Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure by Chris Kresser (2013): Food list

Your Personal Paleo Code (2013), published in paperback in 2014 as The Paleo Cure, is an elimination/reintroduction diet based on a flexible Paleo diet.

• Step 1: Strict Paleo diet for 30 days to reset your body.
• Step 2: Reintroduce foods to see how you react to them.
• Step 3: Lifetime diet – avoid foods you reacted to.
• Strictly avoid industrial seed oils and sugars at all times.

Below is a description of the food recommendations in the diet.  General guidelines  |  Step 1  |  Step 2  |  Step 3  |  Health conditions.  There’s a lot more in the book.

Use this page as a cheat sheet alongside the book. Send this page to friends, family, and anyone else who you want to understand what you’re eating on this diet.

Get a copy of Your Personal Paleo Code/The Paleo Cure for a history of human history and diet, quizzes, mythbusters about which foods are healthy, exercise/non-sitting recommendations, sleeping, managing stress, supplementation, tips on ordering in restaurants, meal plans, and recipes.

The reasoning behind Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure

The book claims that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for diet and lifestyle. Humans are well adapted to Paleolithic foods like meat, vegetables, fruits, and tubers because our species has been eating them for millennia, and the evidence shows human health declined with the introduction of agricultural foods. However, the fact that a food wasn’t available during the Paleolithic era doesn’t necessarily mean we should avoid it entirely today. Genetic and cultural changes occurred to help humans adapt to an agricultural diet, and they do influence how individuals tolerate Neolithic foods. This explains why some people are able to include moderate amounts of dairy, grains, and/ or legumes in their diets— especially when these foods are predigested by fermenting, soaking, sprouting, or leavening— without ill effect.

Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure diet plan – what to eat and foods to avoid

General guidelines  |  Step 1  |  Step 2  |  Step 3  |  Health conditions

General guidelines

Meal planning  |  Eat liberally  |  Eat in moderation  |  Avoid completely

Meal planning

• Approximate ranges for macronutrients
  • Don’t count calories. Don’t over-analyze what you’re eating, and enjoy your food
  • Fats : 40-70% of your total daily calories (115 to 200 grams for a moderately active male eating 2,600 calories per day, and 100 to 155 grams for a moderately active female eating 2,000 calories per day)
  • Carbohydrates: 15-30% of your total daily calories (100 to 200 grams for a moderately active male eating 2,600 calories per day, and 75 to 150 grams for a moderately active female eating 2,000 calories per day)
  • Proteins: 10-20% of your total daily calories (65 to 130 grams for a moderately active male eating 2,600 calories per day, and 50 to 100 grams for a moderately active female eating 2,000 calories per day). Meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs should form the bulk of your protein intake during the Step 1 Reset
  • Factors that determine the proportions of macronutrients include constitution (genetics, physiology, biology), season, geography/climate, health status, activity level, and goals
  • A low-carbohydrate Paleo diet ranges between 10-15% of total calories as carbohydrates, and a very low-carbohydrate Paleo diet would be anything lower than 10%. Low-carb and very-low-carb Paleo diets are used for weight loss and blood sugar issues (don’t follow a very-low-carb diet if you have hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, insomnia, or are pregnant or very active)
  • On a high-carbohydrate Paleo diet, carbohydrate intake would be somewhere between 30-45% (or higher) of total calories – for use if you’re training hard, highly active, or lean and have trouble maintaining your weight on low-carb diets. For protein, most athletes should aim for 0.8 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day if they’re trying to lose fat or maintain weight, and 1.0 to 1.25 grams per pound of body weight per day if they’re trying to gain muscle or increase performance
• Meal frequency, timing, and size
  • If you’re trying to lose weight or have high blood sugar, insulin resistance, or diabetes, you’ll probably have more success by not snacking between meals. Some people with digestive problems feel better when they don’t snack, because it gives the digestive system a chance to rest between meals
  • If you have low blood sugar, you’ll likely feel better eating small meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day. And while some people with digestive problems do better when they don’t snack, others do better eating frequent, small meals, because they can’t tolerate large amounts of food at one sitting
  • If you’re generally healthy, are not overweight, and don’t have blood-sugar or immune problems, then three meals a day, with or without snacks (depending on your appetite), is a good approach. You may want to experiment with the other strategies above just to see if they make you feel better, but they’re not necessary
  • Intermittent fasting – If you’re fighting a chronic infection, have a weak immune system, are trying to optimize longevity, are overweight, or have high blood sugar and metabolic problems, you may find that restricting your food intake to an eight-hour window each day (intermittent fasting) is helpful. Restrict your food intake to an 8-hour window every day (or 3-4 days a week), e.g. eat only between 12 noon and 8pm. If you do well with this, you can add an extended 40-hour fast once or twice a month, or as often as weekly if you’re highly motivated. Not to be used with pregnancy, adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism, eating disorders, or kids
  • Carbohydrate timing – try eating a larger percentage of your carbohydrates after workouts, on workout days, and in the later part of the day

Foods to eat liberally in Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure, all Steps

Note that you should avoid foods that you react badly to. Also see notes below on recommendations for various health conditions.

• If you can, eat foods that are organic, local, and seasonal (especially Dirty Dozen produce), and animal foods that are pasture-raised/wild-caught
• Meat and poultry
  • Meats – emphasize beef, lamb, and mutton, as well as pork, goat, and wild game (like venison)
  • Poultry – chicken , turkey, duck, and wild game (like ostrich)
  • Organic and free-range meat is always preferable, but it is especially important during this part of the program, when you’re trying to minimize all toxins in your diet. However, if those options are not available, don’t let that get in the way of your Reset
  • Eat tougher cuts of meat, like brisket, chuck roast, oxtail, and shanks; and don’t shy away from skin and cartilage – these are all excellent sources of glycine
• Organ meats (especially liver)
  • Eat one to two 3 oz servings of chicken and/ or beef liver per week
  • Liver is the most nutrient-dense food on the planet, rich in vitamin A, iron, and all the essential amino acids. If you don’t like its taste, chop fresh liver into half-inch cubes, freeze them in an ice-cube tray, then pop out the liver cubes and store them in a freezer bag. When you’re making any meat dish, defrost a cube, chop it finely, and mix it in. You won’t notice the taste but you’ll get all the nutrients
  • If you’re adventurous, try heart, kidneys, spleen, tongue, and brains
  • Note: If you have iron overload/hemochromatosis, a condition of excess iron storage in the body, you should not eat organ meats
• Bone-broth soups
  • Consume one-half to one cup of homemade bone broth daily, in soups, sauces, stews, or as a beverage
  • It’s essential to balance your intake of muscle meats and organ meats with homemade bone broths. Bone broths differ from stocks in that they’re simmered for a long time— up to forty-eight hours— to get the maximum nutrition from the bones
• Fish
  • Especially fatty fish, like salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and herring
  • Wild is preferable
  • Eat three six-ounce servings of fatty fish per week to get enough of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA
  • Eat between 10-20 oz of cold-water, fatty fish, like salmon, mackerel, herring, anchovies, or sardines, each week. The higher end of the range is for those who are still eating a significant amount of industrial seed oil and/ or who have cardiovascular disease or other inflammatory conditions
  • If you eat canned salmon, find a brand that includes the bones. They’re soft and safe to eat, and they’re a great source of calcium.
  • Take one-half teaspoon of high-vitamin cod-liver oil per day. Avoid high doses (greater than 3 grams a day) of fish oil, which can promote oxidative damage
• Eggs
  • Eat at least 4-5 egg yolks per week (alone or in whole eggs), preferably from eggs that come from pasture-raised chickens. You’re free to eat more if you’d like, since dietary cholesterol does not have a significant impact on blood-cholesterol levels or the risk of heart disease. Egg yolks are the highest source of choline in the diet
  • Preferably pastured and organic
• Starchy plants
  • Eat approximately 2-4 servings a day. If you’re restricting carbs, eat fewer servings and smaller amounts at each serving
  • Yams, sweet potatoes, tapioca, yuca (also sold as cassava or manioc), taro, lotus root, plantains (ripe and unripe), and breadfruit. (Boil the yuca first for thirty minutes, then roast or mash it before eating to remove toxic goitrogens, compounds that can impair thyroid function in susceptible individuals)
  • No white potatoes allowed during Reset, but don’t worry, you can see whether they belong back on your plate during Step 2
• Nonstarchy vegetables
  • Cooked or raw
  • Do not count these towards your total carbohydrate intake. Approximately 1 lb a day is a good target for most people
  • These include artichoke, asparagus, beets, broccoli, broccoli rabe/rapini, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chilies, cucumber, eggplant, garlic, green onions, greens (beet greens, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens), jicama, leeks, lettuce (endive, escarole, iceberg lettuce, leafy varieties, radicchio, romaine), mushrooms, okra, onions, parsley, parsnips, peppers, pumpkin, radishes, rutabaga, scallions, spinach, summer squash, Swiss chard, tomato, turnips, zucchini
• Fermented vegetables and fruits
  • Eat two servings per day of fermented foods (for example, sauerkraut, kefir, natto), and/or eggs (from pasture-raised chickens) to obtain adequate amounts of vitamin K2. Another good choice cheese and butter from pasture-raised cows, after they test okay in phase 2
  • Sauerkraut (raw and unpasteurized), kimchi, pickles, curtido, beet kvass, kombucha, water kefir, coconut kefir, and so on
  • Loaded with good bacteria, fermented foods are excellent for gut health
• Traditional fats
  • Vegetable sources: coconut oil, red palm oil, palm kernel oil, macadamia oil, olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
  • Animal sources: ghee, lard (rendered from free-range pigs if possible), duck fat, beef tallow (from free-range cows if possible)
• Fatty plant foods
  • Olives, avocados, and coconuts (including coconut milk)
• Sea salt and spices
  • Avoid spices with sugar and artificial flavorings
• Beverages
  • Water or mineral water
  • Plain soda water

Foods to eat in moderation with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure, all Steps

Limit consumption of these foods compared with those in the Eat Liberally category.

Note that you should avoid foods that you react badly to. Also see notes below on recommendations for various health conditions.

• Processed meat
  • 2-4 servings a week is fine.
  • Sausage, bacon (both cured and uncured), salami, pepperoni, and jerky
  • Make sure they’re gluten-, sugar-, and soy-free, and organic and/ or free-range meat is preferable
• Whole fruit
  • Up to 4 servings per day, depending on your blood-sugar balance and the type of fruit. Another part of the book says approximately 2-5 servings a day
  • Choose a wide variety of colors: green, red, orange, and yellow
  • All fruit is permitted, but favor low-sugar fruits, like berries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, grapefruit, oranges, papaya, cantaloupe melon, watermelon, plums, and peaches, over tropical fruits, bananas, mangos, pineapples, pomegranate, apples, grapes, and pears (Grapes are listed both as a higher-sugar fruit to avoid and a fruit with a carbohydrate content of 16g which is lower than some of the “low-sugar” fruits like oranges – 18g – it’s not clear which side they fall on)
  • Watch out for dried fruit; it’s easy to consume a lot of sugar with a single handful
• Nuts and seeds
  • It is easy to overeat nuts and seeds, so limit yourself to a handful per day. Preferably sprouted
  • Allowed nuts include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts/filberts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts (note: peanuts are actually legumes, not nuts, and they’re not allowed during the Thirty-Day Reset Diet)
  • Favor nuts lower in omega-6, like hazelnuts and macadamias, and minimize nuts high in omega-6, like Brazil nuts and almonds
  • Allowed seeds include chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds
  • Nut butters and seed butters – eat in moderation
  • Nut and seed oils – eat in moderation – almond oil, avocado oil, flaxseed oil, pecan oil, sesame oil, walnut oil
  • Avoid large amounts of flax oil and flax seed, which unnecessarily increase total polyunsaturated fat intake without significantly increasing EPA and DHA
• Green beans, sugar peas, and snap peas
  • You may eat 4-6 servings of these per week
  • Though technically legumes, they are usually well tolerated
• Beverages
  • Coconut water is fine, but limit yourself to half a cup a day; it’s quite sweet
  • Limit caffeinated beverages such as coffee or tea to 1 eight-ounce cup a day (not one triple espresso— one cup of brewed coffee or tea), and only before noon. However, if you experience fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, hypoglycemia, mood swings, or depression, you should eliminate all caffeine entirely (check labels)
  • All teas and coffee are permitted; you can drink them black or with coconut milk
• Vinegar
  • Vinegar may be used in small amounts every day as part of a salad dressing or sauce
  • Apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, and other varieties. Apple cider vinegar is especially well tolerated
• Restaurant food
  • Limit restaurant food as much as possible during the Thirty -Day Reset. The author suggests eating out no more than twice a week (lunch included)
  • Restaurants cook with industrial seed and vegetable oils (on the Avoid Completely list, below). Also, it’s hard to escape grains (hidden in various dishes) and some of the other foods on the Avoid Completely list

Juicing: If you juice with whole fruits or veggies with water, unsweetened nut milk, or half a cup of coconut water with no sugar added, you should be fine, although some people tend to feel hungrier when they drink their meals. Focus on the veggies and the lower-sugar fruits, like berries. And avoid prepared juices or smoothies, which often contain large amounts of natural sugar or processed sugars like high-fructose corn syrup, which you should avoid completely on the Reset.

Foods to avoid completely with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure, all Steps

Avoid these foods completely in Step 1 and Step 2. You may eat them occasionally in Step 3, following the 80/20 rule.

There are also additional foods to be avoided in Step 1 and reintroduced in Step 2 to find out how you react to them; these are listed under Step 1.

• Sweeteners, real and artificial
  • Including sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, agave, brown-rice syrup, Splenda, Equal, NutraSweet, xylitol, mannitol
  • Where sugar hides: cereals and drinks, salad dressing, canned soup, peanut butter, beef jerky, and tomato sauce, granola bars, yogurt, dried fruit. Fat-free is often code for “We snuck a lot of sugar into this so you won’t miss the fat.” You’ll also find sugar hidden inside other words commonly found on food labels: Watch out for fruit-juice concentrate, corn sweetener, malt syrup, maltodextrin, evaporated cane juice or syrup, and any words ending in -ose, such as sucrose, dextrose, galactose, and maltose. Sugar is sugar, no matter where it comes from or what form it takes
• Processed or refined foods
  • As a rule, if it comes in a bag or a box, don’t eat it
  • This also includes highly processed “health foods” like protein powder, energy bars, dairy-free creamers, and so on
  • Includes trans fats that may be found in these foods
• Industrial seed and vegetable oils
  • Soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, rapeseed oil, rice bran oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil, wheatgerm oil, and so forth
  • Read labels —seed oils are in almost all processed, packaged, and refined foods (which you should be mostly avoiding during this phase anyway)
  • Where industrial seed oils hide: Read the labels to make sure that your healthy nuts aren’t roasted in unhealthy fats. Also, if a product has been processed to be shelf stable, it probably has industrial seed oils and artificial trans fats (watch for the words partially hydrogenated)—another reason for you to avoid boxes and bags, especially during the Reset phase
• Beverages
  • Sodas, including diet sodas – all forms, including “natural” varieties

If exchanging the standard American diet for a full-scale Paleo diet feels overwhelming, you can still take a major step toward hitting the reset button by eliminating three toxins that contribute significantly to modern disease (i) Gluten (grains aren’t superfoods) (ii) Industrial seed oils (anything but heart-healthy) (iii) Refined sugar (in a word, toxic).

Step 1 of Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure – 30 day reset diet

Eat liberally  |  Eat in moderation  |  Avoid completely | To lose weight or regulate blood sugar  |  Autoimmune tweaks

Start on step 1 if you’re new to the Paleo approach and feel lousy or want to lose weight.

This quick-start eating plan presses the reset button on your diet, targeting and eliminating the modern foods that humans aren’t genetically designed to eat— the foods that are the leading culprits in weight gain and health problems.

Follow this for 30 days, then move to step 2. Don’t cheat on this step, as it could set you back.

The first few days can be hard, especially the first 4-7 days. Your body will be going through withdrawal from everyday substances like sugar and wheat; you may notice symptoms like mood swings, strong cravings, irritability, and fatigue as your body adjusts to life without them.

Make sure you eat enough fat, as you’re eliminating a lot of foods from your diet and have to replace the lost calories.

Foods to eat liberally in Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 1

See general Foods to eat liberally, above.

Foods to eat in moderation with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 1

See general Foods to eat in moderation, above.

Foods to avoid completely with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 1

Foods listed under general Foods to avoid completely, above, plus the foods listed below:

• White potatoes
• Dairy
  • Including butter, cheese, yogurt, milk, cream, and any dairy product that comes from a cow, goat, sheep, or other mammal
  • Ghee (aka “butter oil”) is permitted because it contains only trace amounts of dairy proteins (e.g., casein) and lactose, and is well tolerated by all but the most sensitive individuals
  • Where dairy hides: Anything containing casein, whey, malt, or an ingredient with the prefix lacto- is off-limits during the Reset, as are foods with the word curd, pudding, or custard on the packaging. Many artificial flavors and colorings also have dairy
• Grains
  • Including wheat, rice , cereal, oats, pseudograins, and nongluten grains like sorghum, teff, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, spelt, rye, barley, couscous, malt, graham flour, and so on
  • No bread, pasta, cereal, or pizza
  • For now, don’t go shopping for gluten-free substitutes
• Legumes
  • Beans of all kinds (black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, etc)
  • Soy beans and soy products. Read labels: soy lurks in miso, tofu, bean curd, natto, tamari , tempeh, texturized vegetable protein, edamame, and elsewhere
  • Peas
  • Lentils
  • Peanuts
• Sweeteners, real and artificial
  • Coconut sugar, maple syrup, molasses, honey, dextrose, stevia (plus all the sweeteners listed in the general Foods to avoid list)
• Chocolate
  • Milk chocolate contains both dairy and sugar and therefore should be avoided
  • There’s nothing wrong with dark chocolate (with greater than 75% cacao content); in fact, it’s one of the most nutrient-dense foods available. However, many people who are intolerant of gluten are (unfortunately!) also intolerant of proteins in chocolate, so it should be avoided during the Step 1 Reset. You can reintroduce it during Step 2
• Beverages
  • Fruit juice – avoid during the Reset because it’s high in sugar and easy to overconsume
  • Alcohol, in any form (you’ll be adding this back in in Step 2)
• Processed sauces and seasonings
  • Soy sauce, tamari, and other processed sauces and seasonings (which often have sugar, soy, gluten, or all of the above)

Tweaks for problems with blood sugar or weight regulation

Take the quiz in the book to see whether you should be making tweaks for problems with blood sugar or weight regulation. Make these modifications if you scored 50 points or more in this category

Also make these modifications if you’re trying to lose weight, you should

• Limit fruit and starchy vegetables during your Thirty-Day Reset (step 1)
• Eat all the nonstarchy vegetables you want, but restrict your fruit and starchy vegetables to roughly 10-15% of calories from carbohydrates. This amounts to roughly 65 to 100 grams daily for a moderately active male and 50 to 75 grams daily for a moderately active female
• To give you a general idea of what this looks like in terms of food, 50 grams of carbohydrates is equal to one large sweet potato and ½ cup of blueberries; 100 grams of carbohydrates is equal to ½ cup of blueberries, ½ cup of strawberries, and two large sweet potatoes. You can search online databases like the ones from the USDA to determine the carbohydrate content of foods
• Other recommendations for weight loss
  • Eat more protein, aim for as much as 35 percent of calories from protein until you reach your target weight
  • Don’t snack
  • Go dairy-free (with the exception of small amounts of butter and ghee)
  • Reduce calorie density by adding extra vegetables (both nonstarchy and starchy) to your meal
  • Eat all of your food within an eight-hour period each day – this is called intermittent fasting, see above

Tweaks for autoimmune problems

Take the quiz in the book to see whether you should be making tweaks for autoimmune problems. Follow these additional guidelines if you scored 40 points or higher in this category:

• Also avoid the following:
  • Eggs (both whites and yolks). Eggs contain proteins that are common allergens, particularly in susceptible people
  • Nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, pepinos, pimentos, paprika, and cayenne pepper). Nightshades have compounds called alkaloids that can cause inflammation and worsen joint pain in susceptible people. Not everyone with an autoimmune condition needs to be on the protocol forever— you’ll experiment with adding these foods back in Step 2
• Other recommendations for autoimmune disease
  • Increase your intake of nutrients that promote optimal immune function – in organ meats, herbs and spices, nuts and seeds (preferably presoaked), cacao, fish and seafood, fresh vegetables, red meat, pork, poultry, eggs, dairy (after testing okay in phase 2), seaweed
  • Increase your intake of foods that support a healthy gut microbiota – fermented foods, fermentable fiber

Step 2 of Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure – Rebuild

General rules for reintroduction  |  Reintroduction steps  |  Foods to eat liberally  |  Foods to eat in moderation  |  Foods to avoid completely

Start on step 2 if you’re already following a Paleo-style diet but not getting the results you desire.

You’ll begin to customize your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure by reintroducing some foods you eliminated during the Thirty-Day Reset to see how they work for your body. You test gray-area foods so you can rebuild the repertoire of foods you love.

General rules for reintroduction

• Do not try to reintroduce foods that you have a known allergy to
• Reintroduce only one food per 3-day period
  • Not a category of foods (like dairy products), but a single food
  • Eat one normal-sized serving per day of the food you’re reintroducing
  • See if you have any reactions – immediate (uncommon except for allergic reactions), delayed (2-8 hours), or extended (8-24 hours)
  • Make a note in your food diary of exactly when you eat it, so it’s easier to track your reaction
• Keep a food diary
  • There’s a template on the PPC website – see http://my.chriskresser.com/books/yppc/resources/ (registration required)
  • Record what you ate, how you felt before you ate it, and how you feel at various times throughout the day afterwards
  • If you’re a little unclear on how you’re doing with a new food you’ve reintroduced, you can just take out your diary and study the previous two to three days. Has there been any change in your energy level, mood, or digestion compared to the days prior to when you introduced the food? If so, that’s probably a sign you’re not tolerating the new food very well
• Reintroduce small amounts, slowly, and let your body settle down
  • If you reintroduce a food and have a reaction to it, it’s best to remove that food and wait until your body settles back to where it was before. This usually takes somewhere from one to three days, but if the reaction was severe, it may take longer. If you reintroduce a food and you’re not sure how you’re reacting to it, remove it, wait three days, and reintroduce it again. The author says that most of his patients need to do this only twice or, at most, three times to determine whether the food is safe for them to eat. The key is not to rush it
• Context matters
  • You might find that you’re able to tolerate certain foods well at some times but not others. For example, perhaps when you’re feeling well rested and healthy overall, you can eat some yogurt and feel fine afterward. However, if you haven’t slept well for a few nights or if you have a cold or the flu or if your typical symptoms are flaring up, even a small amount of yogurt might make you break out or hurt your gut. This is why context matters. If you’re systemically inflamed due to sleep deprivation, an infection, or an autoimmune -disorder flare-up, your body won’t respond in the same way to food as it does when you’re feeling relatively healthy. Avoid reintroducing new foods if you’re sick, stressed, or otherwise unwell, and consider returning to a more basic Thirty-Day Reset Diet during these times in the future, even after you’ve figured out your own Personal Paleo Code
• Common food reactions to watch out for
  • Gas, bloating, changes in stool frequency (diarrhea or constipation), changes in stool consistency (dry, hard stool, or loose stool), acid reflux, skin rashes, itchy skin, acne, difficulty concentrating and memory issues, insomnia or excessive sleepiness, anxiety, depression, fatigue, malaise, muscle or joint aches. This is a partial list; you may have other symptoms
  • You also want to look out for an increase of any symptoms that lessened during the Reset phase but were typical for you prior to starting it. If you do experience a reaction, stop eating that particular food and wait a few days for things to settle. This is important. At that point, you can try reintroducing that food again (if you’re uncertain whether it was responsible for the reaction), or you can move on to the next food. But do not move on to a new food when you’re still in the midst of a negative reaction to something you just reintroduced

Foods to consider reintroducing, and reintroduction order

If you don’t tolerate one food in a particular category, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t tolerate other foods in that category

• Dairy products
  • Note that some people who can’t digest pasteurized milk can tolerate raw dairy products or dairy products that have little or no lactose (like ghee, butter, hard cheeses, yogurt, and kefir)
  • Reintroduce based on lactose content – as a general rule, anything below 2% lactose can be well tolerated by the majority of people who are lactose intolerant. If you find yourself reacting to a dairy food with very low amounts of lactose, it’s likely you are intolerant to milk protein and will have to avoid cow’s-milk products (with the possible exception of ghee, which contains only trace amounts of protein, and butter, which contains very low amounts). However, goat and sheep dairy products contain a different type of protein than cow dairy products. Because of this, some people who can’t consume cow dairy products are able to safely consume goat and sheep dairy. If you determine that you can’t tolerate cow-milk products (kefir, yogurt, cheese, milk), then you may want to try goat or sheep dairy during the reintroduction phase
  • Reintroduce in this order (skip foods you don’t want to eat): ghee (clarified butter), butter, kefir (homemade has lower lactose), yogurt (homemade has lower lactose), hard cheese, soft cheese, heavy cream, sour cream, ice cream, butter, milk
• Grains and pseudocereals
  • People with digestive problems, autoimmune disorders, or other chronic inflammatory conditions often do poorly with grains, even when they are properly prepared, with the possible exception of white rice and buckwheat. White rice is recommended over brown rice, for the absorbability of nutrients and digestibility. However note that people with gluten sensitivity may need to avoid rice
  • There are ways of preparing grains that reduce their toxicity , break down antinutrients like phytic acid, and improve the bioavailability of the nutrients they contain
  • If you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, no amount of preparation will render gluten harmless to you
  • Pseudocereals quinoa, amaranth, millet, and teff – in general, these pseudograins contain many of the same plant toxins that other more common grains, like wheat, rye, oats, and brown rice, have. However, we don’t have good information about how much preparation is required to neutralize the toxins they contain. For this reason, the author generally recommends that people do not eat them regularly
  • Avoid gluten completely during the Step 1 Reset and for at least two months afterward (for a total of 90 days). Then reintroduce and see how your body reacts. If you feel better without gluten and worse when you reintroduce it, you are gluten-intolerant and should strictly avoid it. If you don’t react adversely, the author still recommends avoiding or minimizing gluten, but you may choose to have it occasionally as part of your 80/20 rule in Step 3
  • Reintroduction – start with white rice and fermented buckwheat, since they are low in phytic acid and other antinutrients and are less likely to irritate the gut. Beyond white rice and buckwheat, the author doesn’t it matters much what order you reintroduce properly prepared grains and legumes in. Just be sure to reintroduce them one at a time, and carefully track your symptoms as you do. And remember, even soaked and fermented grains and legumes should never displace more nutrient-dense foods like meat, fish, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fruits – keep grains and legumes to a maximum of 3-5 servings a week
• Legumes
  • All beans contain phytic acid and thus require a significant amount of preparation. Simply soaking beans at moderate temperatures (78 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight reduces phytic acid by only 8 to 20 percent. Sprouting beans for several days and then cooking them will remove a larger amount. For example, fermenting lentils for three days at 108 degrees Fahrenheit results in about a 70 to 75 percent reduction in phytic acid. Soaking lentils for twelve hours, germinating them for three to four days, and then souring them will likely remove most of their phytic acid. If you’re willing to go to these lengths to prepare them, you are healthy, and you don’t have digestive issues or any chronic inflammatory conditions, moderate consumption of legumes is unlikely to cause problems. If not, the author thinks they are best avoided
  • Order of reintroduction isn’t important
• Nightshades and eggs
  • If you removed nightshades or eggs due to arthritis or autoimmune problems in Step 1, you may want to reintroduce them in this phase to determine whether they cause problems for you
  • Reintroduce eggs first. Be aware that some people react negatively to egg whites (one of the most common food allergens). However, it’s much less common for people to react to the yolks. This is fortunate, because the yolks contain the majority of the nutrients and are by far the healthiest part of the egg. If you don’t tolerate egg whites, you can continue to eat the yolks. Try hard-boiling eggs, then removing and eating the solid yolks if you want a quick source of nutrients without worrying about raw-egg safety or egg-white contamination
  • Next, reintroduce nightshades. There’s nothing wrong with these foods when they’re well tolerated. Nightshades contain toxins called glycoalkaloids, the most prevalent of which are solanine and chaconine. Glycoalkaloids may cause headaches, diarrhea, cramps, joint pain, and body aches in susceptible individuals. There is a lot of variation in how people react to nightshades, but try reintroducing them (after eggs) in the following order: ripe, raw tomatoes and tomatillos; white potatoes; eggplant; peppers; cayenne and paprika
• Alcohol
  • Alcohol is another substance that is highly subject to individual tolerance. The author advises removing it in the first step not because of its potentially addictive properties but because it can cause leaky gut and other problems in susceptible people. That said, most research suggests that moderate intake of alcohol is healthy for most people
  • Beer has gluten, which is probably the biggest offender when it comes to food toxins in grain products. For this reason, the author doesn’t recommend reintroducing beer. There are, however, several gluten-free beers on the market made from sorghum, tapioca, or brown rice. You’ll need to experiment to see if you tolerate them
  • Wine and spirits like vodka, tequila, and gin are good choices for those who do wish to drink alcohol. Spirits made from grain (such as bourbon) are fermented, significantly decreasing any antinutrient properties they might have. Wine can have high sugar, which may affect people with sensitivities to sugar
  • Reintroduction order: vodka; tequila; other spirits; wine; gluten-free beer (rare treat)
  • In general, limit alcohol consumption to 3-5 drinks per week.
• Concentrated sweeteners
  • One of the main things to consider when choosing a concentrated sweetener is its ratio of fructose to glucose. When the amount of fructose in a food or sweetener is significantly higher than the amount of glucose it contains, the excess fructose may be problematic— especially for those with gut issues
  • Reintroduction – order is not important
  • Recommended (to eat minimally):  coconut sugar, maple syrup, molasses, honey, dextrose, stevia
  • Not Recommended: high-fructose corn syrup HFCS, table sugar (sucrose), agave syrup, brown-rice syrup, artificial sweeteners
• Caffeine
  • Caffeine is another gray-area food that is highly dependent upon individual tolerance. Individual tolerance is determined by several factors, including adrenal function, mood stability, quality and duration of sleep, and biological factors we don’t fully understand
  • Caffeine is a compound present in a number of foods and beverages, including coffee, tea, and chocolate. The amount of caffeine varies considerably depending on the type of product. Since a lot of people consume their caffeinated beverages at places like Starbucks, they’re getting far more caffeine than they think they are
  • If you are generally healthy, sleeping well, and have stable energy levels throughout the day, one to two cups of coffee (brewed at home, not a Starbucks grande) or tea each day is probably not going to harm you. However, if you’re dealing with insomnia, anxiety, mood swings, or low energy, the author recommends eliminating or dramatically reducing caffeine until you overcome these problems
  • Reintroduction order, beginning with low-caffeine drinks: green tea and twig tea; black tea and coffee
• Chocolate
  • One issue with chocolate is that it is often sold as milk chocolate, which contains a lot of sugar; another problem is that it can have a stimulating effect because of its theobromine content. Some people seem to be more sensitive to theobromine’s effects than others
  • Reintroduction: start with a silver-dollar-size piece of dark chocolate (greater than 70% cacao, and preferably greater than 85%), and have it earlier in the day— perhaps after lunch. Some people are very stimulated by chocolate, and it can interfere with sleep. If you don’t notice that effect, or any other ill effects, you’re free to eat one to two silver-dollar-size pieces of dark chocolate per day if you wish. Another great way to enjoy chocolate is to add unsweetened, raw cacao nibs or powder to smoothies

Foods to eat liberally in Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 2

• General Foods to eat liberally

Foods to eat in moderation with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 2

• General Foods to eat in moderation, plus any foods you have reintroduced and not had negative reactions to

Foods to avoid completely with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 2

• General Foods to avoid completely, plus any Foods to avoid in step 1 that you have not yet tested

Step 3 of Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Code – Revive

Tweaking your Personal Paleo Code until it’s a perfect fit, using the meal planning guidelines above. What’s the ideal balance of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats for your unique needs? What makes you feel your best? Three meals a day? Six? Intermittent fasting? How flexible can you be?

Foods to eat liberally in Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 3

• General Foods to eat liberally

Foods to eat in moderation with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 3

• General Foods to eat in moderation, plus any foods you have reintroduced and not had negative reactions to

Foods to avoid with Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure phase 3

• General Foods to avoid completely, plus any Foods to avoid in step 1 that you have tested and reacted to
• 80/20 rule: Follow this plan closely 80% of the time, but loosen up the other 20% of the time and eat what you like, even small amounts of the general Foods to avoid completely if you don’t react too badly to them

Recommendations for health conditions and lifestyles

There are more detailed recommendations for various health conditions on the book’s website, http://my.chriskresser.com/books/yppc/bonus-chapters/ (registration required)

High cholesterol and heart disease  |  High blood pressure  | GERD, IBS, IBD, and other digestive problems  |  Diabetes and blood sugar disorders  |  Anxiety, depression, and cognitive disorders  |  Thyroid disorders  |  Adrenal fatigue  |  Skin disorders

High cholesterol and heart disease

Get enough of these foods:

• Cold-water, fatty fish and shellfish – aim for 1 lb / 16 oz of fatty fish and/or oysters and mussels a week
• Monounsaturated fat – try adding a handful of macadamia nuts, a quarter or half an avocado, or a tablespoon of olive oil to your diet daily
• Antioxidant-rich foods – “eat the rainbow” by choosing a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables, and don’t forget that animal products like organ meats, meats, eggs, and grass-fed-animal dairy are also rich in antioxidants
• Polyphenol-rich foods – these include green tea, blueberries, extra-virgin olive oil, red wine , citrus fruits, hibiscus tea, dark chocolate, and turmeric and other herbs and spices
• Nuts – aim for a handful of tree nuts such as almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, and filberts/hazelnuts each day, be careful not to overeat nuts
• Fermented foods – add one to two tablespoons of raw sauerkraut or kimchi to each meal, and have half a cup of beet kvass or kombucha and half a cup of yogurt or kefir daily
• Soluble fiber – eat a wide range of fruits and vegetables every day, especially starchy tubers like sweet potatoes and yams, which are particularly high in soluble fiber

High blood pressure

• Strictly avoid refined sugar
• Increase potassium intake – eat potassium-rich foods including potatoes (after testing okay in step 2), halibut, plantains, rockfish, sweet potato, beet greens, sockeye salmon, parsnips, pumpkin, kohlrabi, duck, mushrooms, bananas, tomatoes
• Eat 1 lb / 16 oz of cold-water, fatty fish and/ or shellfish, like oysters and mussels, per week
• Increase magnesium intake – nuts, seeds, spinach, beet greens, and chocolate are the food sources highest in magnesium on this diet
• Eat one silver-dollar-size serving of dark chocolate (greater than 80% cacao content) a day
• Drink two to three cups of hibiscus tea each day
• Add wakame (seaweed) to soups and stews, or rehydrate it and eat it on its own – use caution if you’re sensitive to sodium

GERD, IBS, IBD, and other digestive problems

• Follow a low-FODMAP (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) diet. These foods are high in FODMAPs: Excess fructose (honey, apples, mango, pear, watermelon, high fructose corn syrup HFCS, agave syrup, dried fruit, fruit juice); fructans (globe artichokes, jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, beets/beetroot, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, eggplant, fennel, okra, chicory, dandelion leaves, garlic in large amounts, leeks, onions all types, radicchio, scallions/green onions/spring onions white part, wheat, rye, pistachio, inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides); Lactose (milk, ice cream, custard, dairy desserts, condensed milk, evaporated milk, milk powder, yogurt, soft unripened cheeses like ricotta, cottage cheese, cream cheese, mascarpone cheese); Galactans (legumes such as baked beans, kidney beans, soybeans, lentils, chickpeas); Polyols (apples, apricots, avocado, blackberry, cherries, longan, lychee, nectarines, pears, plums, prunes, mushrooms, sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol, isomalt)
• Reduce your consumption of nonstarchy vegetables high in insoluble fiber and prepare the ones you do eat with methods designed to make them more digestible (including fermentation)
• Consume ½ to 2 cups of bone broth per day, in soups, stocks, stews, or sauces. You can also drink it like tea
• Eat plenty of fermentable fiber in the form of fruits and starchy vegetables such as potato, sweet potato, plantain, yuca, and taro (if you have GERD, heartburn, or inflammatory bowel disease, you may need to limit these foods for a time)
• Consume fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, curtido (Salvadoran sauerkraut), beet kvass, kefir (dairy or water), and yogurt (eat dairy fermented foods only after reintroduced without problems in phase 2). Though milk (in kefir and yogurt) and cabbage (in sauerkraut and kimchi) are both high in FODMAPs, fermentation breaks them down and makes these foods tolerable for most people with digestive issues
• Limit alcohol consumption to four to six drinks per week, or avoid it altogether if you have significant gut issues (only after reintroduced without problems in phase 2)
• You may benefit from reducing your intake of vegetables that are high in insoluble fiber. These include greens (spinach, lettuce, kale, mesclun, collards, arugula, watercress, and so on), whole peas, snow peas, snap peas, pea pods, green beans, kernel corn, bell peppers, eggplant, celery, onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, garlic, cabbage, bok choy, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower
• In addition to reducing your overall intake of vegetables high in insoluble fiber, you should also reduce the variety of vegetables you eat at any given meal. Never eat insoluble-fiber foods on an empty stomach. Always eat them with other foods that contain soluble fiber. Remove the stems and peels from veggies (such as broccoli, cauliflower, and winter greens) and fruits that are high in insoluble fiber. Dice, mash, chop, grate, or blend high-insoluble-fiber foods to make them easier to break down Insoluble-fiber foods are best eaten well cooked: steamed thoroughly, boiled in soup, braised, and so forth. Avoid consuming them in stir-fries, and if you do eat them raw, prepare them as described above. Fermenting vegetables that are high in insoluble fiber is another option for making them more digestible, since fermentation is essentially a process of predigestion
• Note that vegetables that are higher in soluble fiber and lower in insoluble fiber tend to have a soothing effect on the gut. These include: carrots, winter squash, summer squash (especially peeled), starchy tubers (yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes), turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, beets, plantains, taro, yuca

Diabetes and other blood-sugar disorders

• Adjust carbohydrate intake – using a device called a glucometer to measure your blood sugar after meals, you can determine exactly how much carbohydrate is safe for you to eat
• Eat more protein – higher-protein diets seem to have a stabilizing effect on blood sugar, regardless of whether you have a tendency toward high or low blood sugar. Aim for between 25-30% of total calories from protein (160 to 195 grams per day on a 2,600-calorie diet, or 125 to 150 grams per day on a 2,000-calorie diet)
• Eat fermented foods and fermentable fibers
• If your blood sugar is too high, avoid snacking and consider intermittent fasting (see meal planning section above)
• If your blood sugar is too low: Don’t go more than 2 or 3 hours without eating; eat a high-protein breakfast ( at least forty grams of protein) within thirty minutes of waking up; and eat a snack before bed

Anxiety, depression, and cognitive disorders

• Low-FODMAP diet – see list under GERD and digestive disorders above
• Glycine-rich foods – balance your intake of lean proteins (such as lean red meat, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and so on) with more gelatinous cuts of meat (such as oxtail, shanks, brisket, and chuck roast), bone broth, and egg yolks
• Fermented foods
• The GAPS (gut and psychology syndrome) diet – a therapeutic approach to treating psychological and behavioral conditions by improving gut health

Thyroid disorders

• Limit intake of goitrogens, foods and chemicals that increase the need for iodine in small amounts and can damage the thyroid gland in large amounts – cruciferous vegetables (bok choy, broccoli, broccolini, brussels sprouts, cabbage, canola, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, choy sum, collard greens, horseradish, kai-lan, kale, kohlrabi, mizuna, mustard greens, radishes, rapeseed, rapini/broccoli rabe, rutabagas, turnips); other goitrogenic foods (bamboo shoots, millet, peaches, peanuts, pears, pine nuts, soybeans, tofu, soy milk, soy lecithin, soy flour, spinach, strawberries, sweet potato, yucca/cassava/manioc
• Ensure adequate intake of iodine and selenium, which are crucial nutrients for thyroid function. High iodine foods include kelp, kombu, hijiki, arame, cod, dulse, iodized salt, wakame, shrimp, eggs, tuna, nori, prunes, banana. High selenium foods include Brazil nuts, tuna, halibut, sardines, ham, beef, turkey, chicken, egg, spinach
• Be aware of foods that have the potential to trigger an immune response (if you have one of the autoimmune forms of thyroid disease)
• Avoid very low-carb and low-protein diets, which may decrease thyroid function

Adrenal fatigue syndrome

• Eat a moderate-carbohydrate diet, between 15-30% of calories from carbohydrates. Start with 20 percent as a target, and experiment with slightly higher and lower to see what works best for you
• Eat adequate protein, especially in the morning. Eat at least 15 percent of calories from protein, and start the day with a high-protein breakfast (greater than 40 grams of protein)
• Eat frequently throughout the day. Try not to go more than 2 or 3 hours without eating. You can eat either 5 or 6 small meals spaced throughout the day or 3 regular meals with snacks in between. Snacks and meals should always have at least some protein and fat (never have carbohydrates alone)
• Avoid excess dietary potassium – high potassium foods are listed above under high blood pressure
• Ensure adequate sodium intake. If your adrenal fatigue is pronounced or if you have low blood pressure or strong salt cravings, the author suggests starting each day with a full glass of water with ½ to 1 teaspoon of sea salt and using salt liberally on food, to taste. Monitor your blood pressure on occasion to make sure it remains in a healthy range
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol. It’s best to avoid caffeine entirely, and limit alcohol consumption to two or three drinks per week (or eliminate it entirely) until your adrenals recover

Skin disorders such as acne, eczema, psoriasis

• Use one of two diets, depending on your particular presentations of signs and symptoms
• (1) Low-histamine diet – reduce these foods: seafood (fin fish or shellfish); eggs; processed meats; leftover meat; all fermented milk products including most cheese; yogurt, buttermilk, kefir; citrus fruits; most berries; dried fruits; fermented foods; spinach; tomatoes including ketchup and tomato sauces; artificial food colorings and preservatives; spices: cinnamon, chili powder, cloves, anise, nutmeg, curry powder, cayenne; beverages: herbal tea, regular tea, alcohol, chocolate, cocoa, cola drinks; vinegar and foods containing vinegar such as pickles, relishes, ketchup, and prepared mustard
• (2) Low-FODMAP diet (see list of FODMAPs under GERD/digestive disorders above)

Health benefits claimed in Your Personal Paleo Code / The Paleo Cure

The diet in this book claims to reduce the risks for: acid reflux/GERD, acne, ADHD, allergies, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, arthritis, some cancers, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, dementia, depression, dermatitis, diabetes, digestive problems, dry skin, eczema, fatigue, food cravings, gas, gluten intolerance, gout, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, heart disease, hemorrhoids, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, hypertension, hypothyroidism, inflammation, irritable bowel syndrome IBS, joint pain, lactose intolerance, leaky gut, lethargy, metabolic syndrome, migraine, multiple sclerosis MS, non-celiac gluten sensitivity NCGS, osteoporosis, overweight/obesity, pimples, premature aging, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth SIBO, strokes, ulcerative colitis

As always, this is not intended to be a replacement for professional medical diagnosis or treatment for a medical condition. Consult your doctor before starting a new diet. This page describes what the authors of the diet recommend – Chewfo is describing the diet only, not endorsing it.

Get a copy of Your Personal Paleo Code/The Paleo Cure for a history of human history and diet, quizzes, mythbusters about which foods are healthy, exercise/non-sitting recommendations, sleeping, managing stress, supplementation, tips on ordering in restaurants, meal plans, and recipes.

See http://my.chriskresser.com/ for bonus chapters with further guidelines on a number of medical conditions, a user forum, more recipes and meal plans, shopping lists, supplement guide, and resources (registration required). Chris’s main website is https://chriskresser.com/.

How has this diet helped you? Please add a comment or question below.