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meat, and milk are traditional foods of tropical islanders living close to the world’s oceans and seas. These foods are concentrated sources of lauric acid, a saturated fat that elevates blood cholesterol levels and increases the risk for cardiovascular disease in Western populations. Strangely enough, traditional cultures that consume coconut foods have little or no heart disease, stroke, or other cardiovascular problems normally associated with eating saturated fats (such as the lauric acid found in coconuts).
     
    Although we don’t completely understand this inconsistency, it may be due to lauric acid’s positive antibacterial effect in the gut. Lauric acid from coconut foods may protect your heart and blood vessels from cardiovascular disease by reducing those gut bacteria that increase intestinal permeability, a known risk factor for heart disease because of chronic, low-level systemic inflammation. Based on the evidence of traditional Pacific Islanders, coconut oil, meat, and milk do not increase your risk for cardiovascular disease, particularly as part of a modern Paleo Diet. So let your palate “go back to the islands” and enjoy the delicious health benefits of this time-honored plant food.
     
    One final recommendation for your pantry: get rid of all beans, lentils, dried peas, peanuts, and legumes. These foods were not found in early human diets simply because they are inedible unless cooked. Humans have been on the planet for about two and a half million years, but the controlled use of fire is quite recent: only about three hundred thousand years old. So our species has had little evolutionary time to adapt to a family of foods that are concentrated sources of certain antinutrients (lectins, phytates, protease inhibitors, and saponins) that increase intestinal permeability, promote chronic systemic inflammation, and adversely affect our health.
     

What to Toss from the Refrigerato r
     
    Now that you have tossed the unhealthy foods from your pantry, let’s take time to explore your fridge and see the lurking food dangers herein. Like most people living in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and other Westernized societies, your fridge probably contains a few bottles or cartons of pasteurized homogenized milk from your local store or dairy, some yogurt, a few sticks of butter, and a variety of cheeses, to say nothing of frozen dairy foods (such as ice cream, ice milk, and frozen yogurt). Although these foods constitute about 10 percent of the calories in the typical U.S. diet, they were entirely absent from our Stone Age ancestors’ menu. X-ray studies of dairy-free hunter-gatherer skeletons show these people had healthy, robust bones free of osteoporosis. If you get sufficient fresh fruits and veggies (around 35 percent of your calories) in your contemporary Paleo Diet and just a little sunlight, calcium and dairy products become a nonissue.
     
    Your refrigerator also probably contains a variety of non-Paleo processed foods, which could never have composed even a small percentage of humanity’s original diet. For instance,frozen concentrated juices such as lemonade, apple juice, grape juice, and orange juice have to be cleaned out, as these are all high-glycemic-load foods that spike your blood sugar level. As with your pantry, a good rule of thumb is: if it contains wheat, salt, or sugar, dump it. If you have frozen fruit or veggies, keep them. However, after they are finished, try to always get the fresh versions—they are healthier and they taste better.
     
    Most non-Paleo refrigerators are loaded with artificial processed meats such as bacon, sausage, salami, bologna, lunch meats, and others. Although you may have paid dearly for these meats, remember that they are laced with salt, nitrites, nitrates, sugar, by-products, and other unhealthy additives. So do yourself a favor and pitch these artificial creations. Finally, check your frozen meat section. If you have fatty