The Paleo Mom Diet, rooted in the principles of the Paleolithic era, emphasizes whole foods consumed by our hunter-gatherer ancestors. This approach aims to provide the body with essential nutrients while eliminating inflammatory stimuli, making it a potential option for managing various health conditions, including autoimmune disorders.
Understanding the Paleo Diet
The Paleolithic diet, often called the paleo diet, is a modern interpretation of how our ancestors ate during the Paleolithic era. It asserts the idea hunter-gatherers of the Stone Age faced fewer health complications because of their dietary intake. Proponents of the diet believe it offers many health benefits, including a reduced risk of various metabolic diseases. However, many people turn to paleo foods for weight loss.
Like the keto diet, the paleo diet is a restrictive eating pattern that eliminates certain food groups. Those following a paleo meal plan must prioritize animal-based proteins, nuts, vegetables, and some fruits and avoid grains, legumes, and dairy products. So, while the paleo lifestyle may benefit some, it’s not safe for everyone. Before writing a paleo-friendly grocery list, let's break down the science behind this restrictive diet and review a sample meal plan.
At its core, the basic paleo diet is a restrictive eating style founded on the theory that humans operate best when only eating foods that they “need”-the whole foods our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed millions of years ago. While it doesn’t dictate macronutrient ratios or calorie limits, it does eliminate any food that wasn’t around during the Paleolithic era-no grains, dairy products, legumes, artificial sweeteners, added sugars, or processed foods.
Key Principles of the Paleo Mom Diet
The Paleo Mom Diet focuses on nutrient density, gut health, hormone regulation, and immune system regulation.
Read also: Paleo Granola Recipes
Nutrient Density
The immune system, and indeed every system in the body, requires an array of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and amino acids to function normally. Micronutrient deficiencies and imbalances are key players in the development and progression of autoimmune disease. Focusing on consuming the most nutrient-dense foods available enables a synergistic surplus of micronutrients to correct both deficiencies and imbalances, thus supporting regulation of the immune system, hormone systems, detoxification systems, and neurotransmitter production.
Gut Health
Gut dysbiosis and leaky gut are key facilitators in the development of autoimmune disease. The foods recommended on the Autoimmune Protocol support the growth of healthy levels and a healthy variety of gut microorganisms. Foods that irritate or damage the lining of the gut are avoided, while foods that help restore gut barrier function and promote healing are endorsed. Lifestyle factors that strongly influence gut barrier health as well as gut microbial composition are also addressed on the Autoimmune Protocol.
Hormone Regulation
What we eat, when we eat, and how much we eat affect a variety of hormones that interact with the immune system. When dietary factors (like eating too much sugar or grazing rather than eating larger meals spaced farther apart) dysregulate these hormones, the immune system is directly affected (typically stimulated). The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol diet is designed to promote regulation of these hormones, thereby regulating the immune system by proxy.
Immune System Regulation
Immune regulation is achieved by restoring a healthy diversity and healthy amounts of gut microorganisms, restoring the barrier function of the gut, providing sufficient amounts of the micronutrients required for the immune system to function normally, and regulating the key hormones that in turn regulate the immune system. The Autoimmune Protocol diet and lifestyle provide both the resources and the opportunity for immune regulation.
Foods to Include in the Paleo Mom Diet
The Paleo Mom Diet emphasizes a variety of nutrient-dense foods, including:
Read also: Paleo Diet Delivered: What You Need to Know
- Vegetables, Fruits & Mushrooms: Aim for 8+ servings of vegetables, 3+ servings of fruit, and 1+ servings of mushrooms daily. These foods are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients. Variety is super important, so aim to consume at least 30 different veggies, fruit and mushrooms each week. Mix up eating raw or cooked.
- Fish & Shellfish: Excellent sources of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B12 and E, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, copper, potassium and selenium, vitamin A and vitamin D, calcium, iodine, and omega-3 fatty acids. Shellfish is particularly rich in zinc.
- Organ Meat: Loaded with vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9, and B12, minerals like phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium, iodine, calcium, potassium, sodium, selenium, zinc, and manganese, and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. A good goal is to eat organ meat in the same dietary ratio as the ratio of organ meat to muscle meat found in the whole animal, i.e., snout-to-tail eating.
- Bone Broth: Rich in amino acids important for gut barrier function, such as glycine, glutamine, and arginine.
- Quality Meat & Poultry: Protein is essential for the gut microbiome. Grass-fed meat is particularly high in conjugated-linoleic acid (CLA).
- Healthy Fats: Avocado oil, coconut oil, and olive oil.
- Seeds: Sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
- Nuts: Cashews, walnuts, almonds, and pecans.
- Eggs
- Herbs and Spices
- Grass-fed or wild-caught meats
Foods to Avoid in the Paleo Mom Diet
The Paleo Mom Diet typically eliminates the following foods:
- Grains
- Legumes
- Dairy products
- Artificial sweeteners
- Added sugars
- Processed foods
- Nightshades (potatoes [sweet potatoes are fine], tomatoes, eggplants, sweet and hot peppers, cayenne, red pepper, tomatillos, goji berries etc.
Sample Paleo Mom Diet Meal Plan
While everyone has unique meal preferences, this paleo meal plan can provide inspiration for your weekly menu.
Day 1
- Breakfast: Steak and Eggs With Chimichurri
- Lunch: Zucchini Noodles With Sauteed Shrimp
- Dinner: Salsa Verde Chicken
Day 2
- Breakfast: Paleo Breakfast Fried Rice
- Lunch: Mediterranean Chicken Kebab Salad
- Dinner: French Onion Pork Chops
Day 3
Read also: Paleo Mayonnaise Recipe
- Breakfast: Berry-Coconut Smoothie Bowl
- Lunch: Chicken Salad in Lettuce Wraps
- Dinner: Baked Salmon and Veggies
Day 4
- Breakfast: Baked Eggs With Wilted Baby Spinach
- Lunch: Grilled Chicken Breast Salad
- Dinner: Roasted Chicken and Brussels Sprouts
Day 5
- Breakfast: Sweet Potato Toast
- Lunch: Shrimp Fried Cauliflower Rice
- Dinner: Beef Stir-Fry
Day 6
- Breakfast: Sheet Pan Eggs
- Lunch: Baked Salmon Atop a Salad
- Dinner: Grilled Chicken and Baked Sweet Potato
Day 7
- Breakfast: Bacon, Eggs, and Fruit
- Lunch: Burgers Without the Bun
- Dinner: Butternut Squash, Green Chile Chicken Soup
Paleo-Friendly Snacks
When it’s time to meal prep, don’t forget the snacks. Well-balanced snacks are essential to healthy eating, especially when trying to meet your individualized nutrition needs on a highly restrictive diet. To be most effective, snacks should be accessible, convenient, and enticing.
The possibilities are endless. Consider these snack ideas when designing your paleo diet meal plan:
- Toasted almonds
- Chia seed pudding
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Fresh fruit and almond butter
- Homemade guacamole
- Roasted edamame
- Sweet potatoes fries
- Chicken salad on fresh veggies
The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)
The Autoimmune Protocol, abbreviated AIP, is a complementary approach to chronic disease management focused on providing the body with the nutritional resources required for immune regulation, gut health, hormone regulation and tissue healing while removing inflammatory stimuli from both diet and lifestyle.
The biggest difference between a standard Paleo diet and the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) is where we draw the line between “yes” foods and “no” foods in order to get more health-promoting compounds and fewer detrimental compounds in our diet. Those who are typically quite healthy can generally tolerate less-optimal foods than those who aren’t. You can think of the Autoimmune Protocol as a pickier version of the Paleo diet; it accepts only those foods that are clear winners in its initial Elimination Phase.
Following the AIP diet involves increasing your intake of the obvious wins while simultaneously avoiding foods that may be triggers for your disease or symptoms.
The AIP is also a holistic approach to health, including not only a dietary framework but also a focus on lifestyle factors known to be important modulators of immune function, gut health, and hormone health. This includes a strong focus on getting adequate sleep, managing stress, and living an active lifestyle while avoiding overtraining.
Paleo Mom Diet for Breastfeeding Mothers
The Paleo Diet is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, an essential nutrient for rich breast milk. Generally, it’s composed of about 35%- 50% saturated fat, and 20% lauric and capric acid. Coconut milk and coconut oil can significantly boost lauric and capric acid concentrations in breast milk. To get more of these healthy fats in your diet, try a warming Carrot Coconut Lemongrass Soup or Szechuan Coconut Pork Stew. Breastfeeding can be a challenging experience for many women, as modern-day challenges play a major role in breastfeeding success.
Real Plans: A Tool for Paleo Mom Diet Success
Real Plans is a online meal planning service that’s completely Paleo- and AIP-friendly and ridiculously awesome. When you subscribe, Real Plans automatically generates a weekly meal plan for you, using their library of over 1400 recipes, based on your user preferences. Real Plans offers 24-hour live chat support, both before and after you buy!
Real Plans offers the customizability of a huge collection of recipes that cater to a variety of different diets. You set your dietary preferences using any of the diet templates (traditional, gluten-free, dairy-free, GFDF, vegetarian, Paleo, or Primal) and then modify for foods you additionally include or exclude… or you can completely customize your own guidelines! And now, my partnership with Real Plans means they can serve the AIP community too!!
One of my favorite things about Real Plans is the ability to exclude or include whole food groups from your plans. You can also easily create a meal plan that caters to multiple diets within your home. For an annual cost of $6 per month, your family will get a customized meal plan that will even cater to your specific food preferences and intolerances (the cheapest plans commit you to a year of meal planning). If you are not following the AIP, my standard Paleo recipes are all included in ThePaleoMom Add-On recipes as well, including all of my family-friendly classics!
Real Plans contains over 1400 easy and delicious recipes that have all been carefully tested and deemed super-simple, healthy and tasty (with access to up to 1000 more recipes if you subscribe to Add-On packages like ThePaleoMom Recipes). The Real Plans team uses this database, plus information about your individual food preferences, to create a month’s worth of weekly meal plans and shopping lists. Purchasing a plan for as low as $6 per month gives you access to all these recipes, and the ability to add or remove them from your meal plans as you see fit plus all of the options for customizing even further. So even though they do the planning for you, you aren’t locked in at all! The meal plan is autogenerated for you based on your preferences (diet type, but also recipe type on different days of the week), and from there it’s entirely customizable! Again, the ability to personalize your meal plans using Real Plans is insurmountable! The plans are super customizable thanks to their online tools. You can ditch meals you don’t care for and select other recipes instead!
Real Plans also generates a shopping list to go with your meal plan. You can organize ingredients by preferred stores even creating several shopping lists for the different stores you frequent. Scratch off items you have on hand (like spices or other pantry staples), and add additional foods you need for the week that aren’t part of the meal plan recipes. When you’re in the store, use the Real Plans app to cross off items as you place them in your shopping cart!
Real Plans‘ dynamic meal planner offers more than just a meal plan and shopping list though! It also includes a timeline of how to manage your time each day-when to shop, when to thaw, when to marinate, when to stick it all in the oven. Finally, the recipe interface is fantastic. I mean, the entire interface is crazy sleek too, but I want to emphasize just how much information you get in a single screen while you’re cooking.
There’s a lot of moving parts to consider when meal planning. What if your dietary needs are different from your family’s? What if you only have time to cook three times a week? What if you absolutely can’t stand leftovers? What if your mornings are consistently too frantic to get a proper breakfast or make a good lunch? What if feeling hangry is one of your biggest cheat triggers? What if you have additional food sensitivities or aversions that make finding good recipes a challenge? What if you aren’t Julia Child and don’t feel comfortable with complex cooking techniques? Real Plans makes all of this easy! The mealplans automatically adjust for the number of people you’re cooking for. You can additionally exclude any food or food group from your preferences, or add any additional included food you like too! For example, maybe you follow the Paleo diet but also include rice in your diet. You can set your preferences to Paleo and add rice as an included food! Your meal plan will automatically reflect your choice! And it just keeps going! Need to have a treat on hand? You can add that as an extra to your meal plan! Need to do a little batch cooking for the freezer to have some emergency meals prepared? You can add that too! And all of this functionality comes with a pretty minimal time commitment to learn your way around. The interface is crazy sleek and intuitive. I mastered my meal plans in less than 10 minutes between watching the handy dandy introductory How To video and clicking around to explore.
The way that I personally meal plan is to first shop at my local Farmer’s Market and purchase whatever inspires me. When I get home, I look at the beautiful in-season local foods I’ve obtained and figure out what meals I’d like to make using my wonderful farm-fresh produce, fresh herbs, pasture-raised eggs, and grass-fed meat. Real Plans is a great tool for this! I can peruse recipes by key words or ingredients, and even filter by cuisine type, main ingredient, which meal of the day, a variety of tags (like “slow cooker” or “oven”), dish type, prep time, total time, and the cost of the ingredients! Then, I can add my recipe discoveries to my meal plan (perhaps deleting some of the automatically generated meals), and my shopping list is automatically updated. I can then tick off the ingredients I already have in the house (whether it’s fresh produce from the Farmer’s Market or spices I always have around) and have my new interactive list to take to the store (automatically updated on my mobile device too!). I’ve already said it, but here I go again: the versatility and functionality of Real Plans is unmatched!
Tips for Success on the Paleo Mom Diet
Restrictive diets can be challenging in today’s busy world. Hectic schedules, limited access to permitted foods, and physical and mental fatigue can all affect your ability to stay on track with your goals. If the paleo diet is an appropriate option for you and your health journey, consider these tips to help set yourself up for success:
- At the beginning of the week, wash and cut all of your fruit and veggies, then store them in the refrigerator to pull as needed.
- Chop onions and peppers in advance and store them in the refrigerator to use for flavoring as needed.
- Separate your portions in storage bags to conveniently grab what you need at meal times.
- Prepare the next day’s lunch with leftovers from dinner to save time and money.
- Make paleo-friendly condiments in advance so they are available on demand.
- Cook multiple batches of meals when possible to freeze for later.
Planning Ahead
One of the best strategies that I can recommend for staying on track is Planning Ahead. That means knowing what you’re going to eat on rushed mornings, busy weeknights, during travel, and when temptation and cravings hit (because, let’s face it, they invariably do!). Planning Ahead also encompasses preparation. Why is this Planning Ahead so critical for staying on track with our chosen dietary priorities? Using this strategy means that you’re never stuck not knowing what to cook, you’ve got Go To foods for when you’re time-crunched, you’re never stuck an ingredient short in the middle of cooking a meal, and you can feel comforted and reassured that you’re next meal or snack or treat will be delicious! There’s both practical and psychological aspects to why Planning Ahead works, adding up to meals causing a lot less stress and a vastly increased ability to stay on target.
Well, the truth is that Planning Ahead isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do. There’s a lot of moving pieces to consider, and an optimal meal plan is different for each of us. If you’re tackling this on your own, it requires a great deal of thought, research, organization, and time commitment (creating a new spreadsheet and shopping list each week is a chore!). Real Plans is quite simply the best tool I’ve ever seen for making Planning Ahead as simple, personalizable, versatile, efficient, dynamic, adaptable, and effective as possible.
tags: #paleo #mom #diet #guidelines