Cheap ways to live a (veggie) Paleo Life?

jsnyder · 6 September 2012 at 11:16AM

Recently been getting into the Paleo diet after reading a book by Mark Sisson called the Primal Blueprint. It's all about living like our pre-agricultural ancestors. The diet recommends a lot of meat, but I don't eat meat, only fish.

Any one got any ideas regarding living a paleo lifestyle, without meat, cheaply??? Cutting out grains, which are really really cheap, means spending money on the more expensive items, nuts, seeds, fruits etc. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

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jimjames · 6 September 2012 at 1:19PM

If you can't eat the primary element of that diet then it would appear to not be the one to use.

In the absence of meat what exactly does it suggest? Things like vegetables shouldnt be expensive and trying somewhere like the local farm shop may be a good place to try.

beautiful_ravens · 6 September 2012 at 9:15PM

I love the paleo diet idea. Perhaps up your fish intake and add other sea food, and definately free range eggs [it is a myth that eating too many eggs is bad for cholesterol levels or does anything bad to you, they are high IN cholesterol but dont make YOU high in cholesterol!]. And maybe a compromise on the meat free products you can buy, they are protein after all which is what meat is.

Also -
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-paleo-diet/

rogerblack · 6 September 2012 at 10:37PM

Some forms of fish are available very cheaply at wholesale markets, if you are willing to buy a whole box of 56Kg.

http://www.worldfishingtoday.com/news/default.asp?nyId=7015 for example.
As low as 50p/kilo for some - Plaice, for example.

Clearly, you'll need a largish freezer.

Fire_Fox · 7 September 2012 at 3:06AM

Please consult with a suitably qualified healthcare professional on this, the more food groups you eliminate the greater than chances of deficiencies in the diet. Look particularly at your mineral intake - several could be low without meat, dairy, grains or pulses unless you eat a ton of nuts and seeds.

Nuts and seeds might not be cheap but they are solid nutrition: little water, packed with protein, healthy fats, fibre and minerals so can be great value for money. There are fruits and veggies that are reasonably priced per portion: frozen mixed berries, any dried unsweetened fruits, many frozen Value/ Smartprice vegetables, root/ bulb veggies like beetroot, onion and carrot. With frozen and dried there is little to no waste, no peels, stalks or mouldy bits.

jsnyder · 24 October 2012 at 2:41PM

Thanks for all your replies. I think that's given me some good ideas. I also found this stuff called quorn which is a kind of fungus I think...anyway it has lots of protein in and is veggie, so I'm going with lots of that plus nuts, seeds, fruit and veg.

lilacgirl70 · 17 November 2012 at 11:52AM

it is a myth that people used to eat mainly meat in, say, prehistoric times. you only have to look at indigenous populations around the world today to see that meat is a luxury - after all it takes a lot of effort & time to hunt. making meat (or in your case, fish) the main focus of your diet would not be very healthy and, lets face it, just the same as the normal Western diet anyway! if you want to go back to how people used to eat, try upping the veggies, nuts, fruit, seeds - things that can be easily found in nature - i would say especially things grown in your local area

grahamc2003 · 17 November 2012 at 12:18PM

jsnyder wrote: »

Recently been getting into the Paleo diet after reading a book by Mark Sisson called the Primal Blueprint. It's all about living like our pre-agricultural ancestors. The diet recommends a lot of meat, but I don't eat meat, only fish.

Any one got any ideas regarding living a paleo lifestyle, without meat, cheaply??? Cutting out grains, which are really really cheap, means spending money on the more expensive items, nuts, seeds, fruits etc. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

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Sounds quaint and romantic, but wasn't human lifespan about 30 years then? I expect improving diets over that time have contributed to
the now near 90 year expectation (with the very recent worsening of diets now contributing to declining life expectation)

It appears to me that we should aim for the diet which gave us our maximum life expectation, which was I guess that about 20/30/40 years ago, not thousands of years ago.

But surely the cheapest and most authentic method of going on your chosen diet is to forage and hunt your own food, and never buy any all.

jsnyder · 22 November 2012 at 12:59PM

True, people did live about 30 years. But from what I read life expectancy didn't really go above 40 until the advancements in medical science. And from what I've read most people died of accidents and being mauled to death by saber tooth tigers rather than things like cancer or diabetes etc. but you may have a point. diets these days are too full of sugars and bad fats. not surprising given the amount spent trying to get us to eat that kind of food!

foraging and hunting sounds nice, my total lack of skills would probably result in my untimely death however !

rogerblack · 22 November 2012 at 2:37PM

jsnyder wrote: »

True, people did live about 30 years. But from what I read life expectancy didn't really go above 40 until the advancements in medical science.

Not really.
Eat enough (but not too much), keep yourself and your house basically clean and vermin free, and life expectancy soars.
Soap and toilets have done more for life expectancy than many medical breakthroughs put together.

Life expectancy also gets dragged down a _LOT_ if you include infant mortality, which is also hugely impacted by cleanliness.

'modern' practices - washing, food preparation, basic midwifery will alone vastly improve life expectancy.

zagubov · 22 November 2012 at 10:04PM

rogerblack wrote: »

Not really.
Eat enough (but not too much), keep yourself and your house basically clean and vermin free, and life expectancy soars.
Soap and toilets have done more for life expectancy than many medical breakthroughs put together.

Life expectancy also gets dragged down a _LOT_ if you include infant mortality, which is also hugely impacted by cleanliness.

'modern' practices - washing, food preparation, basic midwifery will alone vastly improve life expectancy.

And vaccinations impact on infant mortality.
Don't overeat fat and sugar.
Keep moving and don't sit around. Put a mirror in your kitchen- helps with weight control
Used to work in an old people's home. Not many overweight people there.
Read into that what you will.:o

I don't think this diet'll do much good.

Cheap ways to live a (veggie) Paleo Life?

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