The Gradual Paleo is just as it says on the tin – a gradual way to embrace Paleo and to change into the Paleo lifestyle at a steady speed.
You may wonder what made we want to do this rather than just starting a new week as a Paleo newcomer? Well it was actually something that I read on Instagram that started this process and let me explain:
I read an update from someone that said that they had quit the whole 30 (a strict take on the Paleo diet for weight loss) after five days because they had passed out from lack of sugar. They had then gone out and eaten 2 buckets of sugary popcorn and finished it off with 10 slices of pizza and chocolate cake. Then after their marathon binge felt full of beans again and wouldn’t put their body through it ever again!
Well when I took a closer look it turned out that they had a very high calorie diet prior to the whole 30 experience and trying it out had taken them from 5000 calories per day down to 800. Well our bodies are simply not built for such a huge drop in calories and losing 80% of our calorie intake is not good.
Many of us that are not on Paleo have these staples everyday as part of our day to day diet:
- Dairy
- Carbs
- Processed Foods
- Alcohol
- Fizzy Drinks
- Refined Sugars
But what I find works much better is that if we drop something, then get used to it being gone and then follow this process over and over again until we feel happy with our body and what we are eating.
I will be taking my body on a gradual Paleo for 8 weeks.
I will experience it as follows:
Week 1 – lose processed foods, alcohol, fizzy drinks and one meal a day is replaced with Paleo
Week 2 – Lose carbs and replace both my snack and my lunch with Paleo meals.
Week 3 – lose all refined sugars (sugar that is not found naturally in foods) and my snack, lunch and dinner will be Paleo.
Week 4 – Lose all dairy and all my meals will now be Paleo
After this I will then move on to doing the whole 30 for 30 days. That way my body is getting used to losing things and once I have gone a week without something I will then drop something else and so on until I complete my gradual Paleo.
If you notice I have also replaced a different meal each week with a Paleo one. Well this is an excellent alternative in order for you to slowly introduce Paleo into your lifestyle. Just think about what you eat right now and what changes you could make to one meal a day.
If you normally have meat, potato and vegetables for lunch why not more vegetables have and ditch the potatoes? Or for breakfast have boiled eggs with carrot sticks rather than toast or cereal?
It is actually easier than you think!
The Gradual Paleo – Week 1
Welcome to week 1 of my gradual Paleo. In this blog post I have gone a week without all my fizzy drinks, alcohol and processed foods. I would say this only account for about 15% of my lifestyle so chopping them out is really not much of a bother.
Then I will be losing my snack or making it completely Paleo, depending on whether I have one or not. I often find that I am perfectly happy with three meals a day, well most of the time I am.
Please click here to read it in full.
The Gradual Paleo – Week 2
Welcome to week 2 of my gradual Paleo. In this blog post I have ditched the carbs. All of them are now gone. Well the bad ones are anyway.
No more white potatoes, rice, pasta or bread for me. Thankfully I don’t eat them all the time so it isn’t too much of a shock to lose them.
I am also on two meals a day that are Paleo – something that is rather easy once you change your habits!
Please click here to read it in full.
The Gradual Paleo – Week 3
Welcome to week 3 of my gradual Paleo. In this blog post I have gone a week without my added sugar.
I am a sugar addict through and through. I love my Haribo’s, Ben & Jerry’s were meant for me to eat, I love birthday cake and chocolate is my best friend. So for me to ditch it is a big deal.
I will also be reducing my non-Paleo meals down to just two now and life will be so different without all these non-Paleo meals.
Please click here to read it in full.
The Gradual Paleo – Week 4
Welcome to week 4 of my gradual Paleo. In this blog post I have completed my fianl week by ditching the dairy and making all my meals Paleo.
It has been a lot easier than I would have thought and I am so glad that I did all this over four weeks rather than giving it all up at once.
The weight loss has also been fantastic and I am so glad that I started the gradual Paleo!