Popular-Shmopular.
Paleo. It’s a word that might have been foreign to you not so long ago. Suddenly it’s popular — endless paleo cookbooks, blogs and even a paleo section at Wholefoods (if you’d like to spare $10 for a handful of seeds and nuts).
Yet, popularity doesn’t translate into ease. Crossfit is more popular now than ever, but it won’t make your lifts easier. You still have to plan to show up, actually show up, learn the lift, load your bar and lift the weight. Only you can listen to your body, grow in awareness of your strengths and weaknesses and mobility limitations. Only you can tune in to the moments that you push through and the times you scale down for recovery or injury prevention. Gradual, consistent change happens because you put in the effort and own the process.
Food isn’t different. You learn about it, plan for it, actually buy it, prepare it, and eat it, and pay attention to your body to tweak what you need. Gradual, consistent change happens because you put in the effort and own the process.
How my journey looked.
My food journey started over a decade ago. After years of eating vegetarian, I was facing debilitating autoimmune symptoms. I turned to researching food. Over time, I eliminated most processed food and sugar, ditched soy, gluten and seed oils, started healthy fats, pastured meats, eggs and raw diary. I read, read some more, and applied pieces of what I learned. There were times I applied advice and didn’t listen to my individual body and did damage that took time to repair (for the curious, going too low carb tanked my adrenals).
A dozen years later, there is an ease with food that has been gained from years of putting in the effort and yielding gradual change. Food sourcing relationships have been established — our local farmer drops raw milk and pastured eggs at our home, we purchase a whole grass-feed cow annually, I help raise and kill our chickens twice a year and we grow organic veggies in our urban backyard. Recipes have been tried and tweaked into formulas so that I can vary on the fly for what we’ve grown or gathered at the market. Nutrient-dense food, like bone broth, raw milk kefir, and probiotic-rich fermented vegetables are made in my regular routine. As are basics like mayo and salad dressing. I have a shelf of beautiful paleo books, but don’t reference them often. With a family of five eating three-plus meals a day, I keep it simple to keep it consistent and don’t sweat the small stuff (we have organic ketchup in our frig, oh the horror!).
My journey constantly evolves. I continue to read, stay aware, add new skills and adjust for the needs of my family. Whether time needs, budget needs or health needs. For instance, this month I started experimenting with resistant starches to raise my low body temperature (it’s working!) and as I type this my first attempt at cow tongue is cooking in the crock pot.
Start where you are.
You have your own journey, your own goals. Consistent lifestyle change takes time and commitment and isn’t labeled with “diets”. Use the label paleo to the extent it’s helpful to you. It’s helpful for resourcing information and recipes online, but if you’re regularly asking google if what you’re eating is paleo, then you’re missing the mark. Simply, eat real food (food is perishable!). Eat the best quality meat, eggs and produce you can afford, eat healthy fats, avoid gluten, processed foods and sugars and eat whole food carbohydrates to match your performance goals or your metabolic sensitivity.
With that in mind, here’s a few tips to think about:
Own the process: Commit to learn a bit. Blindly following a food plan without understanding how nutrients fuel and nourish your body won’t help you make the wisest food choices for your goals. Only you know your relationship with food — your motives and patterns, strengths and weaknesses — and only you can tackle them.
End the excuses: Limited budget? Figure out how to make better choices with the resources you have. Limited time? Search out convenience options that still meet your real food guidelines or learn to cook in bulk and store. Limited skill? Start with some simple recipes and build your ease in the kitchen. Not a planner? Start planning. You eat multiple times a day. If you don’t plan for it, you’re planning to fail.
Don’t be weird: Don’t talk about cavemen and the 4 lbs of bacon you ate yesterday. Your co-workers don’t want a paleo lecture when you turn down the morning doughnut. Food is a personal and emotional topic. Don’t let your food alienate you from your relationships or social life. Enjoy real, whole food AND enjoy your friends. You’re smart enough to figure out how to do both.
We’d love to write more about food, share recipes and local resources and answer some of your questions. Let us know what you’d like to hear!
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Erin is dedicated to nourishing her family with real and uncomplicated food. She’s taught cooking classes for Crossfit RVA, dragged fresh chicken poop on the gym floors (once. maybe twice) and waxes on to her fellow 6 am’ers about food (correction: everything) between lifts. When she’s not cooking, you might spot her at Ellwoods with at least one kid still in pajamas.