Guest Post by Sean Flanagan

 Caveat: This article is not about mere deviating, kicking your heels up and having some  rice and beans at a restaurant (80/20…). I’m not pushing a message of being “100% Paleo – no exceptions” – but am specifically referring to when your habits go to hell in a hand basket – generally with gluten-grains and sugar galore and especially with horrible after-effects for people especially sensitive to these kinds of things.

While Paleo is in general a very easy “diet” to follow, it is not an entirely rare thing for good intentions to become derailed.   And while they may feel like mere “moments of weakness”, these occurrences are not stand alone moments. They are the result of weeks, months, or longer of bad news brewing underneath the surface. The weed has been growing – it just had to find a crack in the pavement and rise on through.

#1 - Wrong Carbohydrate Intake

Too low, too long and you can risk feeling like you need to “cheat” to feel normal again. Too HIGH for what your metabolism can handle and you’ll of course set yourself up in a classic ‘peak and valley’ blood sugar pattern. Yes, this can even happen with sweet potatoes. Find the right balance for you. Maybe even use a glucometer to measure your pre and post meal blood sugar if you want to be super precise here.

#2 - You’re bored.

Your job sucks and you don’t really do anything enjoyable and engaging with your time when you get home. As a result, spending time in the kitchen may feel like “yet another boring task” – and even a bigger pitfall, you may be seeking the opiate response of foods like gluten-grains and dairy to give you a pick-me-up ‘fix.’ Put some music on in the kitchen and make sure to have some fun in your life – in and out of the kitchen.

#3 - Social Support

Your best friends always get together for booze and cookies and your mom loves baking you homemade bread. So you either stay healthy and stay bored (see #2) – or you have fun and throw your health habits to the wind. Hopefully you can consciously change the dynamics of your relationships and make your gatherings more positive and less destructive. You may have to have a serious boring grown-up conversations with some people – especially if they often pressure you into making decisions that hurt you. And you may need to reevaluate whether you’re surrounding yourself with people who share your mindset towards success, abundance, and health. There’s plenty of ways to be social and have fun – they don’t need to make you feel like crap for 3 days.

#4  - Emotional Health

You’re anxious all the time and when you can’t fight it anymore, you say “screw it” and reach for some junk. Or you’re depressed all the time and when you can’t fight it anymore, you say “screw it” and reach for some junk. Same deal with other non-pleasant persistent emotional states. In the longer term, a lot of this would likely be taken care of by having an anti-inflammatory diet in the context of a rewarding life – but in the shorter term things like amino acid supplements specifically for supporting your neurotransmitters may be beneficial. See “The Mood Cure” by Julia Ross for more info. And course diet and supplementation isn’t everything – so seek out some kind of specialized professional help if need be.

#5 -  Same Old Recipes

You’ve had liverwurst for the past 45 breakfasts, ground buffalo and avocado for the past 63 lunches, and chicken breast with butternut squash for the past 24 dinners…. OF COURSE that pizza is going to look amazing! It’s something different! Becoming bored with recipes doesn’t happen overnight – it creeps up with time. Find a pattern that works for you for trying new recipes – maybe 1 a week, maybe 2 per week, maybe 1 every 2 weeks…whatever. You won’t fall in love with every one, but when you do find a “hit” you can phase out a recipe that you just started to lose interest in. So over the long haul, all your meals will fall somewhere under either the “I like this” category or under the “I love this” category. You’re enjoying your food and know you can get everything you need – so why throw it away on a cheeseburger and soda?

Sean Flanagan is a Health & Nutrition Coach helping clients maximize the benefits of an Ancestral Health approach and is the author of the eBook “The Ancestral Health Start-Up Guide.” He resides in Bellingham, Massachusetts and works with clients remotely via phone/skype and email. His free eBook and more information can be found at Ancestral Health Coach.

Live to Thrive,

Lauren!

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