Eat real food. Simple, right? Well, it should be but in today’s society it can be a massive challenge. It’s unfortunate, but thanks to the internet it’s getting easier and easier as the truth get’s out to the world in an efficient way.

The following quotes are tips that people like you left for this giveaway. What follows the tips are my commentary. Feel free to leave your thoughts by adding a comment below – they are all greatly appreciated. If you disagree with a tip or with my commentary then I’d love to read about it. No one has all the right answers. We can all learn from each other if we try.

1. Don’t stress about organic

Organic produce is important, but if you can’t afford 100% organic everything, make sure the produce you don’t have to peel is the stuff that is organic.

A rule of thumb is that when there is a thick skin, there is a lesser of a chance of pesticides entering the “meat” of the fruit.

2. Experiment with foods you’ve never tried before and be open-minded

Experiment with new foods and recipes! I HATED coconut before I “went paleo” and now I can’t get enough of the stuff. You may find a new favorite you never considered. It also keeps things new so you aren’t bored eating the same meals all the time.

For the first 21 years of my life I HATED seafood. All of it. The smell of it. The thought of consuming it terrified me. Then one day I decided to open up and throw my crazy fear in Lake Michigan. I ate some white fish at a wedding about 4 years ago and, well, it was OK. I then ate a little seafood now and again for the next year. I continued to eat a bigger variety as time went on. Today I love it all, including Mahi Mahi, raw oysters, scallops, eel, lobster tail, squid and even octopus. I also love fish eggs with sushi. Escargot (snail) is not seafood but the dish I enjoyed on the cruise I went on recently was awesome too.

With open-mindedness, the number of foods that you enjoy will only go up.

3. Understand that perfect does not exist

There’s no law that states you must be 100% from the get-go. If ditching breakfast cereal is a huge change for you, start with that and work up to everything else gradually.

Ditch breakfast cereal immediately. You know, that crap you buy in a box. Do you have any idea how it was made? Don’t be afraid of oatmeal though. I ditched it for nearly 3 years but am back to eating it again. My body enjoys it. Paleo is a great eating template but realize that legumes, dairy and grains are real food. Well, grass-fed butter is real while skim milk from Wal-Mart is far from real. There is a difference.

4. Cook with a slow cooker

A slow cooker is a fantastic help to the paleo eater. How does pot roast sound? How about pulled pork, turkey chili, or chicken curry? All of these can cook while you’re at work.

Slow cookers not only allow for easy meals but inexpensive meals too. Roasts from grass-fed beef do not cost that much! They are way less than steaks but the meat ends up oh so juicy and tender. Do you not own a slow cooker? This one is only $49!

5. Local food wins

Take the time to research your local meat/seafood CSAs. I had no idea what a huge difference having quality protein could make. The taste alone will make you convert, and if you do enough research you can probably find one that doesn’t cost too much more than buying the same products at your local grocer.

EatWild.com and LocalHarvest.org are GREAT resources for local food. Don’t forget about Craigslist.org too! I’ve heard folks finding great sources of pastured eggs this way.

6. Strict Paleo is not the best for everyone

There are different opinions and ideas about what a healthy paleo diet is. Be discerning. Experiment and find out what works for you. What things can you eat? Which ones cause problems for you?

Every single individual has their own unique opinion on what “Paleo” is. You should have the world’s greatest smile right now. It’s a great starting point but realize that strictly avoiding grains, legumes and dairy is NOT the healthiest way to eat for every individual – I’d say most individuals. Definitely eat butter. Or ghee at least.

7. When you eat, eat

Take time to eat. Breathe. Relax. Love your food.

Chew your food. When you eat, eat. No need to be perfect. If you feel stressed then take a moment to breathe. This may prevent a binge! This is important – don’t eat food that you don’t love. This does not mean you shouldn’t experiment and try new stuff! Just don’t force feed yourself anything.

8. Toss that guilty feeling in the ocean

Don’t sweat it. If you ate something that you are not supposed to it’s fine, don’t cry over the spilled milk and move on. Your body is going to tell you it sucked anyways.

In other words, eating something you think you should not have eaten and then feeling guilty about it will likely lead you to eating that food again. As the above tip says, love your food!

9. The yolk is better than the white

Embrace the whole egg! Not just the whites.

Duh. Don’t we all know this by now? Not so fast. Most Americans still believe that the white is better than the yolk or the entire package. Well, when it comes to vitamins, the yolk dominates. Tossing your egg yolks in the trash is kind of like buying a multivitamin, stripping the vitamins from it and then tossing them into the trash. No one in their right minds would do this. So eat the damn yolk!

10. Focus on the foods your body loves

Focus on the foods you CAN eat and ENJOY!

This is huge. Let’s say you give up soda pop. If you continuously think about how you “can’t” have it, then you will want it more and more. So stop thinking about it. Instead, think about the drinks you can have. Why not enjoy iced tea with a few splashes of lemon or lemonade if you don’t have lemons on hand? I personally love coconut water and kombucha. Or how about just water? Or a glass of wine. I personally love my wine.

11. Meat is real food but so are plants

Paleo/Primal isn’t just meat, meat and more meat, make sure to eat lots of veggies.

A BIG misconception with many folks is that Paleo is all about eating meat. No. Plant foods are glorious. Eat them. You may do better eating more animal foods and less plant foods. Or you may be the complete opposite. I believe we all need a mix but just because plant foods have anti-nutrients does not mean that they are evil. They are full of nutrients.

12. Don’t let nuts trick you

Don’t go crazy on the nuts.

Nuts and seeds are similar to grains. What amazes me is how, for the strict Paleos, all grains are off limits while nuts and seeds are great foods. For best digestion, all nuts and seeds and grains need proper preparation. Most nuts are loaded with omega 6 fatty acids too. And if you are trying to eat like a hunter-gatherer then you would definitely not eat many nuts. Think about what it takes to get to the nut after finding them! In short, pay attention to how you feel after eating nuts.

13. Think about what your (great) Grandparents ate

Think about your grandparents (or maybe great-grandparents) – what foods did they eat? Remember the stinky sauerkraut your grandma used to fix with sausage? It was/is good for you! My grandfather used to talk about milking the cow and waiting to get a taste of the wonderful cream on the top. During the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s he was told that was awful – and he should instead eat plastic like margarine. Go back to the basics! Find an old cookbook from the ’30s.

I love this advice! You don’t have to go back 10,000 years to know what was healthy. We continue to get sicker and sicker at a rapid pace but it was not too long ago when we were pretty damn healthy! And our great grandparents still enjoyed white flour and sugar. It was less than today but they also enjoyed muscle meat, organs, a variety of plant foods, whole raw milk, etc.

14. Visit your local farmers market

Start buying your fresh fruits and veggies at a farmers market.

If it’s been a long time since you have visited a farmers market then just make it a goal to go one time. No need to make it a goal every week. Just go once. If it’s a good market then you’ll want to come back weekly. And that’s what matters. A fresh, local strawberry actually tastes like a strawberry while the one that is shipped from thousands of miles away does not. Same with tomatoes and many other produce items!

15. When you “cheat,” enjoy it

An occasional cheat is NOT a total derailment. People give up so easy with one little mistake. Admit the cheat, move on, and heck, an occasional cheat is no big deal…just don’t go overboard!

When you cheat, enjoy it (better yet, don’t think you just cheated because you didn’t). Even if you feel terrible the next day. We live in a world where eating real food 100% of the time is simply not feasible. If it is for you without stressing out then I’d love to hear how you do it! When you are at home, cook real food and then simply do your best when away from your home, but do not stress! You need to live life and move on if you “screw up” and feel like crap after eating something that you know you should not have eaten.

What are your thoughts on the tips discussed above? Please let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter!

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You are amazing. Seriously. Believe it. Now. Say it out loud: “I am amazing.”

You are not perfect. You will never be perfect. Perfect does not exist. Do you know what this means? Freedom! You no longer have to chase perfectionism. The entire world is filled with imperfections. Your imperfections are what make you unique. They make you special. They make you, you.

The world loves you. You are surrounded by love. If someone makes fun of you, they are either joking and just want a good laugh (who doesn’t?!) or they are serious because they don’t have their happiness hat on in that moment. No one will make fun of someone without joking while wearing their happiness hat.

You are not perfect. You are amazing.

You are alive! Take a few deep breaths. Isn’t it amazing that while reading the words on your screen you were able to breathe without even thinking about it? And if you want, you can breathe consciously. Walking is the same way. You don’t have to think about putting one foot in front of the other in order to walk. You just walk. It’s automatic. But you can consciously walk too. Try it. Barefoot. Focus on your legs. Feel all your muscles moving. Squeeze your booty. Fun, eh?

Do you believe? Believing is the first step. If you believe that you are amazing then you are. If you believe that you can do anything then you can. If you don’t believe then action won’t follow.

Instead of sitting on the sidelines, get in the game. Once you’re in, you must take action. You must do something, anything. You will fail. This is a good thing. As a baby you first learned to crawl. You became an expert at it. Then you tried to walk. You stood up, took a step and then fell down. Uh oh! But you never quit. Next time you took 2 steps. Then three. You kept falling. But you never stopped trying. Eventually, you learned how to walk without even thinking about how to do it. All those baby steps added up to success.

If you forever believe that you are amazing (it’s the cold hard truth) then you will not be afraid of failure. You may not know what you want. That’s OK. Take action. Follow your heart. Life is a journey full of uncertainties. Full of imperfections. These imperfections are what make it beautiful.

You are not perfect. You are amazing. 

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One year and one day ago from today I had this crazy idea while sitting on my brother’s comfy black chair in Wrigleyville, Chicago. He was away in Dallas and so I had the entire condo to myself. With the peace and quiet I decided to take some time to just sit and think.

And so I thought. And thought.

Then, out of the blue, I thought about the crazy idea to walk across America. You know, from coast to coast. Either west to east or east to west. I had no idea how to go about doing it but Nate Damm, another kid my age, had just finished this feat last year. Dozens of others have done it too. Why can’t I?

The following morning, on May 1st, I took my first action step. When you want to do something, anything, especially something as big as walking across America, you need to take action. The first thing I did was I created a thread in the MDA forum stating what I was going to do. It started a great conversation that had lots of inspiration. People wanted to help. They offered their couch or spare bed or a place to shower. Some wanted to walk with me for a day or a few days.

A few thought about joining me for the whole trip. One dude was very serious about walking with me. The entire 3200 miles. I ended up flying to Olympia, Washington in late June since his roommate had just moved out. We were not friends from before so we were going to take 9 months to become friends and plan for the trip. But I left after 2 nights. There were many reasons of which included me not wanting to live in Olympia for 9 months. Also, it was difficult for me to commit doing something this crazy with someone that I did not know well from before.

I went back home to Grand Rapids, MI. I then lived with my brother in Chicago late last year and have been all over this year.

As I type the words that you are now reading on your screen (isn’t this world amazing?), I sit here in the basement of my parents home on a Wednesday night, thinking about how really awesome it would be if I was walking across America at this very moment. What if I had actually taken 9 months to prepare and then left on April 1 which was the Monday after PaleoFX ended? Nine months is a long time to prepare for something like this.

I wonder. I really wonder…

This does not mean that I can’t do this in the future. If I want something bad enough then I will go get it. I am just not sure if this is something that I want to do. But, it apparently costs around $5,000 or less. I could spend a little more or get by with a little less. For about a 7 month trip that would be very epic, why not walk across America?

Well, there are hundreds of reasons why I wouldn’t. But I don’t wish to go there now. Why not think about why I would do something so crazy? I’d walk across America from coast to coast…

• To face my fears. I could create a list of 1000 or more fears I’d have with this trip.
• To inspire others to face their fears (most are stupid ya know?)
• To meet awesome people and listen to their stories.
• To get unique perspectives on nutrition. On overall wellness. On life. What’s the meaning of it all?
• To travel in the slowest way possible that allows me to truly see all that my home country has to offer.
• To walk. I’m obsessed with walking after all.
• To learn how to slow down and appreciate all of life’s precious moments.
• To gain the experience of “roughing it.”
• To show how nice people are across the country.
• To take gorgeous photos.
• To know what it’s like to be engaging in physical work on a near daily basis for hours on end.
• To challenge myself and see how many miles I can walk in a 24 hour period.
• To learn more about myself. How could I not if I walked alone for most of it?

There are many more reasons. I just thought of these just now. If you have thought of any more reasons as to why anyone would want to walk across America feel free to share with a comment below.

I fly to Houston on Saturday for the Low Carb Cruise. This will no doubt be lots of fun, especially since I’ll be celebrating my 25th birthday on the last night we are sailing at sea! Then I come home on Mother’s Day.

Then what? I’m thinking about moving to Chicago for up to 6 months. With both of my sisters pregnant and due in July, I don’t wish to be far away from home (Grand Rapids, MI) this Summer and early Fall. These will be my first nephews (I don’t have any nieces either). I LOVE kids! With nearly all of my close family members residing in West Michigan and Chicago (my lone brother), I don’t see myself living too far away. But you never know with me. It depends on how life unfolds.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll begin planning now to walk across America next year. Shall I?

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