A little more on eating whatever you want

Lately it seems like a lot of people in my life have been asking me a lot of questions about paleo/primal nutrition***. Some are really dialed-in/totally-on-it Level 10 sorts of inquiries about the slightest tweak to an already nearly bulletproof paleo regimen. Others are from beginners or even not-quite-there-yet folks who want to know how to get started on figuring out food.

And, while I love the Level 10 questions because those folks totally "get it," I also like the beginner stuff, because what's cooler than seeing the light bulb go on over that paleo newbie's head when it all clicks? So, today's spiel focuses on the newbies, because I was reminded, once again, how confusing it can all get.

I saw this video yesterday.




Watch it. It's great. Neghar Fonooni is one of those best-of-the-best strength/conditioning/lifestyle coaches that has it all figured out. Her website and FB pages give out top-notch advice and encouragement. And this particular video took me back to Sarah Fragoso's Paleo FX talk that I referenced just a while ago....You know, when I told you that, like Sarah Fragoso, I eat whatever I want.

But.... Remember one really important thing, paleo/primal newbies: eating whatever you want requires understanding what you really want. It's a sort of double-secret Zen trick: yes, eat whatever you want. So, grasshopper, what do you want?

When Neghar Fonooni or Sarah Fragoso tell you that they live life large, enjoy whatever they eat and move the hell on if they slip up, they mean it. But they also know *exactly* what their individual game plans are. They have, through a lot of experimentation, figured out precisely what works for them, and they adhere to that plan as they see fit (pun totally intended).

So, before you reach their lofty heights of awesome, you need to figure it all out for *yourself*. How?

I am, as I told you a couple posts ago, a big advocate of a 30-day challenge/detox as the gateway to sorting out how best to eat for you. You detox for a month by taking out all the potentially bad stuff, eat really freaking well at the same time, and then.... *Then* it all gets awesome, because that is when you get to concoct the plan from then on out. And, sure enough, that plan is going to have 1000 little detours and twists and turns. Hell, I have it pretty well dialed in, and yet I am *constantly* playing with new ideas -- be it carb backloading, skipping breakfast, partitioning carbs a particular way, whatever. It is a very cool adventure, and, yeah, it is sometimes punctuated with Ben + Jerry's.

And when I fill the tub with CoffeeCoffeeBuzzBuzzBuzz and jump in from a high-dive platform, I know exactly (ok, mostly) what I am doing and exactly (uh, ok, mostly) what it is going to do to me. I try to time the assault upon my system in a way that makes sense for me, enjoy the hell out of it and then get back on the program.

And you will figure all that out too. But you have to clean up first, feed yourself really well during the cleanup, and *then* do some figuring.... Some really delicious figuring. 3,2,1, go!




***Further proof that I have a big effing mouth, because, in reality, let's remember that I have no qualifications at all. :) I am just a dude who eats paleo/primal and loves it, and, yeah, can't shut up about it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad