Many are turned off by the word "Paleo."

They hold many preconceived ideas about what a Paleo diet is—like the idea that it's about eating pounds and pounds of meat.

At Wild Foods, we veer from the word Paleo for this reason.

Another thing I've learned over the years is the following:

1. There's no absolute definition of "Paleo."

2. The foundation of proper human nutrition is rooted in eating Real Food.

You'll see me capitalize Real Food often throughout this guide and others on this site.

It's that important.

Proper nutrition is Real Food.

People on the Internet love to argue about nutrition, whether you should eat red meat, whether grains are "bad" for you, how many carbs are healthy, and so on.

But they need to include the point most of the time.

The human mind wants to label things to fit them neatly in a box labeled "resolved."

But that is different from how you get results in today's age. Nowadays, the wisest of the wise are those that keep an open mind and make a point not to commit firmly to either side.

The basics of nutrition are simple to understand and hard to implement, and all the ​internet debating is just a deflection.

Most of that wastes time until you can get the basics down. And even then, most of it only moves the needle a little, so it isn't worth the extra effort for anyone not competing in something.

If you get Real Food down, the rest is mostly trivial.

But I want to wait to go too much into Real Food. There's plenty more where that came from.

This is a guide to the Paleo Diet or, better yet, our version of a Paleo Diet.

As I've already said, many misconceptions surround the Paleo diet. There's also no single definition of what constitutes a Paleo diet.

The fact is any diet based on incomplete information, the way evolutionary biology is—which Paleo is based on—will have a wide range of interpretations.

Labels Don't Matter

For whatever reason, it's a quirky human trait that we all have this burning desire to want resolute answers to things in life so we can fit them into neat little boxes.

When it comes to nutrition, this is a fool's errand.

Whether you eat vegan, vegetarian, fruitarian, Slow Carb, Zone, or already follow some Paleo diet, you can learn something from the other diets.

And you should.

But we aren't interested in debating the pros and cons of many diets. We are only interested in providing information so you can be better educated when you implement whatever eating style you decide to follow.

That being said, if we were forced to define the version of nutrition we recommend at Wild Foods, it would be this:

A Real Food diet closely resembles a Paleo diet but with more loose recommendations about individual foods as long as it is Real Food.

Conclusion

We believe that nutrition is 80% Real Food. If you get that right, it's tough to screw the other stuff up. It tends to take care of itself.

You can choose to eat no meat, lots of meat, or moderate meat. You can choose to eat no seafood or a lot of seafood. You can eat a high-carb or low-carb.

And so on; make sure it's all Real Food.

Of course, these dietary decisions will produce a result in your body. (If you decide never to eat animals or animal products, please get your blood work done and make sure you are supplementing with ​B vitamins and omega-3s.)

If your goal is optimal health, track what the mirror says, what your body tells you, and what your blood work shows.

Then throttle your food to get the best results in all three categories.

With that introduction and disclaimer out of the way, enjoy the Wild Foods Guide To A Paleo Diet below!