Day 1 of my 30-day Paleo experiment.
I had planned to make 2012 a year of health. 2011 wasn't such a good year of eating for me and I only put on pound after pound even though I thought I wasn't eating that badly. I had lost weight on a lo-carb diet in 2007 and pretty much stuck to a semblance of lo-carb eating for a few years. Then in 2011 little by little I lost control. By the last week in December I was eating sweet cakey like things that I had never even liked before.
Along the way in the last year or so I also happened upon the Paleo Solution. I had stumbled across the blog of Tim Ferris and his post "How to Keep Feces out of Your Bloodstream (or how to lose 10 pounds in 14 days)". After reading that post which is a take on an excerpt from Robb Webb's book "The Paleo Solution" it sounded like that was the way to go. It made perfect logical sense to me when I read the book and how he explains what grains are doing to our systems. I don't need to explain it here, nor can I rework it well enough to explain it without messing something up in the translation. If you want to Google it, just type in Paleo and there is plenty of explanations of what it is.
I do know this though, I did feel great when I was on a lo-carb diet and eating Paleo is that but even better.
What I do know is that I need to change what I have been doing for the last year or so, if not to get healthier, but to fit into my wardrobe at least! The Paleo way of eating is not just so that people lose weight. Part of the reason why I'm doing this Paleo experiment is to see how I feel overall after trying it. Do I feel crappy from the way I eat now? Not really except for the uncomfortable way I feel from being overweight. I'm one of those people with an "ironcast stomach". I can eat just about anything and I feel ok so there's no issues of food allergies or anything like that. What I'd like to see is if I have more clarity and more energy at the end of the 30 days. Will this way of eating really make me feel different and for the better?
The Universe was on my side in helping me to start this test since the thought of exercising was starting to sound good to me. It's also helps because this is the time of year when so many people want to start a diet and exercise so the timing works for me as well. I was thinking that I would just start walking, maybe work out a little, rejoin the gym at work, or start the Cross fit program in town. Then when I went online to read about the Cross fit program, one thing lead to another and I was back on the Paleo track. It really felt right and I decided to start at that moment, today, right now. So luckily I had a good start with an eggwhite omelet so I can easily say with the food I ate today, that it fits in for a solid Day 1. Here's what I'm NOT eating (taken from the Whole30 website, whole9life.com). It's Paleo to the core.
I had planned to make 2012 a year of health. 2011 wasn't such a good year of eating for me and I only put on pound after pound even though I thought I wasn't eating that badly. I had lost weight on a lo-carb diet in 2007 and pretty much stuck to a semblance of lo-carb eating for a few years. Then in 2011 little by little I lost control. By the last week in December I was eating sweet cakey like things that I had never even liked before.
Along the way in the last year or so I also happened upon the Paleo Solution. I had stumbled across the blog of Tim Ferris and his post "How to Keep Feces out of Your Bloodstream (or how to lose 10 pounds in 14 days)". After reading that post which is a take on an excerpt from Robb Webb's book "The Paleo Solution" it sounded like that was the way to go. It made perfect logical sense to me when I read the book and how he explains what grains are doing to our systems. I don't need to explain it here, nor can I rework it well enough to explain it without messing something up in the translation. If you want to Google it, just type in Paleo and there is plenty of explanations of what it is.
I do know this though, I did feel great when I was on a lo-carb diet and eating Paleo is that but even better.
What I do know is that I need to change what I have been doing for the last year or so, if not to get healthier, but to fit into my wardrobe at least! The Paleo way of eating is not just so that people lose weight. Part of the reason why I'm doing this Paleo experiment is to see how I feel overall after trying it. Do I feel crappy from the way I eat now? Not really except for the uncomfortable way I feel from being overweight. I'm one of those people with an "ironcast stomach". I can eat just about anything and I feel ok so there's no issues of food allergies or anything like that. What I'd like to see is if I have more clarity and more energy at the end of the 30 days. Will this way of eating really make me feel different and for the better?
The Universe was on my side in helping me to start this test since the thought of exercising was starting to sound good to me. It's also helps because this is the time of year when so many people want to start a diet and exercise so the timing works for me as well. I was thinking that I would just start walking, maybe work out a little, rejoin the gym at work, or start the Cross fit program in town. Then when I went online to read about the Cross fit program, one thing lead to another and I was back on the Paleo track. It really felt right and I decided to start at that moment, today, right now. So luckily I had a good start with an eggwhite omelet so I can easily say with the food I ate today, that it fits in for a solid Day 1. Here's what I'm NOT eating (taken from the Whole30 website, whole9life.com). It's Paleo to the core.
- [No] added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc. Read your labels, because companies sneak sugar into products in all kinds of ways.
- Do not eat processed foods. This includes protein shakes, pre-packaged snacks/meals, protein bars, milk substitutes, etc.
- Do not drink alcohol, in any form.
- Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, millet, oats, corn, rice, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. (Yes, we said corn!) This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch and so on. Again, read your labels.
- Do not eat legumes. This includes beans (black, kidney, lima, etc.), peas, lentils, and peanuts or peanut butter. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).
- Do not eat dairy. This includes all cow, goat or sheep’s milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, whey, ice cream, etc.
- Do not eat white potatoes. It’s arbitrary, but they are carbohydrate-dense and nutrient poor, and also a nightshade.
- Most importantly… do not try to shove your old, unhealthy diet into a shiny new Whole30 mold. This means no “Paleo-fying” less-than-healthy recipes – no “Paleo” pancakes, “Paleo” pizza, “Paleo” fudge or “Paleo” ice cream. Don’t mimic poor food choices during your Whole30 program!
Whole30 does have a nice logo that I will add to my posts as soon as their website it back up. I had learned about trying a 30-day experiment from reading so many of Steve Pavlina's blogs. He's done some great 30day trials - but this way of eating is certainly not something that would resonate with him since he is a raw-foodist. Raw foods are part of what's important in Paleo, but the meat part doesn't cut it for any vegetarian. That's a debate for another day and for other bloggers to explain as well. For me, I just want to see if I can do the 30-days :-). Eating meat and veggies and fruit is just what I love and is the easy part. Not eating pasta is pretty easy for me too in fact. I haven't had bread in the house for the longest time so that shouldn't be too bad either. It's just been lately that some Italian bread seemed to have snuck it's way back in -- hah!
Pictures will be forthcoming. I do like to photograph food and this is a good way to document my 30-day journey. Thanks for reading along.
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