A Little Perspective
A little perspective is always helpful. Usually, I take it upon myself to dole it out on this blog, but I could use a wake up call from time to time.
You may have noticed that we’ve been stressing the “perfect” Primal life: eating organic, wild, free-range foods, butchering or hunting our own meat, buying food directly from local farmers, growing our own produce, etc. But in our zest for attempting to perfectly emulate the quality of food Grok might have eaten, we run the risk of scaring off newcomers. Maybe you’re a college student unsatisfied with his dorm food and the Primal Blueprint sounds pretty intriguing… but then you read posts from the last few weeks and wonder how you’ll ever find the time or money to hunt a deer or buy an entire pig from a farmer or shop exclusively at farmers’ markets. I imagine it can sound a bit overwhelming to someone who just wants to improve his or her diet and health, and lose a bit of weight. Organic produce can be pricey, growing vegetables requires space, buying from local farms requires local farms, and butchering an entire side of beef requires time and know-how that most busy people simply don’t have. Striving for perfection is admirable, and we certainly condone it, but falling short of it (which, by definition, is basically inevitable) isn’t failure. It’s just reality. As much as I stress following a near perfect Primal lifestyle, I don’t want the perfect to become the enemy of the good.
Why? Because you can do a whole lot of good for your body by strictly shopping at a regular grocery store and buying conventionally produced food. Just stick to the tried and true ways – stay on the perimeter of the store, avoid the inner aisles, always purchase whole foods – and the rest will fall into place. Eating organic is, of course, ideal, but not totally necessary; I’d say that in most cases what you don’t eat is more important than what you do eat. Cutting out grains, starchy vegetables, legumes, and refined sugars is the most important aspect of the Primal diet – and their absence will make the biggest difference in your health and body composition. Whether you eat grain fed meat and conventionally grown veggies or grass fed and organic, as long as you cut out the agrarian staples, you will lose weight and feel better.
Look, no one’s perfect. We all have our vices, and that’s okay – they’re “allowed.” (Some vices aren’t even vices at all; like dark chocolate, fat, naps, or wine.) We don’t expect everyone to follow the Primal way with the zeal of a religious fanatic; we just hope that people follow the basic guidelines while allowing for a few compromises here and there. 90% of it is making a few simple lifestyle changes – cutting out grains and legumes, reducing sugar intake, getting daily exercise (in a pattern that blends both intense and casual), getting enough sleep, eating more fat and protein. The rest is just gravy (not literally, of course!).
To those of you opting out of fried chicken and potatoes for roast chicken and greens, we applaud you – regardless of how that chicken was raised, in almost all cases you are better off.
To those of you buying veggies at the grocery store rather than at a farmers’ market, keep up the good work – in the end, a vegetable is a vegetable with the same basic nutrient profile.
To those of you working out on a nautilus machine or just with your body weight because you have no access to a barbell and weights, don’t stop – just stay active everyday and your body will show it.
To those of you curious enough to question conventional health and fitness advice (including ours!), you’ve already won – and never stop asking.
Again, I feel eating organic/wild/free-range/hunted is incredibly beneficial if you can manage, but don’t sweat it. If our focus on organic and wild food and self-sustenance is what’s keeping you from going Primal, don’t let it! If you don’t have the time or inclination to search out obscure ingredients like pink Celtic sea salt or wild buffalo rib-eyes or Peruvian red peppercorns, it won’t affect your ability to benefit from the Primal Blueprint.
Remember: any step toward the Primal life is a step in the right direction.
Questions for readers:
What do you think? Where on the spectrum of “Primal” do you fall? Would you agree that going Primal can be done in baby steps, or is going Primal an all-or-nothing proposition for you? Do you let perfection get in the way of making good choices? Hit me up with a comment and let me know your thoughts. Thanks, everyone!
Further Reading:
The Secret to Health & Longevity: Are You Following the 10/90 Rule?
Fast Food Indulgence, Dirty Marketing Tricks and Personal Responsibility
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Hey, this is a little OT but I wanted to thank Mark for such a great website, it has become a daily read for me. I am six days into my primal life and adjusting well. I am not overly hungry but still dealing with those stuiped carb cravings but less than usual. I figure it will just take some time to move past them. I agree with the above poster that sometimes there are budgetary constrains with this……I am still eating more dairy than I want to in the long run, but it is cheaper than meat and at least it’s not carbs. We are fortunate to have our own ducks and chickens so we have lots of eggs. My parents hunt and so have been blessed with lots of elk meat. I am not going to weight myself for awhile because I don’t want this to be about weight loss (though that would be appreciated) I want it to be about eating healthy and being well. Anyway, I wanted to share because I enjoy hearing about other peoples journey on this path. I am resolved to not make this a diet but a way of life.
Thanks for all you do Mark.
Good post Mark. Whilst I agree health and fitness blogs are a good thing I think they can be quite overwhelming to a newcomer. Some people may think they’re making lots of positive lifestyle changes but then become disheartened because they are not doing all the exercises they read about or because they don’t eat organic. Most of us don’t make significant lifestyle changes overnight. It takes time and I think it’s important for our readers to hear that every once in a while.
If you aim for mediocrity then that’s the most you can achieve.
I kinda snuck up on this primal thing from behind, after a lifetime of carefully eating my Healthy Whole Grains and feeling increasingly crap (I was diluting them with good veggies meat and fish or I’d probably have disintegrated a whole lot faster)
It took moving to a new area to find a doctor who didn’t blow off my symptoms and actually bothered to discover the diabetes. The diet leaflet she gave me was pretty much more of the same that I was already eating so I knew that didn’t work. I found this
http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm
which basically told me to reverse everything I’d been told by the dieticians. This is a pragmatic way of discovering your own personal diet/Way Of Eating/Way Of Living
I got a lot of input from a lot of people including this guy
http://www.phlaunt.com/quentin/
and learned how *successful* diabetics succeed (there are many but you mostly don’t read about them in the literature)
I voyaged through parts of the Blogosphere until I ended up here and discovered that I was already doing a lot of Primal type stuff, along with many things Michael Eades, William Davis et al. would approve of, all of which my BG meter and lipid panels agreed with.
Now I live in a highly agricultural area, near the coast (fish!!!) we have a choice of two butchers, two greengrocers and several farm shops which I use in preference to the supermarket. Also neighbours who grow stuff and sell the surpluses.
You were somewhat down on tribalism in a recent post: well here we see the positive side, people in our tribe help one another and work together (not common nowadays) and the results show up in the local churchyards. How about people living into their late eighties way back in the 18th Century? This is a tribe worth learning from.
Meanwhile, In Other News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7905734.stm
I wrote a comment which I doubt will be published
The Authorities are NOT a tribe worth learning from.
Now I’ve spent far too much time sat at my computers (again!) time for some hunter gathering down the town
Excellent Post Mark! Keep up the great work, as always!! I love your Master Formula too. Take it everyday along with my “healthy” foods!!! I wish more people would follow this advice. Our nation would be so much better off. Have a wonderful day!
Good point.
I too am just a college student avoiding the perils of hostel food… I know when I go home I’ll eat far more ‘primally’, but for the mean time, I can only do what I can do
One thing to say, there is an excellent farmers market 15 mins away from my house every Sat morning. Convenient, even if I can’t always afford it!
My daughter is not a big meat eater, My wife and I however love most anything made of muscle. Does anyone have ideas on how to get my little primal princess to consume more animal? She loves bacon and some amounts of chicken.
Many thanks for this article and for all the sincere replies from those that also struggle! I really appreciate this community.
I deeply appreciate this article. I came across it at exactly the time I needed it, when I was feeling overwhelmed by what I was starting to think of as “requirements” of going Primal that were, at least for now, not really practical. I have had an amazing result in such a short time and I feel wonderful. Reading this recharged my determination that this is right for me and to continue along this path. Thanks!!
Well said and a good reality check, Mark. The more one delves into the nitty-gritty of the paleo/primal way of eating, the more one can obsess over the details, and begin to feel all sorts of angst about what is optimal to eat: too much focusing on the trees rather than the forest.
Keep up the good work; it’s always a pleasure to read your blog.