If you are a vegetarian, and wondering if you can incorporate Paleo diet food to your existing diet, the answer is YES.
While Paleo diet food is well known for advocating consumption of meat, with correct education, you can make necessary modifications to adapt Paleo diet food for vegetarians.
This is especially ideal for people who want to veer away from the stereotype impression of vegetarians are skinny, pale and cannot achieve a muscular and athletic body.
Here are a few guidelines for vegetarians who want to adapt Paleo diet food:
Avoid Soy
A lot of vegetarians derive their protein from soy. However, if you want to adapt Paleo, it is strongly recommended to avoid soy, even as tofu. In Paleo diet food, you are only allowed to eat organically derived soy which comes from a safe area such as Japan. Miso paste can be used, but you need to make sure it is from a true Japanese miso. This is because most, if not all US soy crops are genetically modified, which carries a gene from a pesticide.
Avoid Dairy
It’s no secret that Paleo diet food advocates the general avoidance of dairy products, which many vegetarians use in their diet. Pasteurized dairy is well known in the world of functional medicine for its toxic, mucogenic properties, which can trigger food allergies.
Avoid Wheat and Grains
Paleo diet food do not support that consumption of wheat and grain products, which is largely available in the number of staple food such as bread, pasta and rice, among others. As a Paleo-Vegetarian, you will need to drop this from your diet. You also need to avoid all corn products as all as other genetically modified crops.
How To Make It Work
Eggs
While there may be a lot of restrictions in Paleo diet food for vegetarians, it is very doable, especially for those who eat eggs, which can be used as the primary source of protein. However, make sure that the eggs are derived from pasture-raised chickens straight from a norganic farm. While these types of eggs are considerably more expensive, it is necessary. If you don’t have access to pasture-raised eggs, the closest alternative is eggs from free range chicken that are also organically raised. This means, the chicken were not administered with any hormones or antibiotic, however, chances are, thee chicken are fed with soy and grains, which of course are not ideal. This makes it very important to choose pasture-raised eggs for Paleo diet food.
Nutritional Supplements
In order to maintain optimum health as well as reap the anti-aging benefits that comes with Paleo diet food, vegetarians should make sure to include nutritional supplements are part of their diet in order to address any deficiency. Among the most important and highly recommended ones include CoQ10, branched-chain amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids.
Hemp Protein
You can also derive protein from hemp, which is another excellent source, aside from organic pasture-raised eggs. Make sure that it is from an organic, non-GMO source. Non-GMO brown rice and non-GMO yellow peas can be considered.
Flaxseed
Another great source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is flaxseed, which can be taken as meals or as supplements. For best results, flax should be consumed right after they are grounded in order to fully absorbed its nutrients.
Sprouted nuts, seeds and beans. In order to reduce the amount of toxic anti-nutrients along with enzyme inhibitor, you need to soak the food and sprout them. In general, you can soak them for about 24 hours under room temperature in order to remove or at least significantly reduce the trypsin in mung beans, lentils, broad beans and chickpeas.
Recommended Food Staple
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Vegetable sprouts
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Raw and cooked organic vegetables
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Raw, organic fruits
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Oils such as olive, grapeseed, canola, coconut, hemo
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Agave nectar
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Eggs
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Protein powder
When adhering to Paleo diet food guide, you need to make sure that your body is provided with a balanced nutrition. This may mean studying and preparing meals Paleo diet food meals but the rewards are well worth the effort.
