Northstar, the paleo diet is NOT a raw food diet and never has been. We eat the most NATURAL forms of foods possible—think farmer's market and butcher shop—and avoid, whenever possible, processed foods like grains and soy.
It’s not a hard diet to follow unless you’re absolutely against eating REAL food. Basically, as I have said before, we eat natural foods from their sources (or as close to as possible).
And while it may seem expensive to eat this way, it is not. My husband and I don’t have the most money in the world, but we manage to eat about three paleo meals per day (and snacks) on about $500 per month—before you say that’s a lot, if you calculate it out and we only spend about $125 per week for two people and we buy our meats from a butcher at least twice a month. That said, you can do it for much less than that! If you have a Sunflower Market near you, check them out. Their produce is extraordinarily fresh and they have a large organic section. While we prefer grass-fed beef (because it offers better nutrition), I can highly recommend Sunflower’s meat section even though it’s all grain fed with the exception of their ground beef, which is grass fed. Their meats are not treated with antibiotics or hormones, and are pretty darn cheap! We bought two pounds of pork shoulder for roughly $3 total—you can’t beat that!
Alison29, I would recommend cauliflower as a stand in for rice, but I don’t have anything else to recommend. Generally, if you keep substituting foods you liked with foods that are “safe” you’re never going to expand your palette—I used to do the same thing and it just made me feel like a lazy paleo. I’m curious to know how you’re doing now, though! If you’re still struggling with food ideas, I can help.
Gigitogtog, YES BACON! There is no better food than BACON!
Gomyddy, I would like to add that good fats in the paleo community mainly refer to saturated, monounsaturated, and omega-3; avoid, at all costs, omega-6 from processed oils and “buttery” spreads.
