Vegan & Paleo- Can It Work?

In a word…no.

While I’m asked this quite a bit, surprisingly, it just can’t happen, any more than one can be a vegan who eats beef.  

Incidentally, even when I was vegan myself, I never quite understood some of the permutations I heard such as  lacto-vegetarian or pesco-vegan.  

If you’re vegan, you don’t eat any animal products, period.  If you’re Paleo, you do; that much is fact.

As there are no grains or legumes on the Paleo diet, the proteins sources that many vegans rely upon (again, this includes me, twelve years ago) are largely based on soy (tofu, tempeh, edamame) or gluten (texturized vegetable protein, and so many of the fake ‘meats’) or beans, all of which are not part of the Paleo diet.

Properly following the Paleo diet means eating a balance of fresh vegetables, fruit, natural fats and yes, I’ll say it, flesh protein.  It simply cannot work if you nix all of the protein sources.

I will say that I’ve had clients find success with eating only seafood, and that’s certainly better for your body than not giving it any protein, so if you’re on the fence, this might be an option for you.

 Paleo + Vegan, though?  There’s just no such thing.