Here’s a few helpful tips to remember when shopping to eat paleo:

1) Don’t EVER buy junk food.

If it’s in the house you’ll most likely eat it. Try and stay away from “splurge” foods even if you think you’ll be disciplined enough to wait until after your paleo challenge is over. If you want to stick to this as a lifestyle, save the splurge meals and desserts for when you go out. Nothing wrong with an occasional ice cream cone or donut. Just don’t bring large quantities of them home with you! You WILL eat them.

2) Shop the perimeter of the store.

There’s a few exceptions to this tip, but generally you can find everything you need to eat healthy around the outside of your local grocery store: meats, veggies, fruits, etc. Unless you’re buying toiletries or other household items you can usually make one good trip around the perimeter of the store and be out in a jiffy!

3) Buy meat in bulk.

When there’s a sale on meat grab an extra item. Look for sales ahead of time. Occasionally grass-fed meat goes on sale and it’s good to buy a few extra packs when it is on sale.

4) Use coupons for non-food items to save money for food items.

Just by cutting out boxed, packaged, bottled, and refined foods you’re most likely going to save money. Especially since those foods tend to make you hungrier as you eat them, which causes you to eat more food over the long haul. Save the Sunday paper for coupons on toiletries, cleaning products, make up and hair products, etc. Use the savings to buy QUALITY food!

5) Plan ahead.

Before you ever step foot into the grocery store it’s a good idea to already have meals planned out. That way you’re not just buying random foods that you may or may not be motivated to cook. Having a menu helps. It focuses your shopping trip down to the necessities (unless meat is on sale – see #3).

6) Buy a new spice occasionally.

To really add variety to your paleo menu, you’ll want to have options on how to prepare your meats and veggies. People often complain about getting bored with the same old meat dish. If you buy new spices occasionally and really fill out your spice rack you’ll have an endless variety of flavors and tastes at your disposal!

7) Eat bacon before you shop.

Eat foods that are higher in protein and fat earlier in the day so that when you go shopping your not ravenously hungry. The worst impulse buys come when you have no plan and when you’re hungry. Eat before you shop.

8) Plan/Shop with a friend.

This is more of a short-term, time specific event, but if you make it a point to invite friends over for a meal, you can coordinate and shop accordingly. It’s always fun to share recipes and to encourage one another.

Have you noticed how much CFB has grown in the last few months? Well we want to make sure that everyone knows each other! Plus, around the 3rd or 4th week of the Paleo Challenge, you may be looking for some new Paleo meal/snack ideas. Solution: Paleo Brunch! Come to the normal 10:00 am WOD on Saturday, April 14thand then join us afterwards (around 11:30) for brunch.

Everyone please bring your favorite Paleo dish to share as well as the recipe for your dish! Comment to this post if you’ll be coming and what you’ll be bringing!

"It's not that hard, people." Image credit: fitbomb.com

So you want to shift your dietary approach to a more Paleo/Primal approach. Here’s a few basic tips:

1) Eat meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds, berries, fruit.

2) Don’t eat dairy, grains, legumes, sugar.

3) Drink lots of water.

4) Don’t drink soft drinks (including diet drinks) or sugary drinks like tea and fruit juices.

5) Eat lots of quality nutrient dense protein and fat (meats, nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, coconut)

6) Don’t eat lots of empty carbohydrates (breads, pastas, cereals, pastries, cakes, chips)

So, on my post about weight loss tips I meant to have 5 tips and I published the article with only four. Oops! The fifth was supposed to be intermittent fasting, so I decided to give it it’s own post.

We are more than halfway through the challenge and a lot of people are seeing amazing results. One of the things no one gets at a commercial gym (and most people who get a personal trainer) is nutritional guidance. I can’t emphasize enough that the nutrition side of CrossFit Brunswick is the most important thing. If you are a member at CFB are not taking advantage of the nutrition, you are not getting nearly the results you could. I don’t care what the globogym trainer tells you, diet is by far the most important thing!