Before you begin a Paleo lifestyle

This is part of my series, Four-week Paleo meal plan. If you are just getting started, you should read this first:

 

Getting started with a Paleo meal plan

The basics of a Paleo diet

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I love home improvement projects. I love rearranging a space, painting a room or redecorating. When I’m done, I always want to take a photo of how everything looks. But inevitably, I will realize I didn’t take a BEFORE shot.

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THE POWER OF A BEFORE SHOT

Before you make the commitment to begin the four-week Paleo meal plan, get a before shot. Taking a before shot can be difficult. If you want to lose weight, you are bloated or you aren’t feeling healthy, no one wants to take a photo of that! But taking a before shot is a way of telling yourself that there WILL be an after. Why would you take a before shot unless you were planning to feel differently in a month?

Also, make notes about your weight, your measurements and how you are feeling.

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LOSING WEIGHT AND SWEETENERS

The Paleo lifestyle isn’t focused on losing weight. For many people, simply cutting out sugar, grains and dairy will be such a radical change to your diet that you will naturally lose weight.

In the maintenance mode, I allow myself to have natural sweeteners, such as raw honey and pure maple syrup. If you are trying to lose weight, you should not eat any sweeteners. Long-term, I need some sweetness in my life! So, I generally choose to eat sweeteners, rather than losing weight.

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FOOD DEPRIVATION

The Paleo diet isn’t about depriving yourself of food or going hungry. In fact, I would say it’s just the opposite. It’s about eating lots of nutritious food. You can eat as much food as you want, as long as it’s on the list of food you CAN eat.

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Download a free printable with what you can eat on Paleo

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However, this has to be done within reason. You are allowed to have nuts. But I can guarantee you that if you eat an entire bag of pecans or almonds every day, you WILL gain weight! The point is to use these to enhance your food, not to become your entire diet!

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BE PREPARED

You are going to need to stock your pantry with some Paleo essentials. I buy most of these from Costco. Here’s what you will need:

• Full fat coconut milk in cans
• Almond milk
• Coconut oil
• Olive Oil
• Avocado mayonnaise (I’m not super strict about mayo… I will eat regular mayo, but if you want to be completely strict you should either make your own mayo or buy the avocado may from Costco)
• Almond flour
• Coconut flour
• Green Tea
• Matcha powder
• Almond butter
• Costco has a great selection of high quality meat and organic fruits and veggies. I buy organic as much as my budget will allow.
• Riced cauliflower (from the frozen section)
• Chicken stock
• Beef stock
• Guacamole and/or avocado

 

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INTERMITTENT FASTING

As you give up sugar and the highly processed food that converts to sugar, you will find that your blood sugar starts to regulate. You won’t wake up in the middle of the night hungry. You will be able to go longer periods of time without eating.

Set a goal to get to 15 hours each night of fasting. I try not to eat from 6 p.m. until 9 a.m. This will help tremendously with weight loss and regulating your blood sugar.

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TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

It’s important to celebrate how far you’ve come! Download my four-week habit tracking sheet to keep you motivated.

Download a free printable habit tracker to monitor your progress:

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Before you begin, make sure you check out these resources:

Getting started with a Paleo meal plan

The basics of a Paleo diet

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MEAL PLANS

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

 

 

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