My Relationship with Food
Tip Thursday
I figured breaking this into three different posts would be easiest. My relationship with food changed over the years. I want to share what I did when the stomach/health issues flared, what I did when I was at my worst, and where I am at now after seeing significant healing and improvement.
What I am doing now and can tolerate is different than what I did three years ago. The three parts will be going paleo, eating paleo as my stomach issues worsened, and actions now the root cause healed.
I went from eating normal to paleo overnight. Unless your primary care practitioner tells you to change overnight, I would not recommend it. It can be overwhelming and frustrating. If you are trying to eat similar to a paleo lifestyle, I recommend making changes one at a time and going slowly.
Transitioning from a current way of eating to paleo
- Research- take the time to research paleo. It is different from what most of us are used to eating. Set yourself up for success by understanding what types of paleo foods, brands to look for in stores, and recipes you can start introducing.
- Go slowly- try eliminating one item at a time (start with any of the following and then move to the another one: gluten, sugar, diary, grains, soy, etc)
- Replace pantry items as you run out- overhauling your entire panty can be expensive and wasteful. I recommend starting slowly. Once you run out of normal flour buy almond. Stock up on nuts and seeds for snacks, healthier oils for cooking, and dried fruit for when sugar cravings hit.
- Go off all sugar (even natural like honey and maple syrup) for at least 10 days- our bodies are easily addicted to refined sugar. When we go off of it, even switching to natural, we are not really killing the addiction. Try only eating fruit for 10-30 days before adding in honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
- Replace refrigerated items- you will be surprised with how many condiments and dressing have sugar and high inflammatory oils.
- Meal prep- plan easy lunch and snack items ready to go in your refrigerator
- Host at your house- I could do an entire post on this one but it can be problematic to go out to restaurants and over to friends houses when trying to strictly eat paleo. I generally try to host if I can, or pick the restaurant and look at the menu ahead of time. I also pack items to supplement meals out or at friends- like salad dressing, paleo crackers etc.
- Have your spouse or friend do it with you- it can feel like a grind for the first month or so. Having an accountability partner and not having to cook two meals makes all the difference.
tip-thursday