Doing Paleo? Get the Skinny on What You Can and Can't Eat

The Paleo diet, based on the dietary habits of our cave-dwelling ancestors, is trending on the diet front. Although weight loss is an added bonus, the real goal of Paleo is to maximize the efficiency of the human body, body composition, and metabolic effects. It does this by eliminating things that our ancestors didn't eat, like legumes, cereal grains, refined sugar, dairy, potatoes, processed foods, refined vegetable oils, alcohol, refined sweeteners (like honey), and added salt.

But the list of foods you can eat on Paleo is more extensive than one would think. This makes creating meals less daunting, although you need to prep and plan, and also allows for those on Paleo to eat a variety of foods. (Because food boredom means cravings and cravings mean hangry and hangry means . . . well, you get it.) And while there are a lot of foods that can be eaten on Paleo and are delicious when prepared the right way, be prepared to give up some of your favorites, like alcohol and peanut butter, for maximum results.

If you're thinking about going Paleo, check out this complete list of things you can eat and others that you can't.