So, I’ve had it. I’m so infuriated with the constant excuses that I’m doing something about it.
The excuses I refuse to tolerate anymore are my own. I know what I should do, but I’m struggling with the doing. Yep, even coaches are human and oh so fallible.
I simply can’t adult hard enough to manage the “I eat sweets, grains, dairy in moderation” lifestyle right now. “Moderation” (especially with sweets) has slipped into all the time and put me right back where I was last year, so I’m going Paleo. I need hard and fast rules right now for myself; it needs to be black and white.
I’ve flirted with this way of eating for nearly 2 years, and I know from doing 2 separate Whole30’s that I feel AWESOME eating this way and my family enjoys the recipes as well. It’s good for all of us to eat this way. Period.
I will certainly enjoy feeling better and taking back control over what I use to fuel my body!
So, how do you get started?
First, you’ve got to decide if you want to dabble or jump right in. If you want to dabble (WARNING: this requires more willpower IMHO and definitely won’t give you quick results), check out some of the resources I list below. Try one new recipe a week. Pick one common meal you eat and omit the cheese (I’m looking at you burgers and tacos) or the grains (use Zoodles or spaghetti squash instead of pasta). Do those 2 steps weekly and it’ll slowly have a compound effect on your overall health and you may even find that you don’t mind the things you’re phasing out.
If you want to jump right in, I can’t recommend a Whole30 enough. Head on over to their website for all the FREE details, but the gist is that for 30 days you take out all the stuff that could be damaging your gut. These are common irritants like soy, grains, dairy, legumes, and the big kahuna sugar, in addition to a lot of nasty preservatives that are in errrthing with a nutrition label on the side of it. As I mentioned, I’ve done two of them over the last two years and it’s a great reset MENTALLY and physically. I guarantee you’ll learn a lot about yourself AND what might be irritating your system if you stick with the whole 30 days and the 10-day reintroduction protocol. This, above anything else, made the biggest difference in what I can so no to now because I know how awful I feel when I eat them.
Second, find a couple good recipes and get cooking! Stick with it long enough to actually make an impact on your body. This is a marathon, friends. Not a sprint or get skinny quick fad diet. Long Term Health. That’s the goal we want to focus on here.
Resources:
- For great Whole30 resources hit up the website linked above and Instagram. On IG there’s a @whole30 feed and importantly a @whole30recipes feed that has guest posters every week. Beware of Pinterest – a lot of recipes are labeled as Whole30, but when you look at the ingredients you know it’s BS. What you can and can’t have is CLEAR on their website, so just watch out if you’re cruising around the interwebs.
- If you’re like me and prefer to read a book, there are currently 2 out by the creator of Whole30, Melissa Hartwig. Check out It Starts with Food and The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom. I’m super excited she has a third book coming out this fall, called Food Freedom Forever. Sounds like exactly what I need right now.
- Mel Joulwan has a great blog with a TON of recipes which are Whole30 compliant. She’s also written 3 cookbooks, Well Fed, Well Fed 2 and Well Fed Weeknights which have given us some of our favorite recipes as well.
If you’re more interested in just cleaning up your diet a bit, consider paleo. The Paleo lifestyle is basically about eating meat, seafood, fruit, nuts & seeds, healthy fats and veggies. There are a bazillion websites out there, so I won’t try to list them all, but one has consistently given us family tried and loved recipes so I’ll leave you with this last resource.
- Check out Danielle Walker’s website: Against All Grain. Suffering from an auto-immune disease she wanted a better life than one dependent on a million pills, so she changed what she eats radically and drastically improved her health and quality of life.
- She has also written several cookbooks, but if you’re a busy mama like me check out Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple. She has done all the hard work for you and planned out weekly menus which use the same ingredients throughout the week, like the can of coconut milk you open for one thing, you use up in a different recipe later or you take the leftovers from Monday to make something else on Wednesday.
Are you already Paleo and I missed one of your favorite resources? Drop it in a comment for me, will ya?
Do you have questions for me? Are you nervous about doing something different? Want to learn more about the different ways you can clean up your diet? Email me at using the links below and I’ll help you out!
Thanks for the encouragement AND all of the great tips, Rebe!