Ok, I Have A Confession To Make…
Hey there everyone, you may have noticed my lack of action with the blog the last couple of weeks. That's because I was away on a long-overdue vacation!
Yep! Slightly over two weeks in the South of France. The weather was great, the people were great, the traveling, sight-seeing and rock climbing was great!
And boy… was the food and wine great too!
And hereby I confess that I went non-Paleo the whole time I was there. I was on the vacation with my girlfriend, who is French by the way. Partly because she's from there, partly because we stayed with her family a little and mostly because we just wanted to enjoy immersing ourselves in the whole experience, we ate and drank quite a lot of non-Paleo stuff.
I'm not sorry at all and totally enjoyed it. Personally I believe that every once in a while, you should allow yourself to let lose a little. But, having a strong foundation of health and a strong level of knowledge about what supports your health and what does not beforehand, does help you understand what you are doing and the results you are creating.
The Reason For My Confession
Here's why I'm sharing this with you when I could've just kept quiet and pretended like I'm the perfect Paleo Junkie. But, that wouldn't be the “real” me. The “real” me wants to make three main points with this story or post. But before I do, bear in mind that it was mainly because of my understanding of the key elements in diet that keep me healthy, and point 2 (which you will read in a while), that I was able to keep myself at relatively high energy levels and from getting “sick”. Anyway, below are the three points I'd like to make.
Eating Non-Paleo Throws My Body Out Of Whack
Going from Paleo to non-Paleo, after just one day, I noticed how things did not fit well. The excess gluten or wheat products, and dairy I was eating was creating havoc in my body.
The French LOVE (with a capital L), their bread and CHEESE, and I have got to admit, I have began to acquire a taste for it too. That's not to mention, how much they love their wine too! As I immersed myself in the French style of eating and drinking, my body was reacting with indigestion, lower levels of energy during the day, needing more sleep and lower sport performance levels mainly.
Towards the second week or so, I noticed myself starting to “sniffle” often, as if a “cold” was just around the corner (excess wheat intake tends to create greater mucus build up).
Build And Develop Body Awareness And Sensitivity
Like I mentioned before, one of the things that allowed me to maintain a good enough balance to stay healthy (as opposed to going overboard and getting sick) while indulging in all the French delicacies is the fact that I have spent a very large portion of my life dedicated to getting to know as many details as I can about how my body feels and reacts about different types of food and external stimulus.
Basically, although I was indulging, I was also listening to my body and acting or providing it with the right nutrition to maintain some sort of balance as I went along. Even when indulging, I'm sure you realize you can apply moderation for example.
Your body, if you learn to listen to it and feel for the subtle signs it gives you, will tell you exactly what it needs and when it needs it. This obviously takes time develop and does not happen overnight. The simplest way to develop this kind of body awareness is to pay attention to how you begin to feel from the time you consume some food or drink till about 3 hours after – usually you will notice shifts within the first hour, so pay attention.
Give Yourself A Break Once In A While And Relax About The Whole Diet Thing
Last but not least, relax a little. In my opinion, too many people get so stressed about dieting, working out, losing weight and being healthy, that the stress they create by itself creates unhealthy patterns. So, if you have been eating and being healthy for quite some time AND, if you have begun to develop body awareness (like I mentioned above), feel free to loosen up a little, especially if you're going on vacation once a year!
If you are not seriously overweight or suffering from some serious disease or illness, relax, your body will know how to adjust and re-balance itself again, as soon as you get back on track after your short deviation from the Paleo or other healthy diet you follow.
Summary
Look, I'm no expert at this. I do the best I can to learn about different styles and types of diet and health strategies. I've been doing that the last 15 years or so. I have changed my eating habits and dietary strategy several times before according to what I learned and what was most relevant at the time.
Heck! I may change again if I find some better, healthier and more effective diet and health strategy in the future.
But for now, the Paleo diet is the best I've found and tested with my own body. It produces the best results. But don't take my word for it. Listen to your own body. If you find that your body has not been reacting so well to your eating habits or you have not been able to create the high levels of health that you deserve by doing what you are doing, then maybe it's time to make a shift to something better. Maybe it's Paleo, maybe it's not.
But even if you get on the Paleo diet now or soon, test it out and listen to what your body tells you. Learn the Paleo diet properly, then set a couple of goals for your health, weight, etc, and gauge how great the Paleo diet is for you and your body. It is as simple as that my friends.
I can only share with you from my own experience and my recent two week experience with not being on Paleo, has further solidified my stance about the Paleo diet being the right one for now.
I hope this post helped you in some way and at the very least, if there's only one thing you get from all this and integrate, let it be that you begin to develop your own sense of body awareness.
Feel free to comment, share or ask any questions if you will. I always welcome any feedback.
Thanks and take care everyone…
