Getting Back On Track

There are times when you might wander off your Paleo path, get off track, so to speak. Despite experiencing the results of your Paleo diet, looking, feeling and performing better, you might, on occasion, see people enjoying foods you used to enjoy and you think that you should be able to eat those foods too. Your motivation starts to slip.

Even though you are well aware of the impacts of some of these foods on your health, there might come a time when you choose to eat them anyway. "Just this once," you might say. Before you know it, your diet slowly begins to resemble your old diet and you start to feel like your old self. Maybe your energy levels start to decline or perhaps you gained back some weight. You decide it is time to get back on track!  

Is it too late for a Paleo restart? Is it worth it? Is all hope lost? How do you get back on your Paleo journey and reclaim the healthy path that has begun to slip away?

Take Responsibility

You are in control! Your mind does not have to convince you otherwise. It's easy to start listening to those parts of your psyche that surrender to instant gratification and pleasurable temptations all the time. When you approach life using this survival instinct, this most basic level of consciousness, you end up running on autopilot. 

Avoid reacting automatically. Be thoughtful with your choices and for better or worse take responsibility for them. If you made some bad dietary choices recently, it is perfectly okay. Do you best not to deny that it was you who chose and blame external circumstances. You could make all sorts of excuses to yourself, but ultimately, it is you who made the final decision.

The best thing you can do is say to realize that you made some choices that have taken you off track and decide that you are responsible for your choices. This is turn will result in the realization that  you can make different, better choices. Do so immediately.

Identify Your Trigger

This step is crucial and it can happen very quickly. You need to identify what triggered you to get off track. It's possible that you experienced change or stress in other parts of your life that triggered you to go to comfort foods. Perhaps a new work schedule and changes from your normal routine allowed those non-Paleo, processed foods start to fill the cabinets.

Whatever it is pinpoint the issue and take s mental note. Realize that you are in control of your circumstances, not the other way around. If you are working a new schedule, adjust your plan to account for this. If you find yourself stressed out then do something about it - meditate, journal, hike, yoga or get a massage.

Start Over – Immediately

Feeling restricted or feeling like you’re under a time limit to squeeze in all that unhealthy eating gives you an excuse to continue on your wayward path. The best time to “start over” is at the next meal. You don’t have to wait until tomorrow or next week.

If you’re feeling uninspired to do so, head to the store and pick up some of the most colourful produce you can find. Get excited to get in the kitchen by looking up a new recipe. Eating a whole plate of Paleo friendly produce can do wonders to hit the reset button

It is okay to skip a meal or two too, as long as you don’t see it as a punishment for prior indiscretions. Intermittent fasting is widely recognized as a healthy practice, and it’s also a great way to hit the reset button. Sometimes, giving your body a chance to work through all the junk you ate before you eat anything else can be helpful. Wait until you truly feel hunger again before sitting down to another meal is crucial. Be sure that meal is nutrient dense and satisfying. Savour it and enjoy it, to remind yourself of why this way of eating is worth sticking to.

Back To Basics

Any endeavor in life has a set of fundamentals. When you play a sport there are the basics of the sport that make you proficient enough to play it. The same principles apply to the Paleo diet. If you have fallen off track it might be because you tried to get too advanced before you were ready. 

Have you dabbled with intermittent fasting before giving up processed and manufactured, foods? Get back to the basics. Learn more about the fundamentals of the Paleo diet here>>>>

Get Excited

There is no shortage of wonderful cookbooks and blogs creating amazing recipes to satisfy your hunger. Getting into the kitchen and cooking up some of your favourites, or a few new ones that catch your eye, is the best way to get back on plan. The food is beyond delicious and if you remind yourself of that, you may wonder why you ever fell off the wagon in the first place!

Grab your copy of Chef Pete’s Paleo By Season and get inspired today!

Not big on cooking? Choose delivery

Using a Paleo food delivery service can help get you back on track no matter who you are coming from. You can free up some of your time and still eat healthy, seasonal, organic meals, all for less than eating at a restaurant or shopping at your local health food store. Allow Pete's Paleo meal delivery service to plan, shop, cook and deliver fresh Paleo meals to your door! Not only does our menu change on a weekly basis with the seasons, but we change that menu based on what our farmers grow & harvest out of the ground that very week we cook it.

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Progress Not Perfection

Don't cause yourself a bunch of extra stress by trying to be perfect. Perfection does not exist. By trying to be perfect all the time you are ultimately setting yourself up for failure by creating an extra level of stress for yourself.

Whether getting started or coming back to your Paleo diet, taking it slow and steady is the best way to ensure long-term success. Make small habit changes one at a time. 

Ultimately, you want to reach a place where you feel you are back in control. This is not about who can be more perfect at the Paleo diet. That is ridiculous. You are in control of the food you eat, food is not in control of you. Once you reach a point where you are making great food choices a majority of the time then you know you are doing well. If you so end up choosing to have food that is "off plan" every now and then, there is no huge issue. Don't beat yourself up about it.

The only things that matter are your goals and how you feel. When it comes to food eat the foods that make you look, feel and perform your best.

Think Long-Term

My personal philosophy and approach to nutrition is more about mastery than figuring out the next ‘quick fix’ or diet ‘hack’. I find so many folks obsessed with finding the latest ‘hack’ or their ‘silver bullet’. These types of solutions are prolific and many of them are really useful – a great time saving hack for example. There are even cooking and nutrition ‘hack’ which can be really helpful to so many. Overall, though, I believe the most sustainable approach is to take the long-term view with regards to your nutrition. There are no shortcuts on the journey to being healthy. This is the best way to guarantee lasting results!

Finally….

A well formulated Paleo diet is the antithesis of deprivation BUT, in reality, many people fall off the Paleo bandwagon once or twice and they do live to tell about it. What you need to keep in mind is that you are a winner as long as you get back on it one time more than the number of times you fell off. Fall off. Get up. Make your VERY next bite, the best, Paleo bite you can possibly make it.

Keep these steps in mind. You can get back on track with your Paleo diet and get back to living optimally!

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