(image from castlegrok.com)
With 2 weeks under your belt - How are you feeling about eating Paleo?
Can't wait for this "Diet" to be over - better be worth it. This is not so bad, just wish I had more variety Enjoying the challenge and discovering new recipes and spices Feeling really good and can't imagine going back to eating a lot of the foods I ate before. Other - read my comments
Check out this 92 page online recipe book: Living Primal, Fuels and Recipes
From Leeny:
Hey Paleo Challengers. As we approach our 2 week mark, we will re-evaluate how things are going and where we need to make some adjustments to see the results we want. These first two weeks have been primarily focused on food quality. Our goal right now has been to shift away from grains, dairy, legumes, and alcohol to eating high quality meats, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds. Making that shift has been a pretty big deal for most of us, and our bodies needed this time to adjust both physically and psychologically.
In preparation for what's next, I thought I'd introduce the concept of food quantity. I know we told you not to weigh or measure your food and at this point and I still mean that. But now that we are getting more comfortable with the quality of our food, we can start to address the quantity. More specifically, we need to look at the macronutrient breakdown of our day to day food intake. (ie, how much protein, carbohydrate, and fat we are eating) This will allow us to fine tune even further.
If you get a chance, go to FitDay and take a look at their free food journal. It's a pretty cool tool in pinpointing how much of each macronutrient you are getting. All you do is type in the food you ate and it will start a running list of your food for the day. It takes a little time to get familiar with it, but I think in the weeks to come, it might just be another valuable tool in helping us get more out of our Paleo experience, especially those trying to lose weight. There are other food journals online as well, but I just wanted to throw this out there.
In my next post, I will try and address how much protein you should be shooting for (many of you may not be getting enough), how much carb, and how much fat (don't be stingy). People's needs will vary depending on their goals: weight loss, body comp changes, weight gain, or performance changes. I just wanted to plant this seed for you to start thinking about as we start up next week. For now, enjoy the weekend, be strong, resist the urge to cheat, and be thankful for your body. You are really doing great things for yourself by making the changes you have made.
Oh, yeah, and one more thing to think about...Our halfway Potluck is Friday Feb. 12th at my cave. There WILL be alcohol!! We deserve it! Be looking for more info and signups next week.
Leeny has been surfing around and found a fun blog with some great recipes: Sweet Cheeks Blog. Salmon Cakes recipe pictured above. This looks like another good Paleo Blog with recipes: Cosmopolitan Primal Girl
Here is a quick and EASY snack..
English Cucumber (cracker) with a piece of salami. Does anyone have some good snack suggestions that don't include fruit, nuts or jerky?
from Leeny...
“We are nine days into the challenge and it sounds like everyone is starting to get the hang of things. I think it gets easier as we go and over time, the cravings begin to fade. I feel a small victory each time I overcome a desire to cheat. I don't want to wreck it. I honestly want to see how my body adapts to a gluten, dairy, legume, alcohol free environment.
Having the nutrition aspect of my life somewhat under control is like having a trump card in my back pocket. Nutrition trumps everything. If you work your tail off in the gym but eat poorly...bam...you got trumped by your diet. On the other hand, good nutrition can boost your effort in the gym by increasing your PR's in strength and metabolic conditioning. So no matter what you do, your eating habits will have their say on how your body will look, feel and perform.
I am so grateful to this group for providing this framework and support that we all need to succeed. We are all accountable to one another and ultimately to ourselves. The success will feel so gratifying. But....I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've talked to a number of people who have lost weight already and are having a pretty easy time. On the other hand, I've also heard frustration that the weight isn't falling off as quickly as anticipated. All I can say is, "Patience, grasshopper". Some people have come to this challenge already in pretty decent metabolic shape so their body's response to Paleo eating might be totally different than someone who may have come into this deal still highon carbs. I'd venture to say that the more you had to change in your diet, the harder these first few weeks might be on you. As my grandma used to say, "Rome wasn't built in a day".
So is with changing your eating habits and seeing the results. Your pants may not be loose yet, but rest assured, your biochemistry is changing. Your cells are adapting to less sugar surging through them and the need for insulin has been radically reduced. Your insulin receptors are scratching their heads wondering where all the insulin has gone and suddenly start to perk up. Your hormones are more balanced. Like the fading of a bad sunburn, your gut is starting to heal without the incessant bombardment of gluten and lectins. Fat cells are being called out of storage for duty. Each day your body makes huge metabolic advances at the cellular level. You're doing right by your body and it wil thank you, but give it time. It will be worth the wait.”
DON'T FORGET to page down to see new posts each week. WEEK -Reset post will always appear at the top
We are not alone - CrossFit Affiliates in Kirkwood, St. Charles and Valley Park are in the middle of a Nutrition Challenge - or are gearing up to start one. Check out their blogs for more tips, recipes and support.
CrossFit St. Charles Nutrition BLog
Next Level Nutrition - CrossFit Valley Park
Remember, our challenge required STRICT Paleo for the first 4 weeks! (I am not sure how other gyms are running their challenges - so try not to let all this information confuse you.) Are we saying you can never have dairy, beans, pizza, wine... never have to worry about quantity - Of Course NOT! We are just in the RESET phase. We will talk about tweaking things at the halfway point!
Here are pictures of some of the Paleo friendly items I found at Whole Foods. The Sun Butter I found (not pictured) did have some sugar added but I know other stores sell it 100% natural. I have no idea how the Coconut butter tastes or even what I would do with it but I am sure some of our creative Paleo chefs out there will have some good ideas. The sausage looked pretty good but not great cold (had no choice one morning ). The salsaI photographed seemed to be the best on their shelf yet they are sweetened (agave nectar or evaporated cane juice). Probably best to make your own during our STRICT Paleo phase.
There have been some really good recipes posted under the Comments link. Another option, that may expose more people to your delicious creations or finds, would be to send me an email of the recipe (a picture of the finished product would also be great) so that I can post it more visibly and tag it.
Mark's Daily Apple has a recipe for Paleo Oatmeal!
This video illustrates what Elizabeth and Leeny were explaining on Sunday.
I was busy at Whole Foods taking pictures of foods
you might not have thought about. I will try and post the pictures tomorrow. I am not sure about these LARABAR's.?? All the ingredients are natural and label says" Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Soy Free.
Ingredients are all natural : Ginger Snap Bar reads Dates, Almonds, Pecans, Ginger and Cloves. I plan to stay away from them for now because I am really sensitive to sugar and they all list around 20 grams. Thoughts??
Found some Paleo crunchies at Dierbergs. They offer flax snax and bags of seasoned seeds in case you are looking for some variety. Not sure if it is OK since it is in a package ?? (it reads Paleo friendly.)
Gary Taubes book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories, Fat, Carbs and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health" is a book I have really been wanting to read. Fortunately - until then, Complete Notes to the Book have been provided by the Higher Thought blog.
Well - it was really dinner IN -but we picked it up from Sesame Chinese Restaurant (located on Watson Rd.)
: prime cut beef sauteed with onions, served on a sizzling plate. Finished with strawberries and blackberries. Hope everyone had a great first day.
I posted this link :Click Here (from the Theory to Practice blog) yesterday on Facebook but in case you missed it you might want to give it a quick look....here is an excerpt from it:
"In simple terms (and I like simple!) what we’re dealing with here is nothing less than a re-tooling of the body’s machinery at the enzymatic level. We’ve suddenly given this marvelously complex organism of the human body an abundance of high-octane, clean burning fuel (fatty acids), in lieu of the unrefined, sugar muck that the body has been forced to contend with for so many years."
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