So, you've read my success story and now you're curious how I did it. You can call it primal, or paleo, or one of my favorites, eating like a predator (not prey). I'll give you a list of what I eat and what I avoid. But first, I want to give a bit of a disclaimer.

We are all individuals. No two people will see identical results following identical diets. We all react differently to different foods. There is no one universal human diet (although there are some universal things to avoid). Certain foods listed below may not sit well with you. It might be avocados, or broccoli, or papayas, or beef heart. It's difficult to predict. Listen to your body. And know that what doesn't digest well today will likely be no problem after a period of abstinence and clean eating. What do I mean by clean eating? This:

What I eat: plants, animals, natural fats

Beef, bison, lamb, goat, pork, chicken, fish, shellfish and other more exotic meats such as antelope, wild boar, rabbit, ostrich, deer, etc., including wild game. The farmed stuff should be pasture-raised, humanely treated, wild-caught whenever possible. If the animals receive a supplemental feed, it should be organic or at the very least non-GMO. Fresh meat makes up the bulk of my intake, with cured meats like bacon, pepperoni, salami, etc. only a few times a week. But I have no qualms eating 7 slices of bacon and half an avocado for lunch on ultra busy surgery days at work.
Organ meats (liver, kidney, sweetbreads, heart, tongue, etc.) from pasture-raised animals. Ask a local farmer. You might get these parts for free!
Bone broth made from the bones of pasture-raised animals. Again--ask your farmer.
Leafy green vegetables (kale, chard, cabbage, collards, turnip greens, beet greens, bok choi, arugula, lettuces, etc.) . I was living off of greens sauteed with onions in coconut oil or bacon grease with a big side of meat for the first few months when the weight was just falling off of me.
Other vegetables, roots, and tubers (all kinds---turnips, carrots, squash, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes etc. and don't forget your sea vegetables). I did limit my starch intake to no more than a handful of times a month while I was still losing weight. And I do include white rice as one of my "safe" starches, but not that often.
Fruit (I rarely ate fruit until AFTER I had lost a considerable amount of weight) - all kinds, sticking to local, seasonal, and organic when possible. Berries are a great choice.
Eggs (organic, pasture-raised-----"free range" is not the same thing at all).
Avocados
Fats & oils: coconut oil, avocado oil, tallow, lard, schmaltz, butter, ghee, olive oil (but not for cooking). Choose organic, cold-pressed, unrefined. I render my own animal fats. Find a local farmer with pasture-raised animals to buy your fat from, and it will be pretty cheap.
Coconut! coconut butter, coconut milk, coconut water, shredded coconut, coconut flour, and now I even eat fresh coconut right off the tree!
Nuts and edible seeds- sparingly, such as almonds, macadamias, cashews, pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. I've found that too many nuts or seeds give me a tummy ache, so I don't eat them very often anymore.
Dairy - only if you tolerate it! You may be able to tolerate raw milk but not pasteurized homogenized milk (like me). The gold standard for any dairy product is raw grass-fed, followed by grass-fed low-temp pasteurized and non-homogenized. Avoid homogenized and ultra-high temp pasteurized dairy, and especially dairy from rBGH-treated cows. Aged grass-fed cheeses are a great way to get vitamin K2 into your diet, and you can get your probiotics in with ferments like real sour cream, kefir, etc. Learn more about raw milk and find a source at RealMilk.com.
Dark chocolate - occasionally as a treat, the darker, the better (I love 85-90% cacao)

What I avoid: grains, legumes, industrial oils

cereal grains: wheat, rye, barley, spelt, millet, teff, rice, corn, triticale, oats, sorghum
legumes: lentils, beans, peas, and especially soybeans
industrial "vegetable" (seed) oils: canola, corn, soy, peanut, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, and cottonseed. If you want to be seriously grossed out, watch the How It's Made video for canola oil. Blech! Do you really want to eat that stuff?? (Note: disregard the commentary that canola oil is one of the healthiest oils....it's one of the worst!) But even cold-pressed, these oils are to be avoided at all costs due to their instability (propensity to oxidize and subsequently clog up your arteries) and high pro-inflammatory omega-6 content. Remember I said there is no universal human diet? Well, these oils are a universal no-no in any human's diet. They are garbage.

alcohol - I've gone through periods of teetotalism (4-6 weeks at a time) off and on since Sept 2010. I never felt like it made any huge difference on my progress, except at the very beginning, I do think that total abstinence helped me transition into a fat-burning metabolism, and helped with cravings and contributed to me sticking with the new way of eating. I consume alcohol still, and usually keep my intake moderate, but to be totally honest I do like to bug out on the weekends with a bottle of wine, or some mojitos, or a couple of ciders.

If you only make ONE change to your diet....eliminate gluten!

At first glance, this way of eating probably seems really restrictive and strange. I know: it's a huge switch from the SAD (Standard American Diet). If this is all too much to implement all at once, I challenge you to only do one thing: eliminate gluten, and try to stick with it for a minimum of 2 weeks, but preferably 4-6 weeks. Then, do a re-introduction experiment. Eat something made with gluten, a bagel, slice of pizza, biscuit, or whatever you like. Pay attention to your body, see how you react. You could vomit and/or have diarrhea, get "brain fog", heartburn, gas/bloating, insomnia, headache, acne outbreak.....there's a wide range of reactions. If you have a reaction, that means you need to stay off gluten a while longer (and if your reaction is as severe as mine was, you probably won't object to abstaining!)

wheat germ agglutinin

opioid-agonist gliadin

EDIT: This last part is WRONG! Please see my post: Is wheat really addictive in the same way as heroin?