Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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A few months ago I read a thought provoking rant-type post by Jamie at http://thatpaleoguy.com/ about people who don't value their health (the actual post is at his old site http://thatpaleoguy.blogspot.com/2011/09/if-you-dont-value-your-health.html).

I found that post very confronting because it challenged me to look at the parts of my health that I wasn't prioritising or was making excuses about. Up to that point I had used Paleo to manage my IBS, but not my weight or other aspects of health like exercise. I'm now getting the hang of the importance of a strength routine and walking, but the full-on connection between doing those things and feeling healthy hasn't embedded itself in my brain yet (that "30 days to create a habit" idea is just bullsh!t). Most days I feel like I'm juggling different health needs, not always successfully, so it's become a question of what has the most value to me.

I believe that most of us can't actually prioritise >everything< we do as having ultimate value, but that there will be something about your overall health that acts as a lynchpin that holds everything else together, like chained behaviour. As long as that one valued 'thing' is maintained, your stability is maintained.

So my questions are
1. What is THE thing that you don't compromise on, that affirms your own view of yourself as a healthy/Paleo/strong (whatever your internal power word is) person?
2. Is that a permanent, unchanging thing, or does it evolve?

flag	asked Nov 30 2011 at 20:13 Jac 1,424●6●15

Nance · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-30 20:49:58Z UTC

My lynch pin is that eating neolithic treats induces immediate "crapitis" and the effects take several days to disappear. Therefore, despite any fond memories I may have there is no logic to support eating neolithic treats.

All the cascading effects of better wellness start with not feel awful. The joint pain, the GERD, the constant sneezing and coughing all disappear along with the primary feeling of illness. Higher activity demands first feeling better.

The permanence is based on the symptoms. Therefore, since water kefir makes me feel terrific I will continue drinking it. Thanks to the kefir, I now tolerate yogurt just fine so I'll continue that.

If fully fermented legumes and/or grains turn out not to trigger any negative symptoms, I will not integrate them as staples but I might make them a holiday treat item. Within the next week or so, I'm going to experiment with a water-kefir-sourdough bread that will reveal whether holiday bread is a possibility or a pipe-dream. Wish me luck!

Dextery · Answer 2 · 2011-11-30 22:12:08Z UTC

The lynchpin for me is what The Quilt taught me...that my thoughts can change how I express my DNA in all things in my life...be it the food I use as fuel...how I think about my relationship with my wife of 40 years...how I approach my life more deliberately...less haphazardly. Yet I am free to dispense random kindness to strangers on a whim...without ever having to be repaid. And I am free to act childish with exuberance without feeling guilty...Damn the judgemental. I am happy.

I have learned that how I think can turn on or off genetic switches either leading to disease or leading to health. Consequently I am mindful of all my choices of foods I consume....because poor choices can trigger DNA to express disease.

I am a work in progress to optimal health. I visualize myself as having optimal health and I think that I will achieve that. It is just that I feel so well with vitality right now...I can hardly wait to arrive at the next level of optimal.

What an incridible journey.

The Quilt · Answer 3 · 2011-11-30 20:20:51Z UTC

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I dont compromise on anything related to my health any longer. It just makes no sense to compromise on your health period in my view. The principle of not accepting less is permanent but how I think about optimal can evolve as science evolves.

answered Nov 30 2011 at 20:20

The Quilt
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Thanks for the response. Thinking back to when your health wasn't optimal, though - was there a starting/foundational behaviour that kind of cemented your process of changing? I know (I think) that for your current patients/blog followers the protein breakfast is really important, and if they 'fail' at something later in the day, they focus on the breakfast as their line in the sand and start planning it for the next morning. – Jac Nov 30 2011 at 21:36

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Yes......i came to work daily and my future was staring back at me in the patient chair. That insight got me thinking deeply – The Quilt Nov 30 2011 at 22:37

Firestorm · Answer 4 · 2011-11-30 20:44:40Z UTC

"So my questions are 1. What is THE thing that you don't compromise on, that affirms your own view of yourself as a healthy/Paleo/strong (whatever your internal power word is) person? 2. Is that a permanent, unchanging thing, or does it evolve?"

I don't have an individual "thing" -- the way it works for me is that I look at each situation in the moment. I try to make the best possible choices for my health out of what is available to me at any given time. If I have a broad field of possibilities, it is easy to make the best possible choices, but sometimes, I don't have that "perfect pool of possibility", and I just have to tread water the best way I know how.

Above everything else, though, I avoid regrets. I do my level best, and believe that making one small positive choice is better than making NO positive choices at all.

panteleimon · Answer 5 · 2011-11-30 20:24:58Z UTC

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Health is my number one priority, and diet is the biggest influence on that.

answered Nov 30 2011 at 20:24

panteleimon
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Dragonfly · Answer 6 · 2011-12-01 17:15:21Z UTC

My Vitamin D level.

The only time I have felt really unwell in the last 2 years is when I let my D level drop (after moving to Santa Fe this summer.)

At 48 and dark-complected, I found out that I just don't make enough D through my skin, so making sure I take my D3 supplement (as well as A, K, & Magnesium) is my lynch-pin.

Diet/exercise are a no-brainer these days after a year of Primal living.

What is the most valuable lynchpin to your health?

6 Answers