This post was originally created in response to a reader’s request for our nutritional elevator pitch. You know the elevator pitch concept – you’re hanging out in the elevator when your boss gets on and asks how things are going. You’ve got 60 seconds to give him the big-picture details in a way that is complete, concise and engaging – not an easy task.
We originally created our “Paleo Pitch” back in May 2010, while recording our guest appearance on Robb Wolf’s podcast. At the time, Robb called it the “Dubai elevator pitch”, a reference to the location of the world’s tallest building. (We agree, it was a tad bit lengthy). Since then, we’ve continued to refine and revise our pitch – and today, we’re re-releasing an updated version as part of our Manifesto series.
The Case For the Positive Pitch
While many people live and breathe the idea of Eating Good Food, they’re not always so good at talking about it. In fact, when asked, “What’s this diet you’re on?” most people approach their response entirely the wrong way. The first thing they mention are all the things they don’t eat – grains, dairy, legumes, sugar or processed foods. Trouble is, there is probably at least ONE of those food groups in their listener’s diet, and starting the discussion with a judgment of their dietary choices (whether real or imagined) immediately puts the listener on the defensive.
In addition, launching into the foods you don’t eat first immediately closes off further conversation if the listener jumps to some fast conclusions about your level of dietary fanaticism, or the restrictive nature of your self-imposed regimen. After all, for most people, not eating any of those food groups is hard to wrap their head around. Finally, that kind of lead-off also places you in the unfortunate position of then having to provide “proof” or scientific back-up for your rationale. And as many of you have discovered, that’s darn near impossible to do in 60 seconds, especially when you’re up against such classics as, “Milk gives you strong bones,” or “Whole grains are heart-healthy.”
So we approached our nutritional pitch from a different angle – emphasizing the foods we do eat, why we eat them, and the general (and well documented) health benefits associated with the foods we choose. And then, it’s time to seal the deal with a personal testimonial – how this way of eating has affected YOU, personally. It’s hard to argue with, “Since my first Whole30, I’m sleeping better, my energy is through the roof, I lost 15 pounds, and my skin has totally cleared up”, right?
So here is our revised pitch, in all it’s positive, forward-thinking, non-confrontational glory. (And yes, we actually read this out loud and timed it. We are nothing if not diligent.)
Nutrition in 60 Seconds
I eat real food – fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient-dense, with lots of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important – I’m careful about where my meat, seafood and eggs come from, and buy organic local produce as often as possible.
This is not a “diet” – I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy, activity levels and a healthy body weight. I aim for well-balanced nutrition, so I eat both animals and a significant amount of plants. I’m not lacking carbohydrates – I just get them from vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal or pasta. And my meals are probably higher in fat than you’d imagine, but fat is a healthy source of energy when it comes from high-quality foods like avocado, coconut and grass-fed beef.
Eating like this is ideal for maintaining a healthy metabolism and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s good for body composition, energy levels, sleep quality, mental attitude and quality of life. It helps eliminate sugar cravings and reestablishes a healthy relationship with food. It also works to minimize your risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack, stroke and autoimmune.
So there you have it – 60 seconds that concisely summarizes, “Why I eat the way I eat.” So spread the Good Food Word and explain your dietary choices to friends, family, co-workers and nosy neighbors in a way that is approachable, relatable and, most importantly, maintains a positive spin on why we eat the way we do. (And feel free to use our “Nutrition in 60 Seconds” on your site or blog, too – just credit and link back to us, please.) Do you have an approach or a “pitch” of your own? Share it in comments.
I think it is great except the ‘I’m not lacking carbohydrates – I just get them from vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal or pasta’ sounds defensive. I’d put it in simply as ‘I get all the carbohydrates I need from vegetables and fruit.’
There’s some good info in there but it’s far too long to be an elevator pitch that people can remember. I’d love to see a bulleted list of “talking points”. For example:
- Real food – fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit.
- Nutrient-dense, with lots of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals
- Food quality is important – where it comes from and how it’s fed/grown.
- Not a “diet”
- Fat from high-quality foods is good!
- Helps to maintain a healthy metabolism and reduces inflammation within the body.
- Improvements – body composition, energy levels, sleep quality, mental attitude, quality of life no sugar cravings, minimized risk of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack, stroke and autoimmune.
@Shannon: You know, I hadn’t thought about it like that. We try to address people’s concerns about carbs up front – many don’t even think about veggies and fruit as carb sources! But it may come off as defensive, which is the opposite of a positive pitch. Let me think about how we can change that up to make it more positive – your idea is a good one. Thanks for sharing!
@Mona: Sweet! Make your own bullet points, tighten up our basic pitch with one that’s easier to remember or more applicable to your experience, or ditch it altogether and come up with something that works better for YOU. Heck, it could be as short as, “I only eat food that makes me feel good about myself.” The purpose of our pitch was to give folks a starting point, and to remind people to keep it positive. Thanks for the ideas!
Melissa
My pitch is this.
10 years ago I found out I had diabetes. Lucky for me the internet was full of stuff on diets.
I found one that reduces sugar surges, and has basically sidelined my diabetes. It’s called the Paleo Diet. Have you heard of it?
Diet and lifestyle is about eating the best foods out there to feel great all day. It really doesn’t matter where you eat in the world, if you eat ‘these staple foods’- you probably won’t get dietary diseases. This is what I eat.
Grass-fed/finished beef, lamb and goat, wild fish and seafood, organic low-glycemic vegetables, and fruit, especially berries, eggs and nuts. These are my staple foods now. I feel great, and my blood tests always come back with great results. Eating these staple foods eliminates sugar surges, inflammation aof all sorts, which is the primary cause of stroke, embolisms, and heart attacks.
Did you know that about 70% of our health care costs are due to bad diets. A diet of processed grain products, sugar, starches, beans, etc… will destroy you.
Eating fresh meats, veggies, some fruits, eggs and nuts as staple food is the way to go. It’s called Paleo after the Greek word for Old, Type thepaleodiet.com, the next time you are on the computer. This is the healthy way to ward off disease. Check it out.
My short & sweet pitch ‘if I can’t pronounce it, spell it, kill it or grow it, I don’t eat it.’
I stole some of your phrasing but here’s my current take on it keeping in mind that I’m new to this so am still working my way through the steps but am not yet all the way there:
I eat real food: meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds with a little dairy thrown in now and then. I try to choose quality foods that are nutrient-dense, with lots of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals but I’m still taking a daily multi-vitamin with minerals until I get this part of my learning curve down.
I rarely eat bread, rice, pasta or potatoes. I’m not lacking in carbohydrates, I just get them from fruits and vegetables instead of grains and starches.
This is not a “diet”. I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full. I still occasionally eat in restaurants that offer me relatively healthful choices but I bring home a lot more leftovers because I’m just not hungry enough to eat those oversized servings.
Eating like this has made me healthier. My blood glucose has come back into the safe range without needing to take insulin. My weight is dropping which it badly needs to do. And I have so much energy I don’t know what to do with it. So, I’ve started exercising to use up some of that energy and to tone up my body as it reduces its size.
Try it. You may like it.
Just don’t do this!
http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2011/08/14/a-citation-from-the-fat-police/
That’s beautiful. Can you set it to music? I read it out loud to myself and it sounded so natural.
I’m losing a lot of weight and people naturally ask me how I’m doing it. This is a much better approach, accentuating the positive. I’ve just been talking about eliminating the negative and people glaze over pretty quickly.
“I mostly eat vegetables and fruit, plus meat and eggs. Things like bread and rice just stand in the way of more veggies. It’s made me healthier than ever and those 75 pounds haven’t come back, even after 9 years.”
It helps that this conversation often happens over lunch, where I eat a lot more food than they do…
Mine is even shorter… I eat meat, eggs, veggies, fruit, some nuts and seeds. I try to get the highest quality food i can get, so as much organic, grass-fed local stuff as i can. and its not a “diet”, this is just the way i choose to eat.
then i wait for questions — which is usually, “oh, so you don’t eat carbs. like atkins.” my response is that i eat lots of carbs, but mine are just all from veggies and fruit.
“what about milk?! i couldn’t live without cheese!” i say, that i thought so too, but i haven’t missed it in my cooking at all. “what about calcium?” i say that i get it from my green leafys and i take a women’s multivitamin (this calms the normals down a TON… even if it is often a fib.)
“whole grains are heart healthy.” my response is simply, “compared to what? twinkies? because i am pretty sure that broccoli and spinach are better for your heart than whole grains and DEFINITELY better than twinkies!”
and then they chuckle and usually leave it at that. my last statement is often about my awesome sleep, increased energy and wicked difference in concentration levels. i usually tell people that i didn’t realize that i was in a fog until i change my way of eating. if they want to get into it further, then we do, but usually that happens about a week or two later after they have thought about it more.
ck
Thanks for this. I’m 2 weeks into a whole 30 after about 6 mo. of mostly paleo and the questions have started coming about what I’m doing. No one seems to believe me, though. I’m a Crossfitter, and they all focus on my “really hard” workouts as the reason for the weightloss, or say I can’t possibly eat this way long term. Funny thing is, I’ve not eaten much bread or pasta for more than 10 years. Maybe focusing on the positive will help.
You gotta eat something. Might as well be food.
I have a logistical question. I want to get started on the Whole9 lifestyle, and I want to know–Can I chew sugar-free gum? I’m fell the answer should be no, but I’ve already lost a significant amount of weight through a positive change in diet and adding a fitness regimine (50 lbs since the end of June). Gum has helped to keep me from snacking throughout the day when I am serving snacks to my daycare children. They often have things for snack that are on the list of things we don’t consume, such as crackers and peanut butter.
Whoops… Haha. “I feel the answer should be no” is what I meant to say, but clearly my fingers were slower than my brain.
Thanks to all for the comments, and for sharing your own version of “Nutrition in 60 Seconds”.
Kristena, gum is out for your Whole30. As to what you do outside of the program, that’s up to you, but we think there are a million good reasons to give up the gum addiction, not the least of which is the nasty stuff artificial sweeteners can do to your body. Less is better, none is ideal.
Best,
Melissa
I just stumbled onto your website this morning. I’ve been trying to create a healthy diet for myself and so recently bought a paleo cookbook. I’ve also got an online shopping cart filled with things like almond flour, coconut flour, tahini, cacao butter, etc. From browsing your website, it looks like most of those things are not considered healthy and I shouldn’t complete the purchase. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and confused. I understand the basics and they seem to generally line up with paleo. I’m also unsure of the difference between coconut oil and coconut aminos. Maybe all this outlined in the e-book, but before I buy another book I want an idea of what I’m getting into…
Krista,
We know, it can be confusing. See if this post helps you figure out how to grocery shop for your Whole30/Paleo diet. (http://whole9life.com/2011/01/paleo-poor-your-guide-to-the-grocery-store/)
Focus on REAL FOOD first – meat, seafood and eggs, vegetables and fruits, and healthy sources of fat. Then, when you’ve got that down, you can play around with Paleo baking and desserts, because that’s what those flours and cacao butters are generally used for. Focus your energy (and money) on everyday foods first, however. Those Paleo/coconut flour/almond flour desserts are still DESSERTS, even though they’re made with “less bad” ingredients.
We do have a detailed shopping list in our e-book, as well as a meal planning template you might find helpful.
Hope that helps,
Melissa