Paleo and Vegan Recipes

A paleo vegan diet, sometimes called pegan, keeps everything plant-based and drops the things paleo leaves out: grains, legumes, dairy and refined sugar. What is left is vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and healthy fats. It is more restrictive than either diet on its own, and it takes a bit of planning to get enough protein.

Below is what the overlap actually looks like, the recipes on Veganiac that fit it, and the two things most people get wrong in the first month.

What can you eat on a paleo vegan diet?

The yes list is short and it is mostly whole food.

• Vegetables, especially above-ground and leafy
• Fruit, with berries doing a lot of the work
• Nuts and seeds, including nut butters and nut milks
• Coconut in all its forms
• Avocado, olive oil, coconut oil
• Sweet potato and other starchy root vegetables
• Herbs, spices, vinegars and fermented vegetables

What does it leave out?

This is where it gets harder than ordinary plant-based eating, because the two biggest vegan protein sources both go.

• All grains, including rice, oats, wheat and corn
• All legumes, which means beans, lentils, peanuts, soy and therefore tofu and tempeh
• Dairy and eggs, as with any vegan diet
• Refined sugar and most processed oils

Losing legumes and grains at the same time is the whole difficulty. Protein has to come from nuts, seeds, hemp and vegetables instead, and it does not arrive by accident.

Where do you get protein without beans or tofu?

Hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, chia and spirulina do most of it. A tablespoon of hemp seeds carries around 10g of protein, which is why it turns up in so many pegan breakfasts. Leafy greens contribute more than people expect once the volume goes up.

If you are aiming for a specific number rather than eating intuitively, it is worth tracking for a fortnight to see where you actually land. Most people are lower than they assume in the first month.

Is a paleo vegan diet good for weight loss?

Cutting grains, legumes and refined sugar cuts a lot of energy-dense food, so many people do eat less without counting anything. That is not the same as it being the right approach for everyone, and very restrictive eating is not a good fit for everybody’s history with food.

We have written this up in more detail in losing weight on the paleo vegan diet and in a gluten free vegan approach to weight loss.

Is it harder in your forties and fifties?

The nutrient margin gets thinner, which is the part that catches people out. Iron, B12, calcium and protein all matter more through perimenopause and menopause, and a diet with both grains and legumes removed has fewer places to get them from.

A vegan paleo plan for women in their 40s goes through it properly, and paleo versus keto for gut health covers what each one does to the microbiome.

Recipes to start with

• AIP banana pancakes, no grains, no eggs
• Tigernut flour pancakes
• Tapioca flour pancakes
• Raw vegan tiramisu, gluten free and paleo
• Avocado chocolate mousse
• Cocoa avocado brownies
• How to make a flax egg, the binder that replaces the egg

Who to talk to if it is not working

Two people work on this side of Veganiac.

Trish Tucker-May is a clinical nutritionist and gut health specialist. Bloating, energy crashes and hormones through your forties and fifties are her area, and a restrictive plant-based diet is exactly where those show up. She is the author of Nourish Your Gut for a Positive Menopause.

Rob Edmonds is a Strategic Psychotherapist and the founder of MindShift Mentors. He is not here to talk about food. He is here because the reason a plan like this falls over in week three is rarely the plan. His method, Cognitive Pattern Reprogramming, is designed to work on the pattern underneath the habit rather than on willpower, in fifteen to twenty minutes of guided audio a day.

If a way of eating keeps starting and stopping, the mind side is worth a look before the next attempt.

Results vary from person to person. Nothing here is medical or dietary advice for your situation, and a very restrictive diet is worth running past your GP or a dietitian first, particularly during pregnancy, menopause, or alongside a diagnosed condition.