Foundational Paleo Elements

Food Lifestyle

Meat, Vegetables, Fruit

No Grains, Dairy, Sugar or Processed Food

• Organic, Pastured and Grass-fed Meats• Organic Produce

Local and Sustainable Food Sources

Exercise/Movement

Stress Reduction

Good Sleep

Great to Have/Work

Toward

Must Have

These are the basics of a Paleo lifestyle. They are the basics of a healthy lifestyle in general. Get these in order and you’ll be in good shape to move on to more advanced topics and individualized implementations.

The rest of this infographic will help you do just that…

Fine-tune and Individualize Your Foundation - Food

Food

Adjust Carbohydrates Higher or Lower Carb

depending on tolerance, training style and activity

levels.

Learn What You’re Sensitive To… Often, even certain Paleo foods can cause issues for people.

Your relative health and stress levels will play a large role here. Just because it’s Paleo doesn’t mean it’s a good food

for your body.Learn what Paleo foods contain FODMAPs and may affect

you negatively and consider an “Autoimmune Paleo” approach that excludes eggs, nightshades, nuts, seeds, etc.Always remember that YOUR body is the ultimate authority

on what works and what doesn’t – never a book or an “expert.”

Adjust Foods for Individual

Preferences Find the Paleo foods you

enjoy and tolerate well and incorporate them into your weekly meal

plans.

Consider Select Grains

For some, well-tolerated grains such as organic

brown rice or soaked and sprouted breads may be useful to avoid boredom

and increase carbohydrates.

Consider Quality Dairy

Raw cow or goat dairy from healthy animals

may be appropriate for some.

NOT recommended for those with digestive or autoimmune illness.

“Cheat” Days For healthy individuals, reasonable breaks from

strict and regimented eating my be acceptable

and stress-reducing.

Supplements may play a supporting role depending on specific healing and/or performance goals.

Lifestyle

Fine-tune and Individualize Your Foundation - Lifestyle

Learn What You’re Sensitive To… Certain practices, lifestyles, people, places, jobs, work styles, relationships, etc. may not be

right for you. Learn to intuit what is right for you and what isn’t. Feeling sad, depressed, exhausted or drained after spending time in a certain place, doing a certain task or with certain people can be a strong indication that the activity isn’t good for you and doesn’t

serve your highest purpose or best interest. Feelings are Warnings. Always trust your instincts and the feelings in your body over the “story” you tell yourself or that someone else

is telling you.

Learn What Types of Exercise and Movement Your

Body Loves Try new activities often and

discover what makes your body thrive. It may be Yoga, it may be

CrossFit, it may be walking or MovNat. It may be martial arts. It

may be riding a bicycle at the beach. Find what makes you feel good consistently and what you

enjoy and do that.

Active Stress-Reduction

Incorporate some kind of meditation practice

into your life. It can be a moving meditation like Yoga or Qigong, guided

meditations on your phone or regular

“breathing meditation.” Do your best to practice

daily to reduce stress and improve sleep.

A Optimize Your Sleep Environment Do everything you can to make your bedroom

relaxing and comfortable. Get the

temperature right, the mattress, the bedding,

the pillow. Remove anything that’s plugged

in or has a light.

Shut Off the Computer,

iPad, TV and Phone Early

Try shutting off anything

stimulating or electronic

several hours before bed.

Read a printed, relaxing book.

Living Your Best Life

Limited Sitting

Do whatever you have to so you can sit as little as possible.

Build a standing work station, sit on a Swiss

Ball, change work positions regularly

and take regular stretch and movement breaks when working.

Limited/Mindful TV and Social

Media Consumption

Regular, Abundant Sleep and Rest

Rest and sleep should be one of your utmost

priorities. You’ll get more done well-rested, recovered and refreshed than you will

pounding coffee and running on adrenaline.

Most chronic health problems will never resolve without abundant rest and

sleep.

Optimal Movement Frequency and Intensity

Learn what optimal is FOR YOU and follow that. Don’t worry what everyone else is doing or if your friend does 3

CrossFit workouts per day. Different bodies have

different movement needs and tolerance and this will

vary for different seasons of the year and different

seasons of life…

Limited Computer Time

Reasonable Life-Stress Levels In some ways, the world is more stressful than it’s ever been. But, it’s also true that we’ve never had the abundance of opportunity to create the life, work and lifestyle we want and need to feel our best. The 21 st century world rewards out-of-the-box thinkers who

refuse to settle or play along. Don’t stress yourself out fitting into someone else’s box.

Positive, Meaningful Career and Working Life

Particularly in the 21st century, career and work are about much more than collecting a paycheck. The best “jobs” in the new economy involve creativity and connection – “art” as Seth Godin calls it in the

book Linchpin.

Connection and CommunityPositive, nurturing, supportive relationships are hugely important.

Maximize time with supportive people who positively influence your mind, body and emotions. Spend time with fun, positive and supportive friends

and family.

Minimize or eliminate those who create stress and negativity for you. It’s YOUR life – you have the right to decide who is worth including in it and

who needs to move on.

Technology is wonderful and computer and social tech gives us great leverage in our lives and work. But, remember that our genes have NO precedent for this type of rapid, virtual and abstract living. Strive to spend less time “in your head” and at a computer and more time experiencing your world and body directly.

Spirituality, Mission and Higher Purpose

Living Your Most Important Values

Compromising our deepest and most

important values is the road to ruin. We need to

understand what our primitive human bodies need to thrive physically

and then we need to determine our personal

and individual values and live them fully.

Connection to Your Life Purpose

Do whatever you have to to discover your life’s

purpose and live it. It will likely change and evolve

over time and it may take many, many years and

many iterations to become clear.

Step onto the path of finding out your deepest desires and life’s purpose and journey and then get

to work living them.

Optimal Quiet, Alone Time for Reflection

“I ride my bike more often than I drive these days. I see my friends leashed to their vibrating handhelds, but I continue to keep the

cornucopia of technology at arm’s length so that I can more easily remember who I am..."

Kevin Kelly in What Technology Wants

Our minds and bodies aren’t evolved to handle the constant stimulation and noise of the 21st century world. In our modern age, it’s entirely possible to be busy, moving and stimulated constantly. And, this endless motion and stimulation makes it very easy and

practical to avoid thinking about our lives, our choices, our goals and our life’s meaning.

Take time alone – without technology, phones and texts – and simply be.

Words like “Spirituality” and “Purpose” mean different things to different people. It’s not about religion as much as it’s about a feeling of belonging and the sense that life is more than a series of random, meaningless events.

We all have higher goals, desires and purpose – we are either living them and working toward them or actively running from them and denying them. Too much time spent doing things we don’t love and value and that don’t move us toward our ultimate vision of who we want to be creates all kinds of havoc on every level of our health.

Bonus The All-Time Best Books for Reinventing Every Area of Your Life…

• Linchpin by Seth Godin• The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth by Chris Brogan• The Paleo Dieter’s Missing Link by Adam Farrah• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle• A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle• Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker• What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly• Paleo Magazine (paleomagonline.com)• The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss• The Four-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss• The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida

Credits

This infographic was conceived and developed by Adam Farrah based the concepts in his new book The Paleo

Dieter’s Missing Link from Paleo Media Group.

Get the book or visit PracticalPaleolithic.com for more

from Adam

Infographic Team

• Concept, Words and Organization: Adam Farrah• Graphic Design and Artwork: Kate Miller• Creative Input: Cain Credicott