Diets we support › Paleo
Whole foods a hunter-gatherer would recognize, and nothing processed.
There is a lot of noise around paleo. Strip it away and what is left is refreshingly simple. The paleo (short for paleolithic) diet is built around whole, barely-processed foods, the kind of thing our ancestors might have eaten. Think meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds. It takes out grains, legumes, dairy, refined sugar, and anything processed.
Start your Paleo plan →You build meals from single-ingredient whole foods and skip anything that comes out of modern agriculture or a factory. No grains, no beans, no dairy, no refined sugar. In practice, most meals end up as protein plus vegetables plus a healthy fat.
People who feel their best on whole foods and like having a clear line between what's in and what's out, with no calories or macros to count.
Paleo has some real evidence behind it, though it's more modest than the headlines suggest. In short studies, people eating this way lost weight and trimmed their waist, and saw lower blood pressure, better insulin sensitivity, and improved cholesterol and triglycerides. Cutting out refined carbs and added sugar, which is most of what paleo does, tends to steady blood sugar, and that's likely where a lot of the benefit comes from.
Here's the honest part. Most of those studies were small and short, usually a few dozen people over six months or less, and the early advantages often faded by the two-year mark. So paleo can be a good reset, especially if you're coming off a lot of processed food, but the long-term research just isn't there yet to call it a clear winner.
The research does raise a few concerns about cutting grains, legumes, and dairy all at once. The usual list is fiber, calcium, vitamin D, and B vitamins, since grains and legumes carry fiber and B vitamins and dairy is the go-to for calcium. Here's how each one actually holds up when you build paleo around plenty of vegetables.
Fiber and B vitamins come along for free. Vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fruit give you all the fiber you need, and between meat, eggs, and leafy greens you're covered on B vitamins, including B12 and folate. Calcium is the one people assume you can't get without dairy, but you can, easily, from leafy greens, broccoli, almonds, and canned fish with the bones. We build the plan vegetable-forward, so none of these end up short.
Vitamin D is the one real caveat, and it has nothing to do with paleo. Very few foods contain much of it, so most people run low no matter how they eat and end up needing a supplement. It's worth having your level checked and asking your doctor whether to take one. And a heavier hand on the meat is perfectly fine here, as long as there are plenty of vegetables on the plate right alongside it.
Cutting grains and legumes takes out some cheap, convenient sources of fiber and nutrients. So a well-built paleo plan leans hard on vegetables, nuts, and fruit to fill those gaps.
Answer a few quick questions and we'll build four weeks of Paleo meals, with recipes customized to you and a smart grocery list.
Start your Paleo plan →Not sure yet? Compare all the diets we support →
