The Atlantic

Mistakes in 'Paleo' Eating

A meaningful diet resolution might be to eat more sustainably.
Source: Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Advertising is screaming at us: New year, new you. New, new, new. Everything will be better when it’s new. The old you was probably great, but it’s harder to sell things to people who honestly believe that.

The most common January undertaking in that quest is dietary—shifting the actual molecules that fuel everything we do. Most of us will fail to meaningfully change, and then feel only more inadequate in that failure. We fail because absurd goals can never be maintained, and because sometimes our own bodies (partly the way we were born, but mostly the way we’ve trained them to demand constant supplies of simple carbohydrates and insulin) make it almost impossible not to fail—to live without feeling deprived and hungry and joyless.

Maybe most importantly, many people fail when they don’t truly believe in what they’re doing. The

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