Whole 30/Paleo Followers: Question Regarding Calories

[Anonymous]

If you follow Whole 30/Paleo (which I assume are similar diets since I see them together a lot), how do you keep the calories up? I am having problems getting enough calories through out the day. I am often barely breaking 1000 and not even close to 1200. What can I add? Because I am pretty full from lunch, which is around 310 calories. If you eat more meat, what form is it for work (lunch away from the house)? I find there is a ton of prep work that I must do when eating this way, which is a headache when strapped for time. (Also before you chime in with negativity about these diets, my doctor put me on a diet similar to paleo/whole 30 due to an autoimmune disease. This isn't my choice.)

[Anonymous]

Coconut oil. Avocado. Nuts. Ghee.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. Are you eating enough protein? You're right that eating away from the house was a bit of a challenge, but I always took a full meal of leftovers for lunch and plenty of snacks. Snacks could be fruit or nuts, cut up veggies with approved salad dressing, leftover soups and chili, etc.

There are lots of comparatively high fat items on paleo - eggs, avocados, nut butters (no sugar ones), sugar free bacon, etc. We always did our bacon in the oven and saved the grease for cooking eggs or even sauteing greens. Sweet potatoes mashed or chunked for hash were great with any meal and add calories and sweetness.

In a pinch I would eat extra fruit, dates, larabars, or even those go go applesauces if I was caught away from home and needed something to get through.

[Anonymous]

Add another pat of butter or two. Another spoonful of coconut oil. More fat.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the amount of work! We spend a LOT more time cooking than ever before. In a pinch I throw those applegate chicken strips on a salad with avocado.

Snacks: cashews and almonds, fruit, hard-boiled eggs. You also could try slightly larger servings at your regular meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Add another pat of butter or two. Another spoonful of coconut oil. More fat.

A large glass of whole milk is 300 calories. I've even put in a bit of half-and-half when I really need more calories. I found it very difficult to eat enough doing paleo/primal.

[Anonymous]

Paleo and Whole 30 don't do diary. Primal allows dairy, which I found makes it much easier.

Also nuts, avocado, non-lean meat (dark meat chicken, steak), lots of healthy oils, and I ate Larabars when I found myself stuck somewhere without something appropriate to eat.

[Anonymous]

Costco sells little packets of guacamole. Apply liberally to everything you eat.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget your sauces! My friend had us over for dinner and she served homemade sweet potato chips with garlicky homemade mayonnaise. So good. We make paleo cherry barbecue sauce and I put it on pork or chicken.

Also olives are a good high-fat but healthy snack.

[Anonymous]

I cook up a couple dozen sausages or pork chops each week and have them as snacks. I call them paleo Popsicles and I eat them hot or cold.

[Anonymous]

It's a lot more work and requires a lot of pre-planning, for sure. I don't have any trouble consuming enough calories, though. How much protein are you eating at each meal? Does each meal include fat? Or are you eating mostly just vegetables?

I cook all my vegetables in coconut oil or olive oil, for example. One tablespoon of each is over 100 calories. And I agree with a PP that nuts make a great snack. My favorites are almonds and macadamia nuts.

[Anonymous]

Agree that you should look at fats and starchy veggies for more calories. As for the effort, a lot of this can be done quite simply in batches and then frozen. Bake a dozen large sweet potatoes, let cool, tear the skin off, cube and freeze. You have side dishes for 2 weeks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Costco sells little packets of guacamole. Apply liberally to everything you eat.

+1--this worked for me. I love those little packets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree that you should look at fats and starchy veggies for more calories. As for the effort, a lot of this can be done quite simply in batches and then frozen. Bake a dozen large sweet potatoes, let cool, tear the skin off, cube and freeze. You have side dishes for 2 weeks!

This is brilliant!