Easing junk out of my diet??

r&c14

I've been looking into following something close to either Primal or Paleo. I can say right now I eat a lot of processed foods, sweets, and bread, pasta, the whole nine yards. I know it was hard for me to cut out soda, with the headaches and feeling like I needed it right then and there. I have been drinking water like crazy and that's already started making me feel better.

My question is when it comes to following something like Primal or Paleo, is it best to just cut it all out at once or is there anything that needs to go gradual? With me, I'm at home most of the time and it's summer break from college so I have the ability to deal with it better at home. My FI, on the other hand works 10 hour days and he is wanting to do this with me. I just don't want him to be super lethargic or anything like that dealing with cutting out the junk until it's all out of our systems and then I know we will just feel better.

Another question.. do any of you that follow Primal or Paleo cut out all breads, pastas, and stuff like that? When you follow it, do you use the 80/20 rule? I know that with me, I don't want to do anything that might make me hurt progress being made. I know with any lifestyle change it takes time and trial and error and the last thing I want to do is fall off the wagon and give up which I've done so many times in the past.

Thanks in advance for any feedback! Even if it isn't about Primal or Paleo it will all help!

r&c14

Good to know that it won't affect either of us too much. Is there anything that you did to satisfy the cravings without actually eating that food. Like I know my big thing will be sweets. When I crave something sweet, should I eat some fruit to teach my body to want that if I'm craving sweet?

manjermj

I went cold turkey and drank lots of unsweetened tea to help with the headaches from removing caffeine and lots of seltzer water with lemon to help with the withdrawal of soda.

If you're craving sweets, have a square of 70% or higher dark chocolate or sometimes I'll have something like grapefruit drizzled with honey. 

freebread03

If you really DO want to eat Paleo, get prepared by ordering things like Almond Flour, Coconut Flour, Ghee, and other things you can use to cook Paleo-friendly foods like almond flour muffins, etc.  I started Paleo cold turkey and had no issues with being tired, etc. but I also made sure I was well prepared and had tons of things I could snack on.  But like PPs have said, you could probably have similar results by just cutting out the junk and soda right now.

r&c14

Thanks for the feedback. Paleo/Primal just appealed to me when I was reading about different things I could try. I have already eliminated to soda, but it proved to be tough. I feel like I need to make the drastic change because the things I have tried in the past have failed. I may not always follow it in the future, but I know that something like this is what I need right now. I hate to think that I'd be giving stuff up and I know it will really be hard, but I'm willing to try about anything to be healthy. It's all too easy for me to fall off the wagon when I allow myself to indulge, even the tiniest bit. I'm just frustrated with failure and ready to find something that works. 

cnf2013

Liatris2010 said:

I'm curious why you want to start Paleo/Primal eating. If you eat a lot of junk now, you'll probably see big changes just by eliminating junk. Then you can still keep the carbs, so long as they are healthy ones, and not coming from Wonder Bread and cupcakes. Maybe it is just because I love pasta and pizza, but I'd have to had hit a serious plateau before considering eliminating entire food groups from my diet. Mind you I'm not knocking Paleo/Primal, it just seems like a huge jump to go from drinking soda and eating junk to such a strict diet.

I'm with Lia on this. As wonderful as the results people see are, I cannot justify cutting an entire food group out of my diet just to lose the last few pounds I'm struggling to shake. Also, it sounds like an effing PITA to have to buy special kinds of flour and stuff, not to mention expensive. I'm curious about trying it, but I know I can't commit to cutting out a whole food group (my favorite one to boot. Pasta, nomnomnom). It's also a huge jump to cut out junk food completely, but then to couple that with whole food groups, that sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Not trying to dissuade you, but there's a very good reason people are told to make one change at a time. I'd work on the junk food issue first, then once you have that under control I'd start going either paleo or primal. 

firsttimersluck

Seriously, sabascal you need to knock it off. The Knot is not your personal billboard.