How are you? You’re over halfway through this whole program – congrats!! Are you feeling better? Looking any different? I hope you’re enjoying the results!
How did your caffeine cessation go?
Or are you still in the midsts of it? Hold tight with that! It’ll be worth it in the end whether you decide you can tolerate it or not.
Today we’re talking about “cheating”.
I put that in quotes because I think it’s sort of a weird word in this context. Everyone understands that if you “cheat” on a diet, you’re breaking the rules that’ve been laid out. In my dictionary, a cheater is defined as the following:
“A person who behaves dishonestly in order to gain an advantage”
But you’re not gaining any advantages over anyone or anything when you eat a box of donuts. I mean, they taste good (I hope), but the name of the game is to lose weight and get healthier, so it’s not really cheating in the literal sense of the word.
Semantics aside, cheating is not going to do you any good.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and shame you for eating outside of the guidelines I’ve laid out. I’m not interested in that at all because food shaming is one of the banes of our societal health problems in my opinion.
I’m here to give you options that are healthier. You are in a grand place, my friend. Paleo has been around for YEARS. It’s been around for so long that every kind of food you love and miss has been “Paleo-ized” in order to quell your every craving.
HOW TO CHEAT WELL
My friend, George Bryant of www.civilizedcavemancooking.com, is probably the best chocolate alchemist I’ve ever seen. His recipes are amazing, sweet, and usually completely follow the guidelines of this program. Sometimes there’s butter in his recipes, but you can always substitute butter for coconut oil and you’ll never know the difference.
So if you’re having a craving for a cookie, a donut, chocolate cake, pound cake, lasagna, pizza, you name it, you can find a recipe out there for just what you’re looking for. And it’ll be perfectly Paleo-ized. Just google any food you’re looking for with the word “paleo” in front of it and you’ll find something.
HOW OFTEN?
Now, let me be clear. I’m not saying you should be eating cookies every day, fudge every night, and muffins in between. Unless, of course, they’re not sweetened with much of anything. Even if you’re using raw honey, grade B maple syrup, or coconut nectar as your sweetener, it’s still sugar and any sweetener will still make you fat if you eat too much of it.
So save these Paleo splurging occasions for when you’re truly about to cave in and eat the old, more toxic versions of your favorite desserts. Try to keep that to a couple times a week or less in the first month.
WHY SHOULDN’T YOU “CHEAT” ON “NORMAL” FOODS
The problem with the non-Paleo foods right now is that you’ve taken this time to be away from them, to see how you feel without them – the grains, white sugar, legumes, dairy, and food additives. And if you eat them throughout the program, you’ll never know how they affect you. Eating gluten one time will affect you for 6 months. Yes, 6 months. That’s what Dr. Tom O’Bryan (TheDr.Com) told me in an interview, and he knows more about gluten than pretty much anyone on the planet.
So if you’re going to “cheat”, do yourself a favor and don’t cheat at all. Just make a Paleo-ized version of whatever it is you want. It usually doesn’t take as much time as you’d think, and it usually tastes a lot better than you’d expect.
And if you DO eat grains, gluten, dairy, or any of that other stuff, don’t stress out about it too much. As I’ve said, be tough on yourself throughout this, but not mean. You’re only human, and those foods have an addictive, powerful draw (I know first hand on that one).
ONE LAST THING
You may be the kind of person who isn’t super sensitive to grains, gluten, or anything else. You may have a hearty system that can take whatever you dish out (literally) to an extent. If you find that you’re somewhere between me (really sensitive) and your grandmother who lived to be 110 on a diet of Marlboros, Spam, and Oreos, then you’ll need to figure out exactly how much your body can tolerate.
You might be able to eat rice or dairy pretty regularly, and even gluten sometimes. But this is the month for you to clean your body out so you can really feel how those things make you feel when/if you add them back in. You can do anything for 30 days, right? I think so!
Until next time,
Neely
neelyquinn.com
P.S.
Don’t forget about your downloads! They’ll really help you understand this diet more thoroughly, as well as make it easier and more do-able for you.
—>>>DOWNLOADS<<<—
——> Food Guide for Fat Loss (PDF)
——> What Is Paleo? (PDF)
——> Meal Planning and Recipes Guide (PDF)
