Here are foods that as in no, you can’t eat:

Grains, grains, grains (barley, rye, wheat) – Among other things they contain gluten. Avoiding grains means no bread or pasta.

Sugars (includes high fructose corn syrup) – No soft drinks, fruit drinks, ice cream, pastries, candy, etc. Sugars may promote weight gain, give you diabetes, energy crashes and blood pressure issues, among other health issues.

Legumes – This means no beans or lentils.

Dairy – Stay away from all low-fat dairy products. If you don’t have problems digesting dairy it may be okay to consume some full-fat dairy products like raw whole milk and certain cheeses but only in small amounts.

Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (canola, corn, cottonseed, soybean, sunflower, etc.) – These oils cause unhealthy levels of inflammation. And remember the essential fatty acids mentioned above? One of the major problems today is our unbalanced intake of Omega-6 fatty acids compared to Omega-3. A major factor in this unbalanced intake is the high levels of Omega-6 fatty acids in these oils.

Margarine – margarine was created as a “healthy” alternative to butter. As it turns out, butter is the much healthier option. Most margarine has high levels of deadly trans-fats in them.

Artificial Sweeteners – things like acesulfame potassium, aspartame, saccharin and sucralose are to be avoided on the Paleo diet.

Obesity is an epidemic and many, many health problems have been connected to obesity. Obesity has been linked to diets high in processed foods, high in processed carbohydrates, and excess sugar intake. The potential health problems include heart disease, type two diabetes, cancer and stroke.

Yes, many of you are looking at this list of what you can’t eat and thinking you could never follow a Paleo lifestyle. Well, take another look at the list of things that you can eat! How often do you see some of those on a list of foods you can eat while on a so-called ‘diet?’