Becoming a Caveperson
This is an expanded comment of mine on a reader email post at “Free The Animal“
Transitioning to a Primal or Paleo diet can be a little rough for some people. Especially if their current diet if high in grains, refined grains, processed sugars, juices, phony sugars etc… You get the point.
Here are a few tips I have for the new convert who may be having a fairly rough time at the start.
Advice 1:
If you’re switching to eating this way to lose weight… throw the SCALE IN THE nearest DUMPSTER (especially women) and use a friends every once in a while in like a month or two.
If you’re resistance training (you should be) you probably won’t see the scale move much. You’ll be losing fat but gaining muscle. Scales are stupid.
Advice 2:If trying to lose weight, don’t eat a lot of fruit (especially dried) while eating a lot of fat on a paleo diet.
Fruit is sugar. It’ll transport that fat right to your ass or gut. It will also keep your sweet tooth sticking around. Fruit should be considered a SNACK or dessert. Use in moderation! Here’s a tip: Low-Carb/High-Fat OR High-Carb/Low-Fat for weight loss. Both work
Advice 3:
Natural sweeteners – Honey, Agave, Xylitol, Stevia or any other sweetener…. The faster you COMPLETELY eliminate them the less time your transition will take.
Fake sweeteners – Splenda, Nutrasweet or any other name they go by…. DON’T USE THEM AT ALL unless you are trying to kill yourself.
Advice 4:
Use spices for flavor.Hot pepper (cayenne) brings things to life. Others like sage, cumin, Italian seasoning, parsley, little sea salt will go a long ways to make things taste yummy.
Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice, Pumpkin Pie Spice & Cacao powder are good ones for deserts. Sprinkle on apple slices etc… Cinnamon and cloves are rumored to be good for blood sugars. Cacao or unprocessed (none alkali/Dutch) cocoa are a great source of antioxidants.
Stay away from the premixed combo spices (think Mrs. Dash) or look at the label. They are often full of fillers, soy, nitrates, phony sugars, etc… Lots of junk you don’t want.
Advice 5:
Herbal teas, Apple cider vinegar, PURE lemon or lime juice (or combos of all is these) mixed with water make great zero calorie drinks. Get a few BPA free water bottles or use old glass apple cider vinegar (ACV) bottles and take them to work.
For a warm drink. Peppermint tea with a tablespoon of coconut oil and cocoa/cacao power is fantastic!
Advice 6:If it came in any kind of package DO NOT EAT IT! Even if you think it’s one ingredient it’s probably not. Look at the label if you must buy something in a bag.
Advice 7:Keep your food simple for a while. Don’t get all carried away with baking “paleo” treats. These are just frankenfoods in disguise.
Muffins, cookies, cakes, pies and all that stuff is what made you sick and fat in the first place! QUIT TRYING TO KEEP EATING THEM. Just changing the ingredients doesn’t make them much better. They’re still too easy to overeat. Save them for entertaining others in a more healthful way.
Advice 8:
Diet soda and chewin gum. Just don’t do it.
For me it was chewing gum. I just couldn’t let it go. I had to constantly have something chewing in my mouth. The sugar alcohols in the gum were just enough to keep me craving sugar all the time. These days I do more liquids (see above) and homemade jerky.
If you have to have your soda… try drinking sparking water ($0.99 for 2 liters) with a bit of lemon or lime juice. You’ll get the fizz and some flavor without the sugar flavor and chemicals to keep you wanting other sweet things. Or there’s always Kombucha.
Advice 9:
Donate all your old non-paleo food to the hungry!
Just do it! GET RID OF IT. Too much temptation having it around for a while. You wont want to eat it later anyway. Trust me, the ingredient list will disgust you in 3 months.
Advice 10:
Stick it out for AT LEAST 3 months. They’ll be tough but VERY worth it. This is not a “diet”. It’s a lifestyle change!
If you stick it out to 6 months you will never even consider eating a differently again. You will feel like a well oiled machine and all your old ailments will probably be complete history.
Food for thought
Look at it this way… you spent DECADES messing up your body! You can handle a few months bringing it back. If you can’t… well, you deserve to feel like crap and I guess you just aren’t bad enough yet.
It won’t take long to heal yourself and you can get to living life like you should have been all this time.
Nice post!
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Great post. I posted this on Facebook. Hopefully you get more hits and twitter followers too.
-MDW
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@MDW – Thanks man. Glad you liked it!
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Hey about the “paleo treats” : “They’re still too easy to overeat. Save them for entertaining others in a more healthful way.”
I like it, the new page also looks good! have a nice day!
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@thania1
Yes they are easy to overeat and the calories & carbs still add up.
Once I stopped baking “paleo treats” on a regular basis (and using them for snacks), things got a whole lot easier. I could probably go back to eating them with control, but why? I’m happy with my delicious boring meat and vegetables
Thanks!
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Nice post! Although I have committed to making the pumpkin pie for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner (nut flour & stevia used in the concoction), I suppose it could be worse. I’m pretty sure the Native Americans brought not pie but venison to that party. Silly food marketers.
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@Meeses
I’m sure it’ll be mostly non-primals eating that pie, so you’re doing them favor
I’m dieting right through Thanksgiving on The 6WC So it will be a medium sized portion of dark turkey, some salad and Kombucha for me.
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I’ve been Paleo for about 2 years now. Fixed everything (high bp, high blood sugar and that extra 30 lbs I was carrying around) except my joints. Shoulders, elbows and L knee still just kill me sometimes. I’m going to try prolotherapy.
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@Dave – Much to my surprise, my arthritic wrists, bad knees and bum shoulder showed improvements (almost like new) after I shifted my diet away from Vegetables & fruit and more towards QUALITY meat & fat.
Other things I’ve noticed to help: Fasting, when I drink more ACV, and staying away from nightshades (lots of tomatoes specifically).
Cod liver oil made a big difference too. I started that back before primal. I recently upped my dose to 3Tbsp a day since I’m starting to Tri train again.
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[...] Having trouble transitioning to a Primal Diet? [...]
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Grok,
Love your website! Glad to see someone still hunting out there. Whitetail season is the one thing that usually brings be back home every year. Question? Most of your transition info pertains to those wanting to “lose” weight. I’m trying to gain some back. I’m down about 20 lbs from what I would consider average weight for me. Any suggestions on calorie rich Paleo meals or best type of fat intake. Without my sweet potatoes, brown rice, wheat bread, pasta and milk I’m wasting away! It’s the end of week 2 for me and I def. need soem advice!
Thanks,
Jeremy
http://rawpaleoliving.blogspot.com/
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@Jeremy, weight gain has always been ultra easy for me, but I have a huge appetite.
1.) Eat more
2.) Why did you ditch the sweet potatoes? They’re perfectly ok and primal despite what anyone says; unless you’re trying to lose (which you’re not).
3.) Add dairy for an easy way to boost calories. Heavy cream, sour cream, fatty cheeses, butter. Generously add it to everything.
4.) Drink RAW milk. As much as you can afford.
5.) Upping fruit will put weight on you, but I can’t really recommend it.
Slightly less on a primal diet, but calories do matter!
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Grok,
Thanks for the tips.
I used to live off milk and ate plenty of sweet potatoes. I learned a long time ago that dairy, meat and certain other foods would help my gain weight very quickly.
My goal with this transition is to follow as close as I can the foods recommended by the Paleodiet. I understand your desire to continue with dairy consumption. It tastes great! and it’s packed with plenty of calories and protein.
Humans are the only species that still drink baby milk through to adult-hood. (And we drink another species milk) Raw milk may be better than pasteurized, but our ancestors had no access to either one until the age of farming.
Here’s a great list of Paleo foods: http://altmed.creighton.edu/paleodiet/Foodlist.html
Again, thanks for the tips. I had never heard of Chia seeds for consumption before your site. I have some coming in the mail tomorrow. Can’t wait to try them out!
Take care,
J
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@Jeremy
“Humans are the only species that still drink baby milk through to adult-hood.”
I’ve always thought this was a lame argument. The only reason other species don’t continue drinking milk, is because Momma forces them off her tits. Then she dries up.
“Raw milk may be better than pasteurized”
They don’t even compare. As far as I’m concerned, pasteurized milk is not even food. It’s a food product. No different than sugary cereal.
There is absolutely nothing un-paleo about sweet potatoes. Eat them.
“We advocate that Paleo Athletes obtain their carbs from non-grain sources such as yams, sweet potatoes, fruits, fresh fruit juices, dried fruit and vegetables.” ~ Professor Cordain
Even hard core paleos know milk is the way you add beef. They use it to make their gains, whether you hear about it or not. Do bodybuilders admit to using roids? Ever seen the bodies of a hunter gatherers? They’re not a beefy bunch
P.S. I thought I had lactose intolerance. I went no dairy for a while until I found out it was only pasteurized that gave me problems.
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Great article! Very informative. I’ve been considering switching to paleo for real this time (I’ve tried it before, but didn’t keep it up even though I saw a drastic change in just a few days). I’m on foodstamps, so it’s a bit hard to afford quality meats and vegetables (organic), but I get fresh deer from time to time which I love.
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@Stephi Thanks. Being that you’re on a fixed budget, you’re going to have to be more creative. Really all you have to do is ask. Not sure if you’re living in a city, but if you’re not, you probably know someone with a garden. Most people with gardens are happy to give it away, because they usually have about 70% more than they need.
Grocery stores are expensive. I shop them as little as possible.
Find the real butchers in your area. See if you can get organ meats for cheaper or free. If you don’t like organ meats… get over it! Muscle meats are not that special and have less nutrition.
Don’t even worry about organic. You can’t afford it. It’s much more important that you concentrate on the main point (eating whole foods). Stay away from other expensive stuff like nuts etc… Paleo diet really isn’t that expensive of a diet (food stamps are plenty adequate), unless you get into the cookbooks and that garbage. Gourmet is where the costs start adding up.
Get a cheap Crock-Pot if you don’t have one. I see them at places like Walmart for under $20
I lived paleo for two months without buying groceries. See Survival Months
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New to #Paleo #Primal? Here’s 10 tips to help keep you on track. http://bit.ly/3Rt7g2
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RT @castlegrok: New to #Paleo #Primal? Here’s 10 tips to help keep you on track. http://bit.ly/3Rt7g2
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Thanks for answering me back! The crock-pot is a good idea, and I’ve been meaning to get one. I mostly buy a lot of wild caught salmon, because I can get a huge bag for only $10. At the moment, I’m getting fresh beef and deer from my father, who just butchered them. So, organic really isn’t necessary? I’ve been trying to buy it, because people make it sound like the pesticides from regular fruits and vegetables are just as bad as eating junk foods.
My town is very small, but we do have a farmer’s market which I have never been to before, so I will probably check that out once it opens back up. We do not have a local butcher. The only fresh meats I get is what my father hunts and kills, but I don’t want to be rude and hog all of his meat that he worked hard to get. I have asked if he would give me the organs, but he shoots the deer in the heart, so that one is out of the question. He normally just gives me a strange look, and asks me why I would want that part. Honestly, I wouldn’t even know which part is which, and what to do with them. lol.
The grocery stores are really the only places to get anything around here, and I can’t travel to another town, because I carpool. We do not have any bulk-type stores or health-food stores around here.
There is a person that lives up the road from us that has a big garden every year, but I’ve never even talked to them before. My parents have a garden, and I get fresh tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and bell peppers every year, but that’s about it. Oh, and there’s a huge patch of blackberries that grows around my house, but I am never able to get to them in time, because the deer eat them. I’m thinking of just picking them prematurely next year.
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@Stephi, Crocks are the bomb. You can make huge amounts of delicious soups for very cheap and with little amounts of meat.
“pesticides from regular fruits and vegetables are just as bad as eating junk foods” not even close! Maybe don’t indulge as much on the dirty dozen, make sure you wash, and maybe peel most of the pesticide ridden skins… but if you eat quality food, your healthy body will be better able to flush the bad stuff.
I rarely eat organic because I usually just can’t find much of it. All I eat is fruit and some veggies right now. Mountains of them. I’m healthier than ever and feel like superman.
“I wouldn’t even know which part” Heart and liver are the main two. You could go for lots of stuff like tongues, brains, lungs. Render down the fat for use in cooking. Have to get the organs out of the animal pretty quick after shooting though, or they will be unbearably “gamey” tasting. When I catch salmon, I eat everything(eggs, heart, liver, head, tail) except the intestines fresh. Half the time I forget about the body in the freezer.
Here is a good example meal. Finished Burp!
Ask. maybe ask if you can buy some, they’ll probably just give it to you though. Have your parents plant stuff that stores longer. Squash like zucchini last a very long time. I lived on them for months. Sweet potatoes, turnips, kohlrabi, beets all great too
Carrots are dirt cheap. You can get 25lbs sacks of juice carrots under $10. Cook or enjoy fresh. Peel the non-organic carrots. They taste a million times better. I can actually taste the chemicals. YUK
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Tips on transitioning to paleo: http://castlegrok.com/becoming-a-caveperson/
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Tips on transitioning to #paleo: http://castlegrok.com/becoming-a-caveperson/ by @CastleGrok
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the best #paleo transition blog post I’ve seen yet! thanks @CastleGrok http://castlegrok.com/becoming-a-caveperson/
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[...] like this link (http://castlegrok.com/how-paleo-is-your-diet/) from Castle Grok Caveman about what you can/cannot eat. Pretty simple. I also debate whether [...]
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