About

Here’s some quick information in a nutshell (disclosure – contains affiliate links):

What is this blog about?

Provincial Paleo serves to journal my experimentation in the kitchen to create Paleo and Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) friendly meals for my family.  Occasionally I may veer into other topics of interest to me which I may feel beneficial to share.

What is Paleo eating all about?

Paleo eating is all about going back to eating traditional foods – not packaged and factory-processed products that have ingredients with names complicated enough to win in a game of Scrabble!  These are some foods that are generally avoided in the Paleo diet:

• Legumes (beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc)
• Dairy products
• Grains (rice, corn, oats, wheat, barley etc)
• Pseudo-grains (chia, quinoa, buckwheat etc)
• Industrial vegetable oils (canola, grape seed, corn, sunflower, etc)
• Soy
• Refined sugars

These foods are avoided as they can have damaging effects on the digestive system.

So what can one eat on the Paleo diet?

All the bacon that one desires! Just kidding!  I believe there is no strict template to follow to eat Paleo.  Everyone is unique and it is unrealistic to expect all to eat the same kinds of foods.  A very good read is Chris Kresser’s book ‘Your Personal Paleo Code‘.  But in general, one should eat whole and unprocessed good quality foods such as:

• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Meats
• Seafood

What is the AIP?

AIP or Autoimmune Protocol is a healing protocol geared towards people with autoimmune disease.  It follows the principles of ‘The Paleo Approach‘ by Dr Sarah Ballantyne. It is designed to eliminate foods that are harmful to the gut and incorporates nourishing foods that allow the gut to heal.  On top of the foods avoided in the Paleo diet, the following foods are also excluded:

• nuts and seeds
• fruits and vegetables of the nightshade family (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants/brinjals/aubergines, goji/wolf berries, chilli peppers, etc)
• spices derived from nightshades or seeds (paprika, chilli peppers, cumin, mustard etc)
• eggs
• artificial colours, flavours, sweeteners (stevia, aspartame, saccharin etc), monosodium glutamate (MSG), emulsifiers (xanthan gum, lecithin etc)
• alcohol
• coffee
• nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs/ NSAIDS (acetylsalicylic acid, ibuprofen, naproxen etc)