Comments on: Make Primal Work for You

By: TrailGrrl

TrailGrrl — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:57:51 +0000

Yes any steps you take that are your own will empower you. Everything from workouts to eating. I think I am what must be a Beer Paleo. And I enjoy running, so I’m not going to give it up for more intervals. I think it’s a more meditative endorphin release that works for me. Whereas I never feel good after intervals… more like I’ve been run over by a Hummer.

When I started taking responsibillity and control of my eating and exercise I decided that I wouldn’t let anyone tell me what I should or shouldn’t do. Can’t stand another thing about red meat and inflammation or cancer. It makes me feel pretty good and buzzed as a matter of fact.

TrailGrrl

By: Yummy

Yummy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:45:39 +0000

SOG you are so right! Everyone is different and what is great for you may be the wrong thing for me. And as you said, that can change over time as well.
Love this post. Thanks!

By: Marc Feel Good Eating

Marc Feel Good Eating — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:45:02 +0000

SOG,

I couldn’t agree with you more!!!
My Japanese martial arts teacher used to tell us this all the time.

“Learn it, break it, leave it behind”

so with going primal, use the info that’s available to you. There’s lots out there. Learn it, then make it yours and you can leave it behind to truly make it your own.

God stuff SOG. Hope all is well with you!

Marc

By: Jenny from the Grok

Jenny from the Grok — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:02:25 +0000

My husband and I are making it work for us. I still have to have a hazelnut soy latte about once a day, and he still has an open-face PBJ sandwich on whole grain bread nearly every day for lunch at work. I am a legendary dieter – always with that “last 10 lbs” that won’t budge. This is the only way I’ve ever eaten that has felt “right”. Same goes for the man. Food is a team effort now and we are feeling good.

Oh, and the last 10 are coming off. 6 months of hardcore cycling classes 4x per week did nothing but tone my legs (and hey, I’m okay with that!!). It wasn’t until I started eating primal that the excess began to budge. I also like the workouts. Yesterday I paddled six miles down the river in a canoe and it was way fun (well, except for the nasty mosquito bites)!

By: Angel

Angel — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:07:56 +0000

Very good post! My first attempt at eating low carb (Atkins) failed miserably, even though I was adhering to it to the letter, because I was miserable from carb cravings. My second attempt at low carb (Protein Power) was much more successful (and I’m still sticking with it, 2 years later) because I decided I would just eat as few carbs as I could manage, which still ended up being A LOT fewer than I had been eating. I lost weight, my health improved, etc.

So I agree with you, and I also like gcb’s comment about “easing into it.”

Hmmm, well, my very first attempt at lowering carbs was the Zone Diet, which is not marketed as low carb but it did lower my carb consumption, and it went pretty well for me – in part because it allows more carbs. I lost weight and felt better on the Zone Diet even though I was eating a few more carbs than the diet recommended – again, that was my way of adapting that diet. So – I had success with two diets that I modified, and was miserable with the diet I didn’t modify.

And you are right as well, SoG, about continuing to adapt the diet. It seems like I am still discovering ways to eat low carb that surprise me in a good way. I guess it really is a journey and not just a very specific and regimented lifestyle.

By: lm

lm — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:47:34 +0000

If u think about it, Grok discovered animal milk centuries ago, but chemicals have been around for only 100 years, so should be avoided.
Other species have been knocked out by far less then what we are exposing ourselves to in our environment (fabric softeners, perfumes, colognes, air plug-ins) and ingesting in our foods and through our food containers ………..

By: Mrs Evil Genius

Mrs Evil Genius — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:55:46 +0000

I agree entirely and say this all the time on my blog. One must adapt a WOE to fit one’s lifestyle. Folks get hung up on ‘rules’ and the diet fails.

I’m Paleo but also still eat a bit of dairy (I call it Lacto-Paleo) and despite my subsisting mostly on fat, meat and eggs and echewing grains,legumes,tubers,nightshades, fruit and cucurbits, folks on forums will sniff and say: “Well, that’s NOT Paleo.”

Well, Lacto-Paleo works for me and that’s all that counts! ;D

By: gcb

gcb — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:59:29 +0000

You’re right that everyone has to make paleo or primal living their own, this is a 100%-spot-on article! The only thing I would add is that when somebody is new to the idea, it’s okay for them to “ease into it”. A lot more people are eating gluten-free these days, and I would applaud that as a very good first step before I would ever challenge them (in a polite way) to consider the next step. I get the feeling that some “lifestylers” would simply say “You’re still eating crap!” or words to that effect.

Furthermore, my wife and I still consume dairy – for many “hardcore” paleo lifers that’s a no-no, but for me that’s the way I sold it to my spouse. She had to give up too many other things she enjoyed (like corn). But we’re evolving – I’ve gotten her interested in doing interval training now, for example.

By: Katie

Katie — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:06:59 +0000

Thanks for listening, and for the advice. After writing that comment I did a lot of thinking and realized that most of my frustration stemmed from feeling overwhelmed. As you said, in order for Paleo to really work you have to make it your own. Once you move past the basics, there is a lot of room for personalization, and a lot of information out there about what other people have done. In the beginning you are so busy learning this new way of thinking that you need the structure of “right” and “wrong.” You read articles and blogs looking for instruction. But at some point, you have to trust what you’ve learned and “transition” – the line I was talking about it. It’s the point where it starts to feel natural BECAUSE you’ve adapted it to fit your lifestyle. And then, I think you start reading the blogs for inspiration and community. In my case, I guess I just needed to step back for a moment to see that no one was making me do this, that it really is just for me, and thus there is no “right” or “wrong” way to do paleo. This morning when I opened google reader, I read each article as suggestions rather than rules, cans rather than shoulds. And that made a world of difference. So thanks for helping me get ‘unstuck’!

By: Shelley

Shelley — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:51:46 +0000

I think you make an essential point here. Primal is more than ‘what you eat’. At the risk of sounding really hokey, it is, in my mind, an approach to living that asks the individual to move away from self-criticism and find a way to live in harmony with healthy choices.

This means you think, adapt, and make choices – not just follow some rules from a book.