Five Steps to Making and Keeping a Paleo “Practice-Run” Diet
It is really hard to make sure you eat healthy when you are at university. Ok, not really hard. But it takes a lot of planning and preparation. It's very easy to buy food on campus and come home and make a meal that is not necessarily “unhealthy” but lacks certain elements of a healthy balance.
You have so much to do that you don’t want to spend your time cooking, but it really only feels overwhelming when you don’t feel like you are fuelling your body properly.
I know this has been said before, but I have personally truly found that what you put in your body affects your mood, your mindset and outlook, and your emotions… the effect of food is not only a physical but also a mental one.
I also have a lot of stomach complaints and I figured changing my diet would hopefully ease the discomfort. I’m not going to talk a lot about the paleo diet because I am no expert, but I am going to provide you wish the dishes I made along with a few simple steps to do to help with eating healthy on a busy schedule. My goal was not to lose weight (or at least not a significant amount), but to feel healthier and feel like I was putting good food into my body… unfortunately, it turns out that pasta every night isn’t so great for you after all.
The idea of a Paleo Diet is to eat “real food”. This means eating natural, non-processed foods such as meats/seafood, plenty of fruits and veggies. In turn, you are supposed to steer clear of carbs such as wheat's and grains (sadly meaning no pasta - my greatest weakness), dairy, alcohol, sugars and processed sugars, and even legumes such as soy foods and beans.
Just like my other posts on food, most of these meals will be made to serve 1… or 2 because I like left-overs! I feel that that is another hard thing to find as someone cooking for “one”… I tend to not be so excited about a meal when it’s on the table again for the fifth day in a row.
Here are a few steps I took to plan this two-week diet some of the struggles I had, and my personal opinion on the whole adventure.
Step 1 - Spend time picking out recipes
I was inspired to try a paleo diet when I found “
The Whole 30” recipe book, “A 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom”. I brought this book back to university with me and read through it, picking out recipes and understanding the philosophy and purpose of the Paleo Diet. I also looked on Pinterest for other recipes and ideas. I picked out a bunch of recipes that I wanted to try and that I knew would motivate me to stick to the diet since they looked so delicious.
Step 2 - Make a Meal Plan
After I had picked out all the different recipes that spoke to my food soul, I compiled them into a self-made calendar. Below is the chart calendar I made, which states the date, the meal, the link to the meal if necessary, and the groceries needed to make the meal. That way, I could go grocery shopping once for the whole first week, know what each recipe needed and be prepared. I also wrote out two “Emergency Meals”, that fit the Paleo Diet requirements but that did not require a recipe or preparation, in case I did not get to the grocery store or feel like preparing.
I also added a “treat” to attempt in between the week. That way, I could still satisfy my sweet tooth without breaking the rules. Unfortunately, being a busy student, I only got around to making the first treat, which I had actually made a few times prior.
Paleo Diet Calender
Step 3 - Make an Organisational Plan
For each week I made a grocery list of what I needed. I tried to make one meal a night for the first few days so that I would have plenty of leftovers since I knew I would be less inclined to continue if I did not have time to actually make the meals. It turned out to be a lot of food and a lot of leftovers, so I did not end up making everything I planned to. Regardless, having a plan is just guidance and it is okay to adjust it to your life as you go along.
Step 4 - Prep, prep, and more prep
I feel like I have basically covered this one in the previous two steps, but it is the most important point so it deserves its own step. When you don’t prepare, you get lazy, you’ll make excuses, and it will feel beyond difficult to stick with your plan. The first week worked really well for me; however, in the second week I lacked preparation which led to
Step 5 - Stick to it!
I find that this one goes hand in hand with step 2 and 3 … when you have a plan and you know what you are eating, when you are eating it, when you are cooking it, and how you will be using the leftovers, it is easy to stick with it.
Here are three of the meals I made from the first week of my calendar, all from the "Whole 30" Paleo cook book.
CHICKEN HASH
SEARED SALMON BENEDICT
CHICKEN COCONUT CURRY WITH GRILLED VEGGIES AND PINEAPPLE
COMING SOON… post paleo diet meals to come... I continued a healthy diet and meal plan prep post the strict paleo diet rules. I still tried to stick to the requirements generally speaking, but I did not guilt myself if I did not follow it or if i needed a pasta or chocolate fix. I focused more on healthy meal preperation for each week. After the pelo diet I realized the main problem with keeping a health diet is having the food ready. No one wants to come home at 9pm and spend another hour making a healthy meal. Especially not when that requires clean up and there is still other work to be done. I will be posting another meal preperation post, which focuses more on preparing and maintaining a healthy die through meal prep opposed to a strict diet.
Reflection and Paleo Diet Thoughts
To be honest… the first week went really well. I stayed away from sugar and anything else that isn’t part of the paleo diet. By the second week, and a weekend at in a university town (meaning a few parties and alcohol), I was less strict with the diet and got a bit lazy. I still stuck to my meal plan, but in turn, I would slip up on a few other things… have a little sweet treat or on a bad day make pasta for dinner instead of following the meal plan. However, these slip ups came down to preparation because if I had had a meal made, I would have been less inclined to opt out for some comfort food. But I’m just gonna be real; sometimes you just NEED comfort food and no amount of preparation can do anything about that.
In general, this two-week test was a really good introduction to incorporating the Paleo diet in my life. I find that following a diet becomes easier when you know how to make the meals well and you do not have to follow a recipe. It also becomes easier the more you do it. If the full two weeks or even 30 days (as
Whole 30 recommends) is too daunting, just try doing one or two paleo meals per week. That goes for any diet or food goal, whether you are trying to stay away from dairy or meat or attempting a more vegan based diet. Start with baby steps and grow from there.
One more big thing is to not be too hard on yourself. So what if you had
some chocolate after dinner or needed to just make a quick pasta meal.
Know you are in the right frame of mind and on the right track by just
being aware of what you are putting in your body. Regardless of whatever
diet I try or how I am feeling, the main rule I live by is 'everything
in moderation'. Enjoy food; don't create negativity around it!
