Twenty-Five Paleoish Things

Okeys, well here goes.  I am sure that there are way more than twenty-five things I could list in the Paleo World  that have changed my life and the life of Hubs and how we think, but I will most likely get stuck pretty soon after starting.  It's like trying to write your own bio.
I will elaborate on each of these things in future posts...just maybe not in the order listed since I know I'll pick the easiest ones first.

1.  'You must unlearn what you have learned.  Try not...Do. Or do not.  There is no try!'  Yoda is right about this stuff.

2.  I really think that calling this approach 'Paleo' is kinda silly because obviously the foods that Paleolithic folks ate are no longer available to us modern cave dwellers.  Besides, they ate what was regionally available to them each season.  But we gotta call it something.

3.  When I see someone who is overweight, I now think that they are sick and broken metabolically from the foods they eat and they don't even know it.  After all, we're told to stick to low fat diets, eat whole grains and drink plenty of juice.  For most folks, that'e exactly wrong.

4.  Workouts that are flexible and scale-able are pretty darned addictive.

5.  People will cling to the foods they eat like nobody's business and get really defensive about it.

6.  People will ask how I lost weight and found some muscles; then they get really defensive when I tell them. Not having time to cook and in the next breath talking about something they watched on the tele is just funny. Oh, and they could never, ever, ever in a million years do Crossfit.  That's just  BALONEY.  (And yep, this #6 on my list is a rant so that's enough about being defensive since, clearly I am a bit that way too.)

7.  One must ignore the haters and do what is best for one's self.  (And not rant.)

8.  Getting out in the sunshine is the best way to get Vitamin D.  This was a hard one for me since I have lived with a stage 3b diagnosis of metastatic recurrent melanoma since 2006.

9.  Dark chocolate and a glass of wine helped us make it through our first thirty days of eating Paleo.

10. It only takes about two weeks to start the healing process in gut flora.

11. Sugar really messes with your brain.  So does aspartame.

12.  Coffee with butter (recommend Kerrygold unsalted) is not at all bad.  It helps with intermittent fasting, if you decide to go there.

13. Even though I am terrified of pigs, bacon is delicious.  We've learned so much about whole foods and how fun it is to prepare them that it makes me sad to have waited so long to find Paleo ways.  Sheesh.  Pesto without cheese is just as good...must be the walnuts.  I still can't believe the awesome stuff we eat.

14. Reading the science-y stuff about neuro-regulation of appetite and how insulin spikes make us fat is pretty interesting stuff.  And yes, I do believe it is necessary to read just  about everything you can get your hands on in order to be successful with the Paleo approach.

15. It is said that being eighty percent Paleo compliant yields ninety-five percent of the result.  I am not sure that I agree with that.  Doesn't work for me, but I could be worse off than most folks.  (My medical history kinda sucks.)

16. It is also said that eighty percent of getting healthy is diet related and twenty percent is from exercise.  Based of personal experience, I do agree with that.

17. Finding the right coach who will tell you the truth is important.  Not getting mad at him/her is tough.  It was true that I would thank him later.  Being afraid of most things made Crossfit tough for me. (Yes, I did make excuses about my back issues and I had babied it and made it weak, but fearing 'that look' from Coach Matt more that fears of failure, I got my ass back, quit whining and learned how to squat.)

18. Passing up the bread aisle, the soup aisle, the cereal aisle, the potato chip aisle and the soft drink aisle, etc. seems really strange at first.  But it makes trips to the grocery super easy.

19. Calories do count and they are not all the same.  There are good ones and bad ones.  The good ones fill you up and teach your body to burn fat, not make it.

20. The kind of oils you use can wreak havoc on your body.  It is the number one problem with dining out.  Sad but true.

21. Getting the right amount of the right kind of sleep is crucial to being healthy.  This is an on-going struggle at our house.

22.  There is no 'getting off' this diet.  It is our commitment to our lives.  Besides, I don't wanna hurt anymore.  (I realize that's the reason Paleo seems easy to me.)

23. Reducing systemic inflammation is the big secret.  It is so secret that almost nobody talks about it.  (And I have learned that good dental health is important in this respect too.) (And I am almost as afraid of the dentist as I am of pigs...and Coach Matt.)

24. Clean out your pantry, fridge and cupboards.  No excuses.  Get rid of the rice, pasta, cereal, processed foods, sugar, beans (yep peanuts), dairy (all of it, except good butter), breads, wheat and all grain flours (especially corn or anything to do with it like in... oils), yep other oils (except for olive oil and coconut oil), starchy stuff (potatoes), alcohol (um, that is hard but I have some ideas...see # 9 above) and even that very last Cheerio.  This stuff is not good for you now, it wasn't good for you last week and it won't be good for you if you decide to start your whole new outlook when you've eaten it up.  Do it now.  Give the food to a local food bank if that makes you feel better.  (But it isn't good for them either.)

25. Doing this with your partner is pretty cool.  Doing this if you're single is pretty cool.  If you have kids, doing this for them will make you my ultimate hero.

There!  My list wasn't hard at all.

Take good care, k.