Dieting is hard. And it’s usually miserable. Always counting calories, portions, or points. I NEVER want anyone to experience such hardship with Paleo because you don’t have to live like that! Health, life, and weight loss DON’T have to be so difficult.
In an effort to simplify health, nutrition and weight loss for you, let us first consider Occam’s Razor and then an amazing solution!
Occam’s Razor
In science, Occam’s Razor is the idea that the simplest explanation is usually the right one. It means that we shouldn’t over-complicate theories and explanations just for the sake of having a cool way to explain things.
With health and food, scientists and people alike creatively provide multiple explanations for disease, cancer, death and sickness. Because people in general have an especially hard time simply saying, “I was wrong,” they instead find other creative ways to explain new evidence instead of revoking the previous theory. This applies to government entities as well.
Have you ever heard of “The French Paradox”? How paradoxically interesting it is that the French alone can eat copious amounts of fat and NOT GET FAT since fat is “known” to make you fat? This is but one example of over-complication in science and health. Instead of questioning the idea that fat makes you fat, an alternate explanation for the uniqueness of French people is offered and accepted by all.
All roads converge at…
In human history, we can trace disease, bone deformities, sickness, and other deficiencies to agriculture, cultivating grasses like wheat, rye and barley from which we live, move and have our being. Jared Diamond calls agriculture “The Worst Mistake in Human History.”
The purpose of this post is not to question, “If agriculture is so bad, why did God give us grains?” because although interesting, it bears no relevance to our discussion. God also gave us cocaine, opium, marijuana, arrowhead frogs, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and other mind-altering, poisonous substances. I, too, have ethically wondered the same question in the past but realized that, contrary to popular belief, the Bible wasn’t written primarily to and for Americans. Nope. Sorry. It was written to and for Israelites and not written to educate us on health. And just because it is possible to subsist from grains does not mean it is healthy. And since we are Americans and have the wonderfully blessed privilege of choosing what we want to eat, grains are poisonous, noxious, toxic substances that wreak havoc on the body and should be avoided.
Agriculture allowed humans to exert power over each other, build cities, and expand over the entire earth. It is true that agriculture allowed us to develop art, culture and societies that otherwise would be impossible, but at what cost? We now have an overpopulation problem where thousands of people die of starvation everyday while another thousand are born to die. On the other end of the spectrum, there are power wars and entire countries of people selfishly devoted to their own needs, wants and conveniences.
What we as humans have done with the earth is NOT God’s fault, but we who are in the know do have a responsibility to apply this golden nugget of truth about health, food and wellness to our lives and share it with those around us!
Can Paleo feed the world? Maybe, but those huge philosophical arguments are pointless when you and I won’t even take responsibility for our own health. When we won’t take part in something greater than ourselves and show our friends, families and ourselves that health is possible, even simple, and satisfying without the over-complications.
Applying Occam’s Razor
Organizations, foundations, and hopes for cures will spend billions of dollars and the next hundred years developing complicated theories and ideas to explain disease, cancers and the degeneration of human health.
You and I, however, know something that 90 percent of the world doesn’t or is in denial about… lots of foods that we put in our bodies are actually toxic and damaging. When we remove those toxic foods, our lives transform, we feel better, and we reverse, prevent or stop progression of those diseases we used to fear.
This simple, straightforward explanation will solve 90 percent of your health, nutrition, diet and weight loss issues. Period.
Consider yourself blessed to be privy to such powerful knowledge because you have the unique opportunity of transforming your life! And the lives of your family, friends and co-workers.
Making it liveable
Eating Paleo – meat/seafood, veggies, healthy fats, fruit, some nuts/seeds, safe starches – IS simple, but not easy for most. This is because you’ve never eaten this way IN YOUR LIFE and perhaps think that healthy must be boring, bland and miserable. Not true.
Paleo is colorful, flavorful, never-count-another-point-again-wonderful AND doable. You CAN do Paleo at restaurants, social gatherings and church events. You eat Paleo meals frequently, but just not strung together in a consistent basis that will affect your health. If you’ve ever eaten bacon and eggs for breakfast or steak, taters and veggies for dinner, you’ve eaten Paleo.
Many of my clients find the 80/20 Rule vital to their success in making Paleo liveable.
The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 Rule is a wonderful concept that applies to almost ANY area of your life! Think about it. In the workplace, 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. If you are work in sales or business, look at your books and see that 20 percent of your clients produce 80 percent of your business. It’s insane how accurate this rule is.
Looking at the 80/20 Rule another way, you can stick with something 80 percent of the time and still reap most of the results without a deleterious effect.
This is important in transitioning Paleo from a diet to a lifestyle because it means that if you stick with Paleo 80 percent of the time, you can splurge 20 percent of the time (~2 meals per week) and NOT suffer for it.
The 80/20 Rule allows my clients to make Paleo liveable and gives them freedom at social gatherings to not battle with trying (and failing) to eat less or NOT partake in dessert. By planning for those social events as one of your two splurges, you may enjoy yourself without feeling guilty.
You owe it to yourself to try Paleo and the 80/20 Rule. If not for you, then do it for your family. They deserve having a healthy, satisfied husband, wife, daughter, mother, father, sister, or brother.
In conclusion, Occam’s Razor states that the simplest explanation is usually the best. By not over-complicating nutrition and health, we see that only since agriculture and processed, packaged foods do we have sickness, diseases and cancers. By removing those poisonous foods from our diets, we experience seemingly impossible transformations! The 80/20 Rule helps people make the transition from Paleo as a “diet” to Paleo as a lifestyle.
What do you think? Comment below!