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Paleo Diet Australia New Zealand kick start New Year resolution healthy-min

How To Kick Off A Healthy (Paleo) New Year

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A new year is the perfect time for a fresh start. Whether you want to finally lose some weight, get fit or get on top of some health issues – there's no time like today – right now – to dive into the Paleo Diet

Where To Start

Have you got any lingering treats left from the festive season? Instead of promising to get stuck into a healthy regime, just as soon as you finish that last box of chocolates, throw it away! Your body will thank you for it.

The best way to start is, well – to actually start! Throw yourself right into it.

Organise

Sit down and plan your menu for the next week, meal by meal, then shop for everything you need. If it's in your fridge or pantry it's easy to prepare some great Paleo meals

Look through paleo websites and paleo cookbooks for inspiration for delicious meal ideas. Experimenting in the kitchen is a great way not to get bored. Paleo is no reason to have a bland, boring diet!

Whenever you cook, make at least double what you need. You can take the rest into work for lung the following day, or freeze for future dinners when you don't have time to cook.

Paleo Diet Australia New Zealand kick start New Year resolution healthy-min

New to Paleo?

If you've not yet started a Paleo diet before, depending on how you ate before, you may get “carb flu” as your body adjusts to fewer carbohydrates. You can go cold turkey into Paleo (and remind yourself how much better you're going to feel once you acclimatise) – or you can slowly transition into a paleo diet, gradually reducing grains.

The initial period of following the paleo diet is a great time to read as much as you can about this lifestyle. It's great to understand why it works so well. When changing the way you eat, you're also likely to get a lot of questions from family and friends – so being well read up on Paleo comes in very handy

Unfit?

Instead of launching straight into a hardcore fitness routine, it's often great to start slowly. Walking is one of the best ways to increase your fitness, with the added benefit of fresh air and sunshine.

Weight to lose?

If you have weight to lose, Paleo is a great place to start. Once you reach a plateau – it's time to change things up a little. Some people have great results with techniques like low carb (or even nutritional ketosis) or intermittent fasting. Everyone is different, so it's important to find out what works for you

Where are you right now? Are you new to Paleo, or needing to refocus? What are your health aims for this brand new year? I'd love to hear in the comments below!

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Paleo Birthday Resolutions

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It’s my birthday today, which is the perfect time to evaluate my achievements this past year – and to focus on what I want to achieve in this brand new, unchartered year.

This past year can be summarised by one word for me: Paleo!  I’ve travelled to America twice for PrimalCon and the Ancestral Health Symposium and met so many amazing, lifelong, Paleo friends along the way.  I’ve refined my Paleo nutrition and found what works for me.  My housemate and a few friends have adopted a Paleo lifestyle, which I am thrilled about.  I’ve spent a lot of time this year researching and reading in the Paleosphere – and of course, I started this blog.  My biggest personal achievement this year has been my fitness.  I have never been as fit as I am now and it enhances almost every aspect of my life.  Linked into all of these factors, my sleep has been another huge transformation this past 12 months.  I used to really struggle to fall asleep, sleep very poorly, then struggle to wake up in the morning.  The last few months however, I’ve been tired at bedtime, sleeping soundly and waking up before my alarm almost every morning!

It seems like a timely point to work out what I want to achieve between now and my next Birthday, with the help of some “New Years” resolutions.  So, from tomorrow: –

1.       I’m going to see the sunrise and sunset every day.

This is going to be quite a challenge, but it seems a really important link, to the body’s natural circadian rhythm.  After all, we should live alongside the natural day; staying up until 4am isn’t good for us.  Here in Sydney Sunrise is between about 5:15am (this month) and 7am in the winter months.  This should be fairly easy.  I’ll get up just before sunrise, so I should see the sunrise on my walk into work.  The time of year will then determine how long I spend in the gym/ swimming pool before I go to work – or perhaps I’ll even start work early?  Sunset will be a lot more of a challenge, as in Sydney it varies from around 4:50pm in June to about 8:10pm in the summer months (I do miss those long summer evenings in the UK!).  I’m not sure how I’ll tackle this one in the winter, but the summer should be quite achievable.

2.       I’m going to get rid of five things every day.

One Primal area I really struggle with is minimalism!  I have a lot of “stuff”.  My friend Lars over at Primal Minimalist has recently started a new daily habit of de-cluttering his house by five things every day.  I could honest do this every day for the next year – and probably still have quite a lot left by my next birthday.  So this is what I’m going to do!

3.       I’m only going to eat local food.

I think I’m probably fairly compliant on this one already, when I eat at home.  When I eat out however (which is all too frequently), I often have no idea where the food is sourced from.  I need to know this.  I think it’s really important to eat local food (and ideally, organic).  This should also mean I am only eating seasonally, which is also important.  I can hopefully achieve this by bringing in my lunch to work, and eating out less.  When I do eat out, I’ll be very careful to select somewhere that uses local food – and I won’t be afraid to ask!  One area that might not be possible is coconut oil; I’ll investigate further, but may need to make an exception here.

4.       I’m going to up the ante on my chin-up & fitness mission.

By my next birthday I want to be able to do ten unassisted pull-ups and be working towards hand-stand push-ups!  I also want to be considerably fitter and stronger than I am today.  As I have never been as fit and strong as I am today, this is all very exciting new territory.

Are you still sticking to your New Years or birthday resolutions?  Which new Paleo habits would you like to adopt?  What do you think of my resolutions?

paleo diet birthday resolutions-min