I have been what can be called 'strict' paleo for over 3 years now. I did not try to force myself to be strict it's just that I lost any and all interest in crap food. A piece of 90% dark chocolate is really sweet to me, carrots are sweet, I make home made kombucha which I ferment a long time so I know its very tart but I even find that sweet. Zero interest in bread, etc. I am in my mid 40s and I look & perform better that the 20 year old guys I work around. Blood pressure is perfect, blood tests are great, my type 2 diabetes is gone, I sleep well, my mind is calm & clear, no more IBS. I will die being shot by a jealous husband when I am 93 ;)

Hmm. Slipping up implies non-intentional, so I wouldn't say I "slipped up" but I typically only did "strict paleo" (my version is PHD aka paleo+rice) for 6 days at a time. I had a planned "non-strict" meal usually once a week. I lost 130 lbs this way, so it was working well ... I don't know if it will work well all the way to my goal weight.

Re how I felt, I did not notice any issues with these ongoing indulgences. Mostly out of curiosity, I decided to check the difference between my regular indulgences and strict, so I'm doing a Mat Lalonde-inspired "meat, veggies, and tubers" version of paleo for the next 8 weeks (Lent plus two weeks til my next blood work).

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." -Vince Lombardi

The longest that I've ever been perfect is about 4 weeks. I strive for perfection, when life and being human gets in the way a little I don't sweat it. This is excellence in my mind. If excellence was good enough for the great Vince Lombardi then it ought to be good enough for me too.

I think that you're probably very normal. Enjoy your excellence with some sushi now and then if you want.

My first 3 months were perfect, then I had 2 bad months.

I was then perfect from Sept 1st to mid-November when I deliberately declared a holiday break from mid-November to mid-January. Interestingly enough, I didn't really enjoy the holiday break. I chose not to splurge until mid-December and there was no joy in it so I canceled the break the week before Christmas and I haven't chosen to eat a processed/refined food since.

My personal regimen is cuts of whole meat with occasional uncured bacon, a wide variety of raw/cooked vegetables and 1-3 pieces of whole fruit plus home-made extra-fat yogurt and water kefir. I am currently practicing ADF (alternate day fasting) but I eat exactly the same on my "feed" days as when I was eating daily, which may explain why I'm observing accelerated fat loss.

I happen to think that anything you can eat without follow-up symptoms of GI distress or inflammation is an acceptable food. In my view our goal should be to become stronger and hardier, eating more foods rather than fewer. In my case, sadly, that's currently only those named above but there are minor indications I'm improving over time. On Memorial Day, I intend to have hot dogs and some corn chips with ice cream for dessert and I don't expect to have any consequences at all because I ate those things in December without symptoms.

By the way, I have immediate and nasty symptoms if I eat a food that is/contains wheat. I don't have much hope of getting over that.

"I'm curious as to whether my experience is normal, or if most of you are very stringent."

There is no normal, imo! It's easy for me to stay 100% compliant with no food that's not within my own version of this way of eating and my wife is about 75% to 80% compliant with hers. We're both happy with how we're doing it and we just do what we do. That's that.

(When I was eating a vegan diet, I did so for four years without one single variance. I only stopped when I became so anemic that I could hardly stand up without nearly fainting.)

I'd say that we're all different and I couldn't do it your way if my life depended on it. Vice versa, I'd assume.

I went about one year without deviating more than an occasional meal.

I still deviate every once in awhile for alcohol, but I consider that a deviation as the next day, I'm back at it like I should be.

I have never been dogmatically strict, I do not eat grain (but I occasionally drink whisky and beer made from grain), I do not eat legumes (that one pretty much stays), I do very occasionally eat dairy.

This last time around I've been at it for about 3 months and have had good results with health. Not as fantastic as previous results in regards to strict weightloss (about 0.3 lbs per day averaged) but I plan on changing and tweaking a bit to improve it further.

A) How do you define your own version of "strictly paleo"?

I am much stricter than other people because I have a bunch of health problems that do not allow me eat foods that other Paleo people can have. I cannot have any citrus fruit, onion family, nuts, most oils including coconut, not a drop of dairy, etc. So I am very very strict but not by choice. If I could and if my stomach would allow me, I would eat anything and everything without any limits.

B) How long have you managed to eat this way without slipping up?

The most I could be so strict was one month. Usually I have one slip-up per week. Sometimes two. I am trying something new - I am cutting out all fruit. So far so good - no slip-ups and no binge eating, but it has only been three days.

C) Did you notice a difference in how you felt, as compared to periods of time when the occasional neolithic indulgence weaseled its way into your diet?

Yes. I am very sensitive to what is going on in my body. Neolithic slip-ups lead to me feeling HORRIBLE. I mean HORRIBLE - it is even recorded in my diary. When I eat gluten-free chocolate cake (my favorite slip-up food), I get sick every single time. I feel irritable, my stomach hurts, I get a sore throat, I get itchy, heartburn, palpitations, you name it.

Eating non-Paleo foods is really bad for me. If somebody wants to do a research - I am a perfect candidate. And a living proof.