As this week comes to a close, I wanted to pass on my thoughts about eating a paleo diet. I have never tried to eat paleo and even through I have been researching and studying the diet for some time, I didn't realize how eliminating dairy and grains from my diet would impact my energy levels.
I work out 6 days a week doing Tony Horton's P90X workout program that is produced and distributed by Beachbody. The workouts are advanced and I have a goal of burning at least 700 calories per workout. This is generally pretty easy if you keep up the pace and intensity you see on the screen as you go through the routine. I usually burn between 700 and up to over 1000 calories in a single workout so I have no problem meeting my goal.
However, this week, my energy levels have been really low. I cut out all dairy except for about 3 eggs this week, which is allowed based on the book I am using called "The Paleo Diet" by Loren Cordain, Ph.D, who is suppose to be an expert on how our Paleolithic ancestry ate before organized cultivation and domestication of animals as a food source. The Paleo diet primarily consists of eating lean meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and nuts and berrys. Dairy and grains are excluded from the diet because they come from modern food processes and are not in line with the "hunter/gatherer" concept of the Paleolithic era.
Since I have been eating dairy and grains all of my life, my body is rebelling against me and my energy has really bottomed out over the course of the week. It has made my workouts very difficult and I have bonked every day and not been able to complete them each day due to just plain giving out.
Fortunately, this is a recovery week for me in my round of P90X so I am not too worried about the workouts but next week, I have to up my intensity going into Phase 2 of the program. I am not sure how long it will take for my body to adjust to eating Paleo but I hope my energy levels come up soon.
I will say I have enjoyed all the food I have ate this week. The Paleo Diet book has a lot of recipes and everything we prepared was very tasty and filling. I will start posting some of the recipes and menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the future so you can see what is included in the diet if you want to give it a try. The food is really good and it is a great way to add variety even if you don't go completely paleo with your eating.
My goal is to eat paleo for 4 weeks and see how it affects my body and fat loss. If my body is able to adjust to the diet and my energy levels come back, I may have to stay on it for the rest of the round so I don't have to go through this again. I don't really like the way I feel now. On the other hand, I have been sleeping very well at night because I am so exhausted by the end of the day.
So, here is a general guide of the foods I selected from the book as my basic eating strategy. There are more foods you can choose from, but I selected food I already like to eat to make it easier for me to stick to the plan. Here are the foods I chose to eat over the next 4 weeks.
Today's lunch consists of 8 oz Grilled chicken breast, 1 cup Kim chi, 1/2 cup raw broccoli. 1/2 cup raw mushrooms and cucumber, green bell pepper and celery. For dessert and afternoon snack I will have 1 cup cantaloupe, 1/2 cup watermelon, 4 oz raw walnuts and about a tablespoon of dried cranberries.
In order to keep it simple for me, I selected what I could eat instead of focusing on what I am not allowed to eat during the paleo diet. There are a lot more foods you can eat but this is the list I chose and will pretty much stick to only this food for the rest of the month -
Lean Meats -
Flank steak
Top sirloin steak
Extra-lean hamburger (no more than 7% fat, extra fat drained off)
London Broil
Turkey hamburger
Lean pork -
Pork loin
Pork chops
Lean Poultry -
Chicken breast
Turkey breast
Eggs - (this is the only dairy and limited to 6 per week, enriched with omega 3)
Chicken eggs
Fish -
Cod
Grouper
Haddock
Halibut
Rockfish (in season here in Maryland)
Salmon
Striped bass
Tilapia
Tuna
Shellfish -
Crab
Lobster
Shrimp
Fruits and Vegetables -
Fruits -
Apple
Avocado
Banana
Blackberries
Blueberries
Cantaloupe
Figs
Grapefruit
Grapes
Kiwi
Lemon
Lime
Mango
Nectarine
Orange
Peach
Pear
Pineapple
Plum
Strawberries
Watermelon
Vegetables -
Asparagus
Beet greens
Beets
Bell peppers
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Collards
Cucumber
Green onions
Kale
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Mustard greens
Onions
Peppers
Radish
Spinach
Squash
Tomatoes
Turnip greens
Turnips
Watercress
Nuts and Seeds -
Almonds
Brazil nuts
Hazelnuts
Macadamia nuts
Pistachios (unsalted)
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
Walnuts
Oils -
Olive
Flaxseed oil
Canola oil
I don't really snack any more because I eat 5 to 6 meals a day but according to the paleo diet you can eat the following for snacks -
Fresh fruit of any kind
Homemade beef jerky (without salt)
Homemade dried salmon strips
Raw vegetables
cold skinless, broiled chicken breast
Nuts
Dried Fruit (limit to 2 oz per day)
Hard-boiled egg
Cold slices of lean beef
Peal-and-eat shrimp
Unsalted seeds (limit to 4 oz per day if trying to lose weight)
This is basically the food list I will be eating over the next 3 weeks or beyond.
The one thing I am absolutely not willing to give up regardless of what diet experiment I am using, is my Shakeology. Not going to get into a long discussion about it on this post but it provides me with so many super nutrients, I am not going to give it up, period. Plus, I am a chocoholic and it takes my chocolate cravings away. Nuff said! :)
If you are interested in finding out more about eating a paleo diet, I do recommend the book by Dr. Loren Cordain. It gives a lot of in-depth information about problems with eating grains and dairy and how it affects your overall health and modern disease that has resulted from it.
There is also a ton of information on-line if you want to find out more.
To your health and fitness,
jw
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