Guest Post by Carolyn Coffin, Living Primal

It's been almost three years since I published my website in an effort to guide people towards a healthier way of eating and living. Back then I agonized over what to name my site. What images to include that would encapsulate what my business was all about. What the tag line should be.

I can remember waking up one night and running downstairs to jot down a name and tag line that felt particularly right.

Living Primal...looking to the past to guide our future.

That was it! It spoke to honoring our genetic makeup to live our best life not only in the present, but also going forward. In all honesty, I thought it was a slam dunk. I bought the domain name and put it out there into the world.

Fast forward three years...

You wouldn't believe how often people's eyes glaze over, or their defenses immediately go up, after I tell them what I do.

"I run a business called Living Primal to help educate and inspire people to eat real food and be active."

• Oh, the caveman diet? I've heard of that. Didn't cavemen only live to be like, thirty five or something?
• Right. My friend is doing that. She's losing weight but it's so restrictive. I believe in everything in moderation.
• Haven't we been eating wheat for thousands of years? How bad can it really be?

Placing a label on how we eat can invite problems. Whether right or wrong, our brains search through the bank of past knowledge and experience about a subject -- vegetarian, Paleo/Primal, or the Zone Diet -- and make assumptions.

Take vegetarians, for example

Let's look at how this might play out with a vegetarian diet, which is almost universally regarded as healthy. Red meat and sugar have had their fair share of bad publicity, but to my knowledge there has never been a dietary camp out there casting vegetables as the villain.

Even when our knowledge about vegetarianism is limited, we still make assumptions about it. As the name implies, a lot of us envision those folks eating piles of vegetables and quinoa. But since a "vegetarian" diet technically refers to the exclusion of animal products, it could also mean eating a pile of bagels, white pasta and other heavily refined and processed starches. And zero vegetables!

Bottom line: The overall scope of an individual's diet can never be assumed by the name alone.

The Primal way of eating is open to the same interpretation as vegetarianism, or any other "diet" for that matter. Which is why lately I've adopted the phrase, eating real food. I find it gets straight to the point so I can get on with my real job of helping people get healthier.

So long as you have a desire to consume more nutrient dense foods than you do right now -- regardless of whether you call it South Beach, ketogenic or organic -- we can work together. Watch for the online course I developed with Dr. Michelle Durkin, ND from the Eat Real Food Academy starting in January 21st 2015.

I have also included a Christmas Bonus for all of you. I will be releasing my 1 week Meal Plan as part of my new look for my website and Facebook page. Sign up for my email list and you can have it delivered straight to your inbox once it is ready! Click HERE to sign up.