking your pantry:

• Figs
• Dates
• Sunflower seeds
• Almond butter
• Olive oil
• Coconut oil 
• Chicken or vegetable stock
• Eggs
• Fruit – as much variety as you can get
• Veggies – as much variety as you can get (cut some up to have as crudites for snacking)
• Nuts  - as much variety as you can get
• Lean meats and fish 
• A variety of spices