After many attempts page

[C2H5OH]

to get Primal I feel I just can't. I would have to be locked in a prison cell with only Primal food served. I would probably cry often and think about suicide, but it would be impossible.
I tried to get primal many times, the most long period was two weeks, but then the exams started and I had to drink coke and eat Snickers bars in order for my brain to turn on. Now I am in so bad situation that when I wake up I feel horrible (like diabetes person with very low sugar. but my sugar isn't low, I checked it a few times in the last year. And I don't have diabetes) and I just feel and know that eating something with fat or protein wouldnt help me to wake up. Did I destory my body? Don't know. I feel also very thirsty but it's rather thirst for coke. If I would just lie in bad a hour more I would feel better and could eat the proper way this day, but the otherwise I eat qucik sugars in the way to the uni. Maybe that's willpower issue, but I can't just make this transition, and I feel it's the only way to get normal again. Only after getting healthy again I can dream of getting a work in the future or finishing the university in a non-exhausting way. I live in a dorm and my roommate often buys coke and bread so when my willpower is low he lets me eat. At my home they also eat crap so I would have to avoid my family members to don't eat what's there. Also. If I eat meat (staple of the primal diet) at first then ok, but when I ate a fruit or something more tasty than meat this day, then I just dont eat and sometimes it rots. It's not tasty. Not many primal foods are tasty. And after thought that you have to cook for yourself and get a dish which wont help you the motivation fades. I'd love to change myself, but it's so difficult... If it just come to taste and energy levels (like with most of you) then I would already be year-long primal guy

[Melantha]

Maybe you could try just giving up sugar before you try going completely primal. If you regularly drink soda and eat candy, then you're probably in the category where Mark recommends you reduce carbs slowly rather than trying to go completely primal all at once. It could be that once you stop flooding your tastebuds with refined sugar, you'll find more things taste good.

Personally, my biggest challenge was the fact that one of my bosses keeps a constant supply of cookies in the coffee room (right next to my lab), so I could always grab a handful of cookies when I felt hungry/bored/frustrated/social. And my mom is not only not primal (or healthy) and doesn't understand it, but she seems personally insulted whenever any of her daughters try to improve their diets, so she refuses to stop enabling and pushing processed food on me. As little relationship as I've had with my father, at least he understands that "I eat meat and vegetables" means that he should make steak, chicken, and roasted vegetables for dinner, not steak, broccoli, and mac-and-cheese! I mean, my grandma was freaking out at Easter because my mom told her I "don't eat anything." Was she ever relieved when I told her I'd eat pretty much everything she serves except the crescent rolls and dessert. "Grandma, it's not like I'm a vegetarian!"

Sorry to turn this into a personal rant -- but it is possible to go primal in the face of enablers and low motivation. The trick is to take small steps. Have you seen the PaNu "Getting Started" list? He breaks paleo down into 12 steps that you can progress through, instead of doing it all at once.

[Helen in Oz]

Primal foods are plenty tasty - maybe you should get the cookbook. Browse the forums and website for recipe ideas. You do have to train your tastebuds - it takes a while when you've been drenching them in sugar.

I agree with the PaNu 'getting started' suggestion.

Many members suggest 'cold turkey' but I have to be able to function - plus I live in a non-primal home. I understand how hard you are finding it - I make toast for my kids in the morning and the smell is so tempting. There are loads of non-primal foods in my pantry.

The other thing is, are you the boss of yourself? Or is someone else? Or worse, a THING - coke. or a food. Take charge of your own health!

Start off by keeping some celery sticks, carrots and small squares of cheese and some walnuts or macadamias ready for snacks. (you can eat plenty of the veggies and just a little of the other things) when you're tempted to have something junky. A very small piece of fruit if you want sweet.

At your stage I'd be focussing on ditching the big baddies - coke and junky stuff like chocolate bars. Drink water, tea or coffee. If you like iced coffee, make it yourself so you can minimize the amount of sugar. Instead of chocolate bars, have the above-mentioned snacks.

Have a good breakfast. A spinach omelette or any other sort of eggs, with some vegetables, and maybe a small piece of fruit. At this stage you probably want to allow more carbs than we usually would.

If you can do those things, you're well on the way. Make sure that for your lunches and dinners, you get plenty of meat and veg, and go easy on any accompanying starches like pasta. Get PLENTY OF SLEEP. If you're sleep deprived you're more likely to reach for a coke.

Explain to your room-mate that the sugar is making you feel like crap and ask him to help you avoid it.

[noahf]

I used to smoke. I tried many times to quit and the "willpower" as you call it wasn't there.

Then one day, I woke up and just stopped smoking. It's been over 10 years. I look back now and can't believe I smoked.

I don't believe from your post you're mentally ready to make changes to your diet. Maybe someone close to you will need to die. Maybe you'll need to test positive for diabetes to shock you.

Funny - All it took for me to quit smoking was watching Star Wars one night.

Yoda said "Do or do not... there is no try."

That was it. Trying is something we say to cope with failure or our resistance to change. It's harder to think about giving up pizza and coke than it is to find the motivation to cook and eat something healthy.

Do or do not... there is no try.

[jo]

I third the suggestion of looking up PaNu's 12 step list.

Sounds to me like you have a cola and sugar addiction. Getting off that is a priority. Worry about the rest later. Break it down into managable steps. Getting good sleep and taking up stress relieving activities are also helpful.

[frogfarm]

Chiming in my own recommendation for PaNu's "twelve steps". Absolutely my favorite first-choice resource to give out. Short and sweet, simple and straightforward, seems to work well for everyone regardless of willpower.

[Melantha]

Ooooh, Yoda sounds so much less harsh than I do in my mind -- I just think to myself "Get over yourself and just do it" when I feel like I'm going to give up. I guess it's the boot-camp version of "Act as if."

[soniayak]

You need to make yourself TONS Of primal snacks and pre cooked meals on a Saturday when you're feeling productive. Then when you want a snack or healthy meal, you don't have to cook- they're already done. I got my husband (who snacks A LOT) on board by having cheese cubes, celery sticks w/almond butter, beef jerky, and trail mix always ready for him to snack on when he's craving something.

[tooround]

Nor do you need to drop so much drama on yourself.

You chose a lifestyle. Sometimes you've made choices that don't fit. A coke is not an epic fail. A chocolate bar is not the end of an era. It's just an off-plan choice.

I had a cookie yesterday. It was not the end of one attempt. I don't have to begin all over again today. I just made the choice to have a primal breakfast (bacon).

You're in the middle of exams. That's stressful! You don't need to be making any other life-changing decisions right now. Do what you need to do to get through this time.
But, if the fact that you are making unwise decisions is bothering you a lot, make some small changes. Have a smaller drink of coke. Divide the snickers into four parts and eat it over the course of your day. Leave your buddies' food alone and go buy yourself some pepperettes and cheese. Make yourself drink water before you can have any coke.

All that sugar is making you feel so badly. If the struggle to give it up altogether is too stressful right now, just overwhelm it with good eats. A few sips of coke, a bite of snickers and a good sized serving of protein. It's not ideal nor perfectly primal but it is going to help you avoid that tiredness that almost makes you too sick to function.

Dinkin' around is a waste of energy that you need for exams right now. Either do it or wait until the timing is better for you.

[Daemonized]

Going against conventional wisdom and adopting a different style of eating, exercise and living isn't an easy thing to do. I would say don't beat yourself up too hard and hang in there.