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six ways to stick to paleo diet hard to stick to paleo network-min

6 ways to make sure your paleo diet is not hard to stick to

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A common response to the idea of eating a paleo diet, is that surely it must be so difficult to stick to. All the changes, all the cooking – it seems impossible to keep up, long term, right?

Well, I think once you’ve established a few habits and patterns, it would be harder not to stick to it.

Here’s six ways to make sure it’s not hard to stick to a paleo diet, but becomes an easy part of your life

six ways to stick to paleo diet hard to stick to paleo network-min

1.       Know why it makes sense

If you’ve researched and read about paleo and why it works, it becomes so much easier to stick to

2.       Try it, properly

If you can stick to a strict version of a paleo diet religiously, for 30 days you’ll have the chance to see what difference it makes to you. You’ll observe how differently you feel in terms of energy, skin, sleep, mood and specific health issues. Knowing that eating paleo can significantly improve your health will make it much, much harder to go back to your old way of eating.

3.       Support

Support can make the world of difference. Paleo has got so popular, you’ll hopefully have someone in your life following it too. But as time goes by and people see the changes in you, they’re more likely to give it a try too. If you don’t have any real life support, check out meetups in your area, you’ll find local support and encouragement will make all the difference to your sticking power.

4.       Organisation

A lot of people waiver from their paleo diet due to lack of organisation. You overslept and missed breakfast, or got home too late to cook. One non-paleo meal becomes two, then before you know it you’re more 20/80, than 80/20. I find batch cooking at the weekend helps a lot with this, making sure my freezer is stocked with paleo meals that just need to be reheated. A paleo emergency stash at work (of nuts, jerky and even tinned fish) can ensure you’re not caught hungry with no options. If you know you’re going to a social function that’s likely to have poor food choices, plan in advance and either take something along, or even eat before you go – this way it won't be hard to stick to paleo.

5.       Work out alternatives

You’re not going to be eating bread, or pasta on your paleo diet. But if you can come up with alternatives and substitutions, you’ll be ready to deal with situations where you’d have eaten those foods. Used to take sandwiches to work? Try taking wraps instead (made with lettuce, or nori). Used to have spaghetti Bolognese every Friday? Try it with zucchini noodles instead. Not so hard to stick to anymore!

6.       Be realistic

It’s important to avoid being too “all or nothing”. It’s easy to slip and have one small non-paleo thing, then tell yourself it’s all ruined, you might as well write the day/ week off. Instead, take a more flexible approach. Maybe agree with yourself to be 80/20 paleo. That is 80% of your diet is paleo, and you’re ok with up to 20% “not paleo”. If you strive for 100%, but achieve 80% you won’t be disappointed with yourself.

How easy do you find it to stick to paleo? What tips would you give to others finding it hard to stick to a paleo diet?

Why you need big freezer deep freeze frozen Paleo Network-min

Why you need a big freezer

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I’m lucky to have a fairly big freezer, and I can’t recommend it enough, for so many paleo reasons. Here's why a good size freezer could transform your paleo diet

Why you need big freezer deep freeze frozen Paleo Network-min

Once a week cooking

I’m a huge fan of batch cooking – if you’re going to go to the effort of cooking dinner, why not make 8 dinners out of it? Whatever I’m making, I always at least double up the ingredients. I freeze individual portions in large freezer bags that I lay flat. This means they’ll defrost far quicker than if you freeze them in a big lump.

Grass-fed meat in bulk

So many farmers will sell amazing quality grass-fed beef – but only if you’ll buy a whole cow, or even just a quarter. This is great to share with friends – it’s far cheaper, you get some great cuts you might otherwise overlook. But it will need a lot of freezer space. With a big freezer, you could get all the meat you need to last for months and months in one purchase.

No wastage

If you’ve had a big harvest of home grown veggies, just freeze it for fresh home grown produce, all year round.

Smoothies always ready

Fruit is another great reason to have a good size freezer. Grad a handful of berries and add to your blender mix for an instant ice cool smoothie.

Paleo ice cream

Who needs an ice cream maker when you can make your own paleo ice cream and have it waiting for you in the freezer!

Budget conscious

A freezer is the best way to eat on a budget. Whenever you find special buys of meat or produce – buy and freeze!

 

How far can $50 a week go – cheap veggies

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I told you about my $50 weekly food budget and I thought I'd share with you how I've been achieving it. As I mentioned, I shop around between my local independent green grocers, Aldi and Coles supermarket. Whilst I find some good specials in Coles and Aldi, I almost always find the green grocers to be the best bet for cheap veggies.

My other reason for liking the greengrocer as well as it being cheap, is that almost everything is from local farms – and it's pretty much all seasonal, rather than expensive imported produce.

I eat a lot of veg and use it to bulk out all of my meals. I pick veggies roughly based on their nutrient density – I'm going to buy kale and spinach over iceberg lettuce.

So, here's what I selected the other day at my greengrocers….

Greengrocers-50-Paleo-Diet-Primal-Challenge-Frugal-Vegetables-Veggies-min
Spinach (silverbeet) $0.99
Kale $2.00
Butternut Squash $3.00
Brussels Sprouts $2.49
Broccoli $1.97
Onions $1.49
Cauliflower $2.49

Total Veg Spend $14.34

I compared the cost to what I would have paid in my local Coles supermarket (see below)

Greengrocers-Coles-Woolworths-Shopping-50-Paleo-Diet-Primal-Challenge-Frugal-Vegetables-Veggies-min

Buying the exact same produce would have cost over double in the supermarket – $31.07, leaving less than $20 for meat for the week!

What did I do with the produce?

I made a huge batch of butternut squash and carrot soup (I had a few carrots left over from my previous shot)

I used the cauliflower to make an experimental new pizza base

I made a greens & beef stir fry with the silverbeet, kale, sprouts and broccoli

It's cheap – but is it organic?

Unfortunately it's not all organic. Of course I'd love to eat everything organic, but on a tight budget it's just not feasible. However – one good trick I've found, is that not may people seem to buy organic where I live. This means the organic produce is quite often reduced to less than the conventional produce, as it approaches it's use by date. So keep a look out.

I'd love to hear your tips for eating well on a budget – how do you do it? Share in the comments below!

Recipe paleo egg muffins-min

Quick & Easy Paleo Egg Muffins: Perfect Breakfast Bites

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Recipe paleo Slow Cooker Chicken Coconut Veggie Stew-min

How to Make a Slow Cooker Chicken Coconut Veggie Stew

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Paleo diet primal weekly planning meal planning recipes-min

What Sundays Are All About

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With a bit of planning and organisation at the weekend, the entire week of Paleo meals can be planned, ingredients bought and almost all of the cooking done, leaving your weekdays easy and stress free.

Being organised like this is not only a far cheaper way of following your Paleo diet, but it also ensures you won’t come unstuck in the week – when a lack of time and imagination would otherwise make it far harder to make the right food choices.

Step One: The Weekly Planner

Are you going to be home every evening? Do you have friends over? Have you been invited out to dinner? Write out a plan of the upcoming week and work out how many breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks you will need.

Now it’s time to hit the recipe books for inspiration and decide what you would like to eat everyday! Bear in mind if you cook a large portion of a dinner recipe, you can either freeze the remainder to enjoy another day, or you can use it for lunch, or breakfast the following day.

If you have cooking facilities at lunchtimes, it’s a great idea to do some batch cooking, so you can have a quick, hot Paleo meal every lunchtime – with no cooking required

Paleo diet primal weekly planning meal planning recipes-min

Step Two: The Ingredients

Once you’ve decided on your weekly Paleo meal planner, you can make a list of all of the ingredients you need to buy and head to your local farmers market, butchers and grocery store/ supermarket to buy everything you need. No more shopping required for another week or two! It’s good to be flexible and prepared to swap ingredients, for example where certain vegetables are in season or on sale.

Step Three: Cooking & Preparation

Once you have your Paleo ingredients, recipes and weekly planner on hand, it’s time to get cooking! You can cook up big batches of one-pot recipes, such as soups, stews, casseroles and curries as these will freeze easily, ready to be reheated when you need them for lunches or dinners.

Many breakfasts, such as egg muffins can be cooked in advance and stored in the fridge for a quick grab and go breakfast.

You can also prepare vegetables in advance, ready to blanch, eat raw or throw in the steamer for the week’s dinners.

Step Four: Overcoming Potential Difficulties

This is also a good opportunity to call ahead any restaurants you may be visiting next week – or looking up their menu online. This way you can work out which Paleo options are available, or contact the restaurant directly and see how they can help.

What is your weekly routine? Do you spend time at the weekend planning for the week ahead?

Paleo diet chicken stock bone broth how to make recipe-min

Indulge in Savoury, Nourishing Chicken Stock for Ultimate Comfort

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