Tips For Moving Forward!

How are things going?  Hopefully you’ve already ready my book, The Paleo Lifestyle Explained, and started on the road to Paleo health and fitness. If not, don’t beat yourself up. This is a total lifestyle change and making that first step is sometimes the hardest.  Just remember that it’s never too late to begin and all the support you need is waiting for you here and from many other resources.

If you decide to make this your lifestyle choice, remember that going Paleo is not a fad diet.  It’s your entire life, which means that to make it work for you, you need to be okay with adjusting it to fit your lifestyle.  Drink the wine if you’ve had a long week and you want to.  Eat the cookie if it’s Sunday and they look delicious.  Or don’t. It’s your life and not anyone else’s.  Following a Paleo lifestyle 100% will not make you the happiest, healthiest person in the world, if deep down inside you feel deprived or feel isolated from social situations.  Find balance and ultimately in time, the choices you make about food and fitness will begin to hold different meaning in your life. Grains will eventually represent a food that makes you feel like crap and you won’t think it’s worth eating it this time or ever again.  Sugar will make you feel even worse.  You’ll learn at your own pace.  Not at mine or anyone else’s.

So, that being said, here are some tips that I believe will be helpful in moving forward with your Paleo lifestyle.

1. Read a book about the Primal/Paleo lifestyle:  My book, The Paleo Lifestyle Explained is concise, an easy read and a good place to begin. But consider more in depth reading on the Paleo/Primal lifestyle.  I first read Robb Wolf’s, The Paleo Solution and followed it with Mark Sisson’s, PrimalBlue Print.  Both writers have blogs as well.  You’ll notice some differences between the “primal” lifestyle and the “paleo” lifestyle.  Make note of those differences and see what works for you, but begin to implement these principles into your lifestyle.

2. Get cookbooks or bookmark 2 or 3 food blogs that appeal to you:  There are SO many Paleo/Primal recipe books and blogs available online.  There is no reason not to find more than enough amazingly delicious and satisfying recipes to incorporate into your lifestyle.  I’ve noted several such resources in the back of my book, but here are a couple that I go to often.  PaleOMG  or  Nom Nom Paleo or The Food Lovers’ Kitchen.

3.  Make more time for food:   Sometimes it’s difficult to work a food plan into a busy lifestyle, but there are ways to do it. If you don’t have time during the week, perhaps on Sundays (or whichever day you have the most free time), and make that your shopping/prepping day. Get in the habit of planning your meals in advance… and then find the time to cook-up a few recipes all at once that you can serve throughout the week.  Pack 5 lunches for work.  Make a habit of defrosting meat the day before so it’s ready for dinner the next night.  Most Paleo dinners can be as easy as grilling a piece of meat and serving with two side vegetables or salad.  I can’t even tell you how often I’ve made dinner in under 30 minutes. But the important thing to note is having a plan in place; it will make your transition to Paleo much easier. Here’s a great site and a comprehensive list of Paleo-friendly foods to shop for and incorporate into your diet: the Paleo Diet Food List. 

4.  Speak up:  Going home for the holidays, attending parties or other social events usually involve food; this is a constant in our lives.  We always have somewhere to be surrounded by family and friends who are not Paleo.  This can be the most challenging part to going Paleo.   I recommend that for the most part you be forthcoming about your choice to eat Paleo.  Just make it known right away so people aren’t trying to shove cake onto your plate.  If you are confident about your choice to forgo grains, sugar and processed foods, your friends and family will have no choice but to accept it.  However, there are times that you might choose to indulge.  That’s fine. Just don’t make it a habit.  As you continue to stick with the principles of Paleo, you’ll begin to lose your appetite for these indulgences. You’ll discover that eating grains, sugar and processed foods makes you feel like crap and you’ll eventually stop wanting to eat those kinds of foods. Here’s an article that might be helpful when eating out and trying to stay Paleo.

5. Give it 30 days:  Research has shown that 30 days of following Paleo principles is the perfect amount of time to reset your metabolism, heal your gut, begin to reverse the effects of systemic inflammation and change the way you see food.  This is probably the best thing you can do to gain control of your health and redefine your relationship with food.  I highly recommend that you make this a priority.  It will transform your life and you’ll feel SO much better for it.  You can read about it here.

I hope these tips will be of help.  Let me know what you think as you move forward with your Paleo lifestyle.