Paleo Perfectionism
If you are like me, sometimes I struggle with perfectionism in just about EVERYTHING. It doesn’t help that we are bombarded with messages daily that we need to always have everything together, at all times. Well, there is grace and I’m here to say that we don’t need to have it together at all times, and all we need to do is strive to do our best in everything and have grace for ourselves when we don’t always do our best.
When it comes to health, people can easily become obsessed with eating perfectly every day, achieving personal records at the gym all the time, getting 8 hours of sleep every day, etc. Well, I’m here to break it to you (and to myself) that perfection in health is not possible. Life happens and will cause life to not be perfect. Now, when it comes to Paleo which can be restrictive in advising what you should or shouldn’t eat, it can be really easy for someone to be hard on themselves if they eat something not included in the “Paleo” diet. But friends, that’s not what Paleo or any healthy eating plan should be about. It’s about eating optimally in such a way that gives you the most nutritional benefits possible, in any given situation. So if you are travelling and the only breakfast you have available is eggs fried in vegetable oil, then eat it. If your Grandma made her famous fruit cake for a holiday and it’s not your treat night but she will feel really loved if you have a piece, then eat it. If you go out to dinner and order steak and then realize the steak sauce has milk after you eat it, do not freak out. Eating should both be a source of fuel and enjoyment, not about following the rules. Trust me, I don’t follow the rules all the time and I’m okay with that. Do I eat real, unprocessed foods most days out of the week? Yes. Do I eat blackened mahi from restaurants, which use vegetable oil? Yes. Do I have fudge/chocolate brownies with some Local Hazlenut Gelato? Oh, most definitely. Yes there are foods now that I know if I eat any of or eat too much of, my stomach will tuple over. In those cases, I do my best to avoid those foods. However, if I accidentally eat them or eat them in order to love someone, I’m doing my best to not freak out and to instead, trust that it will be okay in the end because guess what? It will be okay.
So my friends, I release you and myself from the spirit and idea of perfection. I empower you to have fun and enjoy what you eat and how you live. However, you must CHOOSE to release yourself as well – which in all honestly, will be a very hard task to do. But it is impossible, one food choice at a time.
For more information, check out this amazing article from Diane Sanfilippo on “Paleo Perfectionism” and her take on it. She’s a leader in the Paleo community in the United States and has some awesome insight into eating Paleo as a lifestyle:
http://balancedbites.com/2012/06/paleo-perfectionism.html
So until next time, eat and live on 🙂
