PaleoNonPaleo – Living paleo in a non-paleo world

Hot Healthy Paleo Girl Reveals Secrets of 115lb Weight Loss

I came across Tara Grant last fall when she was featured in Mark Sisson’s then-new book ‘The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Transformation’ She is featured as one of the success stories. I liked her look (I love retro fashion) and she’d experienced endometriosis, IVF and had twin boys. My story and hers were almost identical in many ways…except for the little matter of the fact she’s lost 115lbs. And kept it off.

She’s outspoken, feisty and passionate about spreading the primal/paleo word. She writes about her experiences over on her blog Primal Girl. She also has tons of energy and doesn’t seem to sit still for a minute!

I thought you’d be interested in hearing her paleo weight-loss secrets so I asked her if she’d be kind enough to agree to answer a few (okay, a zillion) questions and she said yes! Her replies were charming and sassy and thoughtful – it was like having her over for coffee so grab a beverage of your choice and read her story…

When did your health problems start?
Looking back, I think problems started when I was around 9 years old. That was the year I put on a couple of pounds and my eyesight started deteriorating.

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Priceless Paleo Lessons From Twenty-Five Year Weight-Loss Battle

I read Make Shi(f)t Happen by paleo blogger Dean Dwyer two weeks ago. Once I finished I immediately turned it over and read it again. It’s that kind of book.

I’d been waiting for Dean’s book for months. Ever since he explained his practice of reading business books like Against the Odds, the autobiography of James Dyson and inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, and applying the principles outlined in those books to his quest for building a lean, mean, efficient body.

As an avid reader of these types of books, I’d never thought of doing that. And I thought that was genius.

Easy to read.

I am a slow reader and this book took me a day and a half. There is no fluff and he gets down to it in a simple, easy to understand way. Some chapters (shifts) have action items for the reader to undertake, others don’t. All have plenty of material to make you think.

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My Battle With High Cholesterol and What I’m Doing About It

I’ve been a little quiet around social media this week, in fact I’ve been quite quiet in real life, too. I got some information a couple of weeks ago that sparked something of a paleo crisis for me and caused me to do a lot of thinking.

Cholesterol up, way up.

Every other year I get my cholesterol checked. Not for fun but because I believe that information is power and in light of the fact that three of my grandparents died of heart disease, two of them not much older than I am now, I want to be as informed as I can be in order to make good decisions should it become necessary.

Up until now, my test results were always OK although I’d been watching my LDL (bad cholesterol) jump around in the high-normal area. This was my first test since going paleo and I was very curious to see what my results would be given that the lifestyle and especially diet has a reputation for reducing cholesterol blood markers.

LDL sky-rocketed.

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22 Sure-Fire Tips to Beat Sugar Cravings to a Pulp

Well, shoot.

You’ve got a problem. One that threatens to derail all your efforts, your good intentions and your progress. You’re on intimate terms – you know each other well, it knows your name and calls you whenever it feels like it. Sugar. Your nemesis. The enemy. Brazen in plain sight or lurking in the shadows, it watches your every move. And you know it.

Sugar in all its guises

I often get emails asking for advice on beating the sugar demon and believe me, I’ve struggled with it myself. While I consider myself to still be a sugar addict, and perhaps always will, I have been able to dial in my desire for sugar so that it rarely speaks to me loudly any longer. I also have many strategies to limit the likelihood that I am tempted to get back on the sugar-crazy wheel of life which causes me to eat sugar irrationally and to excess.

Bring it. Own it. Crush it.

Beating sugar cravings can be boiled down to this: commitment. You need to really want this.

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Top Paleo Bloggers Reveal Their Best Tips and Bedtime Reads

A week or so ago, I wrote to a bunch of paleo bloggers asking them three questions. I strongly wanted to get their top tips for success (because we can all do with more of those from people who are successful.) I wanted to know who they looked to for inspiration and information. And I wanted to get a sense of who they were as people by finding out what they were reading.

Take a look at the list below, there are some paleo rockstars, some up-and-comers and some new bloggers you may have never heard of.

(Psst, while I asked everyone the same three questions, I asked Mark Sisson, a fourth – ‘How do you see the primal movement developing in the future?’ If you would like to learn his answer, please go over to the Facebook page and check it out.)

Todd Dosenberry from Primal Toad:

Toad’s blog features his thoughts on the paleo lifestyle, sometimes punchy, sometimes self -revealing, always unapologetically, enthusiastic pro-paleo.

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Dean Dwyer: Paleo’s Sexiest Man Alive?

Dean Dwyer first appeared on the paleo scene back in mid-2011 with a Friday success story on Marks Daily Apple that had female hearts around the globe all a-flutter.

Since then, he has injected his blog, Being Primal, with some startling virality, established a membership site, presented at both the Paleo Summit and Paleo F(x) and written a book, Make Shi(f)t Happen. His self-deprecating sense of humor, upbeat personality, and sharp lateral thinking have clearly won him a legion of loyal fans.

That, or it could just be his abs.

When I asked Dean for an interview, I threw all the questions I could think of at him. He answered every single one, bless him.

Dean is a former veggie, former teacher, and former heavy guy (he is still Canadian, however,) and once told me he was ‘charming but harmless.’ I’m not so sure. Read on to find out why.

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Why This Paleo Mom is Giving Her Kids Candy for Easter

Six years ago in a fit of pique I turned my family’s diet upside down. Frustrated beyond my tipping point with my son’s behavioral issues, I vowed to cut out all processed food, sugar, gluten, most dairy and many fruits and vegetables.

Worst. Timing. Ever!

I made this vow directly before my twin son’s birthday which also happened to fall on Easter Sunday. Good timing, huh?

Even though we had Easter egg hunts, parties and family dinners arranged, I did it. I managed to keep my kids away from all those food items. Not a single jelly bean got past their lips, I scraped the glaze off the ham at the family dinner (not a classy sight,) and my wallet was significantly lighter for all the trading I’d had to embark upon with these cute but smart six year-olds.

When kids are young you can do these things – send food with them to birthday parties, hover to make sure they make the right choices, lead by example and they will follow. But it gets harder.

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11 Simple Ways to Convert Your Kids to Paleo by Taking Them Shopping

Are you kids balking at the paleo dinners you make them? Do they want to remain on first name terms with the pizza delivery guy?

This is a common and real problem because it hits us right in the the heart of what we consider to be good parents – to provide sustenance and keep them healthy.

So what do we do? Tell them to simply sit up and eat up? Explain the science behind it? Make a game of it? Have you tried any of these and failed?

Perhaps it’s time to consider something new.

Child and teen development expert, Dr Robyn Silverman says the way to teach respect is to show respect. And one of the most important places to show, and teach, respect for food is…the grocery store.

Stop groaning. I know you like to zoom around there as quickly as possible, in and out in ten minutes, preferably without little people hanging off you, whining, or worse, throwing easter eggs at each other in a spontaneous game of catch.

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9 Ways to Silence the Paleo Skeptics

You’re standing there, eating ham and a tomato at a buffet laden with pastry.

You scrape off brown sugar from the top of sweet potatoes at Easter lunch.

You say ‘No thank you’ when your co-worker’s homemade birthday cake is offered around.

You see someone watching you and you know what’s coming…

A comment, or maybe just a look. Or a set of the shoulders.

It makes you feel anxious, your heart beats a little faster, indignation courses through your veins. You remember all times you made public statements about losing weight, then failed.

You feel like eating carbs just to calm yourself down!

I’ve been there. Many times.

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11 Clever Ways to Help Your Family Go Paleo

Are you transitioning your family to paleo? Are they coming along, or kicking and screaming?

I have two kids and one husband who sat at the same dinner table as me for fifteen months as non-paleos before I could say we were a paleo family.

I thought and thought about how to get them to eat the way I did. I had one sugar-addict boy, a wheat-and-dairy-addict boy and this-is-the-way-I-like-it-I-don’t-need-to-change boy.

Over time, I got them there by brainstorming, negotiating, rule-setting and flexibility. And I learned there’s a lot of psychology that goes into this process. And many practical skills. Having the right recipes is just the start.