Paleo- In Your Face or Subtle, The Message Remains The Same

If I were to suggest to you that it’s a good idea to eat a balance of local, fresh veggies with some fruit, some natural, wild proteins and unadulterated fat at each meal and not to eat items in packages or cans, would you argue with me?

I will admit to being far more dogmatic about how I teach people how to implement Paleo into their lives, when I first began integrating the Paleo principles into my nutrition services to clients. While it came from a good place (my passion for sharing the tremendous health benefits I’d seen in my own body and wanting others to have the same epiphany), looking back, I can see how in some situations I may have been too black and white.

To clarify, this is not to say I am changing my views on Paleo; I still believe in it, 100%, and will continue to teach it at the same level. What’s changed is that now I can see how, in order to reach the masses, it’s of utmost importance to show how it can be done in stages, and how one can ease into it and that it might initially be done with only the intention to try it for a month.

Depending on one’s reason for being interested in Paleo, it can either be something that one dives into, full speed ahead, as in the case of someone like myself- having been wrought with GI issues for twenty plus years and counting, and getting worse, and then finding that by simply removing all grains, dairy and legumes, I was able to become the healthiest I’d ever been- or it can be someone like a client I have, who doesn’t necessarily feel ill, understands she could lose some weight by eating this way but isn’t convinced she needs to give up her ice cream forever (she’ll find out soon, though!:).

So when I read studies stating (erroneously) that there is no science behind Paleo or that (wrong again) there is no reason to cut gluten unless one is diagnosed with Celiac (whatever), I cringe a little.

I repeat- how can one argue with the idea that we are meant to be eating a balance of fresh local veggies, wild proteins and natural fats and that we are not meant to be eating items in boxes, cans and wrappers? Call it Paleo, don’t call it Paleo, even better, call it living Paleoista Style.. it’s the same exact thing.

Just eat food.

And move.