The idea of the paleo diet is a simple one: eat what our ancestors ate. Before over-processed, mass-manufactured, sugar-laden foods became the foundation of our diets, Paleolithic humans ate what nature provided: mainly meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. If you’re just getting started, having a hard time avoiding grains, dairy, refined sugar and other processed foods or are a paleo pro on the hunt for new recipes, you’ve come to the right place!
What are Paleo Diet Products?
When you’re following a paleo diet, making healthy meal choices should feel easy. Perhaps you’ll have a mixed green salad with grilled wild salmon and avocado for lunch, or a grass-fed filet mignon with sautéed garlic spinach for dinner. But when it comes to snacking, options can feel limited.
So many readily available snack foods are highly processed and filled with preservatives and artificial ingredients. At Vitacost, we have a large selection of paleo diet products to hold you over between mealtimes. Here are five of our favorite paleo-friendly snacks:
How to Buy the Right Paleo Diet Products
When shopping for paleo diet products, take a good look at the ingredients label (you know, the boring black and white label on the back of the box that’s behind all the colorful marketing imagery). Keep in mind that the list of ingredients should be short, and all the items listed should be familiar to you as food – REAL food. Here’s a checklist of non-paleo ingredients:
- • Sugar (by its many names, i.e. cane juice, cane syrup, corn sweetener, beet juice, dextrose, etc.)
- • Corn
- • Grains
- • Soy
- • Wheat
- • Processed oils
Surprising List of Paleo Diet Foods You Can Eat
- • Fruit: Including some low-glycemic fruit, such as berries or green apples, in your diet allows for a hint of sweetness without going overboard. It’s also a healthy way to reap the extra vitamins, minerals and antioxidants they provide.
- • Fatty meat: While most of the proteins we eat should be lean in nature, as they are when sourced from grass-fed animals, there is room now and again for a fatty, juicy rib-eye or a homemade batch of carnitas, prepared using pasture-raised pork. Just be sure that you don’t go overboard and let bacon creep its way into every meal.
- • Carbs: A real Paleo diet is not a no-carb approach to eating. The proper percentage of macronutrients should yield approximately 35 percent of calories from carbs, primarily in the form of fresh, local, in-season vegetables.
- • Wine: While a daily bottle of wine is not part and parcel of a healthy approach to living, it can certainly be healthy in moderation and something we humans have been enjoying for thousands of years. Opt for organic and sulfite-free wines and remember to balance out your macros for the day when you know you’ll be partaking. For example, you can curb fruit that day (you’ll get plenty of sugar from the wine) and up the amount of good fat and vegetables you eat.
Download Our FREE Paleo Diet E-Book
Looking for delicious and nutritious paleo recipes? Download our free e-book, Paleo Kitchen, which includes 20 recipes for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinners and desserts! Shop for all your favorite paleo-friendly snacks, baking ingredients, pantry staples, supplements and more at Vitacost (for less!) and we’ll conveniently deliver them straight to your door – no membership fees, ever.
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