Who watched 60 minutes on Sunday? For those who missed it, it was a story on Mike Willesee following the Paleo Diet. I thought it was a really fair story. The biggest issue is that it’s very hard to tell exactly what made Mike feel better. Was it really because he was on the Paleo, or was it because he was eating so badly and doing so little before that it wouldn’t have mattered what he did? This is often the case for many fad diets. If someone is eating very badly any diet will show improvement. We have to break it down to the simple fact that the energy in food has to be less than energy expended. No foods are bad foods as long as they are eaten in moderation and with thought, not just shovelled into our mouths until we feel unwell.
The Paleo diet is very restrictive so I worry about how long you could maintain it. I still believe that if you think you can’t do any diet long term then you are setting yourself up for failure going on it. Different ways of eating work for different people. So you have to figure out what is the best way for you to eat to achieve long term success. Whatever version you use to get to your goal weight you must realise that you won’t be able to stray far from that if you want to maintain your result.
If you are serious you have to work out the rules to your diet game and set rules for it. For example, I don’t eat cheese but I will have chocolate on occasion. I don’t eat sweets but I love ice cream and I try to have a minimum of 4 alcohol free nights a week. When my clothes start to feel tight I reduce my caloric intake till they don’t feel tight. I do this all the time! That’s why when people say to me things like “its easy for you”, I think yep, real easy. I have my rules and stick to them 90% of the time, hence my weight doesn’t fluctuate very much no matter what I am doing.
I am here to help you set the rules of your game. Nothing makes me happier than helping people create healthy (realistic) lifestyles. Once you establish your rules, it’s full steam ahead!
Forever Dare,
Mandy