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

FAQs

Is Pegan paleo and vegan? ›

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.

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.

What Is the Pegan Diet? Everything You Need to Know. The pegan diet is based on paleo and vegan principles, though it encourages some meat consumption. It emphasizes whole foods, especially vegetables, while largely prohibiting gluten, dairy, most grains, and legumes.

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 paleo diet avoids grains as ancestors did not eat them until more recently. The pegan diet suggests eating only small portions — for example, half a cup of low glycemic grains such as black rice or quinoa with a meal. In addition, people should avoid processed foods made from flour, which may raise blood sugar.

Variety is key, but don't shop with your sweet tooth: Don't over-do it on high-sugar fruits like apples and bananas. Avoid low-fiber, high-sugar vegetables like potatoes, peas and corn. Grab a diverse palette of colors, forms and flavors from the produce aisle.

"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 ...

You won't be eating dairy on a pegan diet, so that means no cheese, cow's milk, or ice cream. Dr. Hyman believes cow's milk contributes to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

More About the Pegan Diet

It excludes dairy, grains, legumes, sugar, oils, salt, alcohol and coffee. Veganism, on the other hand, allows only the consumption of plant-based foods and prohibits the eating of animal-based foods.

Foods to avoid on the pegan diet

The pegan diet doesn't tell you how much you can eat or when. 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.

Can I eat potatoes on the pegan diet? ›

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! French fries don't count even though they are the No.

In summary, the benefits of a plant based diet largely outweigh that of a meat heavy Paleo diet. To quote Dr Greger, “I'm all for condemning the Standard American Diet's refined carbs, “nonhuman mammalian milk,” and junk foods, but proscribing legumes is a mistake.

This has led to the development of a hybrid version of the regimen, a “lacto-paleo” diet. With this form of the diet, adherents still avoid excess sugar and processed foods, but they do include dairy products in their daily lives.

The typical paleo diet focuses on naturally raised meat and fish, as well as vegetables and fruits. It promotes avoiding dairy products and grains. This diet can put you at risk for deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D, which are critical to bone health.

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)