Sunday Story…Paleo Pitfalls

You made the plunge and decided to go all in on the dare. Or maybe you are just dipping your toe in to find out how the water is. This is a life style folks, not a diet. This is a transition into an integrated holistic way of eating that dovetail with an integrated and holistic way of life. This article is here to help you avoid some of the potholes, the bumps in the road, if you will, along your journey to whole food whole health.

1. It Isn’t Fun
You eat the same thing day in and day out, the same bacon and eggs for breakfast every day, the same salad with tuna for lunch and the same chicken breast and steamed broccoli for dinner. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO…kill me now, please. This is so boring I want to order some horrible food myself. The kitchen is my favorite room in the house. It’s warm, it smells good and really magical things happen in there. There is a huge amount of meats, vegetables, spices, and herbs for you to explore and enjoy in this transition. You can be the Indiana Jones of your kitchen, searching for undiscovered treasures or maybe on the Star Trek voyage…going where no culinary explorer has ever gone before. Figure out what it is going to take to make it fun and go there.

2. Eating too much fruit
Sugar is sugar and fruit is full of sugar. We are trying to break this addiction and loading up on 36 bananas a day won’t help you do that…just like smokers with the nicotine patch it is harder than just suffering through the 4-14 days of misery as you break free of your addiction. Sugar will cause your insulin to go up and put you in a fat storing mode and that is not where you want to be. We want to manage our insulin by managing our blood sugar. So stick to apples, grapes and berries (mmmmm berries) that kick the insulin less and eat them with protein and fat to blunt some of the insulin response. I know these may violate our local food rules but where do you think those bananas are coming from?

3. You didn’t clean out the Pantry
Imagine for a moment…its late and you are a little snacky and your open up the pantry and the only thing that you can see is the box of sugar crisps waaay in the back or the Oreos you thought you hid from yourself and well, no one is looking and just one won’t hurt so you reach for it and wake up from your sugar induced coma 10 minutes later and the box is gone and you are sitting at the kitchen table like a drunk sitting at the curb at 5AM wondering what happened to you. Don’t be this person. Get rid of all of it…all the boxes, all the temptations, all the bogus marketing messages designed to addict and lure you into ill health. Out with the old and in with the new…will power is a limited commodity and if it isn’t in your face it won’t be in your face!

4. You Aren't Eating Enough Fat Fat is your friend. Eating Fat won’t make you Fat. Fat is where a lot of taste in the food comes from. We have been sold a bill of goods by the various industries that make their profits from our poor health and eating habits. Coconut Oil, Ghee (clarified butter), Butter, Olives, Avocados, Olive Oil, and Palm oil are your friends. They will help with taste and they will give you the requisite calories and energy to get through the day. Up until now you have been a sugar burner and now we want to be a fat burner. This shift requires you to fuel up with fat. Guess what happens when I burn fat for fuel? My body starts looking for more fat to burn…and guess where it can find lots of fat for fuel? C’mon you know where it is. Eat fat and get fit!

5. Sleep Deprivation and Stress You aren’t sleeping enough. This creates a resistance to insulin (again) and puts you in the fat storing position. In addition too much stress will create the same insulin resistance and whoop there it is (again). Not enough sleep and too much stress will make you sick. You could have the perfect diet and if either of those things are happening you are going to be in trouble. Sleep 8-10 hours a night or as much as you can without getting fired or a divorce. Meditate or learn to manage stress in a healthy way—exercise, shooting practice, petting the cat whatever but figure it out!

6. Peer Pressure We just finished the holidays. How many times did you hear…”one bite won’t kill you,” or “just live a little” or “you poor thing you should enjoy yourself once in a while?” This one really ticks me off. If I was allergic to peanuts that one bite might kill me. If I have celiac disease that commercial chocolate chip might send me to the emergency room. If I am addicted to sugar (I am by the way) then that one bit of fudge could send me on a downward spiral that may take months to snap out of, like a heroin addict who keeps going down the same road. People are not going to understand. They are well meaning but they just don’t get it. You should not feel deprived eating this way. You should be well fed. You should not be hungry. Try not to be mean to the ill informed but understand this is fear raising its ugly head trying to get you to resist the change. You get to eat bacon and butter and whole eggs and prepare really good food with love and care. Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines can’t say that…there is no love in the ingredient list on a box of SAD (Standard American Diet) CRAP (Calorie Rich And Pathetic).

7. Not Eating Enough Just do it. Eat lots of different kinds and colors of food. You should never be hungry or worried about eating too much. Have more green stuff. Listen to what your body is telling you. Chew your food a lot and enjoy every chomp. Eat slowly and mindfully. Feel the energy of the universe coursing into your body as you eat. This is sustainable, this is the way your Paleolithic ancestors ate…in touch with their bodies, in touch with the natural world and grateful for all the gifts.

8. Weighing Yourself Step away from the scale. Your self image and self worth are not determined by a number on the scale. How do you feel? How are your clothes fitting, how well are you moving, how do you look (naked or not)? The number on the scale will take care of itself. When you get on the scale everyday you start criticizing and feeling fearful that something isn’t right. Eating this way will right the ship. It will take time but your body will achieve the stasis it should achieve if you just feed it right. Trust your body, trust nature, trust that fueling yourself, eliminating stress, sleeping well and moving are working in your human organism and you will find the optimum health you rightfully deserve.

Paleo is just a word we are using to describe a healthy way of eating, moving and being. It really is subject to interpretation and scale. By eliminating sugars grain and dairy we are eliminating the primary culprits in continued poor health. When we get off those trains our bodies will heal and right themselves. I know it has worked for me and many others. It will work for you too.



Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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