Balancing Your Treats

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I use the word ‘balance’ quite a bit. There’s a reason for this. A key component of successfully implementing the Paleo regime for the long haul is, in fact, incorporating balance with regard to many things:  food timing, macro nutrient ratio…and how often to have something sweet. Here’s what not to do: Swap out the splenda you put in your morning coffee with honey, switch the vanilla latte you rely on each afternoon for your 3pm crash with a sugar-free nonfat one and trade the brownies you bake each weekend with the kids for gluten-free “Paleo-ish” ones. It’s easy to let ourselves get tricked into the mentality that by replacing some of the worse offenders- like gluten and dairy, not to mention those awful pretend sugars (as well as the real ones) , with derivatives of foods that were once more Paleo (like almond flour or dates)- we’re ‘following the Paleo diet’. And you can do these things, but eat them once in a while, not every day. So, how often, then? There’s nothing set in stone, but if we look to mimic the food groups of our ancestors, as Dr. Cordain suggests, their ‘treat’, honey, would not likely have been partaken of too often at all. If you feel you ‘need’ or ‘crave’ something sweet, check in and make sure you’ve eaten enough veggies, protein and fat earlier in the day as you’re likely having a blood sugar crash. However, there is room for a treat now and then. Keeping it for a special occasion actually makes it…special! And that’s where this week’s prize comes in. Barefoot Provisions and I are offering a Paleoista Approved Special Occasions Basket. Real, unadulterated raw chocolate, rich, buttery (as in texture, not dairy!) Click here for more!