Going Paleo

This is kind of an old thread

This is kind of an old thread but I thought I'd chime in and let folks know there is another Paleo around here. I eat Paleo + potatoes (not giving up my potatoes!) and I also just started intermittent fasting which is kind of a Paleoish idea - food was not always hyperavailable to Paleo man so it makes sense to feast and fast. I eat once a day during a 2 hour window. I mostly do it for convenience and to see if the health benefits pan out and, so far (two weeks), it's great. I read Paleo for Athletes which was helpful, but lots of the ideas were dumb like adding fat to lean muscle meat to replicate the organ meats our ancestors would have eaten. Why not just learn to eat organ meats? And I'd rather just eat pure sugar made from cane than load up on HCFS Gatorade. Most of the Paleo people I know are totally anti-"exercise", especially running so it's nice to see folks posting here.
 
 Nice to meet another Paleo,

Nice to meet another Paleo, Jschwab

I returned my book "paleo for athletes". Couldn't get past the part that you were supposed to go natural except for when you exercise. I figure if I'm going caveman, it's 100%. Not doing to taters either which might bite me in the ass during my next race. Catra Corbett runs ultras all the time and has stated she doesn't eat race provided ultra food so I'm considering shooting her an email to see how she refuels during races. I'm quite certain ultras can be done low carb but it'd be nice to find others who have done it prior to me tackling it.
 
I like Paleo in theory, but

I like Paleo in theory, but I'm a big fan of cheese, so it would be hard to give that up. I also like grains quite a bit, but I do try to stick to whole grains.

I think the things to definitely stay away from are refined carbs -- sugar, hfcs, white four, white rice. People aren't designed to each those, and the way they are metabolized in the liver causes a whole host of problems.
 
Shacky, I agree about Paleo

Shacky, I agree about Paleo for Athletes - doesn't make any sense to only do it sometimes. I am interested in ultras and Paleo. Hubby only eats meat and a little sauerkraut (pretty much zero carb) and he is interested in ultras (long way from that goal as his longest run was only 8 miles so far). He does his regular run and all races while fasting though (water and food) since he only eats and drinks after 6PM so he's going to have to figure it out. My theory is that people with good insulin response need the carbs and those with high blood sugar have more energy with none.
 
I've almost wrapped up week 3

I've almost wrapped up week 3 and so far so good.

The first 2 weeks were used to wean myself off of coffee but the last couple Caramel Lattes I had just weren't tasting that good and I had to give them away. I think I'm officially off coffee now.

I thought I'd miss dairy more then anything, especially cheese, but out of sight out of mind. Haven't really craved anything in particular.

Haven't found any negatives to this diet yet except for the obvious issues with going out to eat. Most places seem to be very accomodating and will offer suggestions though. I really don't eat out all that much except for outings with co workers.

The plus-I'm down 5lbs and one belt notch. I'm slowly building my mileage up again so it'll be interesting once I'm back to 40-50 mile weeks. No weight goals and am just interested in where my body will settle.

Breakfast is usually egg whites scrambled with canned salmon

Lunch is either the same or a large salad

Dinner is usually some kind of meat and veggies

Snacks are trail mix (lots of almonds), dried and fresh fruits

No portion control whatsoever at this point.
 
Why don't you eat the yolks?

Why don't you eat the yolks? What kind of Paleo are you following? I got to go to a restaurant last night where they served grilled bone marrow, a bacon salad with pigs' ears, etc. It was great...
 
I definitely vote for the

I definitely vote for the yolks.

You have to be a little careful with dried fruit, though. Many times it comes with added sugar.
 
 @schwab - I buy the 100% egg

@schwab - I buy the 100% egg whites that come in a carton as it is rather simple to nuke at work. I swirl some garlic flavored olive oil in a plastic container and microwave for 180 seconds, add fish, and then nuke for another 30. This, along with some green tea, is breakfast at work.

The "yellow" version comes with a bunch of crap added and so I leave it alone. At home I am perfectly content to use whole eggs. Sucks that I can not perfect the art of boiling them though. Mine keep sticking to the shells and I have to throw half of the egg away just trying to peel them.



@Matt - I hear you on the added sugar. Very tough to locate natural dried fruit but I was successful on my last trip to Costco. Found a bag of apples, pears, prunes, and apricots. The trail mix I picked up ended up having some added sugar to the dried cherries but I'll live with it and just buy something else the next time. I did add extra raw almonds to the mix so the fruit isn't as abundant.
 
One thing I can highly

One thing I can highly recommend on the eggs -

Depending on where you live, find a local farmer that sells eggs directly. I buy "yard eggs" from a farmer near my home. I can visit the farm, I can see the chickens running around the yard. I can see the coops where they lay the eggs and then go back outside to enjoy the sun and eat bugs and such. I talk to the farmer about what they eat and how they live. These chickens never get antibiotics, or hormones. The farmer doesn't use any pesticides or non-organic fertalizers on his property. The egg yolks are a deep yellow, almost yellow-orange - compared to the pale yellow of store-bought eggs.

They cost about the same as eggs from the store - a little more, but not much. I get to know I'm getting really good yummy eggs and helping a local farmer in the process. Good paleo-ness all around!
 
Shacky wrote: ...  Sucks that

Shacky said:
... Sucks that I can not perfect the art of boiling them though. Mine keep sticking to the shells and I have to throw half of the egg away just trying to peel them
I know what you mean about peeling eggs. I read awhile back that older eggs tend to peel easier than newer eggs, so it might pay to keep the eggs around in the fridge awhile before boiling them.
 
There is a trick to peeling

There is a trick to peeling eggs, guys. Try this. After it's been boiled, take the egg and place it top end up or bottom end up (not on its side), and smash it. Repeat for the other end. Then take the egg and lay it on its side. Roll it with your palm putting enough pressure on it to crack the egg as you go along. The egg should peel off pretty quickly and easily now, sometimes almost whole. Works for me!


There's a trick to peeling potatoes after they've been boiled too. Before boiling the potato, take a knife and score the outside in a circle horizontally and vertically. Boil the potato. While rinsing the potato in cold water, the peel just falls right off. I have yet to try this one though, so if anyone does, let me know how it goes.
 
We have our own backyard

We have our own backyard chickens which is nice. I hear you on the egg whites - why to they add so much crap to food? It's good that you get the yolk sometimes.
 
 I'm thinking about trying

I'm thinking about trying this caveman diet stuff some, any updates on how this is working out so far?

Anyone notice any changes from this ?
 
 Let's see, from a weight

Let's see, from a weight loss perspective I think it is going well even though I haven't been counting calories and and definitely not watching the amount of food I eat. I left the CKD diet at 165lbs and am currently at 152lbs. I'm curious as to how much further my weight will drops since I still have a slight belly and some love handles I'd like to lose.

I've cut all recommended foods out of my diet except for beer/wine. Someday soon I'll quit them as well since I'd like to go a full month entirely clean. About every other week I'll get a sugar or salt craving which is easily remedied. For salt I just drink some pickle juice and for sugar I just eat some sweet fruits such as cherries or strawberries. I don't miss the coffee as much as I thought I would although a friend is buying me a large caramel latte on Friday as a birthday present. I think its been over 3 weeks since my last one so should be interesting to see how my body handles the sugar/caffeine/dairy concoction.

My running has been going good. I had to give up the low heart rate training since I've switched to trails and they are impossible to run at LHR. I can feel my legs getting stronger. Haven't had my legs get "muscle-tired" in a few years and these trails are definitely getting it done. Kinda nice feeling. I've even done a couple doubles, running ~6 miles in the morning and then doing my normal 5 miler during lunch. The 5 miler itself is quite the doozy in itself (one of these days I hope to do the entire uphill section without walk breaks).
 
Are you guys dropping the

Are you guys dropping the eggs straight into ice cold water immediatly after boiling?

That's what I do to make them just slip right out of the shell.

And yeah, I throw away the yolks.

Took me a while to not feel guilty about all those starving people,

but now it's just second nature.
 
I am still a coffee and

I am still a coffee and potatoes Paleoite, so not superstrict. Since giving up dairy a couple months ago, I've lost 15 pounds - hadn't eaten grains since 2007 except VERY occasional fresh corn. I also started intermittent fasting recently which is kind of a caveman way to eat so it dovetails nicely with the Paleo way of eating. I feel much better off without dairy, both because it was making me sick to my stomach again, but I had also been very tired and had some nutritional deficiencies (B12, D, etc). I think giving up dairy allows me to absorb nutrients more readily. I eat occasional sugar, but not very much, maybe a sorbet once a month or if I use a little in cooking. I lost about a hundred pounds a while back and the first 60 have been very easy to maintain just by keeping grains out of my diet, but the next 40 really bounce around depending on my training and commitment to dieting insted of running. The more I train, no matter how strict my diet, I always gain. So, the intermittent fasting is an attempt to eat in a way that will allow me carbs for training, but not cause weight gain. It's working well so far, but I am pretty low-key about my training at the moment. To lose the weight the first time, I had to eat low-calorie and restrict carbs to fewer than 20g per day. I cannot run the mileage I would like to like that - it's totally unsustainable. Even after losing a hundred pounds I still fit into the "obese" end of the BMI, so I am not sure my experience is applicable to anyone with a normal middle-aged "extra 20 pounds" kind of weight problem.
 
 I wonder if they had crude

I wonder if they had crude beer in the caveman days...you never know, people were smarter than we think back then...

I know coffee has only been around for hundreds of years, thats the only thing that would seem hard to give up for me.
 
Art wrote:mokaman wrote: I

Art said:
mokaman said:
I wonder if they had crude beer in the caveman days...you never know, people were smarter than we think back then...

In a word, yes.



Does'nt surprise me, but the Monks usually get the credit.

Art, you're an accomplished Brewmeister, are there really records of Paleo Brau?