Nope. The thing that seems to kill most peoples ability to stick with things is getting so damn puriticanical about shit, then messing up a bit adn calling it quits and claiming it's "too hard". I got a bit wound up at first, but came to realize that by doing the basics and not freaking the hell out I could stick with it much better and allow my body time to adapt. The best results come from the first few things (as per PANU, etc.) after that it's just details. If ya wanna go big guns, go for it. you may be someone who should focus on the big stuff and not freak yourself out with all the little stuff. FWIW

I doesn't sound like you're talking about hypochondria, but before I made the switch to low-carb, and not long after, paleo (though I'm not as strict as I should be), I was fairly hypochondriatic. I always felt incredibly anxious, and the insulin rises and crashes made me think I was hypoglycemic or something, even though testing always said I wasn't. Thyroid levels were normal, vitamins were normal.

Getting rid of the insulin rollercoaster made everything 100% better and got rid of my anxiety.

On the actual topic of obsessiveness, I have a calendar on my desk at work that I use stars to show that I've been stickin' to it, and dots for each time I take some fish oil (bad habit of forgetting!). Personally, I just love that stupid calendar. It also shows colored X's for what kind of exercise I've done that day! It's my favorite positive reinforcement!

Based on my own experience, I think a paleo approach to life can draw a type of person that gets a little too obsessed with perfectionism. I've battled with this in the past and was at a point where I got stressed out about missing workouts, getting less than 8 hours of sleep, or eating gluten or sugar even if it was once a month.

I'm a lot more relaxed about it now. What helped me was to really think about how resilient the human body is and the amount of stress you can put it through and still remain capable if you have a strong mental outlook. Given those stresses than we can physically endure, it seems really silly to obsess about the fact that I didn't take enough fish oil or got 6 hours of sleep instead of 8. In the grand scheme, I'm still way ahead of the game.

I suspect eating is the main thing to watch for. Most of the rest, I don't worry about. Good eating should solve bathroom issues. I don't worry about light other than for vit D. Even then, I enjoy some time in the sun so it was an easy habit to develop. I don 't worry about sleep other than to make sure I get decent amounts of it. I only worry about vitamins enough to occasionally plug my foods into fitday.com to make sure I am getting decent levels, but this seems relatively easy when eating paleo already. I also already tried to get decent levels of exercise, even before paleo. I do think it's easier to make changes gradually so as not to overwhelm oneself. The only other thing I have moved towards is buying soap and hygiene products with less chemicals in them. I will keep an eye out for other issues but I don't plan to worry too much about something (like vit E toxicity for instance) unless there is good scientific backing behind it. To be honest, the only changes that have ever made a big obvious difference in my life have been the paleo eating changes. Of course exercise and sleep are impt but I was already taking care of those. The rest is just guess work that it may be better for me.
-Eva

Hypochondriac? No, not me. For a while I wondered if I qualified for the related idea "orthorexia nervosa", the obsessive concern with eating correctly. I have to say that I probably don't suffer from this because I still eat too much neocrap - mostly in the form of sugar (chocolate!) and diet soda - and I don't beat myself up for it. I just try to make it easier to eat "right" and harder to eat "wrong". Continuous improvement is the goal, not perfection.

I think it's natural, once you have taken such a positive step in the direction of health, and seen the benefits, to start looking for other areas in your life that can be improved.

This is especially true if you still have unresolved issues. I think sleep and exercise are good places to look. (There is more to sleep than just getting "enough".) It depends on your symptoms, but people with good diets still might need some hormonal corrections, or body work, such as massage, before they feel their best, or any of a number of other therapies. I say, if you don't feel fantastic, don't rest until you find the solutions.

Of course, if you already feel great, and you feel you are obsessing when there would be little marginal benefit to more gains, then maybe there is something else going on, like something you don't want to face in your life that health pursuits provide a convenient distraction from. At the very least, even if it isn't a psychological maneuver, you could improve your life more by letting the rest go for now.

Ever since I started eating Paleo, I've become more and more obsessed with diet, health, and my own appearance. It's definitely become unhealthy (both physically and mentally -- I tried going too low-carb for too long, to look better (which didn't even really work)). Now I'm just trying to be more relaxed about everything, and eat whatever paleo foods I please. Unfortunately it took a pretty bad hypoglycemic reaction to force this realization, which I'm still recovering from, two weeks later.