Paleo Cookbook For Dummies (40 page)

Limit your consumption of dried fruit; it's easy to overeat, and it lacks the nutrition of fresh fruits while concentrating the sugars. You also have to be aware of the sulfites in some dried fruits, which are toxic. Always opt for no-sugar-added and sulfite-free dried fruit when you indulge or choose to skip it all together. Also be cautious of fruit juices and blending fruit into smoothies and sauces because they provide all the sugar of the fruit without the fiber and satiety of eating whole fruits.

Spicing things up

You can turn a mediocre dish into a hit with a splash of spice or a spice blend. You can purchase spices dried or fresh; just get your hands on spices that warm and ground you or make you come alive with energy, such as cayenne, cinnamon, curry, ginger, and peppermint.

Cayenne, chili powder, chipotle, red pepper flakes, and paprika are considered nightshades and may cause discomfort if you have joint pain, autoimmune conditions, MS, fibromyalgia, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Allowing Paleo-smart fats

Putting healthy fats on your plate makes just about everything you do better! Fats nourish every structure and function of the body — including your very important brain. Fats also help you absorb nutrients more efficiently and keep you feeling full.

The key to choosing fats is to get the healthiest fats you possibly can. Fats are the second place on your shopping list (behind protein) I suggest spending extra money. Here are some good options:

Avocadoes:
These fruits provide
monounsaturated fats,
which are incredibly healthy. Add some in a salad, mash and use as a dip for veggies, or just eat with a spoon.

Olives:
Olives also offer monounsaturated fats and are a great snack or salad addition.

Butter and ghee:
Butter from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows and organic, grass-fed ghee (also called
clarified butter
) are fantastic cooking oils because they're stable at a very high heat. (You can find a recipe for making ghee in
Chapter 9
.)

Any butter, even grass-fed, contains milk proteins. If you're super-sensitive to milk proteins or have a condition you're trying to heal, you may want to stick to ghee, in which the milk proteins are boiled off.

Coconut fats:
Incorporate coconut through coconut butter, flakes, and milk and fresh coconut.

Nuts and nut butters:
I recommend almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts.
Note:
Due to their toxin level, peanuts and peanut butter are off the menu.

Oils:
Try macadamia oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil, and walnut oil.

Seeds:
Pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds and pine nuts are great Paleo choices.

Animal fats:
Eating animal fats can be healthy when they come from pastured-raised, grass-fed sources, such as
tallow
(beef fat), lamb fat, duck fat, and
schmaltz
(chicken fat).

These fats are damaging and cause inflammation, so kick them to the curb: