Making the switch to Paleo - How did you do it?

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heymayer
heymayer Posts: 34 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Every day I say I'm going to (finally) make the switch to a Paleo, "clean", diet and get my act together and change my life and every day I don't do it. It just seems so difficult and overwhelming. 90% of that diet/lifestyle is meal planning and planning ahead, something of which I don't have enough time to do in my life. I have 90 seconds to heat a breakfast sandwich in the microwave. I don't have 15 minutes to prepare eggs and bacon each morning.

So, to those of you that do this sort of thing, that can do it, *how* did you do it? How did you make that change, and then, on top of that, stick with it?

Replies

  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
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    I did a three month experiment paleo that ended badly (nasty side effects). To get started I first found local meat sources and then I started getting the majority of my food at these farms (which tripled my grocery budget btw). I also started buying 99% of my produce at farmers markets (which of course added even more extra costs).

    It wasn't that hard to make the switch except I spent a lot longer prepping my food. And I started using money designated for my mortgage and utility bills, to pay for the food I was eating. And I got sick. Live and learn :p
  • sjohnson__1
    sjohnson__1 Posts: 405 Member
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    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    I did a three month experiment paleo that ended badly (nasty side effects). To get started I first found local meat sources and then I started getting the majority of my food at these farms (which tripled my grocery budget btw). I also started buying 99% of my produce at farmers markets (which of course added even more extra costs).

    It wasn't that hard to make the switch except I spent a lot longer prepping my food. And I started using money designated for my mortgage and utility bills, to pay for the food I was eating. And I got sick. Live and learn :p

    Thank you. Paleo isn't necessarily the end all be all to fitness and diet solutions. It's extremely difficult to sustain for the average person and isn't practical at all. I would recommend educating yourself about all the positives of paleo, and applying that to all the positives of flexible dieting. A combination of what some people consider to be "clean eating" (or what I would consider to be simply, "overpriced yet very micro nutrient dense eating") and budgeting your calories and macro nutrients with a more flexible diet is going to provide more long term success to the masses than something like Paleo, simply because it is A. healthy and most importantly, B. sustainable!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    I did a three month experiment paleo that ended badly (nasty side effects). To get started I first found local meat sources and then I started getting the majority of my food at these farms (which tripled my grocery budget btw). I also started buying 99% of my produce at farmers markets (which of course added even more extra costs).

    It wasn't that hard to make the switch except I spent a lot longer prepping my food. And I started using money designated for my mortgage and utility bills, to pay for the food I was eating. And I got sick. Live and learn :p

    What side effects? (other than spending money you didn't have?)
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    heymayer wrote: »
    Every day I say I'm going to (finally) make the switch to a Paleo, "clean", diet and get my act together and change my life and every day I don't do it. It just seems so difficult and overwhelming. 90% of that diet/lifestyle is meal planning and planning ahead, something of which I don't have enough time to do in my life. I have 90 seconds to heat a breakfast sandwich in the microwave. I don't have 15 minutes to prepare eggs and bacon each morning.

    So, to those of you that do this sort of thing, that can do it, *how* did you do it? How did you make that change, and then, on top of that, stick with it?

    I would say: if you're serious about changing your eating pattern radically, ask folks who've done it here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/37-primal-paleo-support-group

    And ignore the kerfuffle about the name, the mocking, the silly posts on the main boards.
  • fishsquisher
    fishsquisher Posts: 18 Member
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    If you like bacon and eggs, you can easily prepare breakfast for a week in 25 minutes or so once a week. I bake eggs in a large cup silicone muffin pans-just a little spray of oil, crack in the egg, and use a fork just to break the yolk-I find scrambling them makes for dry eggs by this method. A little salt and pepper or adobo if you like, then 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

    You can cook your bacon at the same time-best on a wire rack, but you can do it straight on a baking pan if you like. Just have to adjust the time for how crispy you like it. Can do a pound at a time if you want.

    I use two muffin trays and have enough eggs for 6 days. The eggs keep well for the whole week, and I just put them in the microwave for 60 seconds in the morning and they're like fresh. The silicone muffin pans make clean up super easy too. Almost no sticking. You can get them for $6-$15 on amazon.

    That's just one example, but I've found that if you want to do it, there are ways even without a lot of spare time, and without spending a fortune. You don't have to do the grass-fed, organic route to get most of the benefits.
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    I did a three month experiment paleo that ended badly (nasty side effects). To get started I first found local meat sources and then I started getting the majority of my food at these farms (which tripled my grocery budget btw). I also started buying 99% of my produce at farmers markets (which of course added even more extra costs).

    It wasn't that hard to make the switch except I spent a lot longer prepping my food. And I started using money designated for my mortgage and utility bills, to pay for the food I was eating. And I got sick. Live and learn :p

    What side effects? (other than spending money you didn't have?)

    TMI: physical- I developed horrible bad breath (to the point where people started commenting on it-mortifying), stomach issues (really bad gas, stomach always feeling uncomfortable etc), and I went from being very regular (daily), to having pretty bad constipation and needing to buy things to help get things moving, and even then I was only going 1-2 times a week. This is probably what was causing the stomach pains.

    Mental: this was actually what caused me to stop my experiment-I began to obsess about food. Like seriously obsess. It consumed me. My life started revolving around making sure I was only eating the 'correct' foods, and if something slipped in that wasn't paleo approved I would have horrible guilt. I was spending hours every day reading paleo blogs, MDA, etc and those sites/books thrive off of the idea that if you're not eating 'correctly' then you're going to harm your body/cause disease etc. I started labeling foods like non-berry fruit and potatoes as bad, which I know is utterly ridiculous, but I got sucked in big time. Now looking back I realize I was slipping down the path to orthorexia, which is pretty scary considering I've never had an ED before. And that it happened in such a short time is even scarier.

    So yeah, I'm not a fan of the whole paleo/primal woe. I know some people truly enjoy eating this way, but it definitely wasn't for me.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    I did a three month experiment paleo that ended badly (nasty side effects). To get started I first found local meat sources and then I started getting the majority of my food at these farms (which tripled my grocery budget btw). I also started buying 99% of my produce at farmers markets (which of course added even more extra costs).

    It wasn't that hard to make the switch except I spent a lot longer prepping my food. And I started using money designated for my mortgage and utility bills, to pay for the food I was eating. And I got sick. Live and learn :p

    What side effects? (other than spending money you didn't have?)

    TMI: physical- I developed horrible bad breath (to the point where people started commenting on it-mortifying), stomach issues (really bad gas, stomach always feeling uncomfortable etc), and I went from being very regular (daily), to having pretty bad constipation and needing to buy things to help get things moving, and even then I was only going 1-2 times a week. This is probably what was causing the stomach pains.

    Mental: this was actually what caused me to stop my experiment-I began to obsess about food. Like seriously obsess. It consumed me. My life started revolving around making sure I was only eating the 'correct' foods, and if something slipped in that wasn't paleo approved I would have horrible guilt. I was spending hours every day reading paleo blogs, MDA, etc and those sites/books thrive off of the idea that if you're not eating 'correctly' then you're going to harm your body/cause disease etc. I started labeling foods like non-berry fruit and potatoes as bad, which I know is utterly ridiculous, but I got sucked in big time. Now looking back I realize I was slipping down the path to orthorexia, which is pretty scary considering I've never had an ED before. And that it happened in such a short time is even scarier.

    So yeah, I'm not a fan of the whole paleo/primal woe. I know some people truly enjoy eating this way, but it definitely wasn't for me.

    Sounds like you went pretty low carb (it sounds like ketosis!), were you eating lots of vegetables? It does sound like you were wandering down a bit of a disordered thinking path. Glad you caught it, and hope it doesn't happen again.

    Thanks for the reply!
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    I did a three month experiment paleo that ended badly (nasty side effects). To get started I first found local meat sources and then I started getting the majority of my food at these farms (which tripled my grocery budget btw). I also started buying 99% of my produce at farmers markets (which of course added even more extra costs).

    It wasn't that hard to make the switch except I spent a lot longer prepping my food. And I started using money designated for my mortgage and utility bills, to pay for the food I was eating. And I got sick. Live and learn :p

    What side effects? (other than spending money you didn't have?)

    TMI: physical- I developed horrible bad breath (to the point where people started commenting on it-mortifying), stomach issues (really bad gas, stomach always feeling uncomfortable etc), and I went from being very regular (daily), to having pretty bad constipation and needing to buy things to help get things moving, and even then I was only going 1-2 times a week. This is probably what was causing the stomach pains.

    Mental: this was actually what caused me to stop my experiment-I began to obsess about food. Like seriously obsess. It consumed me. My life started revolving around making sure I was only eating the 'correct' foods, and if something slipped in that wasn't paleo approved I would have horrible guilt. I was spending hours every day reading paleo blogs, MDA, etc and those sites/books thrive off of the idea that if you're not eating 'correctly' then you're going to harm your body/cause disease etc. I started labeling foods like non-berry fruit and potatoes as bad, which I know is utterly ridiculous, but I got sucked in big time. Now looking back I realize I was slipping down the path to orthorexia, which is pretty scary considering I've never had an ED before. And that it happened in such a short time is even scarier.

    So yeah, I'm not a fan of the whole paleo/primal woe. I know some people truly enjoy eating this way, but it definitely wasn't for me.

    Sounds like you went pretty low carb (it sounds like ketosis!), were you eating lots of vegetables? It does sound like you were wandering down a bit of a disordered thinking path. Glad you caught it, and hope it doesn't happen again.

    Thanks for the reply!

    I ate a lot of leafy greens (I now hate kale lol), but I wasn't tracking carbs so I don't know-you could be right though. Obviously my experience with it isn't going to be the same for everyone, and there are a number of people who I do believe are truly happy eating this way. For me though, it just wasn't a good fit :)

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