How to explain the Paleo Diet to people

Whole9 just did a great post on this, and it’s one of the most important aspects of turning your “diet” into a healthy lifestyle. In our seminars we talk about the importance of sharing and enrolling the people in your life about what you’re up to. If you’re just starting out, this is KEY.

From the Zoleo Lifestyle “Pillars of Power” in the Power Packet:

Your commitment to a long, healthy life becomes real for YOU when you share with others. Share your goals with many and often. When people ask what you’re up to, share what you’ve gained to enroll THEM. Enroll your family and the people close to you in joining the Zoleo lifestyle. This is a powerful way to make things easy, and also improve the lives of those around you!

In Whole9’s post, they take this a step further by providing an actual script to use when discussing with people, check it out:

The Whole9 Nutrition Elevator Pitch:

I eat “real” food – fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important – I’m careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible.

It’s not a low calorie “diet” – I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you’d imagine. Fat isn’t the enemy – it’s a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I’m not trying to do a “low carb” thing, but since I’m eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.

Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym. It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

This is great because it focuses on what you DO eat, versus what others shouldn’t eat (i.e. bread, grains, etc.) to enroll them instead of put them on the defensive.  Conversations will go all types of directions from here, however remember not to make people wrong if they push back, they’re just dealing with themselves.

I know a lot of you are just getting started, so try it out, and post what happens to comments!