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Cleaning Out the Kitchen
     
    The kitchen should be your starting point as you transition into a Paleo lifestyle. Rest assured, if it comes in a plastic bag, a box, a can, or a bottle, it’s probably not Paleo-friendly; however, there are a few key exceptions, which we will get to later.
     
    Any food, even non-Paleo foods that you have purchased with your hard-earned cash, can be difficult to part with. However psychologically difficult it may be, it is still better not to tempt yourself by finishing up the last half gallon of ice cream in your refrigerator or the final bag of chips in your pantry. Get rid of them—put them out of sight and out of mind. We are not asking you to waste this food entirely but rather to jettison it from your life. Think about your purging of old foods as the first step on a journey to improved health, athletic performance, and vigor; better sleep; and a longer life, free of medications.
     

What to Toss from the Pantry
     
    Let’s start with the pantry (and/or kitchen cabinets), since this is where most people store huge supplies of non-Paleo food. If your pantry is similar to most others, you’ve got a lot of cleaning out to do. We suggest that you get some large cardboard boxes, fill them up with the discarded foods, and donate these items to your local food bank or charity. These organizations will gladly accept any and all unopened packages, cans, or bottles, and you can even get a tax write-off for your generosity. However, partly used foods or opened containers must either be thrown out or given to friends or neighbors.
     
    A good starting point is foods that contain wheat, sugar, or salt. If the food item in question contains any of these ingredients, it immediately goes into your donation box. This initial step will probably eliminate about 75 percent of the articles in your pantry.
     
    The next items up for clearance are grains or any processed foods made with grains. Out goes your box of instant rice; out go the so-called healthy brown or basmati rice, wild rice, and rice cakes. Out go corn meal, cornflakes, corn chips, and taco shells. Don’t forget rye, barley, and oats. That big box of oatmeal should be ditched, along with your rye crisp crackers and granola bars. Other taboo grains or grainlike foods include millet, bulghur, couscous, quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat. Potatoes—in any way, shape, or form—must exit your pantry. This means potato chips, Pringles, dehydrated mashed potatoes, shoestring potatoes, and any other potato-containing product.
     
    The easy discards are cookies, crackers, chips, candies, and salty canned foods. But how about your canned tuna, salmon, and sardines? These are expensive, high-protein foods that are rich in the healthy omega 3 fatty acids. What should you do with them? Our suggestion is to keep these for later use in salads, omelets, or other dishes. Canned tuna and salmon are usually packed in salt water, so place them in a colander and rinse thoroughly to remove the salt.
     
    Unfortunately, canned fish and seafood also contain high amounts of oxidized cholesterol, a substance that promotes artery clogging and heart disease. Consequently, fresh or frozen fish is almost always a better choice. The lackluster, leached-out, salty flavor of canned tuna can’t hold a candle to the savory, pungent overtones of broiled fresh yellowfin or blue tuna—and tuna steaks are also more nutritious for you than canned tuna. Let your new Paleo palate become your guide to unadulterated, fresh foods, as Mother Nature always intended.
     
    Other items that should be thrown out of your pantry are commercial salad dressings, mustard, ketchup, salsa, pickles, barbecue sauce, and tomato sauce, because of their high salt, sugar, and omega 6 fatty acid content. Almost all vegetable, salad, and cooking oils, except those we recommended in chapter 1, should also be relegated to the discard box.
     
    How about coconut oil? Coconut oil,