Every time I go through my athletic shoes collection, I find it really amusing that all these years I have been very active with my lifestyle. However, I have come to a point wherein I struggled when it comes to the food I eat.
Up until the recent times, I am still having challenges and difficulties in managing my diet. The same is true for many active people and athletes nowadays. There is no doubt to that. By and large, having a proper and balanced diet can be really daunting and challenging.
Nevertheless, athletes like you should be strict with the food consumption on a daily basis. Although some tend to be very keen on their diets, most of the foods today are already processed and unnatural.
This is one good reason why paleo diet has become a trend in the recent times.
Now, a paleo diet is apparently a type of diet wherein the only things that you consume are foods that are available in the Paleolithic period or the Stone Age. Yes, stone age – meaning the food are all natural and unprocessed.
So, how to achieve efficiently a paleo diet that can cope up with your active lifestyle?
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Things You Need For A Paleo Diet
Here is a basic guide of essential things you need in achieving a paleo diet. You may want to check these things first before planning your day-to-day consumption.
Eat Tons of Greens
Of course, green leafy foods will never be out of the list. Vegetables are one of the most apparent foods that are naturally available. In a paleo diet, it is very much essential that you eat generous amounts of either fresh or frozen of these.
No matter how many vegetables you eat and consume in a day, your diet will always be fine. Veggies that are rich in starch such as broccoli, sweet potatoes, asparagus and yam are very recommendable in this case.
Consume Fruits Moderately
The same principles apply for eating fruits in your paleo diet. Similarly, fruits are actually all-natural types of food.
Moreover, these are considered to be alternatives of any modern-day dessert. However, there are limitations to consuming fruits on a daily basis.
It is very much recommendable for you to eat moderate amounts only as not all fruits are very much essential to a paleo diet. Choose fruits that are very low in sugar but high in anti-oxidants. Good examples of this are berries.
Opt for Grass-fed Meats
Meats are very good sources of protein. In actuality, any diet of today essentially includes generous amounts of protein since it caters a lot of benefits. When you are intending to lose excess calories and gain muscles, protein can largely help you in this.
Accordingly, meats from natural animals including pigs, chicken, and fish are very much recommendable as they are the white meats needed by our body. It is important for you to regard that there are different kinds of meats.
While meats are largely available in any market around you, you have to choose the most appropriate ones for your paleo diet.
Hence, you have to opt for the grass-fed meats. It is essential for you to note that the things that animals eat also affects their overall system which eventually will affect you.
Choose Eggs More
Paleo diet very much requires the consumption of eggs. Although there known “myths” in matters relating to eating lots of eggs on a regular basis, the word myth says it all.
Apparently, eggs are essential in any diet most especially in a Paleolithic type of diet.
If you are to eat eggs, try to focus on the egg yolk since it contains the essential nutrients and contents that are very much beneficial to the said diet.
Take Some Nuts
By principle, anything that comes from nature is acceptable to be eaten and consumed in a Paleo diet. Correspondingly, nuts are produced naturally by nature.
However, there are only certain types of nuts that are very much beneficial in this diet.
One good example of nuts that you could eat is the macadamia. Although you could eat other types of nuts as well to suffice your active lifestyle, you have to be very watchful in the amounts you are to take.
For more details and specifications on what other foods to eat and to avoid, you may want to access this as a good form of resource:
A Meal-To-Meal Paleo Diet Plan for An Active Lifestyle
Generally, what I included in this guide is a general picture of what your daily meals will look like if you are subjecting your active lifestyle into this kind of diet. So, before you choose the most appropriate athletic shoes for your training, you may want to organize first your meal plans for today.
Breakfast
In starting your day, it is very much advisable for you to consume foods that are rich in Omega 3 and good or non-toxic carbohydrates. Usually, what I consume as I finish my daily workouts in the morning are eggs and tuna.Tuna meats, in general, are found to have Omega-3
Alongside these, fish meats are great sources of protein and essential minerals. As for the eggs, you may either scramble or boil them together with the tuna and olive oil.
For your refreshment aside from a glass of water, I highly recommend for you to have green tea in the morning as this is very much beneficial to your body in flushing out the toxins and unwanted things in your system.
Add grapefruit or any other fresh fruits on the side.There are actually quite a lot to choose from when it comes to having paleo breakfasts. You may want to check this paleo diet for breakfast for additional ideas:
- Healthy Roasted Chicken and Veggies
- Chicken Shawarma and Sweet Potato Fry Bowls
- Healthy Greek Chicken Meal-Prep Bowls
- Spicy Chicken and Sweet Potato Chicken Meal-Prep Magic
- Pesto Chicken Pita Pockets
- Cilantro Lime Chicken With Cauliflower Rice
- Jerk Chicken Meal-Prep Bowls
- Fiesta Chicken Rice Bowls
- Meal-Prep Chicken Burrito Bowls
- One-Pan Healthy Chicken and Veggies
Lunch
In observing a paleo diet, one of the things you need to avoid is the grains. In line with this, what you can serve yourself during lunch are salads. Now, a Ceasar salad would suffice in this case together with strips of chicken meat.
Although it is very much recommended for you to focus on veggies and meats for your lunch periods, it will still be dependent on your preferences on what specific veggies and meats you are to consume. Just remember to stick with the acceptable foods to consume on a paleo diet.
Any amount would be okay as salads are mainly comprised of green leafy vegetables. You may add salad dressings as well but it is important for you to limit these.
Furthermore, you must check first the components of your chosen dressing.When I subjected myself into the paleo diet, I regularly use olive oil and lemon as the main dressing of my salads.
As for the drinks, drink water and green tea.You can get more paleo lunch ideas here in this tool. You may want to access these paleo lunch recipes of today:
- Paleo Avocado Lime Tuna Salad recipe
- Spicy Thai Chicken Zoodle Salad recipe
- Supreme Pizza Frittata recipe
- Vietnamese Chicken and Cabbage Salad recipe
- Chunky Chicken Taco Salad recipe
- Deviled Avocado Egg Salad recipe
- Pork And Napa Cabbage Soup recipe
- Thai Basil Beef recipe
- Cauliflower Chowder recipe
- Sauerkraut Hot Dog Buns recipe
Dinner
For dinner periods, you can have thin slices of any type of white and lean meat as long as they are grass-fed. Together with these, you may add thin slices of tomatoes and avocados as well.There are times that I tend to focus on vegetables especially the greenest ones during night periods.
Nevertheless, it is okay for you to have meats and fruits every now and then. Besides, even if you are on a paleo diet – you should still observe a balanced type of eating consumption.
Additionally, I end my dinner with fruits and nuts to substitute any ordinary type of dessert. A great choice would be blueberries and almonds. You could add raisins as well for some other dinner periods.It would seemingly appear that dinner times would probably have the heaviest amounts of food.
Although there is a common concern about taking too much food in the evening, note that the things you are to eat in this type of diet are largely beneficial to you regardless of the amount.
Hence, eating too many tomatoes or blueberries during night time is very much okay.For more inclusive dinner ideas for a paleo diet, check these convenient recipes here:
- One Skillet Chicken Thighs with Butternut Squash
- Turkey Sweet Potato Casserole With Eggplant and Tomato
- Pumpkin Paleo Chili
- Creamy Basil and Tomato Chicken
- Ground Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
- Shepherd’s Pie With Cauliflower Topping
- Easy Sweet and Sour Pork Chops
- Cashew Beef Stir-Fry
- Oven-Baked Italian Meatballs With Marinara Sauce
Snacks
Snacks are supposed to be eaten in between meals. In observing a paleo diet, it is advisable for you to consume foods every two to three hours in a day and finishing it with your dinner.
Hence, snacks are usually taken twice on a normal day.The first snack period is normally scheduled in between breakfast and lunch. What you can take in this period are few slices of lean meat such as beef added with whole fruits such as apricot or apple. The same principle applies in the afternoon snack.
Evidently, the second snack is usually taken in between lunch and dinner periods. What you could consume in the afternoon snacks are somewhat similar to the first snack. A few thin slices of fruits is already sufficient but you may add nuts such as walnut or cashew.
In the recent times, there are quite a lot more interesting and fun ideas you could have for a paleo snack. You could check this video to learn more about the different snack ideas you could do in your diet:
Paleo Diet for Athletes Today
Being an athlete who normally has a very active lifestyle usually entails a lot of challenges and difficulties. One of the most apparent challenges that every athlete could face is the food consumption and diet that could go hand-in-hand with their ways of living.
Paleo diet is seen to be very efficient and effective not only in losing weight and gaining muscles or even having a healthy lifestyle. Rather, this kind of diet is fairly seen to be very beneficial as well for people who have an active way of living.
When you are to do the paleo diet, make sure that you know beforehand the things and foods you must and must not eat or consume. The specifications of the types of food and drinks are basically the very essence of this diet.
Although Paleo diet may seem to appear as a very cliché type of diet, this has been very efficient in assisting everyone in their lifestyle especially the active ones.Now, if you find this guide very much helpful and insightful – you could actually share this to your peers and loved ones.
There is no doubt that these can significantly help them as well on their lifestyles and health conditions.You may comment as well your insights, reactions, and ideas as they are highly appreciated!
Next, 20 Healthy Foods That Make You Smarter, click here
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