The Three Levels of the Paleo Diet and

the 85-15 Rule

Most adults in the United States and other Westernized
countries have never gone through a single day in their lives
without eating grains, dairy products, refined sugars, or
processed food. So, believe me, I have compassion for you
when I ask you to forgo certain foods that have probably
been daily staples for most of your life. It clearly isn’t easy to
alter the habits of a lifetime, but you don’t have to do it all at
once. You can soften the transition by easing into the Paleo
Diet progressively, in a series of three levels of adherence.
The levels are designed with the idea that what you do
occasionally won’t sidetrack the healthy benefits of what
you do most of the time.

Does this mean you can occasionally cheat? Absolutely.
The flexibility of the Paleo Diet allows you to cheat
occasionally, without losing the diet’s overall health
benefits. Infrequent cheating is a great psychological
strategy to help you adhere to the diet most of the time, and
it won’t necessarily derail the weight loss and health effects
you are trying to achieve. The only exceptions are for