A key factor to living Paleo is that dairy is not allowed. At Evolve Paleo Chef, however, we don’t want you to think that you are being deprived of anything. Being dairy-free is something you should opt for on your own, as the benefits of consuming dairy do not seem to outweigh the inherent risks of doing so. In today’s world, there are so many alternatives to dairy, such as dairy-free cheese, almond or coconut milk, soy products, alternative ice creams, and more, that you don’t really have to worry that you’re missing out at all. Here’s just a few of the side-effects that studies and other research has shown come along with consuming dairy:

Diminished Physical and Mental Energy

Dairy consumption is linked with feelings of chronic fatigue and mental fogginess. Many have found that after ditching the dairy, they had the energy to be more active and continue to increase their workout intensity.

Poor Skin

Cow’s milk contains growth hormone, fat, and sugars which can seriously aggravate the skin. Even for those of us who are older, it is fairly common for those random acne breakouts to occur when consuming a diet that takes in the USDA’s daily recommendation of dairy.

Weight Gain or Stall

Research has indicated that by just ditching the dairy alone, you are likely to drop a few pounds that were hanging on for dear life. Milk is full of saturated fat and one cup of 2% milk has 138 calories. We always remind clients to make sure they are not drinking their calories, and milk is one of the worst ways to do this.

Greater Risk of Disease

Dairy has been found to contribute to many health problems, including allergies, ear infections, type 1 diabetes, chronic constipation & anemia in children, heart disease, and cancer. Reduce your risk of these diseases by going dairy-free!

Pick up some of Evolve’s delicious snacks!

At Evolve Paleo Chef, we have seen the benefits of leading a Paleo lifestyle, and going free, for ourselves. Be sure to pick up some of our delicious Paleo snacks and foods and make the change to dairy-free to reap all the benefits for yourself!

In case you’ve been living under a rock over the past few years, we are in the midst of a revolution. A grain revolution, that is. Awareness of the effects that gluten has on the body has exploded and many people are realizing what us Paleo people have known for a while: grains just don’t offer much, if anything, to your health. Gluten and wheat have been found to cause massive gut inflammation, increase the risk of heart disease, promote obesity, and many other negative side effects.

At Evolve Paleo Chef, we are your resource for all things Paleo. This means that we are grain-free ourselves and we make sure that all our delicious snacks and Paleo foods are as well. Here’s just a few of the benefits you’ll see when you decide to go grain-free!

Improved mood

Grain addiction, and its withdrawals, can cause mild depression and an overall lousy feeling. Over 40% of those who have gone grain-free report feeling happier and more optimistic, along with feeling more connected and engaged with the people and activities in their lives. One doctor has noted that some people feel such an extreme lift in their mood that they are able to free themselves from antidepressant medications.

Stabilized leptin levels

Leptin is the hormone responsible for telling your body that it’s full, when you should burn fat, and when to reduce body fat storage. This is a hormone that we all obviously want performing at optimum levels. However, a diet high in grains can lead to a surge in leptin, which can then lead to leptin resistance. This means that by eating an excess of gluten and grains, your body may no longer know when to stop eating or start burning fat.

Reduced inflammation

Chronic inflammation is a real concern these days. It can lead to arthritis, allergies, asthma, cardiovascular disease, emotional imbalance, bone loss, and even cancer. Because of the composition of grains, they can be incredibly hard on your joints and cause an autoimmune response that causes rampant inflammation in the body.

These are just a small selection of the massive benefits that you can see when you choose to live a grain-free lifestyle. As always, remember that Evolve Paleo Chef is here for you to help you feel better, and live Paleo!

If you keep up with Evolve Paleo Chef, you know that we encourage everyone to abandon processed, added sugars in their foods. While some sugar is unavoidable, an completely necessary for life, processed or added sugars are really nothing but bad for you. Though sugar may be natural, and is present in many fruits, sugar alone contains no nutrients, no protein, no healthy fats, and no enzymes, something that should be within everything you put in your body.

Here’s just a few of the effects that sugar has on your body, and keep in mind that if you’re ready to break the sugar addiction, Evolve Paleo Chef is here to be your resource for all things Paleo! You can be sure to get your fix of healthy options in our online shop as well!

Fructose can cause Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

In the liver, fructose is turned into fat, and when all of the fat can’t get out of the liver because there’s a fructose overload, it can lead to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Forms of this disease can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a life threatening.

Sugar consumption can lead to diabetes

As you may know, sugar is directly related to both types of diabetes. Having too much glucose in your blood is incredibly toxic, and it can lead to insulin resistance, which is a leading cause of many diseases, including type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.

Sugar can damage your heart

A 2013 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that sugar can affect the pumping mechanism of the heart and could increase the risk of heart failure. A molecule in sugar physically changes the muscle protein of the heart, leading to a significantly higher risk for heart disease and failure.

Sugar creates belly fat

Child obesity rates have doubled in the past thirty years. The driving factor behind this growth (literally) is sugar. Studies in children have shown that excess fructose intake causes visceral fat cells to mature, leading to a big belly and a huge future risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Sugar can be extremely detrimental to your body. Remember that going Paleo is clearly one of your best options! Let Evolve help you today!

People go Paleo for a variety of reasons: to get healthier, to accommodate their need for a special diet due to a disease (i.e. Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis), to fuel high-intensity workout plans, and more. Another common reason people go Paleo is to lose weight. Aside from the massive health benefits of the Paleo lifestyle, it can be a good way to lose and manage weight in a sustainable, long-term way. If your main motivation for going Paleo, and eating Evolve’s delicious Paleo foods, is to lose weight, keep these tips in mind and remember that we are here to be your source for all things Paleo!

Find a friend

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: it is so much easier to get on a diet and exercise plan when you have a friend to share the rewards—and struggles—with. Making any sort of lifestyle change can be difficult with no support. So ask around for friends and/or family who are willing to not only be supportive, but go Paleo with you!

Cut down on your caloric intake

Yes, we say that the Paleo lifestyle does not call for strict calorie counting. However, if weight loss is your goal, you still want to make sure that you’re not overeating. Even though you’re eating organic, natural foods, you can still eat too much and gain weight. Try keeping a food journal or installing one of the many food-tracking apps on your phone to get an idea of just how much you are eating.

Sleep more

It’s not a myth or an untruth that everyone should get eight hours of sleep each night in a dark room without noise. Lack of sleep strains your adrenals and cortisol levels, which can stall weight loss. There’s a clear biological connection between sleep and weight loss, so be sure to get that full 8 hours!

Eat protein in the morning

Eating a higher protein, bigger breakfast is the best way to kick off the day. It’ll keep you from overeating or snacking throughout the day and will leave you more energetic and satiated. Add some sausage, Evolve beef jerky, and some veggies to your breakfast!

Taking simple steps and modifying your Paleo lifestyle is all it takes to make sure that you’re achieving your weight loss goals! Be sure to order some of Evolve’s delicious Paleo foods and snacks from our online shop to help you on your path to Paleo!

If you have not been living under a rock the past few years, you’ve definitely heard of the Paleo lifestyle. However, you may have some preconceived notions or have heard things about the Paleo diet without really knowing what it entails. At Evolve Paleo Chef, we are here to be your resource for all things Paleo. In addition to our weekly meal program for those in Kansas City, Wichita, Omaha, and Lowell, Arkansas, we also have an online shop, which ships our delicious Paleo foods and snacks nationally. We know a lot about going Paleo and we’d like you to hear some cold hard facts about the benefits of going Paleo!

Balanced Glucose Levels

Going Paleo is a great option for diabetics, as you’re avoiding refined sugar. If you’re trying to avoid diabetes, or just want to feel better and lose weight, watching your blood sugar levels is a great way to do just that.

Lean, Strong Muscles

With the increased intake of protein that the Paleo lifestyle advocates, your muscles will be fully fed and will have the best advantage to get lean and toned when you exercise (we recommend CrossFit, personally). With a leaner body, you’ll feel great and be more resistant to injury.

No Calorie Counting or Harsh Restrictions

With a Paleo lifestyle, you’re not adding up points or obsessing over how many calories are in this and that. All you’re doing is eating real foods that are dairy-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, and low carb. You can still eat really, really good food on Paleo and there’s no insane caloric restrictions.

Disease Prevention

Many of the foods you’ll now be eating by going Paleo have incredible anti-inflammatory benefits, as well as antioxidants and phytonutrients that have been proven to ward off diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Crohn’s. You’ll also see a boost in your immune system to prevent and fight off basic colds and the flu.

Let Evolve help you go, and stay, Paleo!

The benefits of going Paleo go far beyond the things we have listed here. We encourage you to take the Paleo plunge and experience all of the benefits yourself!

As many of us know, the Paleo diet is a great option for many people that suffer from various illnesses like Crohn’s or Celiac disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and more. There’s also been indication that following a Paleo lifestyle may make sense for diabetics as well, since the diet helps keep weight under control and tosses out sugars, dairy, and carbs.

Diabetes has become somewhat of an epidemic in the modern world lately, with three new diagnoses every minute in the United States (source). Diabetes affects about 25 million in the US and 79 million more Americans are pre-diabetic or have some sort of other diabetes-related metabolic conditions. Much of these statistics can be attributed to a poor diet and lack of exercise. However, the Paleo diet offers diabetics some ways to help lessen the severity of the disease, control the symptoms, and possibly get your body to a place where diabetes is no longer a part of your life (only if you have type II, that is).

How Diabetics can benefit from Paleo

In type II Diabetes, a person’s pancreas produces too much insulin, which causes insulin resistance, an inflammatory condition. In type I, alternatively, the body cannot produce insulin, triggering an autoimmune response in the pancreas. While both types of Diabetes certainly have a genetic basis, specific environmental factors must be present to ‘trigger’ the gene like dietary toxins, pollutants, and lack of exercise.

When you eat carbohydrates, your body converts it to glucose (sugar), and I think you can figure out where we’re going from here. By limiting your intake of sugar and carbs on the Paleo diet, you’re taking pressure off your pancreas, therefore alleviating some of the effects of Diabetes. When you are basing your diet in fat and protein, rather than carbs and sugar, no dramatic glucose spikes will occur that lead to insulin resistance. Additionally, the Paleo lifestyle insists upon organic, raw foods, therefore eliminating many toxins and hormones that you’ll find in some meats and produce, again giving your body exactly what it needs.

Let Evolve help you with Paleo for Diabetes

At Evolve Paleo Chef, we are here to be your resource for all things Paleo. Be sure to take advantage of the delicious Paleo snacks and foods in our online shop to help make Paleo as easy as possible for you!

As long as it’s not processed and filled with additives, every kind of meat you can think of is Paleo. From red meats like beef, lamb, and bison, to poultry, pork, and even seafood, it’s all Paleo and available to you. However, are there meats that are better for Paleo than others? Naturally. Since there’s such a broad range of meats, they all differ significantly in their nutrient quality, with a key factor being the fats they contain. At Evolve Paleo Chef, we’ve done our research and we’re going to tell you about the best meats for the Paleo lifestyle, and which one’s you should watch your intake of.

Grass-Fed Beef

This is going to be your best choice of Paleo meats. Grass-fed beef is full of iron, B vitamins, Vitamin D, Zinc, Phosphorous, Potassium, and so much more. Additionally, grass-fed beef contains an excellent ratio of O-6 to O-3 fatty acids (around 3:1) while grain-fed beef is a little higher at 10:1.

Tilapia and Salmon

Tilapia is a delicious white fish that takes on a lot of flavor. Additionally, salmon is wildly good for you as well. Both of these fishes are loaded up with lots of iodine, selenium, B vitamins, potassium, phosphorus, and copper to bring you energy and health. The Omega-3 content in fish is incredible, and tilapia has an O-6 to O-3 ratio of 1:1 while salmon has 0.2:1.

Chicken

Most of us are eating more chicken and less beef than we should be. Chicken, while being Paleo in that it is real food and low-fat (when cooked properly), is just not very full of nutrients in the same way that beef, and other red meats, is. You should definitely not swear off chicken, but realize that it should not be the staple of your Paleo diet.

Let Evolve Paleo Chef help you!

At Evolve Paleo Chef, we have lots of Paleo snacks and foods to help make your Paleo lifestyle simpler. Try some of our Paleo beef jerky to get an extra serving of high quality red meat each day and keep these tips in mind for ultimate Paleo success!

While living and eating Paleo, it is important to have a balanced diet (assuming that it’s always dairy, sugar, and gluten-free). While Evolve Paleo Chef, and many others, suggest that Paleo people primarily focus on getting their intake of protein and fresh vegetables, fruit is also a food group that offers key nutritional benefits and tastes delicious! Now, you don’t want to get all your calories from fruit every day, you can still have 3-4 servings of the right fruits each day in order to achieve the perfect Paleo balance!

Here’s a few of the best fruits to eat for Paleo and how they can help your body:

Blackberries

Blackberries are packed with nutritional benefits. They’re low in sugar, high in Vitamin C, and can help decrease intestinal inflammation. Additionally, the consumption of blackberries can help you achieve younger, healthier skin.

Blueberries

Blueberries’ antioxidants are associated with good memory and better brain function. They’re also relatively low in sugar, contain high levels of Vitamin K, and can aid in cancer prevention efforts. Try Evolve’s Double Berry Paleo Balls to get a boost of blueberry!

Guava

Guavas are a delicious, tropical fruit that has a ton of Vitamin C (380% daily value). Additionally, they’re full of omega-3s, fiber, can help improve vision, prevent cancer, and provide you with a significant immune system boost.

Pineapple

Like the other fruits on this list, pineapples have a lot of Vitamin C to help your immune system. They’re also a good source of B Vitamins to aid in energy, they aid in digestion, have anti-inflammatory benefits, and can help reduce the risk of blood clots.

Get your fruit supply from Evolve!

At Evolve Paleo Chef, we provide you with a wide range of healthy Paleo snacks and ingredients. Check out our online shop to see where you can get a few doses of the best fruits for you and be sure to try our other snacks to enhance your Paleo lifestyle!

We all know that vegetables are one of the top food categories that the Paleo lifestyle encourages. Next to protein, getting your vegetables should be your top priority in order to live as healthy as you possibly can. However, not all vegetables are created equal, and there are some that provide many more benefits to you than others. At Evolve Paleo Chef, we want you to have the best advantage to change your body and your life for the healthier, so here’s some of the healthiest vegetables you can eat, along with a few of the not-as-healthy:

Spinach

No matter your lifestyle, spinach is hands-down, no contest one of the healthiest foods out there. It’s full of phytonutrients, fiber, vitamins K and C, and so much more. Spinach has anti-cancer benefits, helps your heart, boosts your immune systems, gives you energy, and is just generally awesome for your body.

Avocado

Avocado goes great with just about anything, and is also delicious all by itself. It’s chock full of healthy fats and potassium, and has a delicious flavor! Avocados boost your energy levels and will help you feel all-around better all day long.

Kale

It seems like everyone’s crazy over kale these days, and for good reason. Kale can be cooked or eaten raw and it contains special antioxidants that reduce inflammation, tons of vitamins C and A, and helps you now and in the long term.

Are you noticing a pattern? Green vegetables are generally the best for you. You can add broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and peas to this list to get some other great health benefits. Now, while all vegetables are much healthier for you than other foods, there’s a few you’re just not going to get many benefits from. Opt for a green vegetable over these next few:

• Onions
• Radishes
• Eggplant

Keep these super healthy veggies in mind when you’re cooking Paleo and remember that Evolve Paleo Chef is here to be your resource for all things Paleo. Check out our online shop for some delicious Paleo snacks and ingredients and remember to feel better and live Paleo today!

When it comes to mixing alcohol with the Paleo lifestyle, there’s a bit of a gray area. While some will say that alcohol is never Paleo, others of us will say that alcohol is fine, in moderation, and if you approach it the way you approach the intake of other foods: by being conscious of what you are putting in your body. While some alcohol, like beer, will never be Paleo (sorry!), there are others that are perfectly fine, and sometimes good for you. At Evolve, we know that cutting out alcohol entirely is probably not realistic, and we want you to love the Paleo lifestyle, not feel deprived by it.

Here’s a few tips from Evolve Paleo Chef for drinking alcohol and sticking to your Paleo lifestyle, safely:

• Forget the beer. As you know, beer is made from wheat, barley, and hops. The presence of these ingredients alone should tell you one thing: it’s not, and never will be, Paleo-friendly.
• Skip the mixers. With alcoholic beverages, mixers are going to be the kicker. Soda, sweet and sour mix, juice, and other common mixers are stuffed with sugar or artificial sweeteners, carbs, and other additives. Stick to drinking liquors straight up or with club soda.
• Drink pure spirits, straight up. Pure spirits, like brandy, gin, tequila, and the like, are lower in sugar and carbs. Keep in mind that they will get you more intoxicated, quicker, when drank straight up. If it’s too strong, mix with water.
• Wine is your friend. Wine is about the most Paleo-friendly alcohol out there. Wine, especially red wine, is full of antioxidants like resveratrol, which is great for preventing damage to blood vessels, can lower bad cholesterol, and prevent blood clots. Try dark red, organic options and limit yourself to just a glass or two.

At Evolve Paleo Chef, we are here to help make leading a Paleo lifestyle as easy as possible for you. From our great meal delivery services, to our nationally shipped Paleo snacks and ingredients, we are here to be your number one Paleo resource!