How Much Meat? Not much.

 It's a total misconception that the paleo diet is a meaty diet. The paleo diet recognizes the unique place of meat in our evolution and its power to nourish and heal. However, the paleo diet does not need to involve any more meat than the average American already eats. In fact, it can include less. Some days I don't eat any meat, I eat fish or the remnants of meat cooked the day before in the form of stock or rendered fat. Paleolithic people ate meat when they could, but they probably also would have had meatless days. 

Since I pretty much only eat local meat from farmers I grow, it would be financially impossible to eat zero carb. I also think it's unnecessary and possibly harmful, as Don at Primal Wisdom has underscored in several of his posts. You also really don't need that much protein, though certainly more than some raw vegans would have you believe. 

That's OK...there are probably hundreds of vegetables, fruits, and nuts I can draw on to make delicious meals free from stomach-irritating grains. Here is what I ate tonight. It looks vegetarian, but actually the taste and nutritional value have been boosted by the power of chicken confit. One chicken became many many meals. I saved the leftover fat and then made stock with the bones. It's a good example of how thrifty paleo cooking can be. 

A reporter asked me how I reconcile working for an sustainable agriculture/environmental organization with paleo. Well, for those of you not in the know, there has been a BIG move towards meat in this world as experts have recognized that locally raised pastured meat is WAY more sustainable than some quinoa grown with oil based fertilizer in another country or some factory processed soy burger. I've written plenty about this. Very few experts in agriculture are vegans. Most people promoting plant based diets as "green" have a degree in English and not much common agrarian sense. 

But I also eat my meat more sustainably than most because I eat offal, ALL the fat, and the bones. If I don't I feel bad. Farmers worked hard and animals gave their lives to bring me my food, after all. 

Here are some potatoes roasted in the fat + some kale sauteed in the fat with garlic. Yum. Some paleos around potatoes because of the insulin response, but I am not paleo for weight loss or insulin problems, so I eat them. Here is a great post about paleo and potatoes.

How about some squash curry? Butternut squash sauteed in some fat with some hand ground garam masala. Then I threw in some local frozen tomato puree, the stock, some hot peppers, some ground ginger, and simmered it until the squash was soft.

Or some mushrooms simmered in the stock then finished with the fat?

My boyfriend doesn't like to eat much meat, so meals like this are perfect for us. Filling, delicious, and the vitamins and minerals were more bioavailable because they were consumed with fat. We also ate a beet salad with walnuts. Overall the amount of meat I ate today was smaller than a deck of cards. I'll probably have more meat tomorrow, but it's unrealistic to think that paleolithic man would have had a good hunt every day. 

I can't forget my rule of thumb for vegetables: always a 1:1 or more ratio of fat to vegetables :)