Adding “Ancient” (PALEO) Foods to Your Diet

When we think ‘Paleo’, many people have differing opinions of what IS and what IS NOT, even within the realm of foods that technically fall into the ‘approved’ category.

Some prefer to follow the entire lifestyle to the tee, including not wearing shoes, working out in the park utilizing trees, grass and stones and eating raw beef. They might see items like ‘kale chips’, while technically being Paleo, as not, since cavemen wouldn’t have baked or fried their leafy greens.

Others prefer to follow it in a more modern regard; eating Paleo foods, but otherwise conducting their day-to-day living in terms more congruent to our current society.

One is not better or right making the other wrong- they’re actually both appropriate, if you ask me! The important thing is to ingest only FOOD and not ‘NOT FOOD’.

How much preparation and presentation one wants to do, though, would largely be determined by which path they’re more inclined to follow.

While ‘caveman’ devotees might argue that hunter-gathers wouldn’t have spend time arranging a lovely salad or roasting broccoli (and they’d be correct), speaking for myself, coming from a background which incorporates culinary training and a passion for entertaining vis-à-vis dinner parties with my fitness & paleo expertise, I prefer to keep it visually interesting and social, versus taking the ‘food is nothing more than fuel approach’.

However, at the same time, I also love the idea of using ancient foods, cooking techniques and home remedies to give even more depth and texture to any given meal.

For example, if we add a little dose of Chinese Medicine, we learn that raw walnuts, Goji berries and black sesame seeds are highly indicated in supporting women’s health. All three items can have a healthy part of The Paleo Diet (sesame seeds are acceptable in moderation as long as one balances out their Omega 3s via fish oil!).

How about a little Ayurvedic infusion? Adding a dash or turmeric to the diet is a natural anti-inflammatory agent; while some fresh ginger and ground cinnamon are both considered to be ‘warming’.

Then, of course, there’s one of the more straightforward and most obvious foods on The Paleo Diet- PROTEIN! Eating it raw, if you’re comfortable with your source and the idea of it, can provide more enzymes and nutrients compared to the cooked version. I eat sashimi all the type, and beef Carpaccio or steak tartar on occasion. From a very simple perspective, no matter which type of Pure Paleo you do, nothing beats a good, rare, grass-fed steak!