Thank you for signing up to our 30 Day Paleo Plan. Welcome to the start of your new healthy relationship with food!

Do you have an alternative email we can contact you on in the event that any emails over the next 30 days do not get through to you? If so, please send to us.

We are here to help and support you so that you can stick with this 30 day plan. However, you will have the best success if you are organised. You should aim to do one weekly shop and try to get all the food you will need for the plan in one go.

 

Shopping

We find the best way to do the shop is to shop online, with someone like www.ocado.com who have recently launched a Paleo aisle! (www.ocado.com/paleo) or Tesco online because it makes it easier to manage your budget. Ocado and Tesco have a huge choice of products too so you can find the option that best fits your budget. Prioritise the quality of the fat and meat over and above everything else if you are shopping on a tight budget. However, whilst grass-fed and free-range meat is the top choice, if you can’t afford it then it’s OK to buy conventional meat.

Snacks

The Gathered Goods Co (formerly Perfectly Paleo) are great for snacks.

Resources

There is a lot here to read through and absorb so we suggest printing everything out and having a good read when you have a spare quiet 15 minutes. Please find the following resources:

  • Shopping Guide – this tells you the best choices for meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables and fruit with some suggestions of where to buy things.
  • Yes/No Guide to what you can and can’t eat on the plan (see below).
  • Week 1 Shopping List (for 2 people) – you do not have to buy everything on the list – choose what fruits, salads and vegetables you think you will get through in a week. Some staples like coconut oil you only need to buy week one and they should last you for the 30 days.
  • Week 1 Meal Plan – have a read through and a think about what breakfast and lunch options might work for you.
  • Week 1 Recipes – you can also find all the recipes by clicking through the rest of the website on the relevant days
  • Preparation Recipes – here you will find a selection of recipes such as Paleo Granola and Paleo Granola Bars, mayonnaise etc. that you may like to use. Some of them can be prepared in advance of starting the 30 day plan to help you get organised. All of these recipes are optional things that you may like to make, you don’t have to make any of them. It depends how much you like cooking! You will be provided with recipes each week and you can get through the plan absolutely fine without making any of these preparation recipes, so just choose any that you like the look of and don’t worry about the rest. Alternatively, try a couple out each week to learn some new things.
  • Lunch Ideas
  • Paleo Eating Out Guide
  • Guide to the “Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen

Meat

  • If you live near a good butcher who can supply grass-fed meat then use them for your meat. If you are buying for only 1 person, the butcher is easy as you can just buy a single steak, chop or chicken breast etc.
  • The supermarket is not usually the best choice for meat, but it is easy and affordable.

Our top online choices for meat are:

 

Optional but highly recommended: Probiotic Supplement

One of the main things we are going to focus on over the next 30 days is balancing your gut/digestive system. A very important step in this process is to take a probiotic supplement as well as eating probiotic-rich fermented foods as often as you can. You need to look for a probiotic that contains the following 5 strains of bacteria:

  1. Lactobacillus plantarum
  2. Lactobacillus acidophilus
  3. Lactobacillus brevis
  4. Bifidobacterium lactis
  5. Bifidobacterium longum

We highly recommend a 6-day course of Elixa Probiotic. It costs £24.95 for the 6-day course and is one of the best probiotics on the market. It is also designed and manufactured here in the UK. Taking this 6-day course at the beginning of the 30-day plan is a great thing to do for your health. It is potent so be prepared for some potential stomach upset in the first couple of days.

It’s critical to take probiotics with filtered or bottled water; otherwise you’ll defeat their purpose. Chemicals such as chlorine are added to tap water to kill bad bacteria, but these will kill probiotic bacteria as well.

The only other brand we have found that have all 5 strains is Garden of Life’s Primal Defense. A more readily available brand is Bio-Kult which contains 3 of the 5 strains.

Other excellent brands of probiotics are:

 

Clearing Your Cupboards

You should ideally clear your fridge and cupboards of foods that you will not be eating over the next 30 days. If you don’t want to throw food away, then try and move all the foods that are not allowed to one cupboard out of the way.

If you have any particular food that you know you will find hard to resist eating, then please remove that food from the house. For me that food is chocolate, once I have one small piece I don’t seem to be able to stop eating until I have eaten the whole bar/Easter egg/box etc. so its one food I really don’t want to be tempted by when I am completing a 30 day reset diet.

Weighing Yourself & Before and After Pictures

Before you start the 30 day plan it is a good idea to weigh yourself and take some ‘before’ pictures, although this is of course optional.

  • If you don’t want someone else to take the photo for you then stand in front of a full-length mirror and take a photo with your phone. Swimwear is the best thing to wear for the photo and the more body you can see the better!
  • Take a bare-faced selfie so you can also compare your skin before and after the 30 days
  • Try not to weigh yourself too often over the 30 days or preferably not at all. We are focusing on improving our health with this plan, and although 95% of people that have weight to lose will lose some, that should not be your number 1 goal.

We will be sending you a meal plan to follow each week. We have chosen a balanced selection of meals to maximise nutrient density. If you do not like a particular meal or just fancy something different, or you are out and not preparing your own food, then just remember to make each meal look like this:

 

PROTEIN + FAT + LOTS of VEGGIES/SALAD

 

The reason we called this plan ’30 Days to Change your Life’ is because we believe the next 30 days will change your relationship with food and make you want to eat better for the rest of your life. This is NOT a fad diet, it’s a healthy and sustainable way of eating that will help you on the path to optimal health. Good luck! Please email us if you have questions or queries.

 

The Basic Eating Plan

One of the biggest improvements to your health will come from increasing your vegetable intake so aim for as many of your plates as possible to be made up of at least 50% vegetables.

 

Breakfast:

  • Eggs (scrambled, poached, fried) + bacon/ham/gluten-free sausages + mushrooms/tomato/spinach/avocado
  • Any kind of omelette/frittata without cheese – tomatoes, ham, bacon, shallots, spinach etc.

If you don’t like eggs:

  • Any kind of fruit smoothie made with fruit + coconut milk + coconut oil for fat (fat is really important to fill you up). I also add grass-fed gelatin to my smoothies for extra protein and avocado for extra fat
  • Any kind of fruit salad + some fat maybe an avocado +ham/bacon
  • Grain-free granola + coconut milk/coconut yogurt/homemade nut milk
  • Banana/plantain pancakes + fruit
  • Seed pancakes or courgette pancakes + avocado/bacon/ham
  • Paleo porridge

 

Lunch:

  • Baked sweet potato with ham/tuna/chicken + salad and/or paleo coleslaw
  • Salad with ham/tuna/chicken/boiled eggs/poached salmon + avocado + olive oil dressing
  • Frittata/crustless quiche + salad
  • Pate + seed crackers
  • Soup + salad

 

Dinner:

  • Meat (steak, pork chops, grilled/roasted chicken, lamb cutlets etc.) or fish (cod/haddock/salmon/tuna etc.) + healthy carbs (sweet potato chips/mash, parsnip chips/mash, celeriac chips/mash) + veggies or salad

 

Snacks:

  • Boiled eggs
  • Olives
  • Nuts & seeds
  • Fresh fruit (bananas are good for carb cravings when you are starting out)
  • Jerky
  • Coconut flakes
  • Snack bars (The Primal Kitchen or Nakd bars are good)
  • Homemade trail mix
  • 100% dark chocolate (Hotel Chocolat)
  • Paleo “popcorn” made with toasted coconut flakes
  • Homemade granola bars
  • Baked fruit
  • Iced coffee (water, coffee, ice, coconut or almond milk)

The best place to buy snacks is The Gathered Goods Co or consider signing up for a snack subscription box for the duration of the plan. Primal Snack Box do a fortnightly box which would give you one snack for each week day to easily keep you on track at work (www.primalsnackbox.co.uk – use code PALEOBRITAIN at the checkout for 15% off your first box).

 

Drinks

  • Water, water, water!
  • Sparkling water flavoured with fresh fruit (lemon/lime/berries etc)
  • Coconut water
  • Maple water
  • Freshly made juice – preferably not plain fruit juice, mix in some vegetables too
  • Freshly made smoothies
  • Black coffee or Bulletproof coffee made with coconut oil + ghee (1-2 cups of coffee per day, maximum) or coffee with coconut or almond milk
  • Black or herbal tea (1-2 cups of black tea per day, maximum, no restriction on herbal tea) or tea with almond milk
  • Bone broth – 1 mug a day to drink (plus you can use extra in soups & stews)

Notes

What can’t I eat/drink?

*Any type of sugar or sweetener (refined sugar, unrefined sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, maltose, dextrose etc)

*Grains (cereal, pasta, couscous, rice, oats, bread, any wheat). Corn is not allowed. Buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth and other pseudo-cereals are not allowed.

*Seed oils (vegetable oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, canola oil, groundnut oil).

Use duck fat, goose fat, beef dripping, lard, olive oil, coconut oil or ghee for cooking with instead and use extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil for dressings.

*Dairy (milk, cream, butter, yogurt, cheese)

Use additive-free coconut milk, coconut cream and coconut yogurt instead of dairy and ghee (clarified butter) instead of butter. Recipe for making your own clarified butter will be included. CoYo is the most widely available brand of coconut yogurt and can be bought from Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado or you can easily make your own coconut yogurt.

*Fizzy drinks (even diet fizzy drinks as they are full of artificial sweeteners)

*Alcohol

*Chocolate can only be included if it is 99-100% dark chocolate, cacao nibs or raw cacao/raw chocolate powder. Lindt produce a 99% dark chocolate, available in Waitrose and from Ocado.

*Avoid all artificial additives

 

*Breakfast and lunch ideas are just suggestions that you do not have to follow. You could have any soup for lunch (as long as it is homemade not tinned/carton etc), or salads. All meals should contain some fat – avocados, olives or nuts are the best way to add fat, or olive oil based salad dressing. Good protein choices for lunch are chicken/turkey, tinned tuna/salmon/mackerel, smoked salmon or ham. Leftovers are great for lunch and will save you time on preparing extra meals. If you are able to reheat food at lunch then make double of the previous night’s dinner and take the leftovers for lunch. Otherwise soups, salads and smoothies are your best lunch options.

 

*Breakfast should be a big meal to keep you going all day and so you only need a small lunch. Breakfast should ideally include protein, fat, veggies and fruit. Half an avocado is the easiest way to add good fat and fills you up and keeps you satisfied. If you can’t make anything like eggs for breakfast and have a juice/smoothie instead, try to have one with avocado and/or coconut milk or oil in for fat as it is fat that fills you up and keeps your energy up.

 

*Ham& bacon must have no sugar – Wiltshire ham usually has no sugar, or cook a whole gammon for ham to last you throughout the 30 days. Sausages need to be gluten-free but also grain-free (many gluten-free recipes use rice or something else to replace the breadcrumbs). M&S 97% pork ones are OK.

 

*Butter is out for the 30 days so all food to be cooked in duck fat, goose fat, lard, beef dripping, coconut oil, ghee/clarified butter or olive oil. We will be sending you a recipe for making your own clarified butter, which is cheaper than buying ghee.

 

*Try to have no more than two portions of fruit per day, as fruit is still quite sugary, especially bananas and dried fruit. Berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, cherries) are low sugar so fine to eat more of these varieties.

 

*Alcohol is to be avoided for the 30 days but if you have a special occasion during the 30 days and really want to have a drink, drink red wine first choice, white wine second choice. Both do contain sugar but not gluten. Avoid beer as this contains gluten.

 

*Tea and coffee are fine in moderation but milk is out for the 30 days so drink black tea or have green tea instead, or any kind of herbal tea. Rooibos tea is nice black. Coffee is good blended with coconut oil + ghee (bulletproof coffee) even though it sounds horrible! You do need to actually blend the coffee with the fats though. You could also have coconut or almond milk in your coffee or nut milk in your tea, but you must find an additive-free brand of nut milk or make your own. For a treat you can make iced coffee with 1 shot of coffee, 1 cup/mug of coconut milk and a big handful of ice, thoroughly blended. Add 1 medjool date to the blender to sweeten if you need it.

 

*Sweet cravings: If you really crave something sweet have a piece of fruit (bananas work for me) and then if you still want something else have some fresh dates. A handful of frozen grapes are also good to satisfy sweet cravings, especially in summer. Blend coconut milk with berries and freeze in ice-lolly moulds to eat when you have a sweet craving. The fat from the coconut milk helps fill you up too.

 

*Carb cravings: A good snack if you crave carbs is a baked or microwaved sweet potato with chopped up ham or tuna etc. No butter but you can have with a little clarified butter/ghee instead.

 

*A big batch of soup made on a Sunday can be used for lunches throughout the week or as a starter before dinner. If you make the soup using your own bone broth this will be an excellent nutrient-dense addition to your diet. Any kind of soup such as vegetable, chicken, or a spicy soup made with coconut milk would be fine.

 

* The only stock cubes that are 30 day approved are Marigold Organic Swiss Vegetable Bouillon stock cubes – they are in a red packet and they are gluten and dairy/lactose free containing only the following ingredients: Sea Salt, Palm Oil*, Yeast Extract, Vegetables, Turmeric*, Mace*. You might have to buy them online. Orbetter still; make your own stock from bones. It will last for one week in the fridge, or make a big batch and freeze in sandwich bags. Recipe for stock to follow.

Free Recipe Book

Download a free copy of our Paleo Recipe ebook which contains over 100 recipes.

 

Yes/No List for the 30 Days

If you cook everything from scratch then you shouldn’t need to be checking ingredients. However, anything you use that comes from a jar like mustard etc. should be checked to make sure they don’t contain sugar or alcohol

  • Ground Almonds: Yes
  • Almond (or other nut) Milk: Make your own
  • Arrowroot powder: Yes – use as a thickener instead of flour or corn flour
  • Bacon: Yes as long as it’s sugar-free
  • Bean Sprouts: Yes
  • Buckwheat: No
  • Cacao nibs (100%): Yes
  • Chocolate (99-100%) and raw cacao powder: Yes
  • Carob: Yes
  • Chia Seeds: Yes
  • Citric acid: Yes
  • Coconut flour: Yes
  • Coconut Water: Yes as long as it’s sugar-free and additive-free
  • Coffee: Yes – have it with coconut oil + ghee
  • Cornflour: No
  • Chips: Yes – sweet potato, celeriac or parsnip chips are great. Cook in animal fat or olive oil not sunflower oil
  • Dates: Yes
  • Flax Seeds: Yes
  • Fruit Juice: Freshly made homemade juice is OK to drink occasionally throughout the 30 days. Juice a mix of both fruit and vegetables and do not have every day
  • Guar Gum: Yes
  • Green Beans & Peas: Yes
  • Chewing gum: No
  • Hemp Seeds: Yes
  • Hummus: Make your own version using courgettes or cauliflower instead of chickpeas
  • Kombucha: Yes as long as it’s sugar-free and additive-free
  • Mayonnaise: Make your own, ideally lacto-fermented
  • Mustard: Read your labels – Colmans mustard contains gluten
  • Nutritional Yeast: Yes
  • Paleo Bread: Only the Stone Age Bread recipe provided, no more than two thin slices per day
  • Protein Shakes: No. You can use Great Lakes grass-fed gelatin powder for extra protein in smoothies instead if you want or grass-fed whey
  • Quinoa: No
  • Salt: Yes
  • Smoothies: Yes but try not to make them for your breakfast and make them as nutrient dense as possibleevery day
  • Stevia: No
  • Sweetcorn: No, corn is a grain
  • Tahini: Yes, but check ingredients
  • Vanilla Extract: Yes and you can use real vanilla pods and vanilla powder too