I eat healthy 90% of the time, but I still enjoy the things I love. Like french toast, maple syrup, banana & bacon. Valentines Day brunch. Yum!
There’s sugar in my pantry. Oh shit, there’s cereal, bread…fuck it, let’s be honest, pretty much everything that’s not paleo is in my pantry, AND I cook AND eat ALL of it.
I’m just gonna come right out and say it. You Don’t Need The Paleo Diet (or any diet) To Get Healthy and Lose Weight!
I’m not here to bash the paleo diet, or ‘lifestyle’ as some prefer. I’m not gonna make any attempts to debunk it either. I don’t care if you’re a paleo advocate, or if you’re planning on going paleo soon.
This post is for anyone that might be thinking that paleo is the only way to lose weight and get healthy. You’d be forgiven for thinking that way right now too, the internet is on fire with paleo related hype & lots of people are telling you it’s the only way to get healthy & lose weight.
Well, that’s bollocks!
What you eat has a massive impact on your weight and overall health. I think we all know that. But as far as I’m aware there’s no real evidence to suggest you can’t achieve your health and weight loss goals while still occasionally enjoying any food you like.
The 127kgs Food Philosophy
Eat more real food, eat less crap.
That’s right I said less crap. We all know the stuff that’s really not good for us. Soft drinks, biscuits, cake, lollies etc. Sugar basically. Over the past 2 years I’ve learned to eat less of this stuff, but I still eat it. It’s yum and I enjoy it!
For most of us, trying to entirely cut things out of our diet requires an enormous amount of willpower, especially if we love to eat these things. If I’ve learned nothing else in the last 2 years, it’s that we all have a limited amount of willpower. Some more than others, but eventually we all have a limit.
Willpower is an internal struggle you’ll eventually lose. My advice is just don’t go down that path. It’s destructive when you lose the battle & often ends in what I’ve come to know as a blowout.
blowout
/ˈbləʊaʊt/
noun
- When an unhealthy snack turns into a shitload of unhealthy snacks.
One blowout can lead to another and that’s kinda damaging, not because of the calories, or the potential for putting on a little weight. Its psychologically damaging. It can make you feel like you failed & cause you to start questioning whether this weight loss/fitness/health mission is really worth it. Dangerous thoughts sneak in like; “Why did I even bother to try?!”
By not trying to completely cut out those things we love, we don’t need to go head-to-head in a battle of willpower. If you’ve read Lessons From a Former Fat Guy you’ll know that I’m all about making small changes, that eventually become new habits. Slowly but surely cut back but remember that you don’t just wake up one day and suddenly live healthy. It’s a learned skill, that you get better at over time.
Like all diets, going paleo will most definitely test your willpower, there are rules, things you can eat and things you can’t, and that list of demands will be long.
So WTF is Paleo?
I’m gonna make this short and concise because there are entire websites, blogs, books and businesses dedicated to this. But just in case you’ve been lucky enough to dodge the world going mental for this thing, here’s the low down.
The Paleo Diet is an attempt to return to our caveman roots. Supposedly, you only eat food that naturally occurred way back in the day. If ya couldn’t hunt it, or find it, ya can’t eat it. The gist of it is you can’t eat grains, dairy, sugar and processed foods. So pretty much anything that you really like right now has gotta go.
That’s right, no cheese, no yogurt, you sure as hell can’t eat M&Ms, no cereal, no hummus (I can’t live without hummus!), no bread, no chocolate…I’m gonna stop there because the list of things you can’t eat could go for days.
Wow. So WTF Can I Eat?
- Meat – Preferably grass-fed rather than grain-fed.
- Fowl – Ya know, stuff with wings; Chicken, Turkey, Duck etc.
- Fish – Preferably wild fish, as there are concerns with farmed fish.
- Eggs – Free Range (got no problem with that)
- Vegetables – You can eat all the organic veggies. Oh wait, no you can’t. Legumes are illegal when you’re paleo. WTF is a legume? Peas, beans and chickpeas are all legumes.
- Fruit – preferably organic
- Nuts – No peanuts though (another legume)
Now I dunno about you, but I hate being told what to do, and I’m not gonna be told what I can and can’t eat. Rules are what all diets have in common. A strict set of guidelines, based around the idea that “bad” foods will prevent you from losing weight, or getting healthy.
It’s Just Food, It’s Not Good or Bad
” Wait, what?! You already admitted cakes, lollies and all that stuff is bad.”
My point is any food can be bad for you if you eat too much of it. Yup, believe it or not you could max out on broccoli and gain weight.
-Shane
PS: A few of you have asked about what I eat regularly and what a typical day of food looks like for me now. I had intended to use this post to cover that, but I’m going to go over that in more detail in an upcoming post and on my Facebook page.
