When
I decided to give the paleo diet a try, my biggest question was “Do
I stay vegetarian or not?” I know many vegetarians who successfully
switch to a paleo diet but my biggest problem is that I’m a chronic
on-again-off-again vegetarian (currently hovering in the “semi on”
state) so when push comes to shove… I usually get pushed. I know
that without a clear commitment, I will have decided to go back to
meat. And if I go back to meat I’ll probably devolve into eating it
at every meal (even if at first I say it’s “just once in a
while”) and then I’ll end up stuffing my face with McDonalds
quality meat. That’s not going to end well.
So,
as part of my commitment to have a clearly defined paleo diet meal
plan, here are the guidelines I’m putting in place,
Vegetarian
is the default: whenever there are options choose vegetarian.
There
is never an excuse for a meat “snack”: chomp on some nuts, carry
around an apple, or even drink water to pass the time until I can get
my hands on some veggie food.
If
given the choice between a paleo meat and non-paleo vegetarian food,
opt for the meat. If it’s possible to remove the meat and still
have a healthy, sustaining meal do so. If not, eat only a small
portion of meat.
If
given a choice between non-paleo meat (for instance a hot dog) and
non-paleo vegetarian options (for instance, beans or pasta), go
vegetarian. Not being able to keep paleo is not an excuse to abandon
the veggies!
If
I eat meat more than 3 times (times, not days) in a week, it’s time
to have a heart-to-heart with myself about what’s going wrong.
A
completely vegetarian, healthy, nourishing, sustainable paleo diet is
the ultimate goal.
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