Day 8

Over all I would say that I have been 95/5 percent primal. My husband and I did go out for dinner yesterday and we both decided it could be a cheat day. I noticed though right after eating a kids sized chicken tenders (had a craving) I had a stomach ache. Otherwise we have been doing really well with no wheat and grains.

This week I mentioned my focus is more on the carbohydrates. I did plug in a couple of my days into myfitnesspal.com and am right around 200 grams of carbohydrates. The carbohydrates are mainly coming from fruit, almond milk, protein powder, and my vegetables. The one day I did eat a sweet potato and another day I had veggie straws. These add up a lot.

Again my goal is not weight loss. I am very happy with where I am at. I would like to have more consistent energy and I know paying attention to balance of my carbohydrates would help with this.

For this week I made Primal friendly meat loaf and a beef stew. I will also make roasted turnips and sweet potatoes along with cod, chicken breasts on salads, omelets, and homemade turkey burgers without buns.

We have nuts, cheese, fruit, jerky, and raw vegetables bagged up and ready to go.

I have found two new items that I really love: Carrot Cake Larabar and Lifeway organic Kefir in Pomegranate/aci.
 

Diet Anger

It is always nice to know that you are not alone and others are struggling with the same thing when it comes to nutrition and behavior change. There is a Primal Blueprint e-books that you can get for free by signing up to be a member at marksdailyapple.com called Primal Living in The Real World. This book is written by those who have been making the changes. It breaks down different questions and the one was:
"What was the biggest hurdle you experienced when going Primal and how did you overcome it?"
Here is what the participant wrote:

My biggest hurdle was dealing with “diet anger.” I loved eating Primal -- except when I was out with friends.  It always felt like I had to limit myself to lame salads while my friends ate all the good stuff. Diet anger made me fall off the wagon a bunch of times until I grew confident enough in my choice and found a wide enough variety of foods that I could figure ways around it. Now I’m “that person” in the brunch place who orders an omelet no cheese, no hash browns, no toast, but with a side of sliced tomatoes, please. I make no apologies for asking for what I want. And when I know everyone is going to want dessert, I have a bar of super-dark chocolate waiting for me so I don’t feel left out. I always make sure it’s my favorite bar, Vivani, and I only purchase it for dessert occasions, so it always feels like a treat. I also have a reputation now for bringing food with me everywhere, and my co-workers have just accepted it as a quirk of my personality. It’s expected of me now to have a Big Ass Salad for lunch. Once I got enough confidence to either ask for exactly what I want or just bring food along and be the “weirdo,” I stopped having diet anger and can go way beyond the 80/20 philosophy; I’m more like 90/10!

When going out to eat or at other people's homes I had this feeling and I guess I really didn't know how to put it into words, but I feel this person was able to do just that. I love the idea of not having to have tons of reason for my choices, but just make them. I can be that "weirdo" and know it is ok. I have told my clients in the past to be ok with being "different" or in most cases "healthy". I would say not eating grains without being allergic or having a specific illness is very different. I am still working on being different and liking it! I have used the statement "getting comfortable with the uncomfortable" in many classes. This statement has been very prominent in my mind the last week!

Day 3-Eating sporadically

One of the sections in Mark Sisson's book is called Grok's Clock. Grok is the symbol for the caveman and is used throughout the book. This section stuck out because I usually have my clients focus on regularly scheduled meals and snacks. You always hear me say to eat every three or four hours. Well Grok ate when food was available. His meals were of varying consistency instead of always having a starch, protein, and carbohydrate it was what ever he could find. Sometimes Grok when days without eating and others food was very plentiful. Our bodies were designed to adapt for both of these situations. The Primal Blueprint encourages intermittent fasting. Until I get my body adjusted to no grains and lower carbs I will not try that yet.

One of the things that I have noticed already (they did mention this would happen) is that because my body is becoming for reliant on utilizing fat I am not experiencing that starving feeling or that I need to eat something a few hours after I have already eaten.

So for the conventional wisdom of eating every couple of hours and not skipping meals....well we will give it a whirl and not be so strict. I will focus more on my hunger cues then the clock.

Day 1

This is day one of my Paleo transition. One of the suggestions on Mark Sisson's blog is to not do everything all at once. I know if I feel overwhelmed I will throw in the towel or just plain get stressed out. It was suggested to break things down with this transition and set yourself up for success. My first priority is to eliminate grains. Once I feel like I have been successful with this process then I will start paying more attention to the carbohydrate content.

It is very common for people to experience the "Paleo Flu" as their body detoxes. I already have a runny nose and feel a bit run down, but I think it was the accumulation of running a half marathon,  going ski diving, and all the other activities I had going on this weekend. Definitely am going to listen to my body and take it easy till I feel better.

I did go to the dog park and did a few loops with Drake on my shoulders. I also did some strength training while at the Fireman's Park with Drake (dips, pull-ups, declined push-ups, and the monkey bars).

As far as my eating. I have enjoyed eggs and sauteed spinach, tuna steak and green beans, nut mix, cheese, a sweet potato, salmon salad, and asparagus. I did buy some dark chocolate and had a piece also. I feel very satisfied.

Very proud of my first day.

Picnic

So today I was at a picnic. Overall in my old way of thinking everything was very healthy. Sub sandwiches on wheat bread, pasta salad with a lot vegetables, and salad with croutons. There were olives in the pasta salad for our healthy fat.

Out of the options provided I could eat the fruit and vegetables. I could have picked apart and just eaten the meat and cheese of sandwhiches and olives out of the pasta salad.  I did choose to eat the pasta salad and my carb intake was extremely high due to all of the vegetables, pasta, and fruit. I crashed in about 30 minutes of eating. I was running around the yard playing with my son, Drake, on a really cool four wheeler when it hit me. I felt like I needed to sit down/take a nap or eat more carbs to keep going.

I very much hate this feeling. I always wondered why after going to birthday parties, home to my mom and dads house for meals, or after eating certain meals I feel this way. The carb intake is the reason why. I now know that the right combinations are huge.

Next picnic I go to I will be sure to make a meat and veggies based salad to take along (will look for recipe). I will also pack a nut mix in my purse and will practice more visualization before I go. I had a busier morning so was extremely hungry when I got there and ate a little quickly. For me the big thing is standing out or being different from others. I keep telling myself that most people are so focused on what they are eating they are not even paying attention to you. Also telling myself that I know I do not want to feel tired and lethargic after I eat and that is why I am making these choices.

Getting Ready

Alright...I know the biggest thing to set myself up for success is to have the right foods in the house. I went to Costco and stocked up on nuts, olives, canned tuna and salmon, frozen organic berries, organic eggs, and a splurge of red wine.

We have cleaned out the cupboards and are giving away or throwing away a lot of the grains that I had in the cupboards as well as the sandwich thins, flat bread, and frozen kashi waffles. I just loaded up on Aunt Annie's crackers for Drake. I know that that if they are around it would be a temptation so I am going to get rid of those as well. Organic dried apple slices are portable along with string cheese, dried fruit, and whole fruit. These will make great snacks for Drake and ones that I can have as well.

I already do very well with smoothies for breakfast. I will be sure to swap out the mangoes and bananas that I use sometimes and stay with berries in order to lower my carbohydrate intake during this meal.

I made a crustless quiche that I know Drake loves and am all set with meat for dinners for the week and non starchy veggies from my mother in laws garden. I made protein smoothies for those cravings and have nuts in bags ready to grab and go.

This whole process doesn't kick off until next week, but I am doing my best to start test driving and making changes already. Obstacle to think about:Trip to Door County the beginning of September.

I can do this!

Background

It is interesting that in the past I have never really paid that much attention to carbohydrates. I never questioned the recommendation of 6-11 servings of grains and 50% of your diet coming from carbohydrates from the American Dietetic Society as being wrong. I am currently reading The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. It is about the Paleo diet. Eating what our hunter and gather ancestors ate to survive. He does a great job explaining how our body utilizes the carbohydrates and fats at different levels. He breaks down why low fat diets are making everyone fatter and what the real culprit is for the conditions included in the metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity): carbohydrates.  

At 50-100 grams of carbohydrates (200-400 calories) our body is a fat burning machine and one can achieve effortless weight loss. At 100-150 grams (400-600 calories) our body is at a weight maintenance range. At 150-300 grams (600-1200 calories) we start finding it a huge challenge with weight gain.

After looking at my food logs from the past I have averaged around 200-300 grams of carbohydrates. Granted many of the things I have been eating are lots of fruit, whole grains, vegetables, etc. I exercise at least 45 minutes everyday of the week in order to keep my weight in check. What would it be like to workout a lot less, yet have the body of your dreams?

I know of a few other trainers who believe in the Primal Blueprint and have seen great results. I am using myself as a guinea pig. I have never cut something out of my diet completely, my philosophy has always been everything in moderation, and so this will be a huge challenge for me. I actually love carbsJ

Here is what my eating plan will consist of:  1600-2100 calories

No Grains
100-150 grams of carbohydrates a day (my goal is not weight loss)
70-100 grams of protein  (based on .7-1 gram per pound of lean weight from body fat calculations)
100-125 grams of fat (healthy fats)
I will eat when hungry and till I am full/satisfied

This challenge will start on August 21^st. I have a half marathon on the 18^th and I know that going lower carbohydrate will mess with my energy levels. In order to PR, to prep with my meal plans, clean out the cupboards, and mentally get my self ready I have decided to push it back. To keep myself honest and accountable I created this blog to hold me accountable. In the past I have told myself that I was going to go gluten free or vegetarian and always caved. This is my way of sticking to my guns.

I suggest you pick up a copy of the Primal Blueprint or do some research on your own by googling the Paleo Diet.

Why

Why am I making this transition to the Primal Blueprint?
#1.Well I struggle a lot with my blood sugar. After eating certain meals I crash. I feel like I have to eat more food ,even if I'm not necessarily hungry, inorder to feel better. I know that the things that I am eating are deemed as healthy, so why am I not feeling great afterwards? The reason is that I eat to many carbohydrates. Even fruit and vegetables are carbohyrdates.
#2. I have a weakness for carbohydrates. If I am having an off day cereal, animal crackers, pita chips, tostitoes, homemade breads and muffins, and dried fruit are my go to foods.

#3. I workout a lot. I workout way to hard to not have the body that I truely desire. I know that it is the carbohydrates. I do enjoy working out, but I know that there is so much more to life then spending so much time pounding the pavement and throwing weights around. This is the ticket in order to utlize my time.

#4.  I have never stuck with anything like this in the past. I want to prove to myself that I can do this for 30 days and beyond.

#5. I want to know if this truelly works so I can utilize it with all of my clients. I know that I have suggested adding whole grains into all of my clients diets. I have suggested different amounts and intensities of workouts. This will dramatically change the way I train and coach.