What's in your 20% (if anything)? page

[Sue991]

I was wondering what most people use as their 20% non primal food/drink or do most of you not bother? I'm certainly noticing that my taste buds are changing and that my old favourite sugar based treats are too sweet now.

As I've only been doing primal for the last 30 days (after trying it last year for about 10 weeks) I wondered if the cravings for your old favourites disappears over time?

Thanks.

[denise]

not been doing this for long enough to say cravings disappear, but for me they certainly muted much faster without a 20% of anything non primal!!! In fact, I don't think I can afford to "plan" even 20% primal approved treats!
I think I recall Mark saying to aim for 100% because then when life simply gets in the way of perfection - you still come out at 80%? That might have to be what I do.

[Zero]

I use my 20% on being lazy and not exercising as much as I should.

I know this isn't a food or drink, but I don't think I can be lazy AND eat crap and get positive results.

[RobbieC]

I aim for 100% also...but when I do crack, it's usually bourbon.

[mikeyt]

wine. We probably get through 3 or 4 bottles a week, most of it me..

[Enamel]

I don't ever try to apply the 80/20 thing - I just try to take care of myself and eat whatever I want when I feel like it. Most of the time, I feel like eating primal food, but I don't sweat it if I end up eating something that might have crappy oils in it, and I don't think 'well, that's my 20%' when I feel like eating a boatload of sugar. I think my lack of interest in the 80/20 principle has to due with how much I hate math and how lazy I am with numbers, LOL.

[DaisyEater]

2nd the wine. I'll have some sweets on a special occasion. My birthday was last week and my husband made me a cheesecake (with a nut crust) and sure I had a slice. But like RobbieC, I think aiming for 100% and not worrying about the occasional step off the path is the way to go. A literal 20% is too much for me. I don't think I'd get far in my health goals if one fifth of my food was non-primal.

[zoebird]

i include chocolate as primal (the dark stuff), but my 20% consists of chai lattes, ice cream (in cones), and the occasional piece of cake and/or primal cupcake. in Feb, i've had more of this than in any other month since going primal, but i'm doing ok. it is not something that i consume regularly, honestly. if we get ice cream once a month, that's frequent. i might get a chai twice a month. cake is very rare indeed -- a few times a year maybe?

so, yeah. that's my 20%. i'm going to be cutting out chais (i'm finding them unsatisfying). i'll leave in the occasional cake and/or ice cream.

[Paleobird]

Pinot noir and dark chocolate once or twice a week. Otherwise I think of the 20% as being for the things you can't control like the yummy peanut sauce on the Vietnamese food a friend just graciously prepared for you. A little bit of that is not going to hurt you and stressing about it won't help either.

[zoebird]

yeah, 20% includes "ingredients over which i have no control br i'm not going to stress over" but does not include "I went out for pasta!"