If you are thinking about going to paleo diet, you must be thinking that does the paleo diet work. After all, what is the point of changing your lifestyle and eating habits if you don’t get the results you want. Especially since many see paleo diet as a restricting food plan (and lets be honest it kind of is – especially if you are eating out). So is the effort worth it or should you look for other options?

Few words about the paleo diet

As you probably know, paleo diet refers to a diet which is also known as a caveman diet. The basic idea of paleo diet is that we humans should be eating the food our ancestors ate long time ago as our bodies are used to that kind of diet. If looked back in the history, we have been agricultural societies only for few thousand years compared to tens of thousands of years eating like hunter gatherers. Also, only for the last few decades we have been overconsuming grain based food, such as bread, pasta and potatoes in huge quantities. Even during the industrialization we ate more meat in proportion than we eat nowadays. And that is before mentioning all the artificial stuff we eat – sodas, candies, chips etc.

As a diet and a phenomenon paleo diet is rather new but it is slowly but surely becoming more and more popular. In a way, the paleo diet can be seen as a different version of the famous Atkins diet.

Enough of this talking, lets see some of the results what people have gotten using paleo diet to see does the paleo diet work.

Paleo success stories around the internet

Below there are some success stories of paleo diet. I have collected these examples around the internet so I can not be 100% sure if it is only paleo diet what has brought the results or has some other elements been involved too. But I will do my best to state the other factors on this page.

The first success story comes from here, and describes the case of Sterling. He is a family man working in pharmaceutical industry and after several attempts of trying this and that decided to try paleo diet in combination of some heavy weight training and sprinting. And check out the results below.

BEFORE

AFTER

That is what I call amazing results! And in relatively quick time too! According to his own description, he feels so much better nowadays. He is not a huge fitness buff – surely he exercises but not a very huge amount.

Another success story comes from here. This is another example of a middle aged man getting in to shape. The pictures are separated by only 5 months and look what a difference there is in appearance! HUUUGE!

The guy above did also work out, but not on the gym. Instead he did mostly body weight exercises such as pull-ups, push-ups and squats. So what this example too goes to show is that it doesn’t even take too much effort to see how does the paleo diet work. The above paleo success stories should tell you that it does.

The bottom line: does the paleo diet work?

Based on the real life examples shown above and also on numerous success stories around the internet, it can be said that paleo diet does work. Why does the paleo diet work? Because by eliminating the bad influences, mainly carbs that fight against our bodies, from our diet and digestive system we are more healthy and most likely lose the flab. And who of us would not want a healthier and better looking body?

If the above paleo success stories do not convince you enough, you can read more about paleo diet and the science behind it from here or get some ideas about how to cook paleo friendly foods by clicking here.

In the beginning it can be hard to know what kind of foods should you eat and should not eat while going paleo. To help people with their paleo lifestyle, below is a list of paleo allowed foods (Please note! The list is not exhaustive, but includes most of the common ingredients found in stores)

Creatures on 4 feet: Farm animals

• Lean meats
• Lean beef
• Lean chicken
• Lean veal
• Pork chops or loin
• Lean pork
• Basically any kind of lean meat (trimmed of visible fat)

Flying creatures: Poultry

• Eggs of all kinds
• Lean poultry (white meat, no skin)
• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast

Other meats

• Rabbit meat
• Goat meat
• Lamb meat
• Any kind of game (bear, bison, ostrich, reindeer, wild boar…)

Swimming creatures: Fish & Shellfish

• cod
• Bass
• Eel
• Herring
• Perch
• Salmon
• Trout
• Tuna
• Crabs
• Lobster
• Mussels
• Oysters
• Scallops
• Shrimp
• …you got the picture, any kind of fish or shellfish will do

Vegetables

• Asparagus
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Kale
• Mushrooms
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peppers of all kinds
• Radish
• Spinach (very healthy!)
• Tomato
• …and so on. Again, almost anything you can find will do.

Fruits

• Apple
• Avocado (Many loooove these!)
• Banana
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Boysenberries
• Cantaloupe
• Cherries
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Kiwi
• Lemon
• Lime
• Mango
• Nectarine
• Orange
• Papaya
• Passion fruit
• Peaches
• Pineapple
• Strawberries
• Tangerine
• Watermelon
• …and other kind of fruits you will find.

Nuts and seeds

• Almonds
• Brazil nuts
• Cashews
• Hazelnuts
• Macadamia nuts
• Pecans
• Pistachios (without salt)
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Walnuts

The above list should give you a good idea what kind of ingredients are paleo allowed foods. As said above, the list is not exhaustive and there is some different views what is allowed (for example some say that peanuts are fine while others disagree) and what is not. To make it easier for you, here are few rules of thumbs:

• If it has sauce of any kind – leave it
• If you can’t eat it raw – leave it
• If it is heavily wrapped – leave it
• If it has sugar – leave it
• If you need to ask – leave it

Of course, the rawness rule does not apply to meat, fish etc, rather on fruits and vegetables. There are some ingredients such as nuts, that are hard to find unpackaged. Then its okay to buy them ready packed. But if possible, go for the hand picked options. And finally, the sugar does not apply to fruits since they have fructose in them. Just try to minimize added sugar and artificial sweeteners. Those are really not part of paleo allowed foods.

Moderate consumption paleo allowed foods

There are also some ingredients that are allowed in moderation. Again, here is some discussion and controversy on some of the items (especially diet sodas), but in general the below options are also paleo allowed foods.

Beverages

• Diet sodas (less than half a liter a day! And its better if you don’t use any sodas at all)
• Coffee (again a bit controversial)
• Tea
• Wine (max 2 glasses a day)

Oils

• Olive oil
• Avocado oil
• Walnut oil
• Flaxseed oil

Some also say that dried fruits and nuts mixed with dried and fresh fruits are okay, which they basically are. The problem with them is that they are all kind of domino foods – it is very hard to take only one or few and you can easily find yourself eating huge amounts of nuts for example.

That is very bad if you are trying to lose weight!

So go easy on the above mentioned paleo allowed foods. If you need some ideas what to buy from the store, check out this page containing paleo shopping list for beginners.

Okay, you have decided to go paleo. Good choice. However, you might be thinking that what should you buy from the grocery store next time. If you know what paleo is about, you should already have an idea what kind of things to look for. But to make it a bit easier, here is an example of paleo shopping list for beginners:

Proteins: Natural is the name of the game

These kinds of products are your new bread and butter, so you should stack heavily on them. Good items to include in your shopping cart are:

• Chicken breast
• Chicken thighs
• Turkey breast
• Ground meat
• Lean pork meat (no visible fat)
• Lean beef meat (no visible fat)
• Lamb in any form
• Organ meats (liver etc)
• Any kind of game meat (I myself am a fan of reindeer meat)
• Eggs of any kind
• Any kind of fish
• Shellfish of any kind

Basically, you should go for the meat that is the least processed. So nothing on marinade or with any kind of sauce, nothing with breading or pre-made filling. If possible, try to get your protein in as big pieces as possible – its easier to inspect the quality of meat and to see which part of the animal it has been.

As a good basic rule of thumb you should aim 150-250 grams (~0.3-0.5lb) of protein rich products per meal!

So if you are shopping for 3 days and are eating 2 warm meals plus a breakfast daily, you should buy for example 1kg of chicken breast and 0,5kg of lean pork.

Vegetables: Almost anything goes

You will need these for sure. Some say that you shouldn’t use frozen vegetables that much and instead go for the fresh ones. I personally don’t mind since living in a single person household a lot of the stuff can go bad before you can eat all of it (for example cauliflower). If fresh is an option, go for it but frozen veggies are fine too in your paleo shopping list. Your selection could include for example:

• Salads of all kinds
• Onions
• Cabbage
• Tomatoes
• Peppers (all kinds)
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Beets
• Asparagus
• Cauliflower
• …and so on

Just remember what kind of “vegetables” you should not eat, but generally speaking its kind of hard to go wrong with veggies. Buy what you prefer and be jolly.

Personally I like to buy 750g bags of frozen vegetables which is fine for 2 meals. I supplement that with some fresh tomatoes that I usually eat in the morning with breakfast and occasionally make bolognese sauce with meatballs from them. Also carrots, asparagus and cauliflower are actually pretty good when steamed and served with good steak and a bit of olive oil.

Fruits and berries: Sweet and potentially dangerous

Fruits are very simple in terms of paleo shopping list – everything goes. Some prefer to stay away from fruits that have high GI (Glycemic Index) such as bananas if they are trying to lose weight, but others are fine with everything. Just remember to eat fruits in moderation (especially the most sweet ones) as fruits do have fructose (=type of sugar) in them which is detrimental to fat loss.

• Apples
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Blueberries
• Kiwis
• Oranges
• Mangos
• Peaches
• Nectarines
• Plums
• ..and so on

I typically buy about 200g of fruits for one day and my weight is coming down nicely. Usually I use fruits as a snack in the afternoon or as a dessert after dinner.

Nuts & seeds: Good for you in moderation

There are few different approaches in the paleo community when it comes to nuts. Some say that peanuts and cashews should be avoided, while others don’t make any differentiation between the types of nuts. Paleo shopping list should in any case include some nuts or seeds – but in moderation. Besides aforementioned cashews and peanuts, other types of nuts you could buy:

• Almonds
• Brazil nuts
• Pecans
• Walnuts

And some seeds:

• pumpkin seeds
• sesame seeds
• sunflower seeds

I have to admit that I am not very big on nuts and seeds (probably should though) and use them quite sparingly. Since both of these types are energy dense ingredients, it is recommended to use nuts and seeds in moderation as they too can slow down your weight loss (if that is your goal). Basically, you should limit nuts and seeds to no more than 100g (~0.2lb) per day and not use them every day. The problem with these kinds of foods is that they are very much domino food types: if you start eating them its hard to stop in time. One more rule of thumb.

Other stuff: Add some flavor in your life

Besides proteins, veggies and fruits you might want to buy some other stuff from the store what you need for cooking. Great examples of such items are olive oil or avocado oil, some herbs and spices such as basil, oregano, chili powder and so on. You know what kind of flavors you like (Boo you if you said “Coke”), so go for those.

Example of paleo shopping list

It is very hard to give an exact list of items what you should include in your paleo shopping list. But as a guideline we can use the above mentioned rules of thumbs. So around 150-250g of protein rich ingredients and 250-500g of veggies per meal, an apple for snack and some olive oil as well as herbs and spices to flavor. Your paleo shopping list for one person for 3 days might look like this:

• 500g of chicken breast
• Dozen eggs
• 3-4 fresh tomatoes
• 1000kg of frozen veggies
• 250g of salmon
• Some carrots, cauliflower and asparagus (for steaming)
• 250g of shrimps
• Few oranges and apples
• 400g of minced meat
• Spices/herbs of your choosing

Just remember the types of food you should avoid and make good choices with the food you buy.

In case you feel like you are limited in ideas what to cook, check some ideas from here or from here.