How to Guide - Surviving the Weekend

It's Friday! Day 5! You made it through the week! Congrats!

Now we head into the weekend where you get away from the Monday through Friday/9 to 5 routine where you knew what you were going to eat and when. I bet it looked something like this:

Breakfast - 8AM
Snack - 11AM
Lunch - 1:30PM
Snack - 3:30PM
Dinner - 7PM

*8 or 9PM bedtime so you get a FULL 8 hours of sleep, correct???

Pretty close?

The times might be *slightly* off, but you get the idea - it's fairly consent throughout the week or on set days throughout the week (MWF, etc)

So now we have two days with no time restrictions. You could maybe sleep in a bit longer (8+ hrs = points!), take a nap later in the day, wander around a farmer's market, and just enjoy some free time away from the office.

Free time can lead to boredom, which can lead to mindless eating while standing at the kitchen counter. We want to avoid this cycle. We want to avoid this mindless eating. I want you to eat your food sitting down where you can relax and enjoy your creation.

Here are a few tips for surviving the weekends:

- Get into a routine. This doesn't have to be a 'to do' list where you must fill your every waking hour with something to keep you busy. No. Try to eat your meals around the same time you normally would if you're hungry. It's what your body is used to 5 days a week, so stick to it while you're in 'reset' mode and weening your body off the processed carbs and sugar.

- Plan - Check out some cookbooks, scan the internet, and look at the links I included in my first ever Paleo email to you. I listed 3-5 good sites you can use for recipe ideas. I'm in the process of getting those links here on the blog and coming up with an additional section to house your recipes. (send them to me!)

- Shop - You don't *have* to buy organic if you can't afford it, but also look for locally grown foods as well as food in bulk - especially meat. Remember - good, better, best - when thinking about quality, but go with what you can afford.

- Prepare and cook - Use the weekend so you're not as rushed during the week and you can easily pull out the fixings for a meal. Try out new recipes you've found online.
*Chop veggies, hard boil eggs, grill chicken, roast a turkey breast, make chilly, bake sweet potatoes, pot roast in the slow cooker, etc.
*You are only limited by your imagination.

Check out this Guide to the Grocery Store from Whole9 for additional stopping tips and tricks.


- Stay hydrated - It's a simple thing to do. Carry a bottle with you and sip on it throughout the day. Use the guideline of drinking half your bodyweight in ounces of water every day.

- Going out? - Take something to snack on - fruit, nuts, trail mix, etc - or eat before you go. Don't shop when your stomach is growling. And take your water

- Don't obsess about food - Easier said than done, of course, but this is meant to be easy in the sense of what you can eat - meats, veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. Sure, it can go into more detail and that is something everyone is figuring out - almond milk? supplements? calcium? fruit? eggs and cholesterol? too high in fat? what do I eat for breakfast?


The pressure comes from within - making food you like and avoiding boredom of eating the same thing day in and day out. Think of all the possibilities of the foods you can eat and don't dwell on what you can't have. Your meals don't have to be exotic; make them flavorful and make them yours.

Use this blog and each other as a resource because you're not alone in this challenge. I'm doing it, too, and I did my 100 squats yesterday when I realized I had something that's on the 'banned' list. Oops. Penalty served.


Again, keep doing your own research if you're skeptical about how removing gluten, grains, and sugar from your everyday eating can actually be good for you.

Keep the questions coming either by comment, Facebook, or email. There's so much more in the works and I'm trying to get something new posted every day. Keep checking back!


Thanks for all the feedback.