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Dairy can be keto-friendly and it’s a Paleo gray area, but there are a lot of people who just feel better without it. For those folks, coconut milk is often the first choice of substitutes - but if you’ve never cooked with it, coconut milk can be confusing.

Nutrition basics

Coconut milk is mostly fat, with a little bit of protein and a few carbs. It's pretty keto-friendly in reasonable amounts (unless you’re getting a sweetened type, which you shouldn’t).

Unlike cow’s milk, coconut milk has almost no calcium. If you’re hunting for a calcium source, check out these Paleo-friendly, non-dairy meals.

Types of coconut milk (have this part open on your phone at the store)

Just like cow’s milk, coconut milk has options. Not quite as many options, luckily for all of our sanity, but there are a couple choices to make.

The short version: get unsweetened, regular (not lite), canned coconut milk unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise.

• Sweetened vs. unsweetened - always get unsweetened. If you need a sweetener, you can add a Paleo one at home.
• Regular vs. lite - always get regular. Lite coconut milk is just regular coconut milk that’s been diluted with water. Usually, it’s the same price per can or only a few cents cheaper, so you’re actually getting less coconut milk for your dollar. If you need your coconut milk diluted, you can add water for free at home. If you don't use the whole can of full-fat coconut milk, you can just freeze whatever's left and then thaw and use it as necessary.
• Canned vs. boxed - in principle, it doesn’t really matter, but in practice, the coconut milk in boxes often have a lot of gross stabilizers and preservatives to make them shelf-stable at room temperature. Check the ingredients list carefully: if the ingredients are all right, then either canned or boxed is equally good, but in practice, you’re more likely to get decent ingredients with the canned.
• Coconut cream vs. coconut milk - get coconut cream if you want more of a whipped cream/heavy cream experience. Usually this would be for a dessert. Get coconut milk for anything else. (e.g., curries, stews, soups, hot chocolate)

Canned coconut milk should be in the middle aisles, sometimes with the powdered/canned milk and sometimes with the Asian food.

Now, how do you cook with it?

Cooking with coconut milk

Unfortunately, you can’t just substitute coconut milk 1:1 for “regular” milk in all recipes. It doesn’t have the same proteins and sugars as cow’s milk, so for finicky things like baking, it just won’t work in exactly the same way. Also, in some applications, it doesn’t taste quite right - you wouldn’t sit down and drink a big glass of it, and most people wouldn’t pour it over cereal. But once you know how to work with it, it’s pretty low-maintenance and extremely delicious.

What can you cook with coconut milk?

Soups, curries, and stews - coconut milk is an amazing base liquid for all kinds of soups - if you want a warmer, richer, creamier taste, just throw in a can of coconut milk and enjoy! Try it in...

• Curries - like this keto-friendly chicken curry or curried cauliflower and kale soup. Or try this coconut curry soup.
• Pureed soups - where you might normally use cream or milk, just throw in coconut milk instead. Try it in this zucchini soup with sweet potato scoops of creamy asparagus soup.
• "Cream of _____ soup” - if you’re missing cream of broccoli or cream of spinach soup, go right ahead and make some, no dairy required.

Coconut milk has a mild, creamy flavor that adds a rich undertone to any kind of soup or stew you put it in. And it’s super easy to use.

Almost any cut of meat - coconut milk is a great cooking liquid for meat because it adds a great flavor and goes with almost any type of seasoning. Try using it to braise lean cuts like pork loin. Or use coconut milk as a combination cooking liquid and flavor delivery vehicle for chicken drumsticks, coconut cajun pork chops, slow-cooker coconut-ginger chicken, or even coconut curry shrimp.

Sauces and dressings - it’s easy to under-appreciate the dressings aisle of the grocery store until you go Paleo and suddenly your options narrow down dramatically. Even with the explosion of “real food” condiments in recent years, it’s still sometimes hard to find what you need, especially at an affordable price.

Coconut milk can substitute for dairy ingredients in all kinds of sauces and dressings. Check out some recipes:

• This grilled chicken recipe, featuring a buttermilk dressing made with coconut milk
• Chicken with coconut-mango sauce
• AIP grilled salmon with avocado-coconut sauce
• Mediterranean-style chicken with coconut dill sauce
• The coconut dressing for this chicken butternut salad

Desserts - who doesn’t love a good Paleo dessert. Paleo baking doesn’t use coconut milk the same way that “regular” baking uses cow’s milk, but there’s no reason to miss out on that delicious richness in all kinds of desserts, like...

• Coconut milk hot chocolate
• Coconut tapioca pudding
• Paleo eggnog
• Paleo carrot cake (for this one, you’d want to buy coconut cream instead of coconut milk).
• Caramel apple chia parfaits

Coconut cream also makes a great topping for Paleo cake, scones, or other delicacies.

Miscellaneous cooking notes

A few extra tips and tricks:

• It's normal for coconut milk to separate into two layers, with a thicker layer of cream at the top of the can and a thinner layer of watery coconut milk below. If you want the cream separately, this is perfect; if you don't, just shake the can before opening or stir it after opening to re-mix the two halves.
• Coconut milk freezes well. If you only use half a can, go ahead and freeze the leftovers.
• Not everyone reacts well to coconut milk. Some people are allergic to coconut; other people just don't tolerate it. If you're in this camp, check out other dairy alternatives like almond milk - no point in forcing the coconut issue if your body isn't happy with it.

How do you use coconut milk?

Got a favorite recipe? A tip for cooking with coconut milk/coconut cream? Share on Facebook or Twitter!

Histamine sensitivity is tricky to diagnose, because the symptoms are often very vague, and not obviously connected to any particular food. Some people notice allergy-like reactions (itching, rashes, wheezing, or skin sensitivity); others have totally different symptoms like constipation, stomach upset, or brain fog. Histamine intolerance is quite rare, but it does exist, and even doctors don’t have a better method of diagnosis than an elimination diet (on the bright side, at least this means that you can get the most advanced method of treatment at home!).

Avoid foods very high in histamines:

Aged or Fermented Foods:

• Kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt or kefir, kombucha, aged cheese, alcohol of any kind, vinegar, coconut aminos, and cured meat.

Meat:

• Fish and seafood (especially canned or smoked fish)

Reduce foods moderately high in histamines:

Vegetables:

• Spinach, eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes, and canned vegetables.

Fruits

• Avocados, dried fruit, citrus fruit*, papaya, strawberries, and pineapple.

Other Foods:

• Protein-containing leftovers, chocolate and cocoa*, nuts and seeds*, and raw egg whites*.

* Technically, these foods are not high in histamines per se, but they contain some other chemicals that can make a histamine intolerance reaction worse.

It’s impossible to give exact numbers for histamines, because the histamine content of foods is so variable. Some histamines occur naturally in foods; but others are formed as a food ages (explaining why aged, fermented, and smoked foods are among the worst offenders). Biological aging is an imprecise process, so estimating the amount of histamine in a food is very tricky.

Even leftovers from low-histamine foods can be high in histamines if they’ve been sitting around in the fridge for long enough.

Another crucial point about histamine intolerance is that it’s cumulative. It’s not like a peanut allergy where the tiniest exposure is dangerous. When your system is over- loaded with high-histamine foods, even a little additional histamine can be bad. But if you get rid of the worst offenders, you might be able to enjoy the moderate-histamine foods without an issue.

So it’s always to pin down exactly what you need to eliminate. But as this study shows, most histamine-sensitive people can find relief just by eliminating or even reducing the very high-histamine foods, and by choosing low-histamine foods as their staples. It’s all about finding which foods you really have to eliminate, and then enjoying the rest.

Cooking on a Low-Histamine Diet

This section has two parts. Part 1 contains recipes that are low in histamines as written; Part 2 will help you lower the histamine content of common recipes without losing flavor, by using a clever substitute for vinegar or other tangy foods.

Part 1: Low-Histamine Recipes

These recipes don’t include anything on the “very high” list. A few of them contain small amounts of foods on the “moderate” list; those recipes are marked with a *. The recipes with a * should be fine for almost everyone; you’ll only need to avoid them if you’re extremely sensitive.

Main courses

• Sirloin steak with avocado salad* (lemon juice)
• Hearty beef stew* (tomatoes)
• Roasted bone marrow
• Moroccan-style roast chicken
• Chicken curry rolls* (lime juice in the chutney)
• Chicken Tajine with apricots
• Roast chicken with grapes
• Cinnamon chicken
• Spicy drumsticks
• Duck confit
• Spiced duck breast
• Zucchini and sweet potato frittata

Soups, Salads and sides

• Butternut squash soup
• Zucchini cakes
• Chicken salad* (lemon juice, and the mayonnaise also contains a little lemon juice)
• Blueberry cucumber smoothie* (lemon juice)
• Kale chips* (lemon juice)
• Butternut squash fries, sweet potato fries or spicy sweet potato wedges
• Warm broccoli and carrot slaw
• Roasted cauliflower with mint and pomegranate
• Roasted acorn squash
• Chicken and vegetable soup* (tomatoes)
• Egg drop soup
• Leek and sweet potato soup
• Irish kidney soup* (lemon juice)
• Baked apples with cinnamon

Part 2: Strategic Substitutes for Vinegar

Substituting the moderate-histamine vegetables is fairly simple. Lettuce or chard can stand in for spinach; summer squash or zucchini for eggplant. Relatively few vegetables are really problematic, so you can usually find a safe alternative without a lot of fuss.

“Tangy” tastes are another story, though. The characteristic “bite” of vinegar and probiotic foods comes from the same fermentation process that rules them out from a low-histamine diet. Even citrus can be out, depending on how sensitive you are. So how can you get that delicious hint of tang in your recipes without setting off an inflammatory reaction?

Your new best friend on a low-histamine diet: ascorbic acid.

Ascorbic acid is basically Vitamin C. There’s quite a substantial debate over whether or not it’s a complete form of Vitamin C, but for the purposes of cooking, it doesn’t matter since you’re not using it as a vitamin supplement anyway.

Ascorbic acid powder is found in most Vitamin C supplements, but a better alternative is to buy the powder itself; you can find this in health food stores or on Amazon (note that if you’re concerned about eating genetically modified organisms, you might have to spend a little extra time hunting down a non-GMO brand).

To make low-histamine “vinegar,” try a 12:1 ratio of water:ascorbic acid powder by volume.

• 2 tablespoons of “vinegar” = 5.5 teaspoons of water + 0.5 teaspoons of ascorbic acid.
• 1 cup of “vinegar” = .9 cup of water + 3.5 teaspoons of ascorbic acid.

You can then flavor this “vinegar” to fit your recipe. So for example, if you want apple cider vinegar, replace some or all of the water with apple juice.

This simple substitution opens up a whole world of possibilities when it comes to salad dressings, marinades, and condiments. Try:

• Veal Paupiettes: just replace the white wine vinegar with 1 tablespoon of “vinegar” from ascorbic acid.
• Chicken artichoke panzanella: replace the white wine vinegar with 2 tablespoons of “vinegar” and enjoy!
• Paleo meatloaf: instead of vinegar in the homemade ketchup, use “vinegar.” Tomatoes are on the “moderate list,” but since you’re only using 1⁄2 a cup of ketchup in an entire meatloaf recipe, the amount of tomatoes that you get in each serving should be fine for most people.
• Pork and apple skewers: replace the vinegar in the marinade, and enjoy the double tanginess of the apples and the “vinegar” in the finished product.

If you react even to a little lemon juice in a recipe, you can also use this “vinegar” to replace it – the flavor won’t be quite the same, but it’s a lot better than nothing at all.

Do you have a favorite vinaigrette recipe that you've modified? Have you succeeded in finding the perfect substitution for a marinade or dressing? Let us know your low-histamine culinary masterpieces on Facebook or Twitter.

Autoimmune diseases are tricky – for some people, a basic Paleo diet is all the help they need, while for others, a stricter autoimmune protocol is necessary, at least for the first few months. To put it very briefly, the autoimmune protocol eliminates a lot of foods that can be fine for healthy people, but very damaging if you already suffer from autoimmune-related inflammation.

What Should I Avoid?

On the autoimmune protocol, you should avoid:

Non-Paleo Foods:

• Grains (including corn), legumes (including peanuts, peas, and beans), dairy (including butter and ghee), seed oils, and alcohol

Nuts and Seeds:

• All nuts and seeds, and all spices made from nuts and seeds like anise seed, annatto, caraway, celery seed, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, fenugreek, mustard seed, nutmeg, poppyseed, and sesame seed.

Gray Area Foods:

• Spices from berries and fruit: allspice, star anise, caraway, cardamom, juniper, black pepper, white pepper, peppercorns, and vanilla bean. Most people can handle these just fine; some will need to eliminate them.

Nightshade Vegetables:

• Eggplant, tomatoes, all varieties of peppers and spices made from them (red pepper flakes, chili powder, paprika, cayenne, and curry powder), white potatoes (but sweet potatoes are fine).
• Some other slightly less common vegetables like ashwaganda, bush tomatoes, cape gooseberries, cocona, garden huckleberries, goji berries, kutjera, naranjillas, pepinos, pimentos, tamarillos, and tomatillos.

Other Foods:

• Eggs and processed meats (these are usually cured with spices from the nightshade family.)

Cooking on the Autoimmune Protocol

In terms of cooking, the hardest part about the autoimmune protocol is the spices. Cooking without chili peppers or paprika is hard! But herbs come to the rescue in autoimmune-friendly recipes, with savory flavors like basil and thyme, and sharp notes like garlic and ginger perking up the dishes instead.

This list is divided into 2 parts. Part 1 has recipes that are autoimmune-friendly as written; Part 2 has recipes that you can easily modify to fit the protocol, usually with some strategic replacements for spices, peppers, or tomatoes.

Part 1: Autoimmune-Friendly Paleo recipes

These recipes are completely or almost completely autoimmune-friendly as written. Most of them call for “black pepper to taste;” black pepper is a gray area food but it should be fine for almost everyone. None of them rely heavily on black pepper, so if it bothers you, just leave it out. If you’ll need to make any other minor substitutions, they’re marked.

A note about alcohol: alcoholic drinks are prohibit- ed on the autoimmune protocol, but cooking with alcohol is allowed, because all the actual alcohol burns off during the cooking process. So you’ll see some recipes below with alcohol in them. If you have another reason to avoid alcohol (e.g. a sulfite intolerance), just skip them.

Main Courses

• Lemon and Thyme Lamb Cutlets
• Bulgogi
• Roast Beef with Thyme, Garlic, and Red Wine (use beef tallow instead of the butter, and leave off the optional Worcestershire sauce).
• Beef Stroganoff (use tallow or another cooking fat in place of butter).
• Steaks with Mushrooms and Red Wine
• Roasted Bone Marrow
• Liver Pâté (leave out the optional nutmeg in the first recipe)
• Zaatar Grilled Chicken – this is a fantastic recipe to make if you’re missing spices, since it creates an amazing effect with just herbs.
• Chicken with Mushroom Cream sauce
• Lemon Chicken Kebabs with Grilled Zucchinis
• Braised Chicken with Fennel and Sweet Potatoes
• Roast Chicken with Grapes
• Quick and Creamy Chicken stew (leave out the peas and the optional almond flour)
• Olive, Garlic, and Lemon Chicken
• Duck and Carrot Confit
• Ginger-Citrus Roast Chicken
• Pork and apple skewers
• Fish in a Pig
• Mussels in White Wine sauce
• Tuna steak with avocado and Cilantro Marinade

Salads, Sides, and Other Dishes

• Spinach, Strawberry, and Avocado Salad
• Shrimp and Mango Salad
• Apple-Cinnamon Fruit Rolls
• Grilled Peaches with Prosciutto and Basil
• Kale Chips
• Warm Broccoli and Carrot Slaw
• Butternut squash Fries or Sweet
  Potato Fries
• Sweet Potato Lime Soup
• Butternut Squash Soup
• Fruit Salad with Mint and Lime
• Sardine and Garlic Spread
• Guacamole with Radish and Oranges

Part 2: Modifying Recipes For the Autoimmune Protocol

Now comes the hard part: finding recipes that aren’t autoimmune-friendly and modifying them so that they are. First up for replacement are the vegetables. The autoimmune protocol eliminates nightshades, so bell peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes are all out. To substitute for these, try:

• Eggplant: zucchini or yellow squash. No, it doesn’t have the color, but if you’re just using some eggplant in a soup or stew, summer squash will give you the same texture and a similar flavor.
• Bell peppers: if you’re looking for added crunch, try onions. If you’re making a “bowl” to stuff with something else, consider sweet potatoes or acorn squash.
• Tomatoes: If tomatoes are the central focus of a dish, they’re pretty much impossible to replace, but if they’re just one ingredient among many, you have options.For tomato paste in soup, try some pureed sweet potato or another root vegetable for texture + a dab of umeboshi paste (made from plums, so it’s autoimmune-friendly) for flavor. To add a raw crunch to salads, try cucumbers or carrots.

You can also experiment with replacing spices. According to the Cook’s Thesaurus, some strategic substitutes are:

• Anise seed: star anise
• Dill seed: dill leaves (use more, since the leaves are not as strong-tasting)
• Fennel seed: stalks of the fennel plant (use more, since the stalks are not as strong-tasting)
• Mustard seed: wasabi powder or horseradish
• Cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes: black pepper (if it works well with your recipe, also try adding some ginger or garlic for extra heat)

Some examples of these substitutions at work:

Veal Paupiettes (replace 1 tbsp. ground nutmeg with 1⁄2 tbsp. ground cinnamon)

Herb and Prosciutto-Stuffed Steak (replace the red pepper cubes with onions)

Tuna avocado Boats (leave out the paprika, and use olive oil instead of the mayonnaise, since mayonnaise contains eggs)

Fresh Garden Vegetable Salad (substitute steamed asparagus for the red bell pepper)

Cabbage Soup (substitute more onions and carrots for the bell pepper)

Not every recipe can be modified so easily, but you’d be surprised at what you can come up with when you start getting familiar with the substitutions.

Do you have a favorite family recipe that you’ve modified to fit your new lifestyle? Or are you struggling to find the right substitutions? Share your triumphs and puzzles with us on Facebook or Twitter.

FODMAPs carbohydrates are basically several different types of fiber that can upset your digestive system: if you’re having trouble with bloating, constipation, diarrhea, or other digestive upsets, FODMAPs elimination is a great first step in your troubleshooting.

On a low-FODMAPs diet, you should avoid:

NON-PALEO FOODS:

• Grains (including corn), legumes (including peanuts, peas, and beans), dairy (except butter and ghee), seed oils, and alcohol.

VEGETABLES:

• Onion/garlic family: Garlic, leeks, onions, and shallots. Also watch out for spice mixes that contain onion and/or garlic powder.
• Other vegetables: Artichoke, asparagus, cabbage, okra, snow peas, sugar snap peas, radicchio, tomato paste (but ordinary toma- toes are fine).

NUTS:

• Pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, and large amounts of any kind of nut, nut flour, or nut butter.

FRUITS:

• Stone fruits: Apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, and plums.
• Other fruits: Apples, blackberries, grapes, mango, pears, persimmons, and watermelon.

OTHER FOODS:

• Dried fruit, fruit juices, honey, any kind of sweetener (even 0-calorie sweeteners).

People who are extremely sensitive to FODMAPs may also need to avoid some additional foods that contain fewer FODMAPs carbohydrates; a great list including these foods is here. The list is pretty long, so read it over a couple times to get your bearings, and then check out the tips below for cooking low-FODMAPs recipes without losing your mind.

Cooking on a low-FODMAPs diet

There are two parts to this section. Part 1 has recipes that are low-FODMAPs exactly as written. Part 2 has some strategic substitutions for onions and garlic, to help you modify recipes without losing flavor.

Part 1: low-FODMAPs Paleo recipes

On this list, recipes without a * use only ingredients that are considered totally safe. Recipes with a * also include ingredients that are considered safe in small amounts. If you’re extremely sensitive to FODMAPs, then avoid the recipes marked with the *, but most people should be fine with them.

Main courses

• Barbecued sirloin in Dijon
• Lemon and Thyme Lamb Cutlets
• Lemon Chicken Kebabs
• Chicken with Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
• Ginger Citrus roast Chicken
• Butter Chicken
• * Grilled Lemon-Herb Zucchini with sole (very small amount of pine nuts)
• Oysters Kilpatrick
• Whole Grilled (or Baked) Trout
• Fish Fillets with Mint and Pepper salsa
• Eggs Benedict and Ham
• BLT Dressed eggs
• * Zucchini and sweet Potato Frittata (sweet potatoes are on the “caution” list, but you could always replace them with white potatoes, which are completely safe).

Salads and sides

• Roasted Bone Marrow
• *Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges or Sweet Potato Fries
• Butternut Squash Fries
• Mint Zucchini or Oven Roasted Cauliflower
• Roasted Cauliflower with Mint and Pomegranate
• *Sweet Potato Casserole (contains sweet potatoes and a small amount of walnuts)
• Egg Drop Soup
• *Sweet Potato Lime Soup
• Cream of Tomato Basil Soup (tomatoes are safe, but a whole lot of tomatoes at once can be iffy; if you’re extremely FODMAPs sensitive, you may want to avoid this dish)
• Butternut Squash Soup

Snacks, desserts and others

• Pork Rinds
• Blueberry Cucumber Smoothie
• Kale chips
• Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade

Part 2: Onion and garlic substitutions

Onions and garlic are often the only things that stand between a delicious dinner and a low-FODMAPs diet. Unfortunately, these common ingredients are also some of the worst offenders where FODMAPs are concerned, so even just a little is often dangerous. But now comes the good news: you can still get the same taste! You just have to get a little creative. Two great strategies include:

• Infused oils. The FODMAPs themselves aren’t fat-soluble, but the chemicals that give onions and garlic their flavor are. So oils infused with onion or garlic give you all the flavor without the stomachache. Make your own at home by heating on- ions and/or garlic in oil (and then storing any extras in the fridge), or get pre-made infused oils at the grocery store.
• Asafetida (ass-uh-FeH-ti-duh) powder + celery. Asafetida powder smells dis- gusting raw, it’s true, but when cooked it tastes and smells a lot like onions
  and garlic. Beware when you’re using it: a little bit goes a long way, so err on the side of stinginess. The celery isn’t for flavor, but if you miss the texture of onions as well as the taste, well-cooked celery is a decent substitute.

Below are some recipes where you could use these substitutions to good effect. In general, if you just want the flavor (as in a marinade), the infused oils are the best choice; if you want the texture as well, go for the asafetida and celery.

Infused oils

• Grilled Steak And Summer Vegetables (leave out the onions in the grilled vegetables. For the marinade, take out the garlic and use garlic-infused olive oil instead)
• Herb and Prosciutto Stuffed Steak (garlic in the marinade)
• Bacon-Wrapped Roast Beef  (garlic)
• Zaatar Grilled Chicken (garlic)
• Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce (shallot)
• Porchetta (garlic)
• Pork Roast with Dijon Glaze  (replace the garlic in the rub with garlic-infused oil in the glaze)
• Grilled Salmon-Tomato Skewers (garlic)
• Tuna Steak with Avocado and Cilantro (garlic)
• Spicy Scallop Salad (garlic)
• Roasted Bell Peppers (garlic)
• Marinaded Beets (onion)

Asafetida and Celery

• Veal Paupiette (shallots)
• Lamb and Sweet Potato Cottage Pie (garlic and onion)
• Hearty Beef Stew (onion)
• Braised Duck Legs with Vegetables (onions and garlic)
• Canned Pork (onions)
• Egg In A Jar (onions)
• Irish Kidney Soup (onions)

Another tip is that if you’re using leeks or scallions, it’s perfectly safe to use just the green tops, since all the FODMAPs are in the bulb. So for example, in the tuna burger recipe or for lomi lomi salmon, you can prepare it exactly as written but just make sure to use only the tops of the scallions.

Hopefully this collection of recipes is helpful to anyone trying a low-FODMAPs diet or even just a 30-day elimination. Reducing FODMAPs in your diet doesn’t mean you have to do without delicious food!

Here's the FODMAPs food list in an infographic format, for your reference:

Energy bars aren’t real meals. But sometimes, you really are stuck and need something fast to grab - that’s where bars come in.

Here’s a closer look at 6 Paleo and Paleo-friendly bars, with the carb counts noted for the keto crowd. Our taste-tester tried two flavors from each brand and took notes.

Important note from the taste tester: I am not affiliated with any nutrition bar companies. I bought all the tested bars in stores with my own money at the normal retail price. I wasn’t reimbursed by any of the manufacturers. None of these companies is paying me to try products or write reviews. Basically, I have no motivation to offer anything but my own honest opinion and reactions, and that’s exactly what you’re getting.

1. LARABARS

Carb count: 20-25 net grams per bar. NOT keto-friendly.

Ingredients & general nutrition info

The basic formula of a LARABAR is dates + nuts (usually almonds or cashews) + extras.

For example, the “Cherry pie” flavor has dates, almonds, and cherries. The “Banana bread” flavor has dates, almonds, and bananas. You get the idea.

One strength of this brand is the sheer number of flavors. There are way too many to list - check out their website to see them all.

Only some flavors are Paleo-friendly.

• Classic LARABARS are Paleo EXCEPT for the flavors with peanuts.
• Bars in the fruits + greens line are Paleo.
• Bars in the superfoods line are Paleo.
• Bars in the “nut and seed” line have added sweeteners, so they’re not Paleo.

The chocolate flavors use soy-free, dairy-free chocolate, so folks with dairy issues should be fine with them.

Taste-testing

Our taste-tester picked the apple pie flavor from the regular line and the hazelnut hemp cacao from the superfood line.

Apple pie: This bar tasted pretty good and the sticky-sweet heaviness of all the dates really went with the flavors. The almonds added a nice crunch. I personally could have done with just a little touch of salt, but that’s a minor quibble.

Hazelnut hemp cacao: This bar had the nuts in smaller pieces; between the chopped nuts, the cacao nibs, and the hemp, it had an almost grainy texture. If you like chia seed pudding, you’ll will like the texture of this.The taste was good - not super chocolatey but there was a nice subtle chocolate tone to it.

2. Epic Bars

Carb count: 0-5 grams net carbs per bar - that’s a YES for the keto crowd.

Ingredients & general nutrition info

Epic bars are probably the #1 choice on this list for the keto crowd - they’re made of meat, so they’re naturally high in protein and low in carbs. There’s a huge number of flavors - not just land animals, but also salmon. Check them all out here

Some flavors have sweeteners - for example, the bison bar has brown sugar. The smoked salmon maple has maple sugar. The turkey almond cranberry has apple juice as a sweetener for the cranberries, which is basically sugar by another name. From the carb counts, it’s obvious that the total amount of sugar is pretty low, but if you’re absolutely insisting on eliminating all added sugar, check the labels carefully before you eat!

Flavors with no added sugars of any kind include the lamb, venison, and chicken sriracha flavors.

Taste-testing

Our taste-tester tried out the bacon and chicken sriracha flavors.

Bacon: this bar tasted just like bacon - it was a bit odd to have room-temp bacon with no crispiness to it, but if that doesn’t throw you off, the taste is great. The texture was really pleasant; I was worried that it might be leathery like jerky, but it was pretty juicy, just a bit firmer than a nice burger. Maybe it was the applewood smoke but there was a pretty noticeable sweet flavor to it, even though the primary flavor was the bacon.

Action shot for texture:

Chicken sriracha: Spicy spicy spicy! I actually felt my cheeks heat up a bit from the sriracha level in this bar. If you love all things hot sauce, this one comes strongly recommended. As expected for chicken vs. bacon, this one was a bit less juicy than the bacon bar, but it definitely wasn’t an unpleasant texture.

Just as an idea, if I took either of these on a camping trip, I would definitely grill them. The bacon especially seems like it would be good that way.

3. Rx Bars

Carb count: 17-22 grams net carbs per bar. NOT keto-friendly.

Ingredients & general nutrition info

Like LARABARS, these are basically fruit and nuts compacted into bar form, but unlike LARABARS, they’re made with egg whites for some extra protein. They also have a bunch of different flavor options, which you can check out here

The peanut flavors are NOT Paleo-friendly, but there are tons of other flavors to choose from that don’t contain peanuts. The bars are dairy-free and soy-free, so presumably they use a Paleo-safe chocolate without a bunch of soy junk in it.

Taste-testing

Our taste-tester tried the chocolate coconut and mixed berry flavors.

Chocolate coconut: this bar tasted good, the texture was pleasant, and if it had been labeled “coconut almond,” it would have been perfect. The only problem was that didn’t live up to the “chocolate” label at all - almost no chocolate taste! If you want chocolate, you’ll be very disappointed with this one. But as a coconut-almond bar, it was great. the coconut aspect of the flavor was just right, not too overpowering. Something about the flavor reminded me of marzipan, but it was actually better for being a little less sweet.

Mixed berry: Not my favorite - this bar tasted basically like fruit leather with some almonds in it. The berry taste wasn’t strong enough and the taste of the dates was pretty overpowering. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, but it wasn’t any better than “fine.”

4. Bulletproof bars

Note: this is a review of the Bulletproof bars as Paleo-acceptable snack foods that you can grab in a pinch because they’re a whole lot better than a bag of Doritos. It is NOT a review of the proprietary oils in the bar, how well they work, or whether they actually do anything at all. It’s definitely NOT an endorsement of any of these oil blends. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you think there’s enough evidence for the health claims - but considering that none of those oil blends contains any non-Paleo fats, we’re just treating them as any other added fat and reviewing the bars as a snack.

Carb count: 7-8 grams net carbs - probably OK for low-carb diets but not super great for keto.

Ingredients & general nutrition info

These bars are less “real food in bar form” and a little more “Paleo-ified form of a typical PowerBar.” The ingredients list is longer, it probably has some stuff you won’t immediately recognize, and it’s generally much less like something you could have put together in your own kitchen if you’d had the time.

All the flavors - fudge brownie, lemon cookie, chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chocolate chip, and vanilla shortbread - are Paleo-friendly, if you’re fine with Stevia.

Unlike some other bars we tested, these ones don’t have any fruit. What they do have is nuts, collagen protein, added fiber, and some proprietary branded oil blends. Instead of using dates or other fruit as a sweetener, they’re sweetened with Stevia, which may be a bonus or a dealbreaker for you, depending on your thoughts on artificial sweeteners generally and Stevia in particular.

Taste-testing

Our taste-tester picked out the lemon cookie and vanilla shortbread flavors.

Lemon cookie: The texture of this bar was unique among all of the ones I tried - it was much lighter and dryer without that heavy/sticky fruit sweetness. It had an almost crumbly texture, but in a good way, a bit like a scone. I would have liked the lemon flavor a bit stronger, but I do like lemon things to be very lemony.

I was a bit worried about the fiber upsetting my stomach, since that sometimes happens with added fiber, so I ate it and then went on a run almost immediately as a stress test for digestibility. 5 miles later, no problems were in evidence!

Vanilla shortbread:this one wasn’t quite as light as the lemon bar, with a bit of a denser texture that fit the shortbread flavor. It wasn’t the most exciting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth, but it tasted pleasant and appropriately cookie-like.

5. Thunderbird bars

Carb count: 8 - 20 grams net carbs for the nut + seed bars; 21-26 net carbs for the fruit + nut bars. The lowest-carb option is the hemp sunflower pumpkin seed bar, at 8 grams net carbs.

Ingredients & general nutrition info

Another take on the real food fruit/nut/seed bar, this time with some new and interesting flavors. These bars come in either “fruit + nut” varieties, which have more fruit and a higher carb count, or “nut and seed” varieties, which have less fruit (but not none) and fewer carbs. Check out all of them here.

Not all flavors are Paleo: the cherry walnut cinnamon and pineapple mango papaya flavors have buckwheat, which isn’t Paleo-friendly. If you’re buying them in a store, the Paleo-friendly flavors have a convenient little black triangle in the upper right-hand corner of the wrapper with a P in it for Paleo.

Taste-testing

Our taste-tester chose the “cacao + hemp + walnut” and “cashew + fig + carrot” bars.

Cacao + hemp + walnut: Between this one and the cacao/kale LARABAR, the Thunderbird bar definitely wins for overall eating experience. The texture didn’t have that strange graininess and it had a nice deep chocolate flavor. BUT they aren’t totally comparable, because there was some mint in the Thunderbird bar, while the LARABAR had none. I like mint chocolate, so I enjoyed it. You wouldn't think that mint and dates would work together, but here they actually go pretty well.

Cashew + fig + carrot: This REALLY worked for me. It was probably the closest Paleo equivalent to Fig Newtons, which I loved as a kid. Maybe it was the nostalgia talking, but this one was a pleasure to eat and had a nice chewy sweetness with a slightly brighter taste (maybe that was the carrots talking?). I would legitimately buy this again and eat it for dessert.

What's your favorite?

What’s your favorite Paleo-friendly nutrition bar? Got one we didn’t cover? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!

There's a long debate about macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) and blood sugar, but there's a lot less information out there about micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Here's a look at four minerals that are important for blood sugar control, plus some ideas for getting them from delicious, nutrient-dense Paleo recipes.

A quick review (if you already know what glucose and insulin are, just skip the list):

• Blood sugar: the amount of sugar (glucose) that’s in your blood. It’s fine and normal for blood sugar to go up after a meal, but then it needs to go back down again. Too much glucose hanging out in your bloodstream for a long time is very dangerous.
• Insulin: the hormone responsible for clearing sugar (glucose) from the bloodstream.
• Insulin resistance: when insulin says "please take this glucose out of the bloodstream and put it in a fat/muscle cell" but your body doesn’t "listen" to the insulin and blood sugar stays high. This is very bad news.
• Type 2 Diabetes: People with type 2 diabetes have chronic insulin resistance, so they have high blood sugar a lot of the time. (Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and a totally different animal – here, "diabetes" means type 2).

There are reams and reams of studies on diabetes because it’s officially a "disease" so it gets a lot of attention. "Problems managing blood sugar" isn’t officially a "disease" until it gets to a particular cut-off, so it doesn’t get as much attention. But type 2 diabetes doesn’t come from nowhere. It starts with problems managing blood sugar that steadily get worse over time. Diabetes is the extreme end of the spectrum, not some new and totally unrelated issue.

All of this is to say: there are a lot of studies in this post on diabetes and people with diabetes. But they’re still relevant to people who don’t technically have "diabetes" but still have blood sugar issues (or want to avoid them).

And now, for the minerals!

1. Chromium

Chromium is good for blood sugar control because it helps regulate insulin.

Patients with diabetes have lower blood levels of chromium than healthy controls. There’s also some evidence that chromium is helpful for treating diabetes. This study found that supplementation with a chromium-enriched yeast improved some measures of blood sugar control in people with Type 2 Diabetes. Interestingly, in some cases it didn’t so much cause improvements as stop things from getting worse. For example, the control group (no chromium) had steadily decreasing markers of antioxidant activity, while the chromium group didn’t see much of a change. But hey, "preventing more problems" is also a benefit.

Another study looked at chromium for steroid-induced diabetes. Steroids can cause diabetes in some patients, basically because they ramp stress hormone production way up (stress: really, really, no-kidding really bad for you). But this study found that steroid-induced diabetes could be treated with supplemental chromium.

For the non-diabetics in the audience, this study in people without diabetes found that chromium-deficient diets made blood sugar control worse, which the researchers could reverse by adding chromium supplements.

Foods to eat: The chromium content of foods varies depending on the soil that they were grown in. But even considering the inevitable variation, broccoli is probably a good bet. So are potatoes, garlic, beef, and turkey. Eat chromium-rich foods with Vitamin C for better absorption.

Recipe inspiration:

• Chili & garlic roasted broccoli
• Strawberry broccoli salad
• Bacon, broccoli, and chicken casserole

2. Zinc

Zinc is another important mineral for blood sugar control. It's an antioxidant and it's also important for insulin management. Patients with diabetes have lower levels of zinc in their blood, and zinc supplementation helps to improve their HbA1c (a measure of long-term blood sugar control). This study and this one also found that zinc levels were significantly lower in patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

This study also found that zinc improved blood sugar control in obese children without diabetes. So again, it looks like there may be benefits for people who don’t technically have diabetes as well as people who do.

Foods to eat: Oysters are by far the best source. Beef is also pretty good.

Recipe inspiration: Oysters kilpatrick

3. Selenium

Selenium is pretty excellent for gut and thyroid health, but it’s also great for blood sugar control. This might be thanks to its general antioxidant properties, but this study also found that selenium altered the expression of a bunch of different genes involved in blood sugar regulation.

Just like the other minerals on this list, selenium is lower in people with consistently high blood sugar, even if they don’t have diabetes.

As for intervention studies: in patients with diabetes, this study found that selenium supplements helped improve blood sugar control and insulin levels. There’s also some evidence that selenium is useful as an addition to insulin therapy for diabetes. In this study, rats got either standard insulin therapy or insulin + selenium. The selenium treatment was much better at lowering blood sugar and restoring normal glucose metabolism than the insulin alone.

On the other hand, some studies also suggest that high-dose selenium supplements can be dangerous for people who already get enough selenium. If you insist on going the supplement route instead of eating whole foods, maybe get a blood test from your doctor first to see where you are.

Foods to eat: Brazil nuts are famous as the best source of selenium. But they have a very distinctive taste that not everybody is a fan of. You could also try just about any seafood (especially salmon), shiitake mushrooms, or asparagus.

Recipe inspiration:

• Grilled salmon lemon and lime skewers
• Spicy chipotle grilled salmon
• Orange glazed salmon

4. Magnesium

Magnesium is a Jack of all trades. People who tend towards constipation might know it as the miracle supplement that makes bowel movements easier (it draws water into the intestine, which can loosen up stool if it’s hard or compacted). People who tend towards anxiety might know it as a calm-down supplement. Well, time to add another trick to the magnesium roster: insulin regulation.

Insulin and magnesium are kind of a two-way street. As this study explains, low levels of magnesium might contribute to insulin resistance, and then insulin resistance might turn right back around to reduce magnesium levels.

In patients with type 2 diabetes, this study found that magnesium supplements significantly reduced insulin resistance and improved blood sugar control. And even better, here’s one on non-diabetic subjects with insulin resistance and low magnesium levels. This study showed a benefit for magnesium as well, even in the non-diabetic crowd.

Foods to eat: Almonds, most other types of nuts, spinach, avocado, bananas, salmon, most other types of fish.

There are lots of other foods high in magnesium as well.

Recipe inspiration:

•  Mango, avocado, and spinach smoothie
• Baked eggs with spinach and smoked salmon
• African-style almond & chicken stew

Summing it Up

There’s no such thing as the miracle nutrient that cures diabetes. But there’s pretty solid evidence that chromium, zinc, selenium, and magnesium are all important for healthy blood sugar regulation. If you’re worried about your blood sugar, it might be worthwhile to make sure you’re getting enough of these nutrients in your diet.

This isn’t a call to go out and buy four more supplements. For one thing, that’s expensive – and remember from above that over-supplementing can also be dangerous. For most people, eating nutrient-dense whole foods is enough to meet their dietary needs. That’s why there are food recommendations at the bottom of each nutrient. Use them! Go make something tasty and good for you. Paleo is about eating good food first, and then supplementing only as necessary.

When it comes to flexible grocery staples, we all know ground beef and eggs and onions and coconut milk. All those foods really do live up to their reputation as versatile staples that go well with almost anything, and you can do dozens of things with every one of them. But here are 6 lesser-known foods you might want to consider for their power to become anything you like.

1. Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

Coconut flakes can be crunchy or chewy, and work in sweet or savory recipes. They’re good in everything from breaded chicken tenders to Paleo cookies, and they’re particularly noteworthy for adding some nut-free crunch to just about anything.

Recipe inspiration:

• Crispy Coconut Shrimp with Mango Sauce (use the shredded coconut to make a crispy crunch on these shrimp)
• Banana Raisin Cookies (coconut can be chewy as well as crunchy - here it gives you the traditional oatmeal texture with no grains required)
• Coconut Macaroons with Lemon Curd (a little involved, but so worth it)

2. Cauliflower

Cauliflower is white and reasonably mild-tasting, which makes it a Paleo stand-in for all kinds of other white and mild-tasting foods that might not be the very healthiest foods around (pizza crust? Bagels? Rice? You got it).

Recipe inspiration:

• 8 creative cauliflower substitutions for unhealthy foods (from bagels to pizza crust, cauliflower is a good sub for all your bland-white-carb needs)
• Beef and Winter Vegetable Soup (use the cauliflower to add a rice-like texture to the soup)
• Cauliflower Chowder (the cauliflower gives you that thick, creamy texture)

3. Ground Not-Beef

Ground beef is a Paleo staple because you can make it into anything, but what about all the other ground meat? Ground chicken or pork can add something new to your recipes. Sick of chili? What about white chili? Done with meatballs? What about an Asian-inspired version with pork instead of beef? Ground anything-but-beef is an easy way to dramatically increase your recipe possibilities and keep the old favorites interesting.

Recipe inspiration:

• Buffalo Chicken Meatballs (or try them with turkey)
• Beef-Stuffed Butternut Squash (would also be great with ground pork for a change)
• Greek-Style Meatballs (the recipe calls for lamb, but these would also be good with chicken or turkey)

4. Cocoa Powder

It’s not everyone’s first thought when it comes to versatility, but if you know how to use it, cocoa powder is actually good for all kinds of recipes, including the savory ones. Throw it into chili or a steak rub to add a deep, warm flavor (and no, your steak won’t taste like dessert). Or keep it on hand so you can always make an instant Paleo treat.

Recipe inspiration:

• Chocolate-Coconut Bites (completely dairy-free; it’s basically an easy way to make your own, high-fat/low-carb chocolate)
• Frozen Chocolate Smoothie (another quick and easy treat, or try coconut milk hot chocolate for the warm version)
• Grilled Chicken with Lime Butter (use chocolate to give this recipe an extra base of flavor)

5. Avocados

Avocados are another grocery staple that easily go from sweet to savory and back again. Cool avocado is great for temperature contrast on top of soups or chilis, and a few slices or cubes add some flavor (and nutrients!) to almost any salad. On the sweet side, try them in smoothies or even chocolate mousse.

Recipe inspiration:

• Cranberry Avocado Salad (the avocado here is a pleasant contrast to the tart cranberries).
• Chocolate Avocado Strawberry Smoothie (it’s not just for savory recipes: avocado is also mild enough to go in desserts)
• Chicken Enchilada Casserole (this recipe uses avocado as a garnish for temperature and texture contrast)
• Chicken Tenders with Avocado-Cilantro Dipping Sauce (the avocado and herbs in this sauce give it a smooth texture and a nice richness)

6. Eggplant

Stuff it! Slice it! Use it as a pasta substitute, or just cut it into cubes and roast it with curry powder and paprika. Eggplant is good for a lot more than just lasagna and grossing out children under 10. Because it’s both large and flexible, it gives you a lot of options for shapes and presentations, and it’s particularly good with anything Italian.

Recipe inspiration:

• Shrimp-Stuffed Eggplant (eggplant halves make a beautiful edible “bowl” for a shrimp curry)
• Eggplant Cannelloni (who needs pasta when you could have this?)
• Baba Ghanoush (a savory Middle Eastern dipping sauce, with eggplant standing in for the chickpeas)

What's your most versatile pantry staple? Let us know on Facebook or Google+!

If you spend much time talking to people who eat Paleo, you’ll probably hear about gelatin. Gelatin checks all the boxes for an important food from a Paleo perspective:

• Relatively abundant in our ancestral diet, but relatively scarce in the modern diet.
• Significant health benefits that make that scarcity a serious problem.

Here’s an explanation of what gelatin and collagen are, the difference between them, and why they’re important, plus simple ways to get more of them in your own diet.

Gelatin and Collagen: Missing Pieces in the Modern Diet

The story of gelatin actually starts with a protein called collagen. Collagen is the most important protein in connective tissue, skin, and bones; you actually have more collagen in your body than any other type of protein. Degradation or lack of collagen can cause problems from skin wrinkles to osteoporosis.

In food, collagen is found mostly in the “odd bits” and tougher cuts of beef that contain a lot of connective tissue. You might recognize these as the parts of the animals that our ancestors ate, but we typically throw away today.

Gelatin comes into this because people rarely eat skin and tendons raw; they cook them. And cooking the collagen transforms it into gelatin. Gelatin is the cooked form of collagen – it’s the way we can eat the beneficial amino acids in the collagen without having to sit down to a lovely plate of raw tendons for dinner.

So far, so simple, but there’s one more distinction to make. Cooking collagen-rich foods extracts gelatin, but if more intensive processing can also create a slightly different product called collagen hydrolysate.

Collagen Hydrolysate vs. Gelatin

Collagen hydrolysate (which is the same thing as hydrolyzed collagen) is not exactly the same thing as gelatin. In the hydrolyzed form, the collagen is processed more intensively, which actually breaks up the proteins into smaller pieces. They both have the same amino acids, but different chemical properties.

The benefits of collagen are mostly from the amino acids, and you break down both gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen into the same amino acids in your digestive system anyway, so in terms of health benefits, hydrolyzed collagen and gelatin should be roughly equivalent. But on the other hand, some people with may find the hydrosylate easier to digest, and they do have culinary differences in terms of how you’ll use them.

Health Benefits of Collagen and Gelatin

Collagen is important for skin and bone health – supplements are sold for everything from wrinkles to osteoporosis. As well as supplying the important amino acids for collagen stores in your body, gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen also have gut-healing benefits that might be even more important from a health perspective. Because most of the health benefits of collagen/gelatin come from the amino acids, it’s likely that for most people, the benefits will be the same whether you’re getting hydrolyzed collagen or gelatin.

• This review goes over some of the evidence that supplemental collagen may help improve skin elasticity and reduce roughness and skin aging.
• There’s some evidence that hydrolyzed collagen supplements improve arthritis pain and generally benefit bone and joint health.
• Gelatin may help normalize gut hormones in people with obesity.
• Gelatin and collagen are both also great for your gut – they help heal intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”) and restore the normal mucosal layer in the gut.

Gelatin specifically also has some great culinary uses – don’t discount the benefits of making healthy food tastier. For one thing, gelatin makes your pan sauces awesome. The food science nerds at Serious Eats have taken this one on: the reason why traditional stock makes a better pan sauce than broth in a can is that the traditional version has more gelatin. Sure, you could doctor up your store-bought broth with extra gelatin powder to re-create the effect, but why would you do that when you could just use the real thing?

How to Get More Gelatin and Collagen in Your Life

Nobody eats raw collagen – theoretically you could, but you’d have to sit around gnawing on raw animal tendons and bones. But you can add more gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen to your diet quite easily.

For the Traditionalists: Gelatin from Animal Foods

You can’t get hydrolyzed collagen from home cooking unless your kitchen contains an entire chemistry lab. But considering that they’re probably equivalent for most people, getting more gelatin is likely to give you the same results. Here’s how to get it:

• Bone broth is the original gelatin source. If it turns into chicken or beef Jell-O when you stick it in the fridge, then you know it’s full of gelatin (here are some tips for making that happen). Drink it plain or use it in soups.
• Roasts with lots of connective tissue (think chuck roast and similar cuts) will also produce meat and broth full of gelatin if you cook them long and slow, thanks to the breakdown of collagen in the meat.

Non-Traditional but Tasty

If you’re not insistent about getting your gelatin directly from the source, hydrolyzed collagen and gelatin powder are available at almost all grocery stores (typically in the baking aisle, next to the Jell-O or with the pie filling). Purified protein-in-a-can won’t have any of the other good stuff you get from meat and broth, but it’s certainly convenient and you can do all kinds of things with it…

• Gelatin: make your own gummy candies, puddings, or gelatin desserts.
• Gelatin: add it to sauces and soups to thicken them.
• Collagen: stir it into your coffee or tea, or even just a glass of water. Theoretically, you can do this with gelatin too, but most people find the texture of coffee + gelatin to be extremely off-putting.
• Either: add to smoothies. Some people like the gelatin texture in smoothies; other people would rather just use collagen.

Summing it Up

There’s an old piece of advice to “eat what ails you” – whatever part of your body is giving you trouble, eat that part of the animal and you’ll feel better. It doesn’t work in every case, and it's not a terribly sound scientific principle, but in the case of gelatin and collagen, it pretty much holds true: eating gelatin derived from the skin and bones of animals can help your own skin and bone health.

Gelatin and collagen also have impressive gut-healing benefits, and they’re very easy to get into your diet. Get more gelatin from bone broth or slow-cooked roasts, or just take a shortcut and buy them in pure form to add to whatever you like. It's not difficult at all, and it's one more way to get a little extra Paleo nutrition in.

If you’re looking to geek out more about collagen, here’s a good guide that gets into the nitty gritty.

Paleo baking can feel like a totally different world – recipes full of ingredients you never knew existed, substitutions for various different special diets, special instructions for managing the moisture content and texture profiles of all the new ingredients…

It is a little bit much at first. So here’s a quick-start guide to what all this stuff is, what it's for, and how to stock up without breaking the bank.

Paleo treats are treats. They’re meant for special occasions, not for eating every day. If your food log is full of Paleo cookies and Paleo pie and Paleo brownies, then you probably need to pay a little more attention to following the spirit of Paleo.

Special Ingredients (aka What Are All These Weird Flours?)

To substitute for wheat flour and refined sugar, Paleo baking uses a variety of different ingredients. Some flours are made of nuts (e.g. almond or cashew flour); some are made of other things (e.g. coconut, sweet potato, or plantain flour). There's also a whole array of sweeteners replacing refined sugar: honey and maple syrup are two of the most popular.

The big hurdle to experimenting with these is how expensive they all are. But you can make the cost a lot less painful by buying in waves:

Step 1: Just the Basics

Here’s a list of ingredients that will let you make most kinds of Paleo baking recipes:

• A basic flour. Almond and coconut flour are the most popular and if you have one of those two, you'll probably be able to find a recipe for whatever you want to make (here’s a guide to choosing which one you like). Having both is a good idea if you want to get serious about baking.
• 
• Some kind of sweetener: pick one or more from honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, date syrup, dates, fruit juice, and/or any other sweetener you prefer. No one sweetener is obviously superior to any other; what’s more important is limiting the total amount of sugar in your life, whether it comes from “natural” sources or not.
• Chocolate: 100% cocoa powder, plus the darkest dark chocolate you can enjoy (the darker, the healthier; go for at least 85%). If you are on an autoimmune protocol, you can substitute carob.
• Nut butter (your favorite kind; just remember that peanuts aren’t nuts and they aren’t Paleo, so neither is peanut butter!). Coconut butter or sunflower seed butter would be good alternatives for nut allergies.
• Unsweetened coconut flakes: these are often used to create a kind of chewier "oatmeal cookie" texture, or to add a topping to cupcakes or donuts.
• Baking soda

You’ll also be using ingredients you already have for non-baking purposes, like eggs, coconut milk, salt, fresh fruit, and raw nuts.

A few simple recipes you can make with these ingredients:

• Paleo chocolate chip cookies (Primal Palate). Flour: almond. Sweetener: maple syrup.
• Paleo brownies (Paleo grubs). Flour: none. Sweetener: maple syrup.
• Paleo chocolate cupcakes (Elana’s pantry). Flour: coconut. Sweetener: honey.
• Almond banana chocolate chip muffins (Multiply Delicious). Flour: almond. Sweetener: none.
• Almond and coconut macaroons (Paleo Leap). Flour: none. Sweetener: honey.

Step 2: Get Fancier

Once you have the basics down, you can start slowly adding to your collection of baking ingredients with all the fun new things. Here are some suggestions:

• Different kinds of dried fruit: try mango, cherries, prunes, cranberries…
• Flavored extracts: vanilla is a classic, but there’s also peppermint, almond, hazelnut, orange…
• Other flours: experiment with potato flour, plantain flour, tapioca flour…Each one has its own texture and many more advanced recipes combine them in different proportions to get the right effect.
• Fancy finishing salts or special sea salt.
• Different coconut products: try coconut butter, coconut manna, coconut cream…
• Unflavored gelatin: this lets you make puddings, pie filling, the centers of thumbprint cookies…

If you do dairy (not everyone tolerates it), also don’t be shy about playing around with cream, butter, or cheese.

Pick these up one or two at a time as you feel like experimenting with them; it keeps the cost down and helps avoid getting stuck with a bunch of special ingredients you don’t even like and don’t know how to use.

A few recipes that use some fancier ingredients and get a little more complicated:

• Paleo fruitcake (Paleo Leap) – go crazy with the dried fruit mix-ins!
• Fudgy brownies (PaleOMG) – with figs.
• Graham crackers (The Paleo Mom) – palm shortening! Cream of tartar! (Totally worth it!)
• Chewy turtles cookies (The Healthy Foodie) – there’s a vanilla bean and three different kinds of flour.
• Chocolate donuts with coconut vanilla bean icing (Running to the Kitchen) – put coconut butter to good use to make the icing on these donuts.
• Orange vanilla crescent cookies (Paleo Crumbs) – test out that orange extract.

Tools and Equipment

You don’t need a lot of serious equipment to do Paleo baking. If you already cook, you probably have most of it already – brownie pans, cookie sheets, and all the rest of the typical baking array will work just as well with Paleo ingredients. But there are a few tools that might come in handy:

• A kitchen scale. Weighing ingredients is much more precise than measuring them. If your baked goods are constantly coming out either too dry or too wet, there’s a good chance that it’s because your measurements are somehow off (maybe your flour was too packed down, or too fluffed up, so you got too much or not enough in “1 cup” of flour).
• A double boiler (for melting chocolate): if you’re going to be doing any kind of chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, or equivalent goodies, you might want one.
• A stand mixer (for beating eggs, mixing batter, and generally making your life easier).
• Ramekins (for crustless pies and cakes): a lot of Paleo adaptations of pies and cakes simply keep the filling and leave the crust – you can make personal-sized variations in little ramekins.

Tips and Warnings

And now for just a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to working with Paleo ingredients.

Baking is all about the chemistry. There’s a reason why professional bakers get so nit-picky about the weight of their flour: yes, it really does matter! And because everything is so chemically dependent, the rules of thumb you learned for grain-based baking might not apply. In particular…

• DON’T substitute one kind of grain-free flour for another unless the recipe specifically says you can. Coconut flour is especially notorious for messing things up if you try to swap it in for a nut flour.
• DON’T assume you can use the same baking temperatures that you would for the equivalent grain-based recipe. Many nut flours burn more easily and need a lower cooking temperature.
• DO play around with flours and sweeteners until you get one you like. There are so many options out there and the variety is increasing every day.

Once you start experimenting with making recipes on your own, you’ll get a much better feel for what works and what doesn’t – you’ll even start being able to come up with your own creations!

In many food cultures (India and Japan come to mind), the table is crowded with little dishes of relishes at every meal: spicy, sour, savory, and sweat relishes add more flavor to the meal and keep everything interesting (not to mention that they're often probiotic fermented foods). You might be eating relishes without even knowing it - if you've ever enjoyed a little pile of sauerkraut on the edge of your plate, or some salsa over fish, then congratulations: you were eating a relish.

A relish isn’t exactly the same as a sauce: sauces are liquid and smooth, but relishes have identifiable pieces of fruit or vegetables. Ketchup is a sauce made from tomatoes; salsa is a relish made from tomatoes. There’s some gray area in between, but overall a relish is something different.

Relishes can help make the meat interesting if you cook something like a chicken or turkey breast, especially if you need to add a little moisture or fat to make it tasty. They’re especially great if you’re on a diet that restricts certain types of spices, like an autoimmune protocol, because most of them are centered around fruits and vegetables, so they add a lot of flavor without forbidden spices.

Sounds pretty tasty, right? For your dinnertime pleasure, here are 30 delicious Paleo relishes, broken down by flavor: click to go to sweet, sour/tangy, savory, or spicy, or scroll down for all four.

Sweet (and sweet-tart)

Fruity or sweet salsas

Salsa is incredibly versatile and works as much more than a chip dip! Try it over fish, chicken, or burgers in place of ketchup. (If you’re looking for the more traditional, tomato-based salsas, they’re down under “savory”)

1. Mango + Avocado Salsa (Nom Nom Paleo)

2. Strawberry Ginger Salsa (Phoenix Helix)

3. {Paleo} Pineapple Salsa (Crave the Good)

4. Raspberry & Cilantro Salsa (Preppy Paleo)

5. Cherry, Basil, and Jicama Salsa (I Breathe I’m Hungry)

Chutneys & Other Sweet Relishes

Chutney is a traditional type of sweet cooked relish, originally from India; most chutneys are made out of some kind of fruit, with vinegar and spices (and sweetener, if the fruit isn’t already sweet enough).

6. Peach Mango Ginger Chutney (Stupid Easy Paleo)

7. Grilled (Pine) Apple And Red Pepper Chutney (Paleo Plan)

8. Spicy Plum Chutney (Not Just a Man’s World)

9. Spiced Cranberry Relish (Paleo in PDX)

Sour/tangy

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut goes especially well as a relish over pork or really anything fatty – the tangy flavor makes sure the meat itself doesn’t get overwhelming.

10. Basic sauerkraut (Paleo Leap)

11. Beet, Fennel, and Leek Sauerkraut (Pure Fresh Daily)

12. Indian-Spiced Curry Kraut (Rising Moon Nutrition)

If you like sauerkraut as a relish, also consider other fermented foods, like kimchi.

Other tangy relishes

Add a bit of bite to your plate! Any kind of pickles work perfectly as relishes (if you want to cheat a little, you can just buy store-bought pickles and chop them up).

13. Brussels sprouts capers (Urban Nettle)

14. Herb-Caper Relish (Paleo Periodical)

15. Tangy pickle relish (Paleo Effect)

Savory and Herbal

Savory Salsas

These are perfect over meat or fish, or as salad dressings.

16. Fresh tomato salsa (Cook Eat Paleo)

17. Fire-Roasted Salsa (Paleo Leap)

18. Radish & Cucumber Salsa (Rubies and Radishes)

19. Roasted Tomatillo and Fresh Cilantro Seed Salsa (The Nourished Caveman)

Other Savory Relishes

20. Coriander pesto (Penny Pinching Pescetarians)

21. Curry Apricot Relish (Cranking Kitchen)

22. Tomato and Olive Relish (Kalyn’s Kitchen)

Spicy

Spicy Salsas

There’s a salsa for everything! If you’re craving some heat, try one of these.

23. Spicy Pear Salsa (Colorful Eats Nutrition)

24. Lacto-Fermented Tomatillo Salsa (Domestic Soul)

25. Salsa Macha (REM Cooks)

Other Spicy Relishes

These relishes are great on any kind of meat: for lighter cuts they add flavor, and for fattier cuts they’re strong enough to hold up on their own and give you a nice contrast.

26. Spicy Cranberry Relish (Mark’s Daily Apple)

27. Red onion and Jalapeno Relish (Things My Belly Likes)

28. Pickled Onions (DJ Foodie)

29. Spicy Relish (Plaid and Paleo)

30. Apple-Horseradish Relish (Paleo Plan)

What do you use as a relish? And what do you put it on? Let us know on Facebook!

With most nutrients, it’s a no-brainer to point to all the easy Paleo sources that provide plenty for everyone. But with Vitamin E, it’s a little harder, especially if you don’t eat nuts or seeds.

Commonly cited sources of Vitamin E include…

• Fortified cereals and granola
• Wheat germ oil
• Seeds, nuts, and oils made out of them (especially almonds and sunflower seeds)
• Peanuts and peanut oil.

Coming in at the tail end of the list are a few green vegetables (spinach and broccoli) and fruits (kiwi, mango, and tomatoes). So if you’re eating Paleo (especially if you’re eating Paleo and trying to cut down on nuts), what on earth is left?

Quite a bit, actually! There’s absolutely no human nutritional need for sunflower oil, much less vitamin-fortified cereal. And in fact, there’s a major Paleo source of Vitamin E that the list completely leaves out – one that you’re probably already eating for its other health benefits! So here’s a look at what Vitamin E does for you and why you want it, plus how you can get it from Paleo foods even without any nuts.

Vitamin E: Why It’s Important

(note for the nutrition nerds: there are many different kinds of Vitamin E; for simplicity, “Vitamin E” here means alpha-tocopherol, since that’s the only kind that can fill human nutritional needs)

Vitamin E is an important nutrient for all kinds of reasons. Among other things, it’s a powerful antioxidant, and it’s important for skin health, immunity, and fertility.

Antioxidant function

Like Vitamin C, Vitamin E is an antioxidant: it helps protect cells from oxidative stress caused by free radicals. If you’re not a fan of cancer, cardiovascular disease, early aging, and overall inflammation, then you want plenty of Vitamin E around.

Skin Health

Because of its antioxidant properties, Vitamin E can help protect skin from UV damage – and not just when it’s applied as a cream or lotion. Dietary Vitamin E also has benefits, although it does take some time for the Vitamin E that you eat to make its way out to your skin. That’s particularly true when Vitamin E is combined with Vitamin C: both together are much better than just the Vitamin E alone.

Fertility

Vitamin E is often touted as a “fertility vitamin,” but here, the evidence isn’t anywhere near what we’d like it to be. There are studies on rats, mice, quail, rabbits, cows, chickens, sheep…but the human studies are in short supply! There’s some evidence that it might help with infertility treatments, though, and that it might help improve sperm quality in men.

Immune Health

Vitamin E is also crucial for keeping your immune function up and running. Vitamin C gets all the good press, but good press doesn’t always tell the whole story. Vitamin E is important for immunity at the cellular level – and just like with skin health, the effects of Vitamin E are compounded when it’s added to Vitamin C.

Vitamin E: The Secret Paleo Weapon

And now we get to the dilemma at the beginning of the article: with most of the major sources of Vitamin E being either nuts (borderline-Paleo) or completely non-Paleo foods, how do you actually get the stuff?

The RDA for Vitamin E is 15mg (or 22.4 IU) for healthy adults above age 14 (except for breastfeeding women, who need 19mg or 29.4 IU).

Fortunately for you, Paleo has a hidden Vitamin E weapon that you’ve probably been eating all along without even worrying about it. Can you spot it in the list of Paleo Vitamin E sources?

RDA (for reference): 15mg - 100%
Sunflower seeds (¼ cup serving): 12.3mg - 82%
Almonds (¼ cup serving): 10.2mg - 68%
Hazelnuts (¼ cup serving): 4.32mg - 28%
Almond butter (1 tbsp.): 3.87mg - 25%
Spinach (1 cup cooked): 3.74mg - 25%

Canned tomato sauce (1 cup): 3.53mg - 24%
Avocados (1 avocado); 2.68mg - 18%
Palm oil (1 tbsp.): 2.17mg - 14%
Canned tomato paste (3 tbsp.): 2.07 - 14%
Olive oil (1 tbsp.): 1.94mg - 13%
Broccoli (1 cup cooked): 1.13mg - 7%

It’s cooking fat! Both olive oil and palm oil are healthy Paleo plant fats, and both contain around 2mg of Vitamin E per tablespoon. If you use 3-4 tablespoons of cooking fat for the whole day, that’s already half of your Vitamin E taken care of. That's a whole lot easier than eating huge piles of spinach every day, and you're probably already doing it.

The standard list of “foods high in Vitamin E” ignores the two cooking fats completely, which is doubly silly because these oils don’t just supply the vitamin; they also supply the fat you need to absorb it. Vitamin E is fat-soluble, so eating it with fat helps get the good stuff to where it’s actually needed. That’s why people with absorptive disorders like Crohn’s Disease are often deficient in Vitamin E: it’s not really about the vitamin; it’s about the fat. Getting the vitamin packaged directly with plenty of healthy fats is a convenient way to ensure absorption.

Once you take that as a baseline, add plenty of delicious guacamole, throw in a handful of nuts every now and again, and top it off with some Salmon Florentine once in a while, it’s very easy to see how a Paleo diet could be rich in Vitamin E without the need for any supplements at all.

A few other miscellaneous tips:

• Cook with canned or dehydrated tomatoes. With ingredients like tomato sauce and tomato paste, you’re taking out a lot of water in the fresh tomatoes, which makes the nutrients more concentrated. Why not try some brisket chili, lasagna, or Paleo spaghetti?
• Puree spinach and hide it in other things. This is a good idea even without thinking of Vitamin E at all: spinach is just that good for you.Meatloaf, meatballs, soups, smoothies, casseroles, and similar dishes are all perfect opportunities for hiding some greens, without actually changing the taste of the finished meal.
• Get plenty of Vitamin C – remember from above that Vitamin E and Vitamin C work together. Both together are much more powerful than either one alone.

What About Supplements?

Whenever anything sounds like a pain in the neck, it’s so tempting just to pop a pill. Unfortunately, though, there’s some evidence that taking high-dose Vitamin E supplements may actually do more harm than good. As the authors of that study concluded:

The optimal source of antioxidants seems to come from our diet, not from antioxidant supplements in pills or tablets.

Summing it Up

It’s absolutely possible to get enough Vitamin E from whole foods without eating any fortified anything, and even without any nuts or seeds. For one thing, cooking with healthy fats like olive oil and palm oil can give your Vitamin E intake a giant boost: even a few tablespoons over the course of the day really adds up! And while you’re on an olive oil kick, break out the tomato sauce for some Italian-inspired dinners and get a double dose.

It’s pretty wonderful how that always seems to happen: eating a varied, whole-foods diet covers most of your nutritional bases without any need to worry about it. That’s the beauty of Paleo: you don’t have to go hunt down specific obscure foods to get each separate vitamin. So don't worry about getting Vitamin E without your fortified breakfast cereal or a bunch of supplemental safflower oil: you're already covered. It’s almost like whole foods are the best way to provide nutrition for human beings! (funny how that works...).

For aspiring Paleo chefs, one big way to keep the cost of dinner down is to use all your leftovers, but reheating the same food again and again can get unappetizing pretty quickly, and it’s all too common to see a forest of Tupperware multiplying in the fridge, each half-full of a different leftover vegetable and none of them looking particularly appetizing. This is especially true for people who live alone and try to save money by cooking in bulk, only to realize that they don’t actually want to eat the same pork shoulder for five dinners in a row. Many people just end up throwing them all out in despair, which is a waste of good food and also good money!

To help save you from this trap, here are 17 quick and easy tips to save your leftovers from the trash can in easy, family-friendly, and appetizing ways.

Freezer meals

This is such a convenient way to use your leftovers that you might find yourself cooking extra on purpose so you can take advantage of it. If you have enough leftovers for an entire meal (or several) but don’t want to eat the same thing two days in a row, just freeze a meal-sized serving of everything in a separate container to take out later when you’re in a rush. It’s like a Paleo freezer dinner! You can also do this just with the meat portion of a meal, if you’ll have time to quickly throw together a salad but not enough time to cook the meat.

For homemade condiments, this is also a useful way of preserving a large batch you made for a recipe but never used up. Freeze extra ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise in an ice cube tray, so when you want some more, you can just pop out and defrost as many cubes as you need.

Soup or broth

Soup is one of the most incredibly versatile options in any chef’s recipe book, and it can take just about any kind of leftovers you like. Some ideas:

• Leftover vegetables: just toss them all in, with or without meat. There are very few vegetables that don’t go well in soup (lettuce might not be the best choice), but it’s very hard to go wrong here. Another alternative is to puree harder vegetables (like squash or broccoli) for a creamier, richer soup on a cold winter afternoon.
• Leftover bones: perfect for making a delicious and nourishing bone broth. Chicken carcasses are just the right size for a pot of broth, but also use the leftover bones from ribs, drumsticks, or any other bone-in meat.
• Leftover meat: Save it in a separate container, and add it to a pot of soup at the very end of cooking to warm it up – if you cook it twice, it will get tough and unappetizing.

Stuffed peppers

Throw your leftover meat and vegetables inside a big bell pepper for an attractive fresh take on last night’s dinner. If you’re serving a crowd, get several different colors: peppers come in red, green, yellow, white, and even purple, so you can put together a whole rainbow on the table. They’re easy, too: just spoon in the filling, balance the peppers on a baking sheet, and bake in the oven until the flesh of the peppers is soft and the filling is warm all the way through. Some ideas:

• Thanksgiving peppers: leftover turkey, cauliflower “mashed potatoes,” and cranberry sauce to surprise your family with a new twist on holiday leftovers.
• Stuffed peppers, Italian-style: ground beef seasoned with basil and oregano, with tomato sauce and any leftover vegetables.
• Hawaiian pizza pepper: the rest of your chicken pineapple stir-fry, stuffed into a pepper – add ham or tomato sauce if you like.
• Breakfast in a pepper: your favorite pork or chicken sausage, with any leftover sweet potato or butternut squash.
• Ham “sandwich:” Leftover ham (or Dijon pork roast) with any vegetables you have; top with a smear of mustard when you pull it out of the oven.

Omelets or Frittatas

If you only have a little bit of something, an easy way to use it up is to just throw it into an egg dish. Get creative here: below are just a few ideas for how to transform some lunch or dinner leftovers into a mouthwatering omelet the next morning:

• Leftover meat from bulgogi: try an Asian-inspired omelet with the meat, some ginger, red pepper flakes, and green onions.
• Leftover lamb cutlets: slice the meat very thin, and add some olives and extra thyme if you have those left over as well.
• Leftover chicken masala or chicken curry: Southeast Asian flavors are perfect with eggs, especially if you beat the eggs for the omelet with a little leftover sauce.
• Leftover cream of tomato soup, pesto, or salsa verde: beat it into the eggs before you cook them, and add whatever vegetables you like.

Salad toppers

Salads can stretch to accommodate almost any kind of addition, so don’t be shy about experimenting. Lettuce is traditional, but you could also use cucumbers or spinach as the base, and add whatever other vegetables you want to use up. Throw in some olive oil and vinegar, and call it lunch! This is the perfect “five-minute meal” for those busy days when you don’t have time to cook anything, and it’s so endlessly variable that it’s hard to get bored.

Stir-Fries

Stir-fries are the king of leftovers because they’re so incredibly easy. They’re traditionally Asian dishes, but can adapt just as well to almost anything. This post gives you some quick and easy recipes; just remember that if your meat is already cooked, you don’t want to cook it again. Just cook the vegetables and then add the meat at the end to warm up. Also take a look at the ideas below for some examples of how you could transform dinner into stir-fry at the drop of a hat:

• Jerk Chicken: Caribbean-style stir-fry with peppers and onions. Add some pineapple if you have some, and serve with fried plantains.
• Lemon chicken kebabs: Fry with sugar snap peas, thinly sliced carrots, and whatever else you have to hand, plus an extra squeeze of lemon juice.
• Pork chops: Fry with onions and as many leafy green vegetables as you can cram into the pan – add in any extra sauce from the recipe for flavor.

Meatloaf

Most famous for hiding liver, meatloaf can be used to disguise almost anything you feel like putting into it. Vast amounts of spinach or other green leafy vegetables will disappear into a meatloaf as though they never existed (this is also perfect for getting picky eaters to finish their vegetables). Leftover roast vegetables of any kind will only add to the dish, and many sauces will add a surprisingly delicious twist – try some BBQ sauce in your meatloaf if you’re getting a little bored of the same old recipe.

The traditional meatloaf is made with beef and pork, but don’t be shy about experimenting with turkey or chicken meatloaf if that’s what you have. The taste will be a little different, but you might just find yourself discovering a new family favorite.

Salsa

Have you ever bought a bunch of parsley, basil, or other herbs for a recipe, and then been stuck with most of the bunch still sitting in your fridge the next day, threatening to go bad? Chop up a quick batch of salsa to give this problem a delicious and useful solution. Salsa is endlessly flexible; you can make it hearty with avocados, fruity with pineapple, or lighter with citrus. Then eat it plain as a snack, or top a simple grilled meat dish with it for an elegant, colorful dinner centerpiece.

Spaghetti squash pasta

Spaghetti squash “pasta” tossed with olive oil makes a blank slate that you can dress up with any leftover cooked meat and vegetables You can find the recipe for cooking the squash here if you’re not already familiar with this delicious substitute for unhealthy wheat noodles. Sure, it’s easy to add any vegetables you like to a basic marinara sauce, but there’s no need to stop there. Some recipes that lend themselves perfectly to tossing with pasta include:

• Spiced duck breast: this recipe has both meat and vegetables, so if you save a little of each, you’ll have a colorful and rich-flavored “pasta” recipe the next day for lunch.
• Mussels in white wine sauce: pasta with seafood is a classic; make it even better by saving a little of the sauce to drizzle over the finished product (if you’re out of sauce, you can just use butter).
• Roasted bell peppers with any meat you have handy: spaghetti squash can be a little bland on its own, but these peppers give it a very pleasant tang.
• Ratatouille: give your “pasta” side some color with this vibrant and full-bodied stew tossed in.

Chili

Chili is essentially a thicker, heartier version of soup; it’s usually made with beans but doesn’t have to be. The main difference between chili and soup is all in the spices – the heart of any chili is the deep heat of peppers permeating the meat. Any kind of leftover beef is perfect for making a hearty Paleo chili – just add some tomatoes or cans of tomato paste, peppers, onions, and seasonings, and heat it all up. Some chili recipes also call for turkey or chicken, if that’s what you have.

Of course, you can get more complicated than that if you like, and don’t be afraid to throw in whatever other vegetables you have to hand. Some adventurous cooks play around with ingredients as far out as pumpkin, shrimp, goat cheese, and eggplant in their chili, so do a quick search for whatever your ingredient is and you might be pleasantly surprised to find a recipe already waiting for you.

Loaded Baked Potatoes

Despite the entire article dedicated to explaining why white potatoes are nothing to fear, they’re still a controversial food, so if you’d rather use sweet potatoes for this recipe, they’ll do just as well. But there’s absolutely no reason to shun either type of potato from your diet, and they make a perfect vehicle for dressing up leftovers with this quick tip.

Making loaded baked potatoes is simple – just bake the potatoes, then scoop out the flesh, mix it with whatever fillings you’re using, and pop the potatoes back into the oven until everything is warm. Some ideas to get you started:

• Any meat seasoned with BBQ sauce would make for delicious Southwest-style sweet potatoes. Add Jalapeno peppers if you like it spicy.
• Another Thanksgiving leftover trick is turkey and cranberry sauce inside a baked potato.
• For a Polish twist, stuff your potatoes with bigos, and top them with more sauerkraut when you’re done.
• Vegetable-stuffed potatoes or sweet potatoes without any meat at all make an interesting side dish for your next main meal.
• Greek baked potatoes with tuna (or lamb) and olives would probably work best with white potatoes.

Meatballs

Got just a few bites of vegetables hanging around in the door of your fridge? Blend them up, and toss them into a batch of meatballs for a little extra nutrition. A few extra vitamins never hurt anyone’s meal, and like meatloaf, this is a fantastic vehicle for hiding vegetables in case you need to.

If you like, you can also add the extra ingredient to change the flavor of the meatballs on purpose. Try adding leftover mayonnaise to turkey meatballs for a fantastic creamy flavor, or make beef or pork even richer with extra tomato sauce. Or use spicy chili or curry sauce to dress up the meatballs with some extra flavor.

Appetizers

Not all of us have a need for appetizers on a regular basis, but if you do, try transforming your leftovers into a quick and simple first course. The point of an appetizer is to look pretty and taste good, but not be filling, so you don’t need a lot of food. Some suggestions:

• Spinach leaf mini-wraps with one slice of red pepper and one thin sliver of leftover steak inside each.
• Your favorite Paleo-friendly crackers (or thinly-sliced cucumbers), topped with homemade mayo and a bite of leftover salmon or tuna.
• Toothpick “skewers” with a cube of leftover chicken sandwiched between two olives.

Deviled Eggs

Dressed eggs, or deviled eggs, are as simple or as complicated as you want them to be. Since you only need a little of each ingredient, they’re perfect for that last little bit of food that won’t even make one serving. These BLT dressed eggs are one idea, but why stop there? What about using salad shrimp? Or spicy Cajun dressed eggs? Thai dressed eggs with coconut milk and leftover curry sauce? The possibilities are endless, and the results make for easy and popular snacks and appetizers anytime.

Cottage Pie

Cottage pie began as a way to use leftover meat, so using it this way is really just a return to tradition. This recipe gives you instructions for a cottage pie with lamb and sweet potatoes, but you can plug pretty much anything into the basic template of meat and spices covered with a crispy crust. You don’t even have to use potatoes – a puree of cauliflower, turnips, or another root vegetable would also be delicious. Some ideas to get the creative gears turning:

• Got extra eggplant cannelloni? Try an Italian-style filling, maybe with a cauliflower crust.
• Any kind of basic chicken and vegetable recipe (like this braised chicken with fennel) provides a perfect filling.
• A pork roast is also easy to work in, and delicious with just about any crust you care to spread over it.

Paleo Pizza

While re-creating your old favorite foods with Paleo ingredients isn’t always the best strategy for long-term success, sometimes a pizza is just what you want for dinner, and the toppings provide endless opportunities to make use of the odds and ends hanging around the fridge. This recipe gives you the crust; after that, it’s up to you to add any toppings that sound good to you. Look past the pepperoni and try something new – maybe a Greek-themed pizza with lamb and olives, or a BBQ pizza with leftover ribs and fried onions.

Curry

If you have any relatively plain meat, you can make a quick curry by sautéing some vegetables, adding coconut milk and spices, and heating it all up, and then tossing in the leftover meat at the end. This won’t work with any kind of meat, but if the seasoning already there doesn’t clash with curry powder, this simple trick can give last a pork shoulder or a chuck roast some new life.

For a double whammy, serve the curry over a “bed” of other vegetable leftovers (broccoli or cauliflower would be perfect for this). The spicy sauce will make the vegetables more interesting and help cover up any dry texture that may have developed from sitting in the fridge.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are almost infinite ways to use those leftovers, including any extra sauce you poured over the main event. So instead of just throwing them away or pouring them down the sink, see how you can use the extras to add something special to another meal further down the line. It doesn’t just save money and help keep your fridge cleaner; it might also help you discover a new favorite recipe that you never would have considered!

FODMAPs are a frequently discussed group of foods that many people are confused about – learn what they are and whether you need to worry about them.

Introduction; FOD-what?

“FODMAPs:” it sounds like a bizarre military acronym, or maybe the name of some incredibly specialized and complicated exercise that only the most dedicated of Crossfitters ever attempt. But FODMAPs actually stands for a list of several types of carbohydrates that can be difficult for many people to digest properly. Some people transition to a Paleo diet and immediately start to feel wonderful, but if you’re dutifully eating according to Paleo guidelines and still struggling with gas, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea, FODMAPs might be the culprit.

FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, And Polyols. These are all types of carbohydrates found in many different types of fruits, vegetables and grains. The most common Paleo foods high in FODMAPs are:

• Fruits: apples, avocados, cherries, mangos, peaches, pears, watermelons, fruit juice and dried fruit
• Vegetables: onions, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, artichoke, mushrooms, cauliflower
• Dairy products: milk, yogurt, soft cheeses
• Other: sugar alcohols (any sweetener that ends in –ol), honey, agave

Here is a FODMAPs infographic that might helpful. And this isn’t a complete list (a full list of FODMAPs commonly eaten on Paleo is here), but it does give you an idea of what kinds of foods contain FODMAPs, especially the variety of fruits and vegetables that can be problematic. Other foods, like beans, wheat, and rye, also contain high levels of FODMAPs, but since these foods are also harmful in so many other ways, they aren’t a good idea for anyone to eat, FODMAPs-sensitive or not.

Because they’re so difficult to digest and absorb, FODMAPs are strongly correlated with symptoms of all kinds of functional gastrointestinal disorders (digestive problems that aren’t caused by a physical abnormality, like IBS). In one study, a FODMAPs-restricted diet showed a 75% success rate for treating patients with IBS – the FODMAPs didn’t cause IBS to develop, but removing them from the diet was very helpful in controlling symptoms. This makes FODMAPs prime suspects for inexplicable digestive symptoms on a strict Paleo diet: not only are they very common in the diet, but restricting them also has a high likelihood of doing some good.

FODMAPs, in Detail

Doing any kind of research into FODMAPs can be very confusing because the words in the abbreviation refer to very large groups of carbohydrates, and each of those groups has several subgroups. To make it all even more complicated, not all members of every group are actually problematic, only the fermentable ones (remember that Fermentable is the “F” in FODMAPs). For example, “monosaccharides” is just a chemical name for simple sugars, but only one type of monosaccharide is actually a FODMAP, because only one kind is fermentable. For reference, the list below details all the different types of carbohydrates that commonly pop up in the discussion about FODMAPs, and their relationships to each other.

Almost everyone is sensitive to oligosaccharides and polyols to some extent, but many people don’t show any reaction to the amount of them in a normal diet – the dose is just too low for them to notice. But other people (especially people with IBS or other functional digestive disorders) do react even to the amount of these carbohydrates in a bowl of coleslaw or a stick of sugar-free gum sweetened with sorbitol.

FODMAPs sensitive individuals also react to some carbohydrates that healthy people have no problems with: the disaccharides and monosaccharides (D and M in FODMAPs). This doesn’t mean that they’re sensitive to all disaccharides and monosaccharides: only two types of these sugars commonly cause problems. Lactose (the sugar found in milk) is the only disaccharide in this category, and fructose (the sugar found in fruit) is the only monosaccharide.

FODMAPs and Digestion

One of the reasons all these different types of carbohydrates are so irritating is that they aren’t completely digested by the time they reach the large intestine. Chemically, anything you eat is broken down by one or more enzymes: these are chemicals that digest foods into energy that your cells can actually use. The main enzyme responsible for carbohydrate digestion is amylase, which is first produced in your mouth as you chew, and continues to work on the carbohydrates as they travel through the digestive system. As the carbohydrates travel from your mouth through your stomach and into the gut, amylase breaks them down into their individual sugars. Then, the cells lining your gut can absorb them and distribute them to other parts of your body for energy.

The problem with FODMAPs is that, unlike other carbs, they aren’t completely digested in the small intestine, and pass through to the large intestine intact, instead of being absorbed in the gut and used for energy. Depending on the specific type of carbohydrate, this can be for one of two reasons.

• We can’t break it down. Amylase is the main enzyme responsible for starch digestion, but not the only one. Some FODMAPs reach the large intestine intact because we don’t have the enzymes necessary to digest them. People who react to lactose (the disaccharide “D”) have a deficiency of the enzyme lactase, which breaks the lactose down into simple sugars. Everyone reacts to raffinose (one of the oligosaccharides, the “O” in FODMAPs), because humans lack the enzyme to completely break it down.
• We can’t absorb it in the small intestine. Fructose (the monosaccharide “M” in the abbreviation) doesn’t need to be broken down any further – it’s already a simple sugar. But fructose can still cause the same symptoms because it’s difficult to absorb, so it stays in the intestine instead of getting transported through the intestinal wall into the body.

Whatever the reason, FODMAPs carbohydrates all cause problems because they stay in your gut when they should be digested, passed through the intestinal wall, and absorbed into your bloodstream.

In the large intestine, the gut flora couldn’t be happier about getting these carbohydrates – carbs are their favorite food. Unfortunately, bacteria chow down on their carbohydrate feast by fermenting the sugar molecules (this is why the F in FODMAPs stands for Fermentable). Think of a loaf of bread rising: it changes from a flat, dense lump of flour and water to a light, fluffy mound with plenty of air inside because it’s being fermented by the yeast. Now imagine that happening in your gut, and you’ll understand why FODMAPs can cause so many intestinal symptoms!

Another reason why FODMAPs carbohydrates can cause digestive symptoms is that they draw water into the intestine (technically, this is known as osmosis). Osmosis can cause both bloating and diarrhea, because it causes the intestinal wall to swell. This exacerbates the problems already caused by the bacterial overgrowth.

FODMAPs, Gut Flora, and SIBO

Since FODMAPs have so much to do with the gut flora, and since they cause overgrowth problems very similar to SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, also known as SBBO, for Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth), it’s worth taking the time to distinguish between these two problems – they’re similar, but they aren’t the same. For a FODMAPs-sensitive person, these carbohydrates affect not only the bacteria in the small intestine (where they aren’t supposed to be at all) but also in the large intestine (where they are supposed to be, just not in such large numbers). Thus, it’s perfectly possible to react to FODMAPs without having SIBO.

Even though these are two different conditions, though, they are actually related. FODMAPs foods have to pass through the small intestine, so if a person has pre-existing SIBO, eating FODMAPs can aggravate the problem by feeding the bacteria there. On the other hand, reducing FODMAPs in the diet can also help treat SIBO, and reducing bacterial overgrowth in other ways can help improve FODMAPs tolerance.

FODMAPs and Fructose Malabsorption

On the list of FODMAPs, the one most familiar to most Paleo dieters is probably fructose (the monosaccharide “M”). “Fructose malabsorption,” or the inability to properly digest fructose, is a familiar term to anyone who’s spent much time researching Paleo, but many people don’t recognize that since fructose is a FODMAP, fructose malabsorption is really one kind of FODMAP sensitivity.

Not recognizing the relationship between fructose and other FODMAPs can make fructose malabsorption unnecessarily hard to treat because the effects of FODMAPs in the body are cumulative. In other words, eating a second kind of FODMAPs can make your reaction to the first one worse. For example, someone sensitive to fructose who also eats a lot of onions (a major source of oligosaccharides) will have a worse reaction to fructose because of the onions. If you know you have trouble absorbing fructose, but don’t feel entirely better even when you strictly avoid all high-fructose foods, other FODMAPs may be the key to your symptoms.

Testing for FODMAPs Intolerance

If that uncomfortable feeling of having a beach ball trapped in your stomach (often accompanied by cramps, diarrhea, constipation, or other gut symptoms) sounds like you, and a Paleo diet alone isn’t helping, restricting FODMAPs is a logical next step to try. This doesn’t have to mean cutting out all FODMAPs completely forever, but a strict elimination period can be a very useful diagnostic tool to work out exactly what you do and don’t tolerate well, and in what quantities.

This is where it gets painful: a FODMAPs elimination diet can be very difficult to follow because it cuts out so many vegetables, which are one of the main sources of Paleo variety. Trying to plan even one meal, much less a week of food, without any onions or garlic is a tall order. But since the symptoms of FODMAPs intolerance are cumulative, it’s most helpful to eliminate everything for a trial period, so you can be sure you’ve covered all your bases. If the low FODMAP diet is helpful, try re-introducing foods from each category a little at a time (see the next section), to see if there are any categories you don’t react to.

There’s no point putting yourself to all the trouble of a special restrictive diet if it doesn’t help, so make sure to plan thoroughly beforehand so your efforts will be worth it. Don’t let your efforts get sabotaged by accidentally eating something you’re trying to eliminate! Print out the full list of whatever foods you’re trying to avoid, tape it to the fridge, and leave a copy with your shopping list (even if you’re shopping for more than one person, you want to make sure you have enough safe foods for you to eat). If you aren’t the primary grocery shopper and cook for your household, make sure to talk about FODMAPs with whoever that person is.

During the initial elimination period, stick to a low-FODMAPs diet and take whatever steps necessary to restore the health of your gut flora (remember that FODMAPs foods cause gas and bloating by overfeeding the gut flora, so if you react poorly to FODMAPs, chances are you have a gut flora overgrowth to treat). It’s helpful to keep a journal of how you feel every day, so you have an accurate record to examine at the end of your experiment.

After 5-6 weeks of strictly avoiding FODMAPs, try re-introducing these foods into your diet a little bit at a time. A good strategy would be to re-introduce FODMAPs one by one, monitoring symptoms at every step. Fortunately, many people who initially suffer from FODMAPs intolerance can start to reintroduce these foods, at least in small quantities, once their guts have healed and their digestion has improved.

Living with FODMAPs Intolerance

After you’re finished with the elimination diet and re-introduction period, you’ll have a pretty good idea of which FODMAPs you tolerate and which ones you don’t. Finding out that you’re intolerant to FODMAPs (either to all of them or to one specific category) is a blessing and a curse. It’s wonderful to finally be in control of IBS symptoms, but it can also be discouraging to think of limiting your diet so much for the long term, especially if you’re new to Paleo and struggling just to cut out grains and seed oils.

After the initial elimination period is done, you might find that with a healthy gut, you can handle these carbohydrates much more easily. Remember that almost everyone who doesn’t notice any FODMAPs sensitivity is actually sensitive to oligosaccharides and polyols; they just never eat enough of them to notice symptoms. It’s also possible for people with FODMAPs sensitivity to find an amount of these carbohydrates that they can tolerate without a problem. Then they can plan their meals accordingly to maximize the variety and interest of their diet by including smaller amounts of FODMAPs foods alongside other safe foods.

It’s also important to note that even a low-FODMAPs diet isn’t as restricted as it seems at first. For example, fructose is technically a FODMAP, but most people don’t have trouble with it unless they either eat a very large amount, or they eat more fructose than glucose at the same meal. Remember that fructose causes intestinal symptoms because it’s hard to absorb, but most people can handle small doses, and eating glucose alongside a serving of fructose can make it easier to absorb. Thus, it’s perfectly possible to enjoy fructose-containing foods even if you’re sensitive to FODMAPs, as long as those foods also contain at least as much glucose as they do fructose.

Also, not all dairy products contain enough lactose for most people to notice. Butter, for example, has almost none, so even on a lactose-free diet it’s usually fine to cook with butter. If you’re very sensitive, you could also try making clarified butter, or ghee. Yogurt or kefir that you make yourself and ferment for 24 hours or longer is also usually fine.

Cooking and soaking also helps break down the FODMAPs carbohydrates before they get to your mouth at all – this is why so many people in traditional cultures soak and ferment their grains and legumes. If you’re sensitive to more than one category of FODMAPs, it’s also usually easier to eat them only separately: the effects build on themselves, so chewing gum sweetened with sugar alcohols (polyols) and then enjoying a huge bowl of yogurt (lactose) with honey (fructose) is likely to be much more difficult to digest than having these three things spread out over the course of the day.

FODMAPs-free cooking gets much easier with time, as you learn to adapt your favorite recipes or discover new ones that don’t set off your digestive symptoms. For FODMAPs-free meals, try some simple recipes like steak stuffed with herbs and prosciutto, or a whole grilled fish with beet salad or a simple plate of greens like spinach or arugula (both low in FODMAPs) drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You might even find that you enjoy the challenge of cooking without FODMAPs and learning to use new flavors and vegetables.

Conclusion

Not everyone is FODMAPs intolerant. If your digestive system is working just fine and you don’t notice any symptoms from eating these foods, there’s nothing unhealthy about restricting them and no reason to artificially limit your diet – enjoy your tomato sauce, avocados, and cauliflower without guilt. But if you’re stuck wondering why your guts are still rebelling against you even on a strict Paleo diet, a test diet for FODMAPs intolerance is certainly worth trying. At worst, it’s one more potential reason to cross off your list, and at best, you’ll find out how to manage your symptoms without needing to rely on drugs or more invasive solutions.