13 Tips to Make The Paleo Diet A Breeze

There are thousands of different tips that could potentially make the Paleo Diet a breeze for you. The following tips are general in nature. Don’t think you have to follow them all at once. Instead, pick one tip and begin to implement that into your life. When that tip becomes a habit, pick another one and work on it till it becomes a habit.

1. Experiment

You are not Hurley or Kate. Eating less than 50 grams of carbs a day works for thousands of people. This does NOT mean it will work for you. In fact, it may be devastating for you. Millions of people are fructose intolerant. The best way for you to find out if you are fructose intolerant is to experiment. Eliminate fruit for 30 or so days and see how you feel, look and perform. Add it back in. How do you look, feel and perform now?

Thousands (millions?) of nutrition studies have been published to date. How do you know which one is right or wrong? Ignore them. Do what you feel is right and then study yourself.

2. Move on – Don’t feel the guilt

You will fail. You will eat something that a “normal” person feels guilty about. Why feel guilt? What’s the point? What if you just moved on and forgot about what happened? From my personal experience, feeling guilt over a binge is a recipe for complete disaster. Thinking negatively about the situation causes me to eat more. If I enjoy each moment and just move on then I tend to melt the small negative snowball in a split second.

I did a post a while back on how to cheat without feeling guilty. The gist of the post is to simply move on. Are you ready to move on?

3. Educate yourself and others

Read blogs. Read books. Listen to podcasts. Experiment on yourself and learn from your experiment. Try new things. Take action. Be ok with failing.

The longer you live a primal lifestyle, the more likely your friends and family will begin to ask you questions. Answer them to the best of your knowledge. Educate them but understand that you don’t have all the answers. Once they dive in, ask them questions. Find out what their approach is. Learn from their experiences and continue to learn from yours.

This is a life long journey folks!

4. Blog

Blogging about the primal lifestyle has kept me on track. I’ve had my ups and downs including a 3-4 month period when my eating was disastrous more times then I can remember. Having this blog kept me honest. Telling myself that I’ll blog for years to come has forced me to stay on track. I’ve “fallen off” but I have gotten right back on. I move on. I educate. I blog.

Starting a blog is cheap too. In fact, it can be FREE. If you want to have your own domain then it will cost ya about $10. I currently pay $10 per month for hosting too.

5. Plan your meals

I don’t personally plan my meals but if I did then I’d probably “cheat” less frequently. If its in your interest, then take an hour or so every Sunday and plan out your meals for the week. Make it easy and eat the same thing a few days in a row. Or, think of 5-7 meals that you are going to eat for the entire week and rotate them. Always have snacks on hand.

6. Follow recipes

There are thousands of primal/paleo recipes on the web that are available for FREE. Just google “primal recipe” or “paleo recipe.” Or, maybe you want something specific like paleo meatloaf or paleo garlic pulled pork.  Smoothies are awesome too in my personal opinion.

Once you follow a recipe or 2, you’ll hopefully think of something that you can create on your own. Following a recipe will hopefully bring out the creativity in you. Maybe someday you’ll create your own paleo cookbook!

7. Create recipes

Follow recipes and then create your own. There is no need to be fancy. If a recipe calls for oregano then substitute caraway seed. I mean, why not? I throw caraway seed on anything.

I’m a big fan of smoothies. I decided to create a recipe book, Toadally Primal Smoothies. It may have 150 different smoothie recipes with hundreds more coming, but that does not make me an expert. They are easy to create. Sure, making smoothies on a consistent basis for 7+ years has helped, but once you make a few you could very well gain momentum and be off on your mary way. The recipes on the primal smoothie blog are free. Follow a few and then make your own.

8. Don’t eat free non paleo food

I’ve been guilty of this way too much. When you are struggling financially, you’ll generally be more lenient in allowing yourself to consume free calories no matter how they come. However, doing this can easily put you off track. This is especially true during the holidays. The primal movement is getting huge but there is probably about 4,539 people who don’t give a rat’s ass about their health to every 1 that do give a rat’s ass. I made this number up but hey, I just want to make my point.

This means that most people will stuff themselves without much care. If you are ok eating any food that is free then you are setting yourself up for disaster. Enjoy your Christmas meal and be grateful but be careful at the same time!

9. Shop at your local farmer’s market

It’s a lot easier to buy junk food at a normal grocery store compared to your local farmers market. Most farmers markets will still have bread and such but the selection of fresh produce, meat and eggs is definitely present. I guarantee it will be easier to stay on track if you make it a priority to buy food where you should be buying food.

10. Keep meals simple

Eat ground beef with peas. Bacon with eggs. A smoothie. Don’t feel like you have to eat a vegetable for every meal. Don’t feel like you have to eat meat for every meal. Don’t feel like you have to eat anything at all every single time its “meal time.” Be ok eating ground beef every day for a couple of weeks. It’s the cheapest cut of meat and if it’s grass-fed then its pretty freaking healthy. Your heart will thank you for eating the saturated fat. I’m serious. Saturated fat is heart healthy.

11. Leftovers rock

Make more then you can eat. Put a reasonable amount on your plate. Smile over the fact that you have a lot leftover. You just saved your ass a lot of time my friend! Eat leftovers at any point during your day. What’s wrong with leftover chuck roast for breakfast? Not a damn thing. So do it. Ok?

12. Eat dinner for breakfast

I am very curious where the idea of eating certain foods for certain meals got started. Maybe we should stop having names for meals and instead just eat when we are hungry. Forget breakfast, lunch and dinner. Instead, eat when you are hungry. Be ok eating a salad at 7:43 in the morning and eggs at 7:43 pm. There is nothing wrong with this. I promise.

13. How happy are you?

While these tips may help you, and I hope they do, you must ask yourself how happy you are. If you are constantly stressed then please take a step back. Be grateful for all that you have. Be grateful for the simple fact that you are living. No one knows when their time will be done. You must enjoy life NOW instead of waiting. Don’t be perfect. Your imperfections are what make you perfect.

Do the best you can. Realize that you are living in a modern world. A world where you are surrounded by junk food. Seek happiness. Contentment. Be ok with your mistakes. In fact, make mistakes. Fail. If you don’t fail then you are being too careful.

Live today. Ok?

What tips can you add to this list? Do you want me to elaborate on any tips? Do you agree with these tips? Disagree? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts. Just leave a comment below. And, if you think this post can help others then why not share it on facebook or twitter?

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