Ok so I slacked off and I’m sorrrrryyyy! Well, I slacked off in writing but not really on Paleo. We made it through the whole week(s) and still are going strong. I’ve lost 4 pounds, which I have concluded was mostly water weight, and my husband is visibly skinnier and says he feels great. The withdrawals I wrote about so fondly are completely gone and have been for some time now. I knew I would feel well enough to start working out again. So I decided to give insanity a try. I still don’t know what’s so insane about it, because the workout is far from impossible. Maybe the results will be insane? Let’s hope. We’ve been eating some really great meals and now that I’ve been using the guide from paleoplan.com for some time I’ve even been able to venture out on my own when the meal plan called for something we may not have liked so well. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but I even found some great recipes for paleo brownies and various other desserts. It’s really not that difficult and now that we’ve accumulated a lot of the staples required in a paleo kitchen, our shopping trips are under $100 a week. I’ve also been supplementing our shopping by buying meats and some vegetables in bulk and then portioning them off and freezing, you can even freeze avocado. It has already become really rewarding, so much so that we decided to have a cheeseburger at a picnic on our flex day. I felt terrible. Less than an hour later I was extremely fatigued and had a severe headache. I’m thinking, “Why would anyone continue to eat like this?” Well I definitely won’t. I had gone weeks without carbs and/or dairy and it really wasn’t worth it.
So now that I feel as if I am in a more comfortable position and I am pretty ready to preach about this diet to others (who want to know). I figure we could learn together. I sort of jumped into it having done a minuscule amount of research but since then, I have found many answers to many of the questions I have asked and been asked. So we shall start:
What is the Paleo(lithic) Diet and how does it work?
Like it’s named indicates, the paleo diet, is a dietary plan which makes an effort to eat the way humans ate in the paleolithic era. For this reason this diet is also referred to as the caveman diet or the hunter-gatherer diet. Research has shown that the genetic make up of humans has barely changed since the agricultural revolution therefore it may be beneficial to humans to revert back to eating styles of times before that. This means that sadly pastas, cereals, and things containing processed sugar will have to go, trust me it’s worth it. I know everyone can recall the no carb craze, and many of those principles can still be applied here. The paleo diet works by cutting out the foods that we are not biologically adapted to eat, like the ones mentioned above and focusing on a plan that consists of foods such as meat (grass-fed), fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, natural oils (olive, coconut), fruits, nuts (a peanut is not a nut, it’s a legume), and tubers (yams, sweet potatoes. So by cutting out the foods that don’t fit into those categories you are paving the way for a better life. Yes you will lose weight, yes you will feel better, and yes you will miss some of the horrible foods that you once enjoyed, but not for long. Most people say give it 30 days, after only 15 I feel completely different and amazing. Some have even claimed it has helped them to control their diabetes much easier and has even gotten them off some of the harmful prescriptions they had been taking.
Day 4 has been a pretty great day. Apple and almond butter for breakfast, cucumber salad for lunch and coconut chicken and creamy kale for dinner. All easy, all delicious. I’ve even started to feel a lot better! In the morning I felt great, went to work, it was hectic and afterwards felt sluggish, took a nap and felt totally rejuvenated. I think my goal of feeling well enough to being hitting the gym again by the end of the week is very attainable! If this is how I feel already then all of that withdrawal is already worth it. I can just see myself feeling amazing in a short while. My husband on the other hand has said he’s been feeling great since like day 1 afternoon. He was awake when I left for work (he works nights) and he was even in a good mood! So I’m inclined to believe him. I think I have even noticed some water weight shedding and less bloating, my uniform felt a little looser but maybe that’s just wishful thinking……
So now with day three drawing to a close, the symptoms of carb withdrawal have not subsided. I’ve been in a mental fog with a headache and pretty consistent nausea thought the day, beginning at around 11am. Breakfast was sausage stir fry on top of a sweet potato latke I ate paleo snacks and smoothies throughout the day to keep my negative symptoms at a minimum and for dinner we ate “sloppy joes” which were really good, considering I HATE non paleo sloppy joes. I ate a few small brownies too today, trying to make sure I had enough calories in me. I also drank around 96 ounces of water. In essence I am trying to make sure that it is only the carb detox that is making me feel this way. I can’t wait to feel close to normal so I can head back to the gym. Every time I’ve felt as if I had enough wherewithal I was slammed with a headache or a mental fog rendering me useless. So finally I am winding down, chugging water and trying to avoid taking and pain medications which I may have to succumb to in hopes of falling asleep. Let’s hope tomorrow gets better. I’m not even close to giving up or giving in, I’m just really looking forward to feeling better. The thought that the detox is making me feel this way is actually deterring me from ever wanting to eat that stuff again.
A few months ago I had a baybay. And by a few I mean 8 and a week or so. Since then, I have noticed that my body’s ability to recoup its losses has diminished more than slightly. When she was first born my husband was gone doing some pointless mission for the US Navy that undoubtedly cost tax payers millions upon millions of dollars. Needless to say, with working full time and mommy duty I rarely had time to eat and while I could feel how unhealthy it was, the visual results were appeasing to say the least. Well, my husband returned and so did about 15 pounds. He gained his fair share. I let most of the summer pass without dwelling too much; we live in Washington so I am using the term summer very loosely. Not only did I start feeling incredibly unhealthy and sick, I could see the weight and feel it. It really started taking its toll on me. So I decided to do something about it. I began researching the paleo lifestyle and after some thorough and often overwhelming reading I decided we should try it for at least 30 days together. I even offered him an out, saying he didn’t have to join me but that all of the meals I would be cooking would adhere to the diet. I found a great site, paleoplan.com. It not only offered support and guidance but it gives a weekly shopping list and meal plan along with recipes. I was more than excited. I don’t have to count points or calories or even pounds because this wasn’t a diet, it was a lifestyle change that I could really feel good about. We went to the local market armed with our shopping list and got our entire week’s meals for under $150 which is pretty impressive for the two of us. Keep in mind that most if not all of this was organic and the meat was from grass fed livestock. Awesome to say the least. So I decided to revamp my blog into a journal to kind of document our journey mostly for myself and maybe some motivation or to later look back and see how far we’ve come, and possibly the added bonus of helping someone else who is as clueless as I once was and doesn’t really have the time or patience to dig through as the health nut psychobabble. So here we go…..
Day One:
We ate carrot banana muffins for breakfast and some ham for protein. For lunch we had smoothies and some ham again. For dinner we had sole baked in soy sauce, garlic, and wasabi accompanied by sautéed zucchini and red peppers.
Day Two:
The withdrawal symptoms began to kick in after our bacon egg and veggie breakfast (yes I said bacon). I began to feel nauseous, fatigued, and a headache was coming on. After a long nap I made a nicoise salad (I’ve never liked nicoise salad, and this one was no exception). Dinner on the other hand was awesome, garlic chicken in a red pepper mushroom coconut cream sauce. My husband, having an everlasting sweet tooth was having some cravings so I whipped up some paleo brownies that were incredible.
At night, I had severe insomnia. I don’t think I fell asleep until at least 3 am which is very out of the norm for me. This unsettled me a bit but after reading about others and their experience, this is somewhat normal. As our bodies begin to realize that they can no longer rely on empty calories and carbs, we begin to detox. Much like a drug addict going through withdrawal. Isn’t that scary? To think that we have unwillingly/unknowingly become addicted to toxins and things that are incredibly horrible for our health when all we were doing was eating was tasted good!! Moving on….
Today is day three and I feel terrible. So now I will eat/drink this smoothie and then hopefully take a nap. I will recap later. I will also try to begin posting pics of our meals (on really cheap plates).
