Ive followed the paleo diet 100% strict for over a year now and there are some challenges that you will encounter in the beginning.
When at a resturant, you can ask the waiter what is in the food, they usually know. But you will also need to educate yourself on what food are made from grains and dairy. Like for example, fried chicken isn't paleo because the fried breading is made from wheat, that's something I didn't know in the beginning.
When you shop, always check the ingredients list. A rule of thumb is if there is like more than 10 ingredients, odds are it will have something non-paleo in it. Be careful of soy, modified corn starch, lactate, tapioca, rice as these are all grains even though the names are different.
A good strategy for starting paleo is to look up one or two recipes to cook, and you can abuse these recipes for a while until you get more comfortable with all the different things you can eat on paleo. Some foods that are easy to snack and buy are like dried banana chips, coconut cashews, normal cashews, salmon is always a good choice for a meal, and shrimp.
Paleo is not easy to change to. In the beginning you will feel very exahusted because of the lack of carbs you will be taking in and it's likely your stomach will feel icky as you are changing your diet from what it has been, your entire life. Give paleo 30days of following it 100% and you won't be able to change your diet back from it.
