I usually over indulge a bit, but try to keep it as paleo as possible. My plan has been this. Week before Xmas Dinner carb deplete knowing I would over eat carbs day of dinner. So for 7 days its just protein and fat. I use my holiday as a way to refill my glycogen stores in the most festive way. Day of, I start off with some pro biotics while fasting all day up until the meal. I choose protein first, then carbs, then fat, then alcohol. During my meal, I take some digestive enzymes to help with any digestion problems I might have. I finish off the nite with a double dose fish oil and another probiotic. The next day I start off with another pro biotic then fast until dinner and have that meal only protein and fat. I feel superb and now after that carb refill, I can get in a killer workout tomorrow. Yah, I love the holidays!

I've not cheated at all, so there's nothing to change. :) How? By making paleo friendly dishes.

Eating the paleo left-overs (venison, sprouts with chestnuts and bacon, sausage wrapped in bacon and prunes wrapped in bacon) but maybe I'll have a few roast potatoes too...

Don't forget the gravy :-)

Ive had a few unintentional gluten exposures the past month, so on top of that and the holiday feasts I plan to do another bone broth fast for 2-3 days. It's more to recover from the gluten exposure, but should help with the holiday overindulgences as well!!!!

My plan is usually to eat a maximal amount of crap a few times a year, shrug off the sunk costs and always keep my gaze fixed ahead.

I have a sugar hangover. Santa brought candies, and if they are there, they must be eaten! Ah, sugar is my weakness. Also, red wine.

The good news is that I didn't eat any gluten, grains or dairy, so my stomach/intenstines feel fine. Recovery should be quick, and this episode is a further reinforcement to me that maybe sugar is not really the love of my life!

So, I'm back on track, and looking forward to feeling strong again.

Straight back on the wagon.

With ham and eggs for breakfast this morning, a bone broth soup for lunch. Have been for a long walk this morning up some hills and on the beach. Would like to say I've got some sun but this is the UK!!! Will play soccer with my sons in the afternoon. Some meat and veggies tonight and all will be well again... ...as long as I can resist the bowls of chocolates and cookies that are still lying around everywhere (am at teh in-laws so not in control of what's happening as much as I'd like to be)...

I'm a goofball when it comes to cheating; I don't even cheat with delicious non-paleo foods, but secretly indulge in bullshit at 5:30 AM in secret before working out, partially because I always workout in the morning but also admittedly as a bit of a compensatory mechanism.

For example, today I felt somewhat gipped because I deprived myself of Christmas goodies, so I ate a block of cream cheese, pizza crust (gluten free...thank God), 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 4 ounces of chevre, slice of crusty french bread, 2 cups of cinnamon toast crunch, a cup of milk (goat's...hey, at least it's low lactose), and a glazed donut. God, I could have gone so much further, but I snapped out of it and ran for 10 miles.

I still can't decide if my response to the situation was proper. Sure, I probably won't gain much weight from the experience because of the exercise, but I don't really want to become an exercise bulimic. I mean, the last thing I want to do is reinforce the mental string of "hey, I can bombard my system with shit as long as I'm willing to do a lot of cardio afterward."

Other than the (fail) shortbread and (success) ice cream earlier in the week, by the time Christmas Eve came I was ready for "legal' treats. I made home-made eggnog and bacon bites flavored with cinnamon vs. chipolte. I made sauteed duck and on Christmas afternoon I had a "feast" bowl of cheese curds, grassfed beef jerky, raw pecans, a little ham, a large chunk of pork rind and a few organic corn chips.

Anyhow, today will be a meat-free day for me and I'll eat only vegetables and fruits. Tomorrow will be a normal ancestral day. After that, I'm going to try protein recycling by alternating normal days with either meat-free days or day-fasts.

This is the first time since I reached adulthood that I'm coming out of the holiday with no anxiety and no guilt. Feels good!

I ate some foods I don't normally eat, but I never ate too much food the whole holiday. It sure is nice to get back to my own home-cooking. I think I might have had some half and half or some adulterated whipping "cream" that caused a problem.

I ate loads of crap (and continue to help clear out leftovers) and it's not really bothering me all that much. My GI tract has slowed down significantly though and have got a little stuffiness in my nose. I'm up 10 pounds in bodyweight though, which I'm sure I can shed in a day or two of clean eating and/or fasting.

Had all the bad stuff: gluten, sugar, alcohol, etc. Going to visit the Asian market today for pork bones, trotters, and chicken bones and make a hearty broth. Couple this with scads of green tea, protein and green veg for the next few days and I'm hoping to feel like my happy, non-inflamed self soon.

I have an ugly zit on my face, but otherwise I'm OK. I stay away from FODMAPs (or take specific enzymes for them) and in general I don't feel sick, just suboptimal from sugar.

I had a few small bites of things I wouldn't normally eat but didn't crack out on any non-Paleo but food. My family got together Christmas Eve, so that was the big eating day. That night, I was pretty gassed out but nothing that lingered into Christmas. Christmas dinner was smoked pork with some vegetables. Had a bite or two of toffee. Nothing big. Workout this morning with bacon and eggs afterward. Feeling good!

I was Paleo all day in the face of others gorging themselves on chocolate and cheese, but deliberately cheated at dinner with 2 glasses of wine and a large slice of pecan pie with ice cream. Felt pretty crap after the pie - sugar rush/cravings for more, followed by massive bloat that kept me up at night and persisted today. Kinda not worth it, to be honest.

I ate quite a bit I shouldn't have, but I think the biggest fail was the peanut brittle. After I'd had some, a co-worker said, "This is so wonderful! And healthy because it's sugar-free!" Oops. Sugar alcohols do not agree with me, and I was up about every two hours during the night.

Fine now though, with no particular desire to continue to cheat.

After a few weeks eating paleo-style, I feel worse than ever when I eat wheat and drink beer, etc. I can't believe I was eating this stuff multiple times a day (Was I always feeling marginally cruddy and not noticing it anymore, or do I feel worse now because I'm 'cleaner'?). As for how I'm dealing with it....long hikes in the woods and lots of water. I don't even feel like eating much. Tomorrow it's back in the saddle!

I got a cold. When I'm on strict paleo, I never get sick. So that sucked. A few days of strict eating and extra Vitamin D knocked it out.

After two months of pretty strict paleo (during which I effortlessly lost 23 pounds), I went completely off the wagon over a full week with my family. This included fast food, plenty of wheat products, gobs of industrial seed oils, dairy, possibly immoderate alcohol--all of it. I only gained ONE pound, and otherwise feel pretty much just fine. During this time I also managed to abstain from the PPI I'd been working on kicking for the past month.

I suppose I'm a little disappointed--I'd sort of hoped I'd feel so awful afterward that my commitment to paleo would be reinforced by the strong emotional desire to avoid pain and discomfort. I guess I'll have to continue to rely on the science and evidence, and not my emotional responses to keep me on track with paleo.