6 Foods You're Not Eating on a Paleo Diet and Probably Should Be

This isn’t an article about what is or is not “paleo.” The “is it paleo” discussion is SO 10,000 years ago! A couple of these foods fall squarely within the paleo template but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re eating them. And if you’re not, you probably should be, providing you tolerate them.The other foods are, at best, a gray area for most paleo dieters with those who are the most strict about their eating habits avoiding them completely.In some cases, perfectly healthy foods are sworn off simply because it hasn’t been endorsed by a paleo guru.If you’re already eating healthy real food, or if you’re trying to stick closely to a paleo template, adding in these 6 foods might be a good way to round out your diet. Again, if there’s an issue with tolerance that’s a different story. Otherwise, you might want to give these foods a try. 1. Dairy Dairy has definitely gotten a bad rep and for good reason. Commercial dairy is not something I would recommend anyone consume on a regular basis. However, with increased awareness has come increased availability of better quality dairy. This includes grass-fed whole milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt and others.You may even be able to find some raw dairy if you live in a state where it’s legal. Otherwise, with some digging and asking around your local Weston Price Chapter, you may still be able to find some quality, local sources. A great source of fat-soluble vitamins and other highly absorbable nutrients, dairy is certainly a nourishing food and if you tolerate it, there’s no reason not to enjoy it. 2. White Potatoes Who doesn’t love good old-fashioned mashed potatoes? People who are trying to go hardcore paleo, that’s who. While most folks following a paleo diet agree that sweet potatoes are the bees knees (does anyone know where that expression came from? Seriously, if you know tell me because it’s really silly…) white potatoes are treated like an unwanted stepchild. This despite the fact that white potatoes are at least as nutrient dense as their sweet, orange brethren. While sweet potatoes absolutely crush white potatoes when it comes to vitamin A, the rest of the nutrient profile is incredibly similar. In fact, white potatoes beat out sweet potatoes in several nutrients. They edge out sweet potatoes in things like vitamin K, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and choline, and blow them out of the boiling water in folate.Another thing that might shock you is that white potatoes have less than half the amount of omega-6 and more than double the amount of omega-3. I wouldn’t rely on plant foods in general for essential fatty acids but no matter how you look at it, white potatoes have less PUFA (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids) and that’s definitely a good thing. All of this while offering up the same amount of carbohydrates. That’s right, gram for gram, white potatoes have the same amount of carbs as sweet potatoes. Carbs, of course, are not inherently evil. Chances are you would be okay, maybe even better off, by eating more carbs. That brings us to…. 3. More Carbohydrates (fruit, ice cream and tacos, oh my) The misconception that paleo means low-carb is still rampant within the community particularly with folks who are just starting out. As one memes succinctly sums up: “Paleo is not low-carb, it’s low crap!” I’ve seen too many people all but ruin their metabolism by being too low-carb for far too long. Low-Carb is a therapy, not a long term strategy for health. The body preferentially uses glucose for fuel and while you can certainly adapt to using fat for energy (AKA Ketosis), that process requires the stress hormone, cortisol. If you’re like most people, between your job, kids, exercise, taxes, and every other stress life throws your way, you have enough reasons for elevated cortisol. Don’t make your diet one of them.Kick back and enjoy some of the finer things in life like fruit, ice cream… or tacos. Speaking of tacos, don’t assume that all grains are bad just because they’ve been around less than 12,000 years (or 15,000 or 10,000 or 20,000 depending on which caveman you speak to). While I recommend soaking or even fermenting grains, simply cooking along with your own digestion will mitigate most of the so-called anti-nutrients in many grains. For example, most lectins fall apart during digestion and are pretty much harmless. That said, I don’t recommend grains be the focus of anyone’s diet, if for no other reason than from a nutrient density stand point, they’re really lame (to use a scientific term). There is, however, something to be said for simply enjoying your food. I consider happiness an essential nutrient and corn chips make me pretty darn happy. 4. Organ Meats Before you stand up on your chair and yell at me that organ meats ARE paleo answer me this: When was the last time you had lamb liver, chicken hearts, beef tongue or fish eyes? While I’m sure several of you will be able to say it’s been less than a couple of weeks, I bet most of you can’t remember that last time you took part of some offal.Of course if you eat a paleo diet, I don’t need to go into detail about why you should be eating more organ meats (but I will anyway). They are often called nature’s multivitamins but actually, organ meats far better than your average multivitamin. That’s because unlike most synthetic vitamins, the nutrients found in organ meats are extremely bioavailable. Plus when you compare them to regular muscle meats, organs are far more densely packed with vitamins and minerals. Among them are the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and a variety of B vitamins including the essential B12. Organ meats contain a tremendous amount of minerals including magnesium, potassium, zinc, selenium, iron, copper and more. If I had to choose just one food from this list for you to incorporate on a weekly basis, it would be organ meats. 5. Fermented Food Once again, a food that is most definitely paleo that most people aren’t eating enough of. While fermented foods don’t really have the purported benefits of “repopulating” gut flora, they do have several other health benefits.