My first attempt to switch to the Paleo diet was a catastrophic failure. I made it a little over two weeks before I was dying from the inside and just couldn’t take it any more.
Here’s the play by play:
I made the switch from fast food to Paleo overnight. I woke up the morning of day 1 and had bacon and eggs for breakfast. Solid breakfast. Very filling. About an hour later the carb cravings started. My stomach felt full but I was still looking for a cinnamon bun to shove down my gullet. After fighting back the carb monster all morning it was time for lunch. Hmmm… what to cook? Well I didn’t want to spend too much time on it so I had eggs again. Needless to say, the Law of Diminishing Returns started to take effect. Not nearly as satisfying. This process was pretty much the same for the two weeks I was able to stick with it.
Resist the temptation!
Not having quick Paleo options available was a crippling factor in my failure. So my first tip to anyone looking to make the switch to the Paleo diet is this:
Plan ahead! Cook extra portions and save them for later. You will not always have time to cook something tasty every time you get hungry.
I made this adjustment for my second attempt (going on almost a year now!) and it has made a huge difference. Yes, my fridge looks like a Tupperware farm, but it’s nice to have options.
Meat Sleep Repeat 
When I first started with the paleo diet I didn’t have too much trouble adjusting to the carb cravings. Maybe I just don’t remember it cause it was over a year ago, but I am pretty sure it was relatively easy for me to switch over.
That’s great! I adjusted fairly quickly the second go around, and now it’s a non-issue.
I don’t think I went thru huge carb withdrawal in my latest few weeks experiment with Paleo, but I never really eat simple carbs anyway. It’s the meat. Uggh. Previously I verged close to vegetarian most days and eating that much meat just makes me sleepy.
I’m on the other end of that. It’s mostly meat and I have to put effort in to get my veggies.
I have a hard time passing up bread when it’s in front of me. I know carbs make me feel sleepy and bloated and just need to work harder on avoiding them completely. I also love Indian food and it’s hard to enjoy without rice. I’ll get there slowly but surely!
It can be very hard to avoid breads and grains since they are put in front of us every day, but there are Paleo alternatives for everything. You can bake Paleo bread, which I’ll admit, I’ve had limited success with. You can also do ‘riced’ cauliflower, which is really good. I’ve done this a few times and I can’t tell the difference!
Ohhh I’ll have to look into riced cauliflower!
I am still having carb cravings two weeks in and I find having lots of healthy options available in the fridge helps a lot!
When I cook a meal my kitchen looks like I am cooking for a family of 12(even though there is only two of us.) It really helps having easy meals and snacks stocked in your fridge. Eating a bit of fruit helps with carb cravings too, think of it like nicotine gum to ease you away from your addiction. 🙂
Hahaha! I like that!