Eating paleo?

I've been working out regularly for the past 3 weeks now!  That's by far the longest and most consistent schedule I have ever had when it comes to doing something physical! I also have a one-on-one trainer that I'm working with... at least for the next 5 sessions.  He's a graduate student like me, except his speciality is in nutrition and he has tuned me into a way of eating that I'm quite interested in pursuing.

Have you heard of the paleo diet?  It has been referred to as the "cavemen" diet because it goes all the way back to how our ancestors ate, waaaay back in the day.  As hunter-gatherers, they ate natural unprocessed foods, relying on meats, vegetables, fruits.  I don't really understand why they didn't eat beans, but apparently, on the paleo diet, no legumes (aka beans) are allowed.  No dairy is permitted.  And absolutely positively no grains.

This diet would have been so fun when I was a child.  It would have meant eating just steak and getting to push aside the other things on my plate.  But now, as an adult, I'm accustomed to eating everything on my plate, including breads!  And even though I've grown up disliking bread, I've adjusted myself to crave bread!

Which is why this diet is so hard.  Even harder because it's the hardest thing in the world for me to give up my cheeses.  Goodbye to yogurt, to milk, to butter, to sour cream.  Sayonara hummus, chili with beans, and edamames as well.  It's also unbelievable to me that I have to give up soy-- no more soy milk AND no more tofu!  That just seems ridiculous to me, but oh well.

In some ways, even though I don't understand the anti-bean (legume) argument, I do understand that in this day and age, our soy products aren't really natural, hence, going paleo means getting away from any additional toying with natural, whole, raw foods.  In that sense, I get it.  But I do have soy milk sitting in my fridge.  And I have soy sauce and tofu in my cupboards.  I have flour, I have cookie, bread, and cake mixes, and I also have cheese waiting for me in my fridge.  What am I supposed to do with those?

Last week, I mentally committed myself to what is called the 30-day-Paleo challenge which is a cleansing out of everything other than what I am permitted to eat (veggies, fruits, meats).  But then I crashed and burned multiple times when I got sugar cravings, when I went out with friends and peer pressure got the best of me, and when I ate cake, and more cake, and cheese spinach artichoke dip with tortilla chips.

Still, I'm trying to start, so I'll give myself credit.  I figure, this is a really important part of my being healthy: mentally but also physically.  I'm going to pay attention to what I put in my body, and I'm going to give it the same emphasis I give to feeding Mr. Z. healthy foods.  What's funny is that I buy "limited ingredient" foods for him, meaning I spend additional money to make sure he is eating unprocessed, whole foods, like sweet potato chips and duck liver crackers. I don't make that much of an effort with myself though.... so it's time.