An approach to clean eating and healthy living
Today I want to elaborate on the 80:20 Rule. I’ll explore how it can help you to clean up your diet and simplify your life as well. As I shared earlier, applying this rule can be a helpful approach to cleaning up your diet, but let’s talk about why that is and how it can practically help. Finally, I’ll share where else you can apply this rule in your life.
My results with the 80:20 rule
The first month that I transitioned to the paleo diet back in 2015, I did it 100%. Looking back, it was nowhere near perfect. I didn’t understand anything about cross contamination of gluten. I was making plenty of paleo treats (sweet tooth + chocolate lover). But you know what, better done than perfect. 😉 Especially when you are just figuring things out. And even though it was imperfect paleo, I saw results after one month! Not just outward physical results, like improvements in my cystic acne prone skin and my energy, but also a dramatic improvement in my cycles and fertility, as evidenced by my Creighton Model chart!
After one month, I let myself indulge a little bit and applied the 80:20 rule. When applied to clean eating, this looks like eating wholesome nutritional foods 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time (perhaps over the weekend) you let loose and enjoy what you would like too. At the time, I didn’t realize that even my other 20% still needed to be gluten free due to my Hashimoto’s. That being said, if I maintained at least 80% paleo, I saw great results with my cycles and on my charts. I have noticed clients experience similar results with this approach. A Lot of people have great success following something like an 80:20 rule. I still think it’s a great starting point and it helps with transitioning your lifestyle.
Applying the 80:20 rule to nutrition
Think for a few minutes about your personality and how you have succeeded in achieving goals in the past. Are you someone that dives all in? Or do you tend to have better success with baby steps? It’s worth taking some time to reflect on this in order to reach your goals, no matter what they are.
Either way, I think the 80:20 rule can help with such a significant change as transitioning your diet to more wholesome nutrition, paleo, or even the autoimmune paleo protocol. If you generally fall in the “dive all in” camp the 80:20 rule will allow yourself the grace for those moments when you forgot to pull the chicken out of the freezer or forgot your carefully packed lunch at home. Cut your perfectionist self some slack and grab lunch with your coworkers. Just be smart with the menu (especially if on AIP) and perhaps even ask if you can pick the restaurant. 😉
If you tend to thrive with smaller baby steps, the 80:20 rule can also help you! From a big picture perspective, this rule allows you to give your best effort to your new dietary template during the week and relax a little bit on the weekend.
But I want chocolate
Another way to look at it, however, is to apply the 80:20 rule a little deeper. Let’s say you are trying to cut out gluten. Great! Cut it out 80% of the time. Or let’s say you are trying to cut out dairy, nightshades, sugar, coffee, or processed foods. Whatever your goal is, start by cutting back on the percentage you consume. Obviously, if you have a severe allergy you will need to cut it out all at once! But otherwise, one step at a time, you will get there. Do you see how you can apply the rule to almost any nutritional hurtle you are trying to get over?
For example, I hear people say things like, “well I could never try Paleo because I love bread too much” or “I could never do AIP because I couldn’t possibly give up chocolate”. That last one was me 😊. Baby steps friend. I totally get it. Do Paleo as much as you can, but have the dinner roll once per week (or try gluten free bread). Better done than perfect!
I think the most practical application of the 80:20 rule is the flexibility it allows for meals that are more or less out of your control. Situations like a restaurant you didn’t choose that has no healthy options, date night out with your spouse, or work conference with catered lunches. You get the idea.
Everyone is different. Some folks have no problem confidently stating their dietary standards and making those requests. But more often (and I think this is partly our American culture), folks feel awkward or like they don’t want to be a “burden” by making special requests (unless it’s a true allergy). So the 80:20 rule allows you that grace to choose. That being said, I don’t think there is anything wrong with advocating for your bio-individual nutritional needs, whether that is a food allergy, sensitivity or intolerance.
A rule for life
But nutrition is not the only place we can apply the 80:20 rule in a healthy lifestyle. Let’s think about this together for a minute. This rule can apply to avoiding toxins, screen time, buying organic, exercise, drinking filtered water, etc. Do you get the idea?
I’ll use low-toxic living as an example. We can control the cleaners and chemicals we use in our own homes, for the most part. And depending on how much time you spend at home, perhaps 80% these days, then you are still reducing your toxic load, even though you have to venture out of your healthy “bubble.”
If you are really attracted to low-toxic living but cannot imagine cleaning your bathroom without convention cleaners (that was me), great, start with another area. Keep your bathroom cleaners for now, but start with the kitchen, or your personal care products. Or vice versa.
The perfect example is probably purchasing organic for produce that appears on the dirty dozen list, but buying conventional for produce that appears on the clean fifteen list. This is the 80:20 rule in practice (even if it doesn’t result in 80% organic produce). The point is that you are taking those baby steps, you are being more intentional about when you make healthy choices, and when you indulge.
Intentional living
The 80:20 rule allows you to strive for healthy living, but gives you grace for the rest, because we can’t control everything in life, right? Although we might want to! And nobody is perfect either. This is about being intentional. The small choices you make each day do add up and have an impact on your life. Let’s make it a positive one! I hope you found this perspective helpful for not only clean eating and nutrition, but also for other areas of your life. I would love to know where else you will apply the 80:20 rule in your home. Reach out and let me know!
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Disclaimer
I am neither a doctor nor a dietitian. I am a woman who believes that the lifestyle choices we make can have a positive or negative impact on our health. As someone with an autoimmune disease, this blog is a a place for me to share my journey, experience, and what I have learned along the way while connecting with others.
The content on this site is for general information only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Please read my full disclaimer here.
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