Paleo for Weight Loss: The 14-Day Healthy Eating Plan
Find Out If Paleo Is Right For You
Food Arts Fusion LLC
ISBN: 978-1-942118-02-2
2014, Donna Leahy
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this book is based on research and personal experience unless otherwise stated. It should not be substituted for qualified medical advice. Health related information provided in this book is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Always seek the counsel of a qualified medical practitioner for an individual consultation before making any significant changes to your diet and lifestyle and to answer questions about specific medical conditions. The author and publisher disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects that may result from the use or application of the recipes and information within this book. The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties including, without limitation, warranties of fitness, health or weight loss for a particular purpose. This is work is sold with the understanding that the publisher and author are not engaged in rendering medical or other professional advice and neither is liable for damages arising from it.
Thank you for purchasing this book. I am pleased to have you along for the journey to better health and better eating. I know you could have picked from dozens of cookbooks about Paleo, so to show my appreciation, Id like to offer you a bonus: TEN GREAT GRILLING RECIPES, a selection of Paleo-friendly grilling recipes that will please any palate. Simply sign up on my website www.donnaleahy.com to receive my complimentary newsletter and I will send you the PDF. As an experienced chef and author, I write cookbooks on a variety of topics and themes. So even if you find that Paleo is not the right eating plan for you, my other cookbooks may interest you as well.
If you have a moment to review this book on Amazon, Id really appreciate it. This type of feedback will help me continue to write the kind of cookbooks that you want to use.
Thanks again, I look forward to hearing from you.
Chef Donna
Table of Contents
Welcome
Welcome to Paleo for Weight Loss, the 14-day plan to eat healthy and find out if Paleo is right for you. This is an opportunity for you try out the Paleo plan in its strictest form, lose weight and still enjoy what youre eating. Its an opportunity to reduce cravings for sugar and processed food. Finally, after 14 days, youll have the chance to evaluate how you feel and decide if the Paleo lifestyle Indeworks for you.
You may have heard Paleo referred to as the Caveman Diet or Prehistoric Diet. But its usefulness in helping us lose weight and eat better goes far beyond copying the diet of our ancestors. Paleo takes a straightforward approach to resetting what our bodies crave by eliminating the main source of trouble our reliance on processed food. If we stop eating processed food, we stop craving it. It also eliminates some food groups that can cause our blood sugar to bounce around like an acrobat on a circus trapeze. Getting that blood sugar in a stable and healthy range is the long-term approach to ending unhealthy cravings.
You may have read that when you follow Paleo, weight will just fall off but that is simply not true for many people. If youve struggled with weight loss in the past, you already know you need to be especially mindful of what you consume each day. The 14-day plan gives you the opportunity to eat Paleo and still eat well by preparing your own food. This guide will start by outlining the practical part of Paleo: what to eat and why. Youll quickly move on to essential strategies for trying Paleo for 14 days, including shopping lists and menus. Finally, the easy-to-prepare recipes will help you adhere to the plan for the full two weeks with delicious satisfying meals. At the end of two weeks, youll have the chance to evaluate how you feel and decide if Paleo is right for you. If you want to learn the basics of Paleo and get started on the path to losing cravings with a healthy eating plan, this is the book for you.
Why 14 Days?
Eating a healthier diet involves being more conscious of what you are consuming. So how long does it take to see a change? A lot has been made about the ideas of habit forming recently. But the truth is that over-consuming sugar and processed foods is not simply a habit. If it were, the process for change would be a lot different. Its a lot like the idea of just stopping drug or alcohol addiction it often takes more than willpower to overcome our bodies physiological response to the food we consume. When we embark on major changes, there is definitely an emotional component as well. We all need to be able to see a little light at the end of the tunnel and feel rewarded at the end.
So why commit to 14 days? Much of the mainstream dieting wisdom tells us we need to make a lifelong commitment to better eating. Coincidentally, this is the same language used in addiction recovery. But even in treating addiction, the first step rehab is short term. Once that goal of eliminating the craving is completed, it is only then that the long-term commitment begins. The important idea is that we need to begin to make a conscious choice about what we consume. That conscious choice can be fueled by a reward in this case, losing weight, eating well and feeling better. Its those results that will enable you to commit to longer-term changes in how you eat. If you like the way you feel and look, you may continue to follow the Paleo plan as well. After 14 days, you will be empowered to make the choice.
That Four-Letter Word
You know it well: D-I-E-T. Diet. There, I said it. Its a word that many of us carry around our entire lives. I have been on one diet or another since I was about seven years old. Im not exaggerating. Up until age seven, my nickname was Skinny Mini, but keeping weight off after that age became an on-going struggle throughout my young life. Even being physically active was never enough to keep the pounds from adding on.
Once I was old enough to determine my own eating habits, things went from bad to worse. Enter the diet technique commonly known as STARVATION. Yes, it actually did work, at least when my body was young enough to absorb the damage. However, once starvation becomes your chosen diet, your body has a built-in response to make sure you dont die. So, every time you do it, it becomes less effective, because your body actually becomes more effective. So whats your answer? Starve more. Starve longer. Eat something non-nutritious because youre starving. Feel bad. Starve more. And so it goes.
We all know that making conscious, informed choices and choosing whats best for our bodies to consume will lead us to a healthier place. To achieve that, we need to break the cycle of unhealthy eating and, in many cases, drop some excess weight in the process. But as a chef I also know that eating healthy doesnt mean food cant still taste good and be satisfying. When I develop menus and dishes, I make conscious choices about balancing taste and nutrition. This is not just the realm of a professional chef. This is the foundation for better eating for everyone.
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