"I eat whatever I want."

One of my favorite talks at this year's Paleo FX conference was by Sarah Fragoso from Everyday Paleo, and I was reminded recently, when discussing food with a friend, of my very favorite line from her presentation:

"When people ask me what I eat or how I eat, I tell them that I eat whatever I want."

It's a great concept for the paleo way of eating -- note, not "diet." And you "dieters" are probably thinking, "What the hell?"

But I totally agree with her. I eat whatever I want.

Now here is the catch: what I "want" to eat depends upon my body's needs and how food makes me feel. I don't "want" to eat bread, pizza, etc, because I don't "want" to feel like crap the next day. I also don't "want" to drink booze very often because it has a cumulative negative effect on my gym performance and mood. And if I were someone focused on hardcore body-comp improvement, I probably wouldn't "want" to go far off-road at all when it comes to food compliance.

But, sometimes, I really do "want" a delicious drink and some Mexican food that maybe isn't totally paleo-compliant. And so I have it. And I don't fret over it, mentally beat the crap out of myself or otherwise wise have a personal breakdown. I eat it, have fun, and then steer the paleo truck back onto the road again. And if I realize, with some post-fun regret, that maybe that wasn't *really* what I "wanted" for the long-term, I chalk it up to a learning experience and drive the fuck on.

Now if this all sounds like semantics, I suppose it is to a degree, but what it is about is... get this.... knowing what you *really* want -- distinguishing between a fleeting desire for something and the realization of how fulfilling the fleeting desire is going to wreck your longer-term "wants," like maybe body-comp or just the old Robb Wolf maxim about "how you look, feel and perform." And, I understand, that that sort of thing is more about what's in your head than what is on your plate.

So, yeah, fix your head when it comes to food. You, presumably do it all the time in the rest of your life, or, otherwise, your existence would be a drama-heavy juvenile/teenage wreck. Food's no different. Eat what you *really* want. Y'know... after you figure out what you *really* want.



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