I had that epic pizza night. I also had ice cream. It tasted awesome. Funny thing was that I felt like throwing up. I never feel like throwing up unless I'm actually sick (which doesn't happen often). I have, or thought I had, a cast-iron stomach.
Turns I out I don't.
Without going into too much gross detail, the next day the pizza was gone from my system. Painfully. It freaked me out because, as I said, I have never reacted like that. So I googled my problem to see if it had happened to anyone else who was Paleo and yes, yes it had. I didn't like that. I like pizza, I like going out to eat. More importantly, though, was that the reaction I had cannot happen to Damm. He doesn't always have control over his environment. In fact, right now he's enjoying some tasty MRE's. So-strict Paleo is out. I began to rethink our diet and what it should look like, if we were going to veer away a bit from the Paleo lifestye. I also began to listen to what my body was telling me (all the good Paleo sites will tell you to do that) and here's what I heard:
I do feel better when I reduce my carb intake. But not to the levels I've seen some Paleo eaters do. I feel awesome around 150 grams, which allows for my chocolate, fruits, vegetables and potatoes. I do want to add in some whole grains because I don't want to have another reaction like I did (and neither do I want Damm to have one). I solved that by making pumpkin bread and also whole wheat bread. I don't like store-bought bread; I can tell it's got stuff in it. Mine is made of whole wheat flour, raw honey, organic eggs and other wholesome ingredients.
I don't feel comfortable with a high fat intake. Here's where I might lose you: I like to eat between 70 and 90 grams of fat each day. This past week it was between 100 and 120 grams. It felt wrong to me, can't explain why, but it does, so I'm going back to my former intake, which still makes some people look at me in alarm. What can I say? I like having 1/2 Tbs. of grassfed butter to cook my eggs in. I like cheese, nuts and avocadoes.
I love the concept of lift heavy things, sprint once a week and play that Mark Sisson advocates. It's exactly what I have been gravitating towards in my workouts, and I am much, much healthier for it. No injuries (although I did lightly strain one of my butt muscles at work last week) and my strength has increased.
So really, our diet looks like a hybrid between Tosca Reno's Clean Eating and Paleo. I'm good with that. I'm comfy there. I will continue to listen to my body, however, and I have this whole nutritional journey to thank for inspiring me to do that. I also don't want anyone to ditch Paleo because I did; many advocate an 80/20 approach and really, that's what I'm doing, although at this point I've decided to unlabel myself. I was getting too strict with myself and that's exactly what I didn't want to do, cause believe me, it can get ugly.
So what does our new diet look like (and I'm not using the word "diet" in a "dieting" sense of the word, just to refer to what we're eating)? Here goes:
Breakfast: eggs, bacon, cheese and coffee with cream. Chocolate as well. I was eating a variation of this breakfast before trying Paleo and I like it.
Lunch: lean cut of meat, fruits and veggies, a potato OR some of my whole wheat bread.
Snacks: nuts, cheese, maybe some bread if I didn't have any at lunch.
Dinner: some type of variation on lunch, taking care to keep my fat intake a bit lower because of the bacon and chocolate with my breakfast.
Looks pretty much like my diet last week, but there's a huge mental difference. I can eat bread, as long as I know what's in it. I can choose to eat just bread if that's what I want for a certain meal. No food off limits, just an awareness that many really do make me feel like crap (chips, I'm looking at you).
And there you are. Man, I like my diet now. I'm going to go and have some bread.
Turns I out I don't.
Without going into too much gross detail, the next day the pizza was gone from my system. Painfully. It freaked me out because, as I said, I have never reacted like that. So I googled my problem to see if it had happened to anyone else who was Paleo and yes, yes it had. I didn't like that. I like pizza, I like going out to eat. More importantly, though, was that the reaction I had cannot happen to Damm. He doesn't always have control over his environment. In fact, right now he's enjoying some tasty MRE's. So-strict Paleo is out. I began to rethink our diet and what it should look like, if we were going to veer away a bit from the Paleo lifestye. I also began to listen to what my body was telling me (all the good Paleo sites will tell you to do that) and here's what I heard:
I do feel better when I reduce my carb intake. But not to the levels I've seen some Paleo eaters do. I feel awesome around 150 grams, which allows for my chocolate, fruits, vegetables and potatoes. I do want to add in some whole grains because I don't want to have another reaction like I did (and neither do I want Damm to have one). I solved that by making pumpkin bread and also whole wheat bread. I don't like store-bought bread; I can tell it's got stuff in it. Mine is made of whole wheat flour, raw honey, organic eggs and other wholesome ingredients.
I don't feel comfortable with a high fat intake. Here's where I might lose you: I like to eat between 70 and 90 grams of fat each day. This past week it was between 100 and 120 grams. It felt wrong to me, can't explain why, but it does, so I'm going back to my former intake, which still makes some people look at me in alarm. What can I say? I like having 1/2 Tbs. of grassfed butter to cook my eggs in. I like cheese, nuts and avocadoes.
I love the concept of lift heavy things, sprint once a week and play that Mark Sisson advocates. It's exactly what I have been gravitating towards in my workouts, and I am much, much healthier for it. No injuries (although I did lightly strain one of my butt muscles at work last week) and my strength has increased.
So really, our diet looks like a hybrid between Tosca Reno's Clean Eating and Paleo. I'm good with that. I'm comfy there. I will continue to listen to my body, however, and I have this whole nutritional journey to thank for inspiring me to do that. I also don't want anyone to ditch Paleo because I did; many advocate an 80/20 approach and really, that's what I'm doing, although at this point I've decided to unlabel myself. I was getting too strict with myself and that's exactly what I didn't want to do, cause believe me, it can get ugly.
So what does our new diet look like (and I'm not using the word "diet" in a "dieting" sense of the word, just to refer to what we're eating)? Here goes:
Breakfast: eggs, bacon, cheese and coffee with cream. Chocolate as well. I was eating a variation of this breakfast before trying Paleo and I like it.
Lunch: lean cut of meat, fruits and veggies, a potato OR some of my whole wheat bread.
Snacks: nuts, cheese, maybe some bread if I didn't have any at lunch.
Dinner: some type of variation on lunch, taking care to keep my fat intake a bit lower because of the bacon and chocolate with my breakfast.
Looks pretty much like my diet last week, but there's a huge mental difference. I can eat bread, as long as I know what's in it. I can choose to eat just bread if that's what I want for a certain meal. No food off limits, just an awareness that many really do make me feel like crap (chips, I'm looking at you).
And there you are. Man, I like my diet now. I'm going to go and have some bread.
Comments
After eating pretty much anything and everything for 40 years, then making a conscious effort to eat healthier, when I go out to eat now and I see really oily or really greasy dishes, really fatty cuts of meat, etc., I cannot help but be repulsed and automatically steer towards healthier, leaner choices.
On our trip to Canada last week one of our stops was at an Asian buffet and I loaded my plate up with breaded, deep fried goodies. Shrimp, chicken, scallops, etc. Except the breading was very, very thick, so what looked like a King Prawn was really a regular sized shrimp surrounded by almost 1/2 an inch of breading, and what looked like big chunks of fried chicken were narrow strips of meat surrounded by 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of breading. And the oil they'd been fried in was not as hot as it should have been so the breading had soaked in the oil before cooking through, making it both dense and oily. Nasty. I stripped the breading off the actual food items and tossed it aside, but even then I felt queasy after eating the oily meat inside. To top it off most of the vegetables had also been fried, at least wok fried, but again the oil had not been hot enough for a proper stir fry so everything was either soaked in oil or had an oily sheen to it. Bleh!
Listen to your body.