The Paleo diet consists of eating preferrably grass-fed meats, poultry, wild-caught fish, organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, roots, and healthy oils while avoiding most processed foods, grains, dairy, legumes, refined sugars, and unhealthy oils or transfats. The basis for eating this way was discovered by researching the hunter-gatherer dietary practices of Paleolithic man who existed and thrived during an era prior to the developement of agriculture. Our prehistoric ancestors were omnivores who mostly foraged and hunted for food for over 2 million years. However, with the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago, humans began consuming more dairy, grains, sugars, and salt which led to a significant increase in obesity, disease, and death in civilized populations around the world. The goal of following the Paleo diet is to return to humanity’s original food sources and reclaim our health!

1. Contents
1. About the Author
The Paleo
Approach
Achieving Optimal Health with
Paleo Nutrition
By Brenton Black

2. 2. What Is Paleo Diet
3. How to Get Started
4. Paleo Diet Health Benefits
5. How Start Eating Paleo
6. What Is Paleo Fitness
7. Paleo Diet Food List
8. Going Completely Nuts….and Seeds!
9. Recommendations For Further Reading

3. About The Author
My Name is Brenton Black, and I appreciate that you’ve decided to
learn more about me by visiting this page, so lets get started!
Growing up, I wasn’t too concerned about what I ate or how active I
was because I was skinny and energetic. The majority of my meals
were high in sugar, heavily processed, breaded, covered in melted
cheese, or ordered from fast food restaurants. Since I wasn’t fat, I
thought I was healthy, but looks can be deceiving…
In middle school, my skin started to become more oily and acne
prone, so I was prescribed several antibiotics over the years, but they
never completely cleared my acne. I asked my dermatologist if
perhaps something I was eating was causing my breakouts, but she
claimed that acne isn’t effected by one’s diet.
I continued eating poorly while taking antibiotics for several years, and
eventually, I began having trouble digesting dairy until I was
completely lactose intolerant.
My acne continued to bother me throughout high school, so my
dermatologist suggested I take Accutane (Isotretinoin). This would be
the greatest regret of my life thus far because three months into the
six month cycle, I experienced several terrible side effects:
• visual sensitivity to light
• stuttering speech disorder
• fatigue
• depression

4. • constipation
• weight loss
• cystic acne lesions
• peeling/chapped lips
• dry mouth/eyes/skin
• insomnia
I was referred to another dermatologist, and he immediately cancelled
the Accutane cycle and put me on a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drug called Naproxen. According to him, I had a rare infection as a
side effect to Accutane, so I had frequent injections of Cortisone in my
face and neck to prevent the inflammation of the infection from
spreading.
In the aftermath of that ordeal, I was able to recover from some of the
side effects like the stutter, depression, and lesions caused by the
infection, but I still had issues regarding my digestive health, and my
acne never disappeared.
Over the course of six years, I had two laser surgeries to reduce the
scarring on my face, and I saw several specialists regarding the
lingering digestive problems. Unfortunately, they couldn’t figure out
what was causing my weight issues, constipation, and fatigue, so they
diagnosed me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
I became quite hopeless; I figured if the trained and highly educated
specialists can’t figure out my health issues, then what possibility is
there for me to find an accurate self-diagnosis?! I scoured the internet
for clues or answers, and someone on a forum suggested gluten
intolerance. I’d never heard of gluten before, but they claimed they
had my exact symptoms, and wheat was the culprit!
Within two months of following a dairy & gluten free diet, my digestive
problems vanished! I was amazed with the results, and my obsession
for health and nutrition began! I decided it was time to see if I could
find some answers regarding what causes acne, and if it was possible
to overcome it naturally.

5. Despite what my first dermatologist told me, I found plenty of
information and research proving relations between diet and acne.
Luckily for me, my efforts paid off when I became aware of Loren
Cordain’s work.
I immediately made the decision to follow the Paleo diet, and I noticed
a huge improvement in my skin. However, new pimples would form
after eating most fruits, so I occasionally ate berries which didn’t have
much of an effect on my skin. After five months of following a modified
paleo diet coupled with vitamin and herbal supplements, my skin was
completely clear and radiant.
Anyhow, that’s my story! After overcoming my own issues and finding
fulfillment in helping others, I hope to make PaleoApproach a resource
for anyone interested in finding their own answers while achieving
optimal health through a Paleo lifestyle!
What is the Paleo Diet?
The Paleo diet consists of eating preferrably grass-fed meats, poultry,
wild-caught fish, organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, roots, and
healthy oils while avoiding most processed foods, grains, dairy,
legumes, refined sugars, and unhealthy oils or transfats.

6. The basis for eating this way was discovered by researching the
hunter-gatherer dietary practices of Paleolithic man who existed and
thrived during an era prior to the developement of agriculture. Our
prehistoric ancestors were omnivores who mostly foraged and hunted
for food for over 2 million years.
However, with the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago, humans
began consuming more dairy, grains, sugars, and salt which led to a
significant increase in obesity, disease, and death in civilized
populations around the world.
The goal of following the Paleo diet is to return to humanity’s original
food sources and reclaim our health!

7. Get This New York Times Best
Selling Book 100% FREE!
CLICK HERE TO
Claim Your FREE
Paleo Beginners Guide Book Now!

8. Paleo Diet Health Benefits
If you are a health conscious person, then you definitely must have
heard of the Paleo diet. There is absolutely no lack of admirers of this
amazing and possibly life-changing diet. Many people have taken to
this diet for different reasons. But the end result is always same, and
each of them agrees that this diet has indeed helped them to stay fit
and lose weight.
Now any body with a proper mind would definitely wonder about
convincing reasons to use this Paleo diet to lose weight, when there
are hundreds and thousands of other weight loss diets in the market.
Well, there are zillions of weight loss plans and diets. But how many of
them are actually effective and how many of these effective weight
loss plans can boast of being promoting healthy weight loss?
One of the greatest dangers of dieting or attempting to lose weight
using fad diet plans is the risk of developing health disorders. You can
easily end up in the hospital, if you adopt the wrong diet plan,
especially if it fits in to the ‘lose weight overnight’ category of diet
plans. Losing weight rapidly may be the most popular method, but is
not always the healthiest option.
Paleo diet is a class apart from such fad diets and dangerous weight
loss diet plans for many different reasons as listed below:
• Paleo diet does not encourage extreme fasting or food restriction
• It does not encourage adopting extreme procedures like cleansing or
intense detox

9. • It does not ask you to count calories or limit food intake
• It does not ask you to adopt unhealthy foods
• It has numerous health benefits like preventing onset of chronic
disorders like heart troubles, hypertension, arthritis, Multiple sclerosis,
Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, IBS etc
• The Paleo diet encourages use of lots of fruits and vegetables too,
which provides a good amount of fiber to the diet. Fiber intake has
been linked to good health of the colon and also provides safety from
dangerous diseases like cancer of rectum or colon, fissures,
constipation, hemorrhoids etc.
• It helps in losing weight in healthy manner without any risk or bad
effects.
Many critics who oppose the Paleo diet say that it restricts dairy
products so it can bring about a calcium deficit in the body and hence
lead to calcium deficiency related bone disorders. This is not at all
true, because calcium can be sourced from other foods like spinach etc
and need not be only depended upon dairy products.

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11. How to Start Eating Paleo
Starting a Paleo diet can be difficult at first, so here are some
suggestions to make the transition easier:
• Use this as a guideline for your meals:
• Eat at least 2-3 salads a day. Salads are simple to make and can be
highly nutritious when prepared with a variety of healthy ingredients.
• Prepare meals ahead of time. At the beginning of the week or day-
by-day, take some time to prepare and cook large batches of food to
store in the refrigerator for later. This will minimize the amount of time
spent cooking overall.

12. • Remove any non-Paleo foods from your pantry & refrigerator. This
reduces the likelihood of eating foods that aren’t Paleo-approved.
• Use various herbs and spices when cooking. They offer a variety of
different flavors that’ll keep foods from tasting repetitive or bland.
• Carry nuts, seeds, or dried fruit at all times. A bag of nuts or dried
fruit can be healthy snack or sometimes even a lifesaver in situations
where Paleo-approved foods aren’t available.
• Have a snack before going out. Many restaurants do have Paleo-
approved options like chicken (unbreaded), steak (preferably dry

13. rubbed), or a plain side salad with balsamic vinaigrette, but some
restaurants still coat everything in some form of wheat, dairy, or
preservative-laden, highly sweetened sauce or marinade. This is also a
perfect opportunity to make use of that aforementioned bag of nuts,
seeds, or dried fruit.
• Eat some fruit to overcome sugar cravings. A cup of berries with
some nuts or seeds, and a glass of water can curb sugar or carb
cravings until the next meal which is far better than eating other
unhealthy sweets.
• Drink plenty of water! It’s very important to stay hydrated because
the human body consists of about 55-78% water depending on body
size, so it needs at least 4-5 glasses of water a day to function
properly.

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15. What is Paleo Fitness?
The basis of paleo fitness is to exercise while mimicing the movements
of our hunter-gatherer ancestors: low to moderate activity, such as
walking or jogging, combined with bursts of high intensity sprints,
heavy lifting, and compound exercises which utilize multiple muscle
groups.
These basic compound exercises consist of:
• Push-Ups (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
• Pull-Ups (Lats, Biceps, Middle Back)
• Dips (Triceps, Chest, Shoulders)
• Squats (Quadriceps, Calves, Glutes, Hamstrings, Lower Back)
• Overhead Presses (Shoulders, Triceps)
• Deadlifts (Quadriceps, Forearms, Glutes, Hamstrings, Lower Back,
Middle Back, Traps)
• Planks (Abdominals, Glutes, Obliques, Quadriceps, Hamstrings,
Calves, Lower Back, Middle Back, Traps, Shoulders, Chest)
There are several variations that can be performed with each of these
exercises depending on grip, hand or foot placement, or use of
equipment such as weights, sandbags, barbells, or dumbbells. There

16. are instructional videos about how to perform each of these compound
exercises at the bottom of this post.
If such exercises don’t interest you, feel free to try other activities like
hiking, swimming, cycling, rowing, rock climbing, or playing various
sports that incorporate quick, powerful muscle movements or
sprinting.
The general idea is to keep yourself active, so you’ll want to perform
these exercises or activities 2-5 times a week depending on your
current level of fitness. Regarding lifting, aim for 3 sets of 8-10
repetitions for men, or 3 sets of 12 -15 reps for women, and adjust
the weight accordingly: you’ll want to make sure you are struggling to
lift the weight by the last repetition of each set. Allow for a 1-2 minute
break between exercises to catch your breath or drink water.
Always remember that after exercising, the body needs nutrition and
rest to recover properly, so eat a protein-rich Paleo meal and get
plenty of sleep. Also, make sure to stretch briefly before and/or after
physical activity to reduce the risk of injury.

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18. Paleo Diet Food List
Lean Beef: (trimmed of visible fat)
• Flank Steak
• Top Sirloin Steak
• Extra Lean hamburger (7% fat or less)
• London broil
• Lean veal
• Chuck Steak
• Any other lean cut
Lean Pork: (trimmed of visible fat)
• Pork loin
• Pork Chops
• Any other lean cut
Lean poultry: (white meat, skin removed)
• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Game hen breasts
Eggs:
• Chicken (enriched omega 3 variety)
• Duck
• Goose
Other meats:
• Rabbit meat (any cut)
• Goat meat (any cut)
Organ meats:

19. • Beef, lamb, pork, chicken livers
• Beef, pork and lamb tongues
• Beef, lamb and pork marrow
• Beef, lamb and pork “sweetbreads”
Game meat:
• Alligator
• Bear
• Bison (buffalo)
• Caribou
• Elk
• Emu
• Goose
• Kangaroo
• Muscovy duck
• New Zealand Cervena deer
• Ostrich
• Pheasant
• Quail
• Rattlesnake
• Reindeer
• Squab
• Turtle
• Venison
• Wild boar
• Wild turkey

20. Fish:
• Bass
• Bluefish
• Branzini (Mediterranean sea bass)
• Cod (Scrod is a young 2.5 lb or less cod)
• Drum
• Eel
• Flatfish
• Grouper
• Haddock
• Hailbut
• Herring
• Mackerel
• Monkfish
• Mullet
• Northern Pike
• Orange roughy
• Perch
• Red snapper
• Rockfish
• Salmon (fillet, steak, patties, smoked)
• Sardines
• Scrod
• Shark
• Striped bass

21. • Sunfish
• Swordfish
• Tilapia (St. Peters fish)
• Trout
• Tuna
• Turbot
• Walleye
• Any other commercially available fish
Shellfish:
• Aabalone
• Clams
• Crab
• Crayfish
• Lobster (live lobsters)
• Mussels
• Oysters
• Scallops
• Shrimp
Fruits:
• Apple
• Apricot
• Avocado
• Banana
• Blackberries
• Boysenberries

22. • Blueberries
• Cantaloupe
• Carambola
• Cherries
• Cherimoya
• Cranberries
• Gooseberries
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Guava
• Honeydew melon
• Kiwi
• Lemon
• Lime
• Lychee
• Mango
• Nectarine
• Orange
• Papaya
• Passion Fruit
• Pears
• Pineapple
• Peaches
• Persimmon

23. • Plums
• Pomegranate
• Raspberries
• Rhubarb
• Tangerine
• Watermelon
• All other fruits
Vegetables:
• Artichoke
• Mushrooms
• Asparagus
• Mustard Greens
• Beet Greens
• Onions
• Beets
• Pasley
• Bell papers
• Parsnip
• Broccoli
• Peppers (all kinds)
• Brussels Sprouts
• Pumpkin
• Cabbage
• Purslane
• Carrots

24. • Radish
• Cauliflower
• Rutabaga
• Celery
• Seaweed
• Collards
• Spinach
• Cucumber
• Squash (all kinds)
• Dandelion
• Swiss Chard
• Eggpland
• Tomatillos
• Endive
• Tomato
• Green Onions
• Turnip Greens
• Kale
• Turnips
• Kohlerabi
• Watercress
• Lettuce
Nuts and Seeds:
• Almonds
• Pine Nuts

25. • Brazil Nuts
• Pistachios (unsalted)
• Cashews
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Chestnuts
• Sesame Seeds
• Hazelnuts
• Sunflower Seeds
• Macadamia Nuts
• Walnuts
• Pecans
Foods You Can Eat in Moderation:
• Coconut Oil
• Olive Oil
• Ghee (clarified butter)
• Avocado
• Walnut
• Flaxseed
• Olive
Beverages:
• Water
• Tea
• Wine (2-4 oz glasses)
• Beer (12 oz, 1 bottle)
• Spirits (4 oz)

26. Paleo Sweets:
• Dried Fruits (2 oz)
• Nuts mixed with dried fruit and fresh fruits (no more than 4 oz nuts
and 2 oz of dried fruit a day.)
Going Completely Nuts… & Seeds!
Nuts & seeds are undoubtedly some of my favorite foods. They are
delicious, nutritious, and easy to travel with or keep on hand as a
snack. I use them regularly in most of my meals as well because they
add a pleasant crunch and heartiness due to their well-rounded
nutrient content of fat, protein, and carbohydrate.
It’s commonly thought that most nuts are just that — nuts! However,
the truth is that some foods commonly called “nuts” are actually
kernels or legumes. The following “nuts” are not Paleo approved foods
and should be avoided: peanuts (legume), soy nuts (legume), and
corn nuts (roasted corn kernels). Flax & chia seeds could also be on
this list, since they’re technically grain seeds and weren’t consumed by

27. our Paleolithic ancestors, but due to their high omega-3 content, some
people consider them acceptable foods in moderation.
These nuts & seeds are acceptable Paleo foods: almonds, pecans,
walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, chestnuts, macadamia nuts,
pine nuts, pistachio nuts, candlenuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds,
hemp seeds, & sesame seeds.
Other than eating nuts & seeds by the handful, you can also enjoy
them in trail mix, baked goods, or nut butters! Here are two of my
favorite extra nutty recipes!
Homemade Trial Mix:
• 2 cups sunflower seeds, unshelled & unsalted
• 2 cups pumpkin seeds, raw & unstalted
• 1 cup walnuts, unshelled
• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pistachios, unshelled & unsalted
• 1 cup dried fruit, unsweetened (raisins, cranberries, pineapple, etc.)

28. • ¾ cup coconut flakes, dried & unsweetened
• ½ cup bitter dark chocolate (optional)
Mix all ingredients in a bowl, container, or zip-lock bag, and it’s ready
to eat!
You can make your own variations of this recipe by using different
combinations of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. If you’d like to add some
spices to make it more flavorful, mix a teaspoon of nutmeg and/or
cinnamon. If you’d like a sweeter flavor, you can preheat your oven to
350 degrees, put only nuts and seeds on a baking sheet, drizzle a
teaspoon of raw honey over it, bake for 5 minutes, let cool and
remove from the baking sheet, and then mix with the other
ingredients.
Homemade Vanilla Nut Butter:
• 5 cups of nuts (almonds, cashews, hazelnut, etc.)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon and/or nutmeg

29. Add ingredients into the food processor bowl and process for about 10-
15 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl every 30-60 seconds as
needed. This should take between 10-15 minutes.

30. Recommendations For Futher Reading
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