The Paleo diet is a prehistoric diet plan based on the diet followed by cavemen in the paleolithic era. It is considered that farming and the availability of a wide range of food has caused our body to adapt to changes rapidly, which is considered to be a threat to health. Consuming fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and locally-produced food is best when on this diet. It can fight obesity, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure levels and can also improve cardiac conditions.

While there is a wide variety of foods that can be consumed when following a Paleo diet, there are some foods that need to be avoided. Legumes and common grains are mainly avoided in this diet as they are believed to reduce the absorption of nutrients like zinc, iron, and calcium due to the presence of phytic acid. Also, dairy products are avoided to improve digestion, but this fact still needs to be clarified.

In modern times, most people follow this diet with a flexible plan and minimal addition of legumes and dairy products of their choice. Here’s the list of items that need to be avoided under a strict Paleo diet:

1. Beans and legumes
It is considered that the presence of gluten, phytates, and lectins in legumes stops the absorption of nutrients in the body and also increases the chances of inflammation. For this reason, legumes like soybeans, chickpeas, tofu, snow peas, lentils, peanuts, green peas, beans, and miso are completely avoided.

2. Grains
Cereal grains, bread, rice, wheat, pasta, barley, ancient grains, crackers, corn, and oats are to be left out of a Paleo diet meal plan.

3. Dairy products
Dairy products like ice cream, cottage cheese, sheep’s milk, cow’s milk, goat’s milk, butter, cream, and yogurt need to be avoided as they are believed to be harmful to gut health. Avoiding these products is highly beneficial, especially for lactose intolerant individuals.

4. Refined sugars and carbohydrates
These products have to be avoided as they contain high levels of sugar with very little or no nutritional value. White sugar and products made of refined flour like bread, pasta, cookies, packaged sodas, and fruit juices fall under this category.

5. Processed cooking oils
It is believed that a food product loses its natural health benefits after it has been processed multiple times. This is the reason refined and double-refined oil products, including sunflower oil, palm oil, corn oil, peanut oil, and vegetable oil are completely avoided in a Paleo diet to keep cholesterol away.

6. Processed and packaged food
Eliminating packaged and processed food from your diet reduces the intake of added sugar, preservatives, and artificial flavors, which are harmful to overall health. Packaged meat like sausage, hotdogs, nuggets, and other processed meat are also barred in the Paleo diet plan. Artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame, xylitol, neotame, and erythritol should also be avoided completely.