The Paleo Diet Unleashed.
It’s been slighly longer than one month since I started the Paleo Challenge. I’m by no means an expert but here are my thoughts so far:
1. This way of eating requires FAR less mental energy compared to Zone eating. No weighing, measuring, or eyeballing Zone blocks when I go out to eat. No math. Eating is fun again. I see food as food and not as macronutrients, grams, or blocks.
2. I can use the additional mental energy (toughness) other places – such as in a WOD. Think about it, if you’re always freaking out about how many blocks, what kind of carbs, what ratio, how much fat, how many grams, and when to have your snack – how much mental energy do you have to commit to kicking ass in the daily WOD? My goal is better performance, improved health, and PRs so why would I want to eat in a way that takes away from one vital aspect of getting through a WOD – mental energy.
3. Prior to the Challenge I was strict zone (3x fat). For some ridiculous reason, I thought the non Paleo foods that I ate were the ones that weren’t that bad – such as legumes and buckwheat. Legumes grow from the ground, they are a product of the earth, how could they be bad? I thought that by avoiding the really bad non Paleo foods such as milk, butter, cheese, and ice cream (most of the time) that was good enough and that I was getting most (if not all) of the benefits the Paleo diet claimed to deliver. Apparently, this was my way of justifying that what I was eating was OK.
Going strict Paleo made a huge difference. I gained mental sharpness. I sleep better. My performance is improving. I am less irritated. I don’t crave foods. I’m not hungry for hours after I eat. I eat a meal and then move on with my day, rather than obsessing about the next time I will eat. Instead of focusing on what I can’t eat, I am excited about the healthy meals I can create.
This past weekend I had some ice cream – Boulder Ice Cream Sweet Cream. I was a little sad to break my Paleo streak but decided I would see what affect it might have. I was mostly curious to see what kind of cravings it might stir up. While I still liked the taste of ice cream I didn’t have the desire or craving for more. I’m back at Paleo as of today.
I want to thank Rochelle Hagnas of CrossFit Portland for her help and tips in getting me started on the right track for my Paleo Challenge. Rochelle passed on some great tips to get me started.
Her recommendations were:
1. Keep it simple. Eat Paleo. Don’t try and combine it with the Zone.
2. Eat a pound of vegetables a day, make sure you get your required amount of protein each day, and then add some fat.
3. When you get a craving eat some nuts, or nut butter, or a salad with some olive oil.
My recommendations after my month are:
1. Keep a food log. At least for the first week. Track the food you eat (what kind of food, not how much), cravings, moods, and length of time until you are again hungry. Look at your log after one week and see what information you can pull from the data collected. Are you satisfied for longer periods of time? Are your cravings diminishing?
2. Eat. Sounds silly, but EAT. Eat whatever quantities you heart desires for now – just make sure it is ALL paleo foods. It’s too difficult to dial in a complete overhaul of your diet, overcome cravings, make good choices, AND be worried about quantity. Once you’re dialed in on what to eat after a month, then go back and think about eating a little less, if you think you need to. Many people follow Paleo without any weighing or measuring and perform at a level with which they are content.
3. Try to drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces (150lb person should drink 75 ounces) of water per day. Altitude dries us our up here in Boulder. Stay hydrated.
4. Great reference on what to eat/not eat: Paleo Diet Foods. If people have others, please let me know!
Sleeping like a RockStar
Sleep does great things for athletes. It enables us to recover and perform better, makes us less prone to injury, and makes us mentally sharp for our daily tasks. But sleep and I have never been on the same side of the bed. I could go to bed at 8pm or 2am and I will still wake up at 6:30am. I’m a natural early riser and must get to bed early to have any chance of logging some hours of mattress time. The problem is that most of my hours spent in bed are a half sleep where I drift in and out of consciousness. On days that my alarm is set for 5:45, I wake up at 5:43.
Trying to go back to sleep after I wake is a waste of time. The day has started! On the very few occasions that I have managed to sleep until 8am I wake up and think to myself, “Shit, the day is half over.”
If there was a WOD – sleeping for time – I would DESTROY it. My time would probably be better than my Fran time, well, maybe not, but you get the point.
With all that said, it has come to my attention that, since starting the Paleo Challenge, I sleep. I sleep straight through the night and on Saturday – I SLEPT FOR 12 HOURS STRAIGHT. I’m not sure that has ever happened – honestly. I’m also dreaming – vivid dreams that I remember details of after I wake up. I’m sleeping in a deep sleep. This morning I woke up confused as to where I was, what day it was, and why Pink’s So What was blaring in my ear (it’s my alarm song).
I’m still drinking coffee (one cup a day) so it’s not the absence of caffeine. I’m training the same schedule as always w/ CrossFit 3 on 1 off supplemented with CrossFit Endurance workouts.
Could legumes and dairy really have that much affect on my sleep??!! I’ll go sleep on it.
Read MoreThe Two Week Dance
Two weeks down/two weeks to go. I’m feeling great and haven’t had ANY blips in the program.
Performance, energy, and mood was great over the past week. Weighed myself for the first time in two weeks and I haven’t gained or lost a pound which I find odd for the following reasons:
1. Over the past two weeks I ate 13 oz. of almond butter (mostly straight from the jar with a spoon)
2. I haven’t weighed or measured my food (as I did when I was on the Zone)
3. I am leaner
4. I ate whenever and whatever (all Paleo), and any quantity of food I felt like for the past two weeks, sometimes to the point where I was stuffed and questioned what the hell was wrong with me.
Tonight’s dinner was another great meal, Chicken Korma, from Cooking for Health and Performance finished off with some baked brussels sprouts, my favorite.
Day 4
Cruised through day four…
7:30 – breakfast, 1 grapefruit, 1 avocado, 3oz. Turkey
coffee, lots of water
11:00 – hungry
1:00 – spaghetti squash w/ marinara, beef meatballs, 20ish almonds
4:00 – 2 oz chicken, 1 apricot dried, 3 spoons of salsa, ½ avocado, 1 spoonful directly into mouth of almond butter
7:00 – 5 oz. Chicken and beef, ½ C broccoli, 1 C marinara, ½ avocado,
9:00 – 1 grapefruit, fish oil
The 300 Club
While it is probably too early to say the two are correlated, I PR’ed my deadlift today on the same day that I PR’ed a CrossFit Endurance workout. Paleo influence? Maaaaaaaaybe.
7:30 – ½ avocado, 3 oz. Chicken, 12ish almonds, 1 grapefruit
7:44 – feel very awake and with it
10:15 – hunger pain
coffee, water (20 oz.)
12:00 – lunch – chicken breast 3 oz., 12ish almonds, 1 pear, 1 avocado
CFE – 6×400 meters on 2 min rest, PR’ed my average
4:00 – 2 carbs sweet potatoes with coconut butter, 2 oz. Turkey
5:00 – ½ apple with a little almond butter
WOD – 10-5-5-3-3-1-1-1 deadlift, PR deadlift, 300pounds!
8:00 – spaghetti squash w/ marinara and beef meatballs, and 12ish almonds
9:00 – very satisfied, not hungry, ate fish oil and some almonds
Eat a Donut People
My boss brought donuts to our staff meeting this morning. At one point the meeting fell off pace and to restart the group he chirped, “Eat a donut people, you need sugar!”
It was as if the Paleo world was throwing it in my face! While I can’t eat donuts in the first place (gluten intolerant) I am a sugar addict – chocolate, cookies, ice cream – and I got an instant hunger and craving in my gut after he said that. Ah! Maybe there is something associated between sugar and cravings.
6:00 – Felt hungry when I was teaching class
7:15 – 1 date at the grocery store on way to work
7:30 – Paleo pancake, 2 oz. Deli meat, ½ cup blueberries
7:35 – I’m already done eating??!!
tea (caffeine free, herbal), water
10:15 – I’m hungry and I have a headache
10:30 – cup of coffee
12:00 – lunch, Tahini Spinach, 1.5 ounces ground beef, 2ish ounces turkey deli meat, 1.5 cups broccoli and @ 10 macadamia nuts
12:28 – I feel hungry
1:14 – still getting hunger pains
1:38 – 10 almonds, Starbucks peppermint tea, I averted my eyes from the Dark Espresso chocolate bar
1:50 – my head hurts in the front left side
2:00- zero brain power right now, I’m in a daze
4:00 – ate everything in site, an egg, some ham, a lara bar, lots of almond butter, oddly still not full
9:00 – ½ avocado, tomato chicken, and olive oil salad, sautéed onions
Paleo Challenge
I recently decided to take on a one month Paleo Challenge. This blog will track my experience. I will also use it to discuss CrossFit, food and performance, training out of a garage space, and topics related to those three.
I’ve been doing the Paleo challenge and keeping a log for one week now. The first of my posts will be uploading the information from my log.
The main reasons for my Paleo Challenge were;
- I CrossFit
- I am gluten intolerant and discovered it recently (more on that in another post)
- For one year I have followed the Zone diet with 97% strictness; however, after a number of months in the Zone, with added fat and tweaking, I still experienced diminishing returns, cravings, and frustration
- I just read the Paleo Diet For Athletes
- I liked the idea of putting the quality of my food before the quantity of my food.
So here we go. I’ll post more information in the following days on how I got started, what is paleo, and what are paleo foods.
Day 1.
7: 30am – Cooking for Health and Performance Pancakes, 3oz. Deli meat
8:00am – Headache
20 oz. Water, 1 cup coffee
11:30 – hungry
11:45 – more hungry than at 11:30
12:00 lunch – Cooking for Health and Performance Tahini Spinach (used kale instead), broccoli with olive oil, beef
12:10 – head ache is back, WTF?, also have a weird throat pain, maybe I’m dying
12:15 – Mucus in my throat
12:49 – I think my stomach is hungry
1:30 – double espresso – I know, I know, caffeine overload, but I had a meeting
4:00 – 2 oz meat, some nuts, 1.5 dried apricots, wasn’t hungry until 4 pm
4:30 – WOD: 21-15-9 pull-ups, kettlebell swings, wall ball (Wallball is the devil), good energy level
5:40 – ¼ larabar and 5 almonds
8:00 – 4.5 ounces ground beef, Cooking for Health and Performance whipped yams w/ coconut mlk, 15 or so almonds
