Go Pauleo™ *

Watch out!  Curves Ahead!

In my spare time, which arguably has been very limited lately (family, work, travel, volunteering, volunteering…) I have been reading about people who have lost their enamor with the Paleo approach/lifestyle.  Almost without fail the reason people lose their way is because of their obsessive relationship with the approach and/or food.  This really isn’t meant to be an uber restrictive, make you freak out if you eat _______ lifestyle but that’s where many who abandoned the lifestyle went to.  At least that’s the way I see it.  Answer yourself these questions.  Do you freak out (just a little) if a particular food touches your plate (allergies aside)?  Will you not eat if you can’t eat 100% squeaky clean?  Did you pass on a social event because the wrong “food” was going to be there?  Are you a Paleo perfectionist making everyone’s life around you miserable (read – a living hell) because they aren’t doing it right!? (see Diane’s very insightful post on this subject here: http://balancedbites.com/2012/06/paleo-perfectionism.html). If you answer yes to any of these, you are risking burning yourself out and doing yourself a huge disservice to your own health and sanity.  Keep reading…..

Paleo gave me a beautiful gift.  It gave me the gift of enjoying life again to the fullest.  It gave me weight loss, it gave me freedom from arthritic pain, it gave me awareness that wheat and I don’t play well together (and we probably never will), it gave me freedom from prescription medications for arthritis(es), blood pressure and pain and it gave me what started to become a bit of an obsession.  This is where I think those that ultimately leave this approach to life and search for something new start.  I think that something is right under our noses but we often don’t see it; relax.  This is life and none of us will get out alive.

I believe an elimination diet like Whole30 or 21 Day Sugar Detox is a great GREAT teaching mechanism for darn near everyone.  Really making a pact with yourself to eliminate potential sources of inflammation and intestinal distress for a period of time (without cheating) and introducing them back can teach you amazing things about a) your body, b) the fuel you choose to put in it and c) what Big Food is putting into your processed foodstuffs.  It teaches you to connect with your food in ways you may not have before.  Starting with whole, fresh ingredients, preparing a meal from scratch and enjoying the bold flavors that come out when you lose the processed sugar crap can be life altering.  But this is where it can also start to go horribly wrong.

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Allergies aside, when you start to fear foods and worry one slip will ruin all you have accomplished or panic because there is “nothing” you can eat so you choose to skip a meal rather than make the best choice possible with what you have; now you’re descending into the danger zone or outright hell.  Elimination diets are teaching instruments, they are not prescriptions for life.  As Whole30 says on their website, it’s not Whole365!

I’ve been paleo/primal for over a year now and I am thrilled with the results and truth of the matter, I have no intention of moving away from eating whole, nutrient dense foods that we prepare ourselves but I am realizing that even I forget from time to time, that this is a framework, a construct, GUIDELINES; not hard and fast rules to live by.  Wheat and I fight each other anytime I have brought it back (and I will largely remain gluten free going forward) but that doesn’t mean I won’t try a wonderful restaurant again where they serve Headwiches (sandwiches as big as your head) and a cold craft brewed beer again.  In fact, that day is likely coming very close to the end of my current Whole30 challenge I am hosting with Paul L. my blogging partner in crime.  I’m going to Paris later this year for vacation with the family and you can be damn sure I will be eating bread there (pain or not)!  Will I abandon this lifestyle that gave me all these wonderful gifts?  Will I invite wheat back to my daily table?  Absolutely not!  Being able to run (even walk) again without pain is truly a gift and one I very much understand how it was manifested and aggravated by the food I used to eat.  But even I need to remember that life won’t be lived by putting up a wall of can’ts and wont’s.  Enjoy that occasional indulgence, don’t stress about it, don’t freak out because it is there, embrace it then do what is right for your body.  Last remember this; what works for me, might not work for you.  There is no one-size-fits-all dietary solution that will solve everyone’s challenges.  You need to research, experiment and work with your own body to find that sweet-spot that only you can own.  Paleo, primal, WAP, SAD, All things in moderation…. All are just starting points.  For me, I’m going Pauleo™*, because that’s what works for me!

*Go Pauleo™ can be found here http://thoughtfulcavedad.com/random-thoughts/paleo-primal-30-day-challenges-dairy/

Updated 1-21-2013

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