It took a little while to get my system tuned in with enough consistency in eating well per the Primal guidelines but once I was used to it - say about a month or so - I began to feel the the subtle differences that various foods had on my body.

Being dialed in on this cause and effect is now the cornerstone of all my eating habits.

I know the staple of foods we have around the house that keep me feeling balanced, energized, and digesting well and continually becoming more aware of how other foods effect my body.  This plays into my decisions on when and how much I'll deviate.  

I'm writing this on Christmas Eve and there will be a goody table in front of me all evening with lots of tempting treats on it.  But by being aware that the sugar is going to get my heart rate up and make me jittery, followed by an energy crash later and general feeling of uneasiness that I'll probably shy away and head to the nut bowl.

Knowing the price I'll later pay makes it easier for me to decide what I put in my body.  I'll cheat from time to time but when I do I know exactly what to expect in advance.

This makes eating easy for me.  It's not a diet.  There aren't a whole bunch of rules and guidelines I go by anymore; I go by how I feel and it so happens that the foods I eat that fall into The Primal Blueprint and other Paleo Diet regiments have positive effects on my body.

Yesterday our daughter, Amelia, took a book light and the stand from a mirror and created her own freestanding desk lamp. "See, now I can play in the dark."

It is so awesome to see people make original discoveries. Not that she invented the first light of its kind but that she discovered how to do it on her own without any direct influence, guidance, or suggestions.

I think a lot of people of the entrepreneur mindset have these moments.  I've "discovered" a lot of things only to research and find that many others have too.  But it's still an amazing feature of human ingenuity and those synapses and connections prepare us for all kinds of improvising, adapting, and overcoming obstacles along the way.

It is pretty well established that in general, it takes about 21 days of consistent repitition to establish a new habit.  Couples do little things that annoy each other all the time.  What if we could cut down on those things?  Would it make our relationship a little better?  Would we make ourselves a little better?

I don't know the anwer to this yet.  But the gauntlet has been dropped with the 21 Day Spousal Challenge.

For lisa, I've challenged her to read "10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life" (an older lifehack post that I keep on my vision board).  The reason is because she's going through challenges where this line of thinking may help her into the right perspective and deal with it more comfortably.

For me, I have to pick up my clothes off the bathroom floor for the 21 days.

I figure this improves 3 big areas of our lives.

ONE:  We strengthen our discipline muscle.

TWO:  We strengthen our relationship by communicating and engaging in challenges together.

THREE:  We introduce new, probably beneficial, and spouse approved habits into our lives.

On the flipside of that, you could also shape the challenge to NOT do something for 21 days and get a good start on dropping a self-limiting or super-annoying habit.

By engaging in this challenge, you are also demonstrating to your spouse that:

• You listen to their concerns.
• You care enough to consciously attempt the change.
• You show them they are a priority by sticking to the challenge for the full 21 days.

This of course, doesn't mean you should split if the challenge doesn't make it full term.  It may mean that you need to continue to focus and work on your discipline or it may be that the challenge doesn't fit you or is more of a hindrance to yourself than the annoyance to your spouse.  Whole lot of variable but I think each couple could make it work for them.  Start small; start simple.  Have fun.

Your spouse has chosen to share a life with you (at least that's the way it works for the people I'm writing to) and this is a great way to grow together and keep each other motivated.  Don't underestimate the power of the spouse for your own personal growth in life, family, and business. 

If two heads are better than one, imagine what two hearts could do.

One of the toughest challenges to getting on a better path to eating paleo or primal is the cost.  Simply put, it is more expensive and not as convenient to procure natural, healthy food.

When we embarked on this Primal Blueprint experiment, our first order of business was to swap out our pantry filled with grain-based snacks and stock it full of primal approved foods - nuts, seeds, butters (almond, cashew, sunflower are our favorites), fresh fruits and vegetables, and some jerky.  We also needed to start buying a lot more meat which is more expensive than the heavy pasta dishes we were used to preparing for most meals.

Lisa's been buying organic for a long time but shifting from a diet where grains play a high role and provide a lot of relatively cheap calories to one that replaces grains with primarily grass-fed meat, organic vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds bumped our grocery budget into a tailspin... sort of...  The way it really went down is we were spending about the same amount of money but burning through the food faster and finding ourselves hungry with bare pantries before the next grocery visit was planned.

What transpired has been a continually evolving system to find savings, make efficiencies, and cut costs out of other less important areas of our lives.  I'd like to say I found a magic formula or found a secret supplier that can deliver organic, contaminate-free food for the same price the grocery store sells frozen dinners but that is not the reality.  Eating the right healthy foods is more of an investment but these tips will help you get the best returns.