Getting Started On Paleo

I am sure this will not come as a surprise to any of you, but I have had some great luck eating Paleo. I have seen improvements in my weight, my sleep, mood, performance (in the gym folks), energy levels and just general well being. I get questions about whether I feel deprived since I do not eat bread, pasta, baked goods or really any processed food and I can honestly say I do not. I really enjoy the food I eat now and I will usually go the extra mile to try and try new Paleo-friendly recipes as often as I can. Truth be told the whole Paleo lifestyle has become second nature to me now and I do not find it hard eating lots of great tasting and healthy food.

However, I will be honest, it was not always this easy. When I began this journey I had no idea what I was doing and I spent a lot of time reading books, blog posts, and whatever I could get my hands on trying to find 'just the right way' to get started. Let me share a little secret about what I found out.

The best way to 'get started' is to find an approach you can stick with. That may sound obvious but I think too many people shoot for perfect (myself included) and then get frustrated when they achieve less and just quite and go back to old ways. The best way to get started is to find some 'low hanging fruit' and get started and then gradually ease your way in. You may not see huge results right off the bat but you can get use to your new eating plan and then gradually start adding and removing foods. If you have great willpower (or motivation) you can go strict right off and try to adapt. Some people can do this, some cannot.

With respect to the above, I got some really good advice today on a simple approach to eating. The advice was 'for every meal you eat, try to get some meat (protein), some veggies or fruit (carbs/nutrients) and then some good fats like nuts, seeds or oils'.  I think if I were new to Paleo that would probably be a pretty easy and flexible plan.

Regardless of the simplicity a lot of people really just want to be told exactly what to eat, how to shop, what and how much exercise to get and so on and so on. Even more, some people like to know a little bit about "why" as much as "how". I think my book recommendation on my Paleo Links page are pretty good at this but most of them are a bit long'ish for some people (300 - 400 pages or so). Some people are looking for more of a long blog post or short book. While I think I could cobble something together I think it would largely pull from a few of those books and I probably would not be so eloquent.

I make no secret that I attribute much of my interest in Paleo to Robb Wolf's book "The Paleo Solution". Robb knows his stuff (former research bio-chemist) and has a great entertaining writing style. I really enjoyed the book and I am sure that I have read the thing cover to cover about a dozen times. At the same time I realize that not everybody has the same passion for reading that I do (have my mother to thank for mine).

Luckily Robb recently released a 60-page 30 day 'Total Body Transformation" eBook based on much of the content of the book and his website/podcast. The book contains information on

• What is Paleo and how does it work?
• Eating on Paleo
• Sample meal plans and shopping lists
• Exercise
• Troubleshooting common problems
• Loads of other resources!

You can read a full description of the eBook here. I think this book is a really good easy way for people to learn about Paleo and get a bit of help starting. I honestly do believe this, so much so that I purchased a copy on day #1 of its release for my parents (who are giving this crazy thing a whirl).

Even if you are not interested in the book, keep tuning into this blog as I plan to write a few more posts in the near future on some tips I have for Paleo living! In the meantime if any of you have questions about Paleo or just generally need some support please feel free to leave a comment on the blog or contact me via my contact page.

I have also placed a link to the eBook in the sidebar to the left for easy access. If you use this link to purchase the book I get a small commission on sales. Just so that you do not think that I am doing this for the money I plan to donate the full proceeds I receive to charity. I thought about this part a bit and have decided that I am going to donate the funds to the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research.

For those that do not know, Prader-Willi is a genetic disorder characterized by various traits such as "small hands and feet, abnormal growth and body composition (small stature, very low lean body mass and early onset childhood obesity), hypotonia at birth, insatiable hunger, extreme obesity and intellectual disability". I have a friend whose daughter has this disorder and I really think it does not get enough attention even though it affects 1 in 15,000 births.