So the other day I was pa-rousing  through the land of CrossFit blogs and I stumbled across this link over at CrossFit NYC. After going through the article I felt there were some good points made that I thought could be used in determining where one stands on following the "paleo" life style.

Deciding to be "paleo" should be a decision that you make on your own for your self and for reasons that make sense to you. No one should start trying to follow paleo for the sole reason of "everyone else I know is doing it"... cough cough crossfitters cough cough. There is a difference between hearing about others starting this way of eating/living and witnessing their gains and benefits and just trying it because you don't want to be the odd man out. I do like comparing paleo eating to kosher eating because both of them have lots of rules that come with them and the degree to which you follow these rules is also a decision you should make for yourself.

My main interest in the article was in the second half. Where the writer goes into discussing "paleo" foods... what are "Paleo" foods you ask? I will give you a hint... have you ever made "paleo eggs", "paleo steak" or made a "paleo fruit salad?" No, all of these things are natural and you could of had them millions of years ago. There is no need to apply the pre-fix "paleo" to them becuase it is a given. When this is applied to making meals... you wouldn't make a rack of "paleo" lamb and roast some "roasted paleo veggies"... you would just make a rack of lamb with roasted veggies to go with it.

How ever... most of us haven't been on the "paleo" trolley our entire lives. We use to enjoy the days of breads, cereals, pasta, rice etc etc.... We now how wonderful some of those things taste and we wan't to find a way to have them again... but we won't to be "paleo" at the same time. Enter "paleo" foods. "Paleo" foods.... paleo bread, paleo cookies, paleo pancakes, paleo muffins, paleo pizza. Many people have spent hours and hours messing with nut flours, honey, agave nectar trying to make something that resembles their once loved food items. Granted some of these recipes can turn out pretty good and can be pretty tasty. From this though comes a few issues. If you have to add "paleo" to the item is it still really paleo? Many of the "paleo" items tend to be loaded with "natural sugars" such as agave nectar and honey... which goes against the grain of the paleo philosophy of a little to no sugar diet. This aspect could be discussed for a pretty long time if you got enough paleo fanatics in one room... and even then you wouldn't end with a agreement across the board most likely.

Where would I stand in the discussion? Well... I would be the one laughing (or most likely chuckling silently in my mind) at the paleo geeks arguing over this stuff. To the people saying that you shouldn't be making all these "paleo" foods becuase they aren't "real paleo" foods, I would say you might be taking this way to seriously... at least for me. I think to the people that try to make a "paleo" version of every grain/bread based food I would ask... who exactly are you trying to fool? While some of the things people make up aren't bad and some are actually pretty tasty... you will never mistake a "paleo" muffin for a real muffin... a "paleo" pancake for the buttermilk flapjacks mom use to make you. I find these "paleo" foods just as funny as all of the veggie "meat" products... veggie burgers, veggie steak, veggie chicken strips and the worst of all veggie bacon. I don't care who you are... no one will ever mistake a slice of veggie bacon for actual bacon. Just like many "paleo" followers weren't like that their whole life, most vegetarians weren't like that their whole life... so they try to make things that resemble these items that they "can't" have.

To the people trying to be/stay paleo... my personal philosophy is this. I stay paleo 80-90% of the time. When I do, I feel great, I train, recover and over all work better. I want to eat/ live this way because I believe it is the best thing for me both now and in the long term. How ever I do enjoy eating tasty foods! I would also rather eat something that is clearly not "paleo" but is absolutely amazing! Then to try to make some sort of resemblance of a once loved food dish.  I feel no guilt in having a slice of pizza here or there, having a beer, or nom noming on a burger WITH the bun on! Certain things just aren't worth messing with.

What does this all mean in the end... Of course I recommend leading a paleo style diet but only to the extent that you believe in. Think about why you are doing it and know what you want from it. Whether you decide to be a purist or if you like to pick and choose which principles you will follow. That way when a random friend asks you why you always order extra veggies and no rice or potatoes (wait aren't those paleo? Wait for the seminar) at dinner, you can give them a solid answer.

Coach P