Staying Primal in any situation

There is just no excuse not to eat a Primal meal any more. Even at other peoples houses, there's usually mainly primal food in the meal, and you just pick around the non-primal stuff. Be polite about it obviously :P

I have recently been tested by having to go out straight after work to meet up with friends or family. Trying to remain primal on occassions such as these is not as difficult as it seems.

When eating out, or grabbing something on the run, look for meat. Usually restaurants and now even fast food joints do side salads or vegetables, so you can order some green to go with your meat. Sorted. 'Hold on though, what if I'm stuck with MacDonald's for my only food option?' Great question! I have been in this situation recently. I avoided the Chicken Salad because they add a bunch of unnecessary non-primal ingredients to the meat. I went with a double beef burger sans sauce and cheese, and the Garden Salad. I then simply discarded the bun from the burger and voila! Primal fast food. The beef burgers are 100% beef so they're OK. If you're stuck with Burger King I'd go with the side salad and an Angus burger, which is much better quality meat.

Recently I had to go to a Mexican restaurant for a work do. I simply avoided the nachos, got sweet potato skins to start, and then followed those up with some pork tacos, I then proceeded to eat my pork tacos without the taco shells or rice. I got some strange looks but I stayed Primal and I was the only person who didn't feel bloated after the meal!

Obviously these may not be the best options for Primal meals if you can go home and make something up yourself, but it just goes to show that there just are no excuses for eating a non-primal meal. Don't cave and go for a regular burger and fries with a Coke like everyone else, do your body a favour and stay Primal :)

What do you do in situations like these? Do you cave and call it a 'cheat' day? Or do you ask the waiter if they can do something different for you? Do you make the best of what there is without eating grains etc.?

FitDay - know what you're eating

I signed up for FitDay last week, having seen it used by Mark over at MDA to demonstrate what his daily food intake looks like, and I have to say, it really is great.

Now, I'm not one of those people who has to know exactly what they're eating, I don't measure out my portions and I don't obsessively control amounts or types of foods that I eat. I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm sated, and I'll eat whatever Primal food I fancy at the time. When I cook I sorta just make up recipes as I go along, "hey, some almond flour would be good to thicken up this homemade tomato sauce, and some cumin would bring some awesome flavour..." but at the moment, because I'm being careful not to go over about 50g of carbs per day (admittedly pretty hard with just vegetables anyway), I find that FitDay is very useful to keep track of how many of each block I'm eating (protein, carbs, fat) and I can make sure that I'm getting mostly fat, then protein, then carbs. Of course that doesn't count on IF days, when I'm not eating at all.

Anyway so if you're a Primal newbie, or if you like knowing what you're consuming, or even if you're just kinda interested to know how your daily intake measures up, head on over to FitDay and sign up for free.

Here's one of my days, as a lovely example of a good Primal diet!

Fat (64%) Carbs (11%)

Protein (24%) Alcohol (0%)

Weekend survival

A lot of us seem to struggle a lot more with keeping up our good healthy habits when the weekend rolls around. I am definitely one of these people. For the last few months or more, as soon as I'd get home from work on a Friday night, I'd completely forget my healthy eating habits and reach for the pizza and chips. Why is that?

 

I think it has a lot to do with wanting to relax on the weekend, those precious days away from the office to spend time doing things we want to do. Like eating things that comfort us. Hmmm. I think emotions heavily influence this type of destructive behaviour. I have, as I mentioned in my very first post here, vowed to ditch my bad food ways and become a real Primal girl once and for all. So, I managed my first weekend in a really really long time without non Primal, non healthy food, and I still had a good weekend! Here are my tips for a healthy, on-track weekend:

 

1. Listen to your body. Notice when you are really hungry (stomach growling etc.) and only eat when you get to that point. It's not enough to simply eat healthy, Primal foods. If you're eating for the sake of eating, or to try and quell an emotion, such as boredom, you're still engaging in unhealthy habits. Cut it out! Be aware of whether you are actually hungry or not, and eat accordingly.
2. If you're craving something, reach for a healthy, Primal alternative. Really want a bowl full of sugary-sweet cereal for breakfast? Grab a piece of fruit or a bowl of berries. Need something salty? How about some sauteed spinach. Really want something starchy? If you simply must, go for better healthier options like parsnips or sweet potato - very satisfying. It may be that you've got a hankering for these things because your body is trying to tell you that you're lacking something (nutrients, not sugar and processing!) so try to give what it actually wants.
3. Get out of the house and have some fun! If it's a nice day out, go for a long walk with your other half or kids, and enjoy the weather. Maybe take a football with you and get in some extra exercise and even more fun. This not only will make you feel more energized, it will also take your mind off the food that you would usually be indulging in.
4. Indulge in something you don't put in your mouth. Try treating yourself with something that will definitely not do any damage to your waistline, such as a bubble bath, facial, a good book, a new computer game or whatever it is that you're into. You need to reprogram your brain to realise that there is a lot more to life than food, and a lot more things to enjoy and experience.

Have you got anything to add to this list of tips for weekend survival? Slap it in the comments section! If you thought this was helpful and you'd like more similar posts in the future let me know! I'm all about the feedback :)