7 Pegan Recipes That Combine the Best of Paleo and Vegan Diets (2024)

FAQs

Can you be paleo and vegan? ›

In essence, a pegan diet is the same as paleo, just with much fewer animal products; fruit, vegetables, and nuts make up three quarters of your plate, whilst meat, fish, and eggs fill the rest. A vegan paleo diet, however, doesn't contain any of these animal products.

Focus on Nuts & Seeds

Not so nuts for nuts? Luckily, the list of approved foods also includes sugar-free nut butter (e.g., almond butter, peanut butter), so long as it's sugar-free.

But a pegan diet severely limits or skips certain foods, including: Bread and most grains like barley, oats and wheat (except black rice or quinoa). Dairy products including milk, cheese, ice cream or yogurt. Foods with added sugar or a high glycemic index.

"This diet encourages unlimited amounts of non-starchy veggies like lettuce, broccoli and artichokes, plenty of healthy fats like nuts and seeds, avocado and olive oil, high-quality protein like grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish and pastured-raised eggs, low-glycemic fruits like berries, starchy veggies like sweet ...

If you are following a strict paleo diet, you should avoid the following foods. These foods are not permitted on the paleo diet: Cereal grains. Legumes (peanuts, beans, lentils, tofu)

To keep blood sugar levels stable, the Pegan diet advises picking low-sugar fruits like berries and avoiding high-sugar fruits such as bananas, pineapples, and watermelon, especially for those who need to keep their blood sugar in control.

More About the Pegan Diet

If you need a refresher, the paleo diet attempts to model what those living 2.6 million years ago in the Paleolithic era ate: vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and nuts. It excludes dairy, grains, legumes, sugar, oils, salt, alcohol and coffee.

Foods to avoid on the pegan diet include: Bread, pasta, baked goods, cereals, granola, and beer. Cow's milk, yogurt, and cheese.

Did you know that oats in oatmeal are packed with lectins which poke holes in your gut lining and can lead to health issues in the future, according to Dr. Gundry. One great way to avoid this is by using sorghum in your breakfast bowl rather than oats.

Can you eat quinoa on pegan diet? ›

You can also eat small amounts of gluten-free grains like quinoa and oats and legumes like black beans and lentils (up to a cup daily). Like many other “clean eating” diets, the pegan diet keeps sweets to a minimum. “Sugar as an occasional treat is allowed but should be unprocessed and eaten very seldom,” Shupe said.

Eat mostly plants.

Stick with mostly nonstarchy veggies. Winter squashes and sweet potatoes are fine in moderation (1⁄2 cup a day). Not a ton of potatoes!

These are the go-tos of a pegan diet: The majority of your diet should be vegetables: Stick to organic vegetables that are high in fiber. Limit veggies high in sugar such as potatoes, peas and corn. Once your meal is assembled, your plate should be filled with at least 75% veggies.

Dairy is decidedly not Paleo. Products like milk and cheese are too heavy on lactose and byproducts from the typical diet of factory-farmed cattle to be considered Paleo, in addition to the fact that our hunter-gatherer ancestors probably did not stop to milk wild game.

The “pegan” diet is a hybrid, combining the paleo diet -- which focuses on whole foods that might have been hunted or gathered, like fruits, veggies, meats, and nuts -- and the vegan diet, in which you eat only plant-based foods.

Almond milk makes a great ingredient in many Paleo recipes. Because of its neutral taste and easy application, it makes a great supporting role player. Whether it's in tea, a smoothie, or making a creamy Paleo-friendly sauce, almond milk can almost do it all.

I have started on a Paleo diet which means that one of my favorite foods, hummus, is now off limits. Legumes are not part of the program, thus those little chickpeas gotta go.