A Day in the Life of… warts and all.I’ll go into meticulous detail assuming you have the same knowledge of food and cooking as I did 2-20 years ago.Here are Part I (breakfast), Part II (lunch), and Part III (dinner) of A Day in the Life of…
The Witching Hour
I don’t have any alcohol Sunday through Thursday evenings.I don’t drink beer anymore at home.On the rare once-every-6-months that I do drink a beer, it will be at a restaurant or someone’s house if wine is not available.
WINE
I’ll have 2-4 glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday nights.On Sunday through Thursday nights, I’ll stick with my water.The only three liquids that I drink are water, coffee (between 7am-2pm nearly daily), and wine (Friday-Saturday).
I try (and the key word is try) to have a 12 hour gap between my last bit of food in the evening until I eat breakfast the next day.This 12 hour gaps is achieved probably 3-4 times a week.For those other 3-4 times a week I succumb to the Witching Hour, and this is what happens…
CHOCOLATE
I tend to have 90% Lindt chocolate about 3 times a week.Friday and Saturday nights either it’s a bar stretched over 2 nights, or a bar each Friday and Saturday evening.These weekend chocolates are purchased when I buy the wine.Probably about one night a week, somehow I end up stopping by the store to get the chocolate.Usually, it’s when I have a couple of more hours to do of work at home, and I’ll have some chocolate with my another ill-advised cup of coffee.
BACON
About two times a week on a work night around 8pm-9pm I eat bacon.Anywhere from 5-10 strips of it.
Yup.I do.
What I really want is some chocolate, or some wine or some Reese’s peanut butter cups.
The chocolate aint a bad choice at all but I try to save that just for Fridays and Saturdays.The wine is simply not an option on a worknight with a 5am wake-up.Maybe for some people it’s not a big deal to have one glass a night, I just can’t handle it every night.I start feeling too wino-ish, I don’t like for wine to be a crutch for stress relief.I like my wine to complement a good meal with a good atmosphere.
And the Reese’s, I gave up eating peanuts completely and only eat nuts of any kind very rarely.The only chocolate I eat is if it has 70% and above cocoa content.
I have acquired an aversion to eating fruit right before bed, and rarely have it for dinner.I make it a point especially in the evening not to eat anything that spikes my blood sugar and insulin levels… Well other than the wine on the weekends, and the high quality chocolate, which has a sugar content 6.5 times less than a standard American chocolate bar.So, that leaves bacon.
And if bacon isn’t available, I’ll eat part of the meat that I cooked for my next day’s lunch.Or, I’ll grill or fry up a hamburger.
And that’s my strategy for dealing with the Witching Hour.For anyone in my modest readership dealing with compulsive eating issues, overeating, anxious eating, etc., especially in the evening, this is how I do it.It may work for you, it may not.
Any fruit that I may have in the course of the day I try to have it just for breakfast and lunch.The exception is a sprinkle of raisins in my evening salad (if I have one).Bacon or another helping of meat or fish, it beats mainlining sugar.That simple.
A Day in the Life of… warts and all.I’ll go into meticulous detail assuming you have the same knowledge of food and cooking as I did 2-20 years ago.Here are Part I (breakfast) and Part II (lunch) of A Day in the Life of…
Dinner
See Lunch.I try to sit down for dinner no later than 7pm.I usually eat dinner between 530pm-6pm when I’m going to work early and may return home early.On Saturdays and Sundays I prefer to have dinner around 5pm.
MEAT
Seriously, I grill up either chicken, pork, hamburgers or steak.I may grill up some sausage from time to time.The one thing that’s different is that I’ll eat seafood.I either broil or grill salmon, or fry up some scallops.Usually when I cook seafood, I’ll cook enough to eat for the next evening, as well.I don’t like eating seafood at lunch, it stinks up the plastic bowls.I eat seafood about 2 times a week for dinner.I have the goal to making that 3-4 times.
On occasion, I’ll marinate my meat with a BBQ sauce and maybe have some sauce on the side, too.At the grocery chain store I buy the bulk of my food there are literally dozens of BBQ sauces.There is only one brand that has sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup.Same thing with ketcup.Many different kinds of ketchup, only a couple of brands with sugar instead of HFCS.These 2 items, BBQ sauce and ketchup, are practically the only remaining packaged/processed foods that remain on my menu.
I know full well that they have sugar, and that to excess they’ll spike my blood sugar and insulin.Since I usually only have BBQ sauce and ketchup in the evening, and in particular it’s the evening when I want to avoid spiking blood sugar and insulin, I try to have just no more than a squirt or two.
I want to go into starting my slumber with a full belly of nutritious food so that during the 12 hours between eating:
-I don’t have elevated levels of blood sugar and insulin
-I burn as much fat as possible
-Autophagy occurs
I’ll stop there and encourage you to note as always that these concepts are from the Prof’s work.If I have a workout the next morning, I want to hit it right.Excessive eating from the previous evening won’t put me in the state I want to be in for that morning’s workout.I want to heighten my insulin sensitivity after draining my glycogen stores after a good weight workout.There’s a lot of other positive adaptations, but I’ll post on that another time, or refer you to where you may piece together the diet and its relation to working out.
SALAD
See Lunch.
If I didn’t have a salad at lunch, I’ll nearly always have it for dinner.If I had a salad at lunch, I probably only have it 50% of the time at dinner, and will then usually eat a lot more meat.
While I’m preparing dinner, I prepare what I’m going to bring for lunch the next day, e.g., meat and salad.This is key.I’m tired from work and want to just focus on the here and now regarding dinner.It’s a struggle to make that extra effort to cook for the next day’s lunch.However, when go to bed in the evening, and lunch is already ready and waiting for me in the fridge for when I wake up the next morning, I go to bed with much less stress.Yeah, what an exciting life!But it’s the little things like this that keep me on track.
A Day in the Life of… warts and all.I’ll go into meticulous detail assuming you have the same knowledge of food and cooking as I did 2-20 years ago.Here is Part I of A Day in the Life of…
Lunch
I don’t carry a lunch pail or fancy velcro lunch sack.I either lose them at work or they live in my car.I usually carry my lunch in a plastic grocery bag.
MEAT
The night before I cook on the grill one of the following options and this is what I take to work in a plastic container:
-2 chicken thighs
-2 pork loins or some other cut
-3 hamburgers (no cheese, no bun)
-Steak
I put this meat into a plastic bowl with a lid.The key here is to cook what you’re going to take for lunch the previous evening.If I don’t do that, I usually buy my lunch, which costs 3 to 4 times more to get the exact same thing I could have cooked at home.
SALAD
On average, 3 out of 5 work days, the previous evening, I’ll chop up a salad and place it in the refrigerator.All or some of this is what I put in my circular bowl with the blue lid:
-Mixed greens
Either the Natural Select brand in a plastic box, or I buy some good lettuce and peel off some as I go along in the week.I almost always go with this.
-Spinach (usually in the Natural Select plastic box)
1 out of 5 salads I’ll use Spinach.
-Red or Green Pepper
I cut half of a pepper and put the other half in a sandwich bag for the next day.I almost always go with this.
-Broccoli
I buy a big head of broccoli and tear off 2-3 pieces, chop of a bit of the stalk, and then chop up the broccoli for the salad.I almost always go with this.
-Cucumber
I usually cut off about ¼ to 1/3 of the cucumber, cut them in thin circles, and then cut them into 1/8ths that resemble little triangles, or Spanish gold coin bits for the Austrians amongst my modest readership.I almost always go with this.
-Celery
In every salad bowl I prepare for lunch, I’ll tear off 2 big pieces of celery.I chop off the ends just a bit, I don’t like how the whiter part tastes at the bottom of the celery.Then I’ll tear these 2 piece in half and put them into the salad bowl.I usually eat them at the end of the salad.
-Bacon
I hardly ever eat bacon in my salad for lunch, but maybe 2 out of 5 times for dinner I’ll cook up about 4-5 strips of bacon to crumble in my salad.
-Raisins
A sprinkle a handful of raisins into my salad more often than not.
-Carrots
I put about 4-5 unchopped baby carrots in my salad about 1 out of 5 times.
Strawberries
I cut up about 2-3 strawberries in my salad about 1 out of every 10 times.
-Onions
Probably 1 out of 10 salads I’ll chop up about 1/3 of a raw onion to put into the salad.Most of the time I fry up onion in butter to serve on top of whatever meat I’m eating.
-Avocado
Probably about 1 out 10 of my salads I’ll put avocado.You have to wait until it’s brown/black and a bit squishy.I usually cut in 1/4ths, scoop out the green meat out of the skin with a spoon, and then cut those pieces into chunks.
-Tomatoes
I usually don’t buy tomatoes.If they’re on my salad at a restaurant, I’ll eat them.I don’t dislike them, but in my readings of nightshades, I somehow just grew accustomed to not purchasing them.
-Cheese
I don’t ever put cheese on my salad anymore at home.Only at restaurants when it comes with the salad will I have cheese.
-Salad dressing
Vinaigrette, that’s all I ever put on my salad. But probably only do so one every 5 times.I don’t buy any store bought salad dressings anymore.They have too many PUFAs, especially soy.There are two things I go way out of my way to avoid.High Fructose Corn Syrup and anything with Soy. It’s usually pretty easy when you avoid all packaged foods.
The key here is to prepare the salad the night before.If I don’t do that, I usually am only carrying a slab of meat of some sort and a piece of fruit for lunch.
FRUIT
Along with a portion of meat, I’ll pack into my plastic sack on most days an apple or an orange.I usually eat that around 2pm or so.
All in all a rather bland lunch I know, but it gets me through the day along with another cup of coffee and a few glasses of water.I feel light with an “agile fullness”, and am hungry by dinner time without feeling groggy like I used to before paleo.
Next “A Day in the Life of…” post will be about dinner.
A Day in the Life of… warts and all.I’ll go into meticulous detail assuming you have the same knowledge of food and cooking as I did 2-20 years ago.
Wake Up
I’ll wake up at ~515am.If I’m lucky I’ll have had the foresight to iron my shirt the night before, or maybe a few of them on a Sunday night.If not, I’m ironing for about 15 minutes.
Shower.
Breakfast
While multi-tasking getting the house up and people in order, I start cooking.I’ll just go over my meal.I cook 4 scrambled eggs.I nearly have this every morning.And two sausage paddies.I eat these before heading out the door.For the drive to work, I have travel mug of black coffee filled to the top and a sandwich bag about half way filled with about 1/3 being blueberries, 2/3 raisins.This is what I have to eat as I listen to the radio on the drive.
On weekends for breakfast, I will have scrambled eggs and probably about 5-8 strips of bacon.I eat about 2 dozen eggs a week.On the rare mornings I don’t eat scrambled eggs, I’ll eat something that I prepared the previous evening that was intended to be for lunch, but I woke up late and instead ate it for breakfast.On weekend mornings I’ll have some melon, as well.
It’s that simple. Scrambling 4 eggs and having some sausage takes about 10 minutes. I won’t go into detail about supplements in this post, but some fish oil and vitamin D and a cup of coffee and you’re on your way to a great day.
There is internal squabbling regarding certain aspects of paleo diet interpretation. There are various people commidifying their own interpretation of a hunter-gatherer diet. And there are certain lines drawn in the sand regarding duplicating a paleolithic diet vs. using it as a guide within the context of a modern food supply chain. For the most part, all of these discussions are very courteous.
There may be an unpleasant person from time to time that hurls insults rather than sticking to science… but that for the most part is rare and far between.
Like the story Gary Taubes tells about physicists giving presentations only to EXPECT them to be criticized by their fellow physicist peers, I find that paleo adherents enjoy debating the finer points to following the paleo diet and evolutionary fitness approaches because in the end it’s about finding what’s best for you. Closing your eyes to other opinion, and considering learning as something akin to admitting your wrong… well that’s just… stupid.
Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong. But aint it cool to change your opinion and then be right!
I will admit here and now, that at first I didn’t really understand the reason at first Kurt Harris came on to the scene and seemed to rock the paleo established boat. Well, referring to the mention of Taubes that debate should be welcomed and expected… Harris was questioning the paleo status quo! Regardless of whether I agreed with some of his points, I should have been cheering him on for doing so (as I do now). If you are a William Davis guy, or a Kurt Harris guy, or a De Vany guy, or Sisson, or Peter from hyperlipid, etc., if these guys agree to disagree on issues from saturated fat to the need for supplementation in the attempt to advance scientific discovery in interpreting the research, clinical trials and n=1 samples, then all the better.
Let the discussions in this ever growing community never become static. Lay a Venn diagram over any of the aforementioned people and their respective interpretations match up 85-95%. Ah, and that 5-15% reckoning is what paleo blogs are all about sometimes, aint it?
We’re all against sugar, HFCS, high levels of carbohydrates (from grains in particular) in our diet. We’re all for amounts of fat and protein in our diet commensurate with human paleolithic history, but mainly because it’s healthy for maintaining lean muscle mass, bone health, and good HDL/tri profile, among many other things. We’re (mostly) for a good amount of vegetables, fruits in moderation. There’s a bit of disagreement about dairy and levels of saturated fats amongst the godfathers in our midst.
A bit of bickering and vanity aside, we’re all on the same side of the barricades wanting to propagate solid info to help people, hoping to assist our loved ones to prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Agreed?
OK, I’ll take that as a “Yes.”
Let me introduce you to the other side of the coin, the High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing (HCDI) diet supporters.
Corn syrup, a party drink at a recent HCDI conference
They’re not a friendly bunch toward the scientific method. They are more like the physicists who abhor any intellectual discussion regarding the flip side of their views. They believe their science is decided from the reality such as it was back in 1975. Any subsequent endocrinological/biochemistry research over the last 30 years that goes against their sandy hypothesis is simply heretical.
the HCDI high priest, Ancel Keys
However, infighting is common amongst them within their highcarb/lowfat belief system. A belief system, without any research documenting it to be true, that mandates that animal fats cause people to become obese and have high cholesterol EVEN though the science shows it’s from an excessively high carbohydrate diet unseen in human history.
They all believe that high levels of carbohydrate from wheat, corn, rice, potatoes and beans are fine. Even though high carbohydrates cause high blood sugar and sustained high blood sugar causes Type II diabetes, and makes life miserable for a Type I diabetic, well, this is besides the point because it doesn’t fit with their belief system.
They all chant, “Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables as well to round out your high carbohydrate intake!” As if a variety of carbohydrate sources in their High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing diet will somehow lessen your chances of developing Metabolic Syndrome.
High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing (HCDI) Diet Junkfooders
You are in for a sweet surprise. Check out this video. (for those of you checking out this in google reader, yes there’s youtube video here, I’ll get the hang of this at some point).
High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing (HCDI) Diet Vegetarians
I like shopping at farmers’ markets, though I rarely rarely have a chance to do so. I have had a comment or two encouraging me to do so, I appreciated it, took note, but with my schedule I try to make the most healthy and humane (for the animals that I eat) choices. Whole Foods is a great place for convenience. I like shopping at Whole Foods. I will continue to shop at Whole Foods even though they may endorse the vegetarian version of the High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing (HCDI) diet. See here for a great rundown of the situation by Jimmy Moore.
The way I see it, even though they’re becoming anti-meat and pro-High Carb Diabetes Inducing diet, every grocery store sells grains and sugary products. As long as Whole Foods continues to sell grassfed and/or organic meat and seafood, I’ll avert my eyes from their silly HCDI diet logos. After all, I already have to avert my eyes from the bread, cereal and pasta aisles at every grocery store I go to.
High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing (HCDI) Diet Lowfatters
“For example, most people in this country have elevated cholesterol levels. They are initially advised to follow a diet based on the National Cholesterol Education Program or American Heart Association guidelines—i.e., less red meat, more skinless chicken, etc. For some, that’s sufficient to lower their cholesterol levels enough, but not for most people. Many are then told, “Sorry, it looks like diet didn’t work for you” or, “You failed diet.” Then, they are usually prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, which they are told they will need to take for the rest of their lives.”
When Dean wasn’t hocking the Spectrum showing a bit more tolerance for meat, he was hocking The Life Choice diet. Here’s a summary excerpt from this site:
“You can eat the following foods whenever you feel hungry until you are full (but not until you are stuffed):
Beans and legumes (lentils, kidney beans, peas, black beans, red Mexican beans, split peas, soybeans, black-eyed peas, garbanzos, navy beans, and so on)
Fruits (apples, apricots, bananas, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, oranges, peaches, raspberries, cantaloupes, watermelons, pears, honeydew melons, pineapples, tomatoes, and so on)
Grains (corn, rice, oats, wheat, millet, barley, buckwheat, and so on)
Vegetables (potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, mushrooms, eggplant, celery, asparagus, onions, sweet potatoes, spinach, and so on)
You can eat the following foods in moderation:
Nonfat dairy products, including skim milk, nonfat yogurt, nonfat cheeses, nonfat sour cream, and egg whites Nonfat or very low-fat commercially available products, including whole grain breakfast cereals, Health Valley chili (and many other Health Valley products), Kraft Free nonfat mayonnaise and salad dressings, Guiltless Gourmet tortilla chips, Quaker Oats oatmeal, Nabisco fat-free crackers, Fleishmann’s Egg Beaters, Pritikin soups.
Here are the foods to avoid as much as possible:
Meats (all kinds, including chicken and fish)
Oils (all kinds) and oil-containing products, including margarines and most salad dressings
Avocados
Olives
Nuts and seeds
High-fat or “low-fat” dairy, including whole milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, egg yolks, cream, and so on
Sugar and simple sugar derivatives (honey, molasses, corn syrup, high fructose syrup, and the like)
Alcohol
Any commercially available product with more than two grams of fat per serving”
How many grams of carbohydrates would you eat following the above diet? 100 grams? 200 grams? 400 grams? If you eat no fat, you probably aren’t going to eat that much protein either. And the protein that you will eat will be from plant based sources which will add to your carbohydrate intake already excessively high from all of the beans, legumes, fruits and grains at the top of your list.
High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing (HCDI) Diet Food Pyramid
The amount of grains you need to eat depends on your age, sex, and level of physical activity. Recommended daily amounts are listed in the chart. Most Americans consume enough grains, but few are whole grains. At least ½ of all the grains eaten should be whole grains.
Daily
recommendation*
Daily minimum amount
of whole grains
Children
2-3 years old
3 ounce equivalents**
1 ½ ounce equivalents**
4-8 years old
4 – 5 ounce equivalents**
2 – 2 ½ ounce equivalents**
Girls
9-13 years old
5 ounce equivalents**
3 ounce equivalents**
14-18 years old
6 ounce equivalents**
3 ounce equivalents**
Boys
9-13 years old
6 ounce equivalents**
3 ounce equivalents**
14-18 years old
7 ounce equivalents**
3 ½ ounce equivalents**
Women
19-30 years old
6 ounce equivalents**
3 ounce equivalents**
31-50 years old
6 ounce equivalents**
3 ounce equivalents**
51+ years old
5 ounce equivalents**
3 ounce equivalents**
Men
19-30 years old
8 ounce equivalents**
4 ounce equivalents**
31-50 years old
7 ounce equivalents**
3 ½ ounce equivalents**
51+ years old
6 ounce equivalents**
3 ounce equivalents**
*These amounts are appropriate for individuals who get less than 30 minutes per day of moderate physical activity, beyond normal daily activities. Those who are more physically active may be able to consume more while staying within calorie needs.”
So, a healthy 18-30 year old man should eat 1/2 pound of grains per day, and if he’s getting more exercise, he should eat more grains!!!
So, here’s the nutritional breakout of 8 ounces of Macaroni, whole wheat, cooked:
Grams
Calories
%-Cals
Calories
280
Fat
1.2
10
4
%
Saturated
0.2
2
1
%
Polyunsaturated
0.5
4
1
%
Monounsaturated
0.2
1
1
%
Carbohydrate
59.8
226
81
%
Dietary Fiber
6.3
Protein
12.0
43
15
%
Alcohol
0.0
0
0
%
Here’s the nutritional breakout of 2 ounces of sugar:
Grams
Calories
%-Cals
Calories
219
Fat
0.0
0
0
%
Saturated
0.0
0
0
%
Polyunsaturated
0.0
0
0
%
Monounsaturated
0.0
0
0
%
Carbohydrate
56.7
219
100
%
Dietary Fiber
0.0
Protein
0.0
0
0
%
Alcohol
0.0
0
0
%
As an active 18-30 year old male, I am recommended a minimum of 4 ounces of grains per day, if I’m active 8 ounces or more of grains. Using my example of macaroni, it’s the carbohydrate caloric equivalent to 2 ounces of sugar.
With my 8 grams of macaroni I only get 280 total calories (226 calories coming from the carbs that will turn to sugar when I ingest it), leaving me about 1750 more calories to make up for the rest of my daily intake of calories. I have many more carbohydrates to eat before I get to about 2,000 calories. And there’s not a lot of nutritional bang for my high carb macaroni buck here to boot.
The renowned Dr. Richard Bernstein successfully recommends only 12 grams or less to many of his patients with diabetes… for an entire day. These 8 ounces of grains would give me 56 grams of carbohydrates, more than 4 times the amount Dr. Bernstein would recommend to one of his patients. AND I’m only getting 12% of my daily caloric intake from it! How many more grams of carbohydrates am I going to eat on this food pyramid before I get to 2,000 calories? 200 grams of carbohydrates? 400 grams of carbohydrates?
Here’s the nutritional breakout of 8 ounces of beefsteak:
Grams
Calories
%-Cals
Calories
571
Fat
34.0
307
54
%
Saturated
13.3
120
21
%
Polyunsaturated
1.3
11
2
%
Monounsaturated
14.2
128
22
%
Carbohydrate
0.0
0
0
%
Dietary Fiber
0.0
Protein
61.9
264
46
%
Alcohol
0.0
0
0
%
571 total calories. 46% of which are from protein, unlike only 15% from the 8 ounces of macaroni. No carbohydrates. However, with my broccoli or spinach, along with a side salad I may get about 10 grams or so of carbohydrates or less. Wow, a couple more meals like this in the day and I’d be lucky to reach 30 grams of carbohydrate, and I’ll be full and satisfied with good meat, good vegetables, and maybe even a slice of melon.
My paleo sisters and brothers, we may agree to disagree about milk, about nuts, about which oil to cook with, about the caloric % of saturated fat that’s the best. But I’m so happy that we all agree that there just isn’t a place in our diets for these grains, corns, rices, beans and potatoes. We’re not discussing the best way to send ourselves and the ones that we love into the wonderful world of diabetes and all of its related metabolic syndrome companions like our friends promoting the HCDI diet.
The HCDI’ers may bicker about how much fat is acceptable, but they all agree on the main aspect of the High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing (HCDI) Diet. Just look around you!
This 86% increase is from meat? Hmmm. No. Could it be because many people are following the HCDI advice from the HCDI junkfooders, HCDI vegetarians, HCDI lowfatters, and HCDI food pyramiders? You can’t see me, but I’m nodding my head up and down.
We may not agree with the High Carbohydrate Diabetes Inducing Diet goal, but I got to hand it to them, the HCDI’ers are really succeeding in living out their diet’s namesake.
They say the way to a man’s heart is via his stomach.Now, I’ve seen men who are excellent cooks woo women (who may or may not have been able to cook) and win their hearts in the kitchen, too, so I don’t think that phrase is exclusive to men. The way to a woman’s heart may be via her stomach, too. If a man prepares BBQ or even a poorly made salad for a woman, that gesture would be very much appreciated by her, there is no doubt.
I’ve written in earlier posts and certainly have read on other sites about the difficulty of explaining to someone who is suffering from metabolic derangement about what is so obvious to us now. The obvious human normal carb diet.
The obvious human normal carb diet would be:
-meats and seafood
-vegetables
-moderate amount of fruits
-water (ahem, I also drink coffee daily, wine on weekends and have 87% chocolate about once a month, ahem, or more often)
-avoiding POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS (PUFAs) like vegetable oils from corn, soy, etc., while not worrying about intake of the innocent healthy saturated fats.
-severely limiting or avoiding SUGAR (e.g., eat an apple, no need to drink the sugary apple juice)
-severely limiting or avoiding altogether STARCHY VEGETABLES (like avoiding potatoes, I’ll speak only for myself here. I avoid potatoes because when eating them I don’t stop at one, or two, or three…. Sweet potato, yes, I can limit myself but I have to watch my self control The white potatoes? No way, I lose control like Homer Simpson in a donut shop. I eat until I’m absolutely stuffed and feel bloated for hours and into the next day. But again, avoiding potatoes worked for me, if you’re a paleo potato gal or guy and potatoes are in your diet, good on you.)
-limiting DAIRY (I’m at the point where I just have dairy in the form of cheese on a salad at a restaurant. I very rarely have any form of dairy at home anymore. Again, there are other paleo diet adherents big on dairy, good on them. For me, just like with potatoes, I don’t stop at a lil’ bit of cheese or milk or greek yogurt or cream, I’ll eat cheese like a drunk dairy king. The one noted exception, I cook with butter almost exclusively. I don’t eat butter like someone I know, I just cook with it. If I ate it like this guy, I’m afraid I would be downing butter cubes like Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas. Maybe I’ll try preworkout butter shots someday, but for now I’ll continue limiting dairy and cooking with butter, this has worked for me.)
PALEO DOG CHALLENGE
As a commenter noted, it makes sense that a dog would eat a paleo diet given that mankind and dogkind lived with each other for so long in paleolithic times. Good point. Certainly it may be looked at the other way, right? Could it?
Maybe the best way to explain the paleo/evolutionary diet is to a dog-owning metabolically deranged person by using their dog as an example. Now, metabolically deranged sounds so harsh, but it’s true. Robb Wolf uses this phrase often, and it’s made its way into my active vocabulary. I know metabolically deranged best described me BP (Before Paleo).
By the way, I don’t think calling someone “metabolically deranged” is the best way to endear that person toward you, so that’s not what I would recommend for a Paleo Pick Up Line! ”Hey baby, I see you’re metabolically deranged, how about you and I eat like cavemen and I’ll show you how to live?!” Probably not going to be very effective. Probably not going to help that person find their paleo kairos moment that way.
A paleo challenge usually starts with the “target” person being challenged to start giving up some or all of the food items in my above list. But for many when they hear “paleo challenge” it sounds more like living on roots and being chased by someone wielding a spear. Probably not a very convincing (to some) image to woo them.
But, what if someone you knew was having a hard time with high blood pressure, pre-diabetic, anxiety, obesity, bad readings of LDL, etc., and that person… owned a dog?
Ok, different question.
How much does 4 weeks of quality “paleo” meat dogfood cost?I would assume the cost of this dogfood would be less than the safe, healthy and inexpensive investment of 4 weeks of buying fruits, vegetables and meat/seafood for your metabolically deranged friend.
PALEO DOG CHALLENGE “PICK UP” LINE
In my efforts to sound less like the food police and a paleo nut, I limit my talk on the evolutionary living lifestyle unless someone really asks for it. However, if I had a loved one (that owned a dog) that is dealing with metabolic derangement (e.g., the various symptoms of metabolic syndrome) I would try at least once delicately the below 2-minute nonthreatening elevator speech.
“Here’s the deal. You know that crazy paleo thing that I do, well, it was a big step for me to start it, it’s a big step for anyone. Instead of you taking that initial plunge into paleo diet world, how about you let your dog be like the first dog in space, and your dog could take the first steps for you? And because, gee whiz, I love you so much, I’ll offer to pay for 4 weeks of paleo dogfood that you’ll feed your dog exclusively. No chow or milkbones, no scooby snacks, just real dog food for your dog. During those 4 weeks please notice the changes in health that your dog will go through. And at the end of those 4 weeks, I’d like you to think about continuing to feed your dog that way if after those 4 weeks you have found his health dramatically improved.”
“And one last thing, during and after those 4 weeks, I’d like you to think about whether this 4-week+ experiment would be something you’d consider for yourself regarding a human normal carb diet. No pressure, just ask you to consider it. If you agree to this Paleo Dog Challenge, I promise that afterward in any case to never be the food police with you or bother you about this subject again (unless you ask!). And with that my friend, do we have a deal? Because I can be back from the pet store and/or butcher shop in about 20 minutes with a month’s supply of REAL dog food that your dog will love.”
In summer were there more fruits with carbohydrates?
In the Autumn were the animals fatter as they prepared for the winter?
In the winter were berries absent with leaner animals offering a greater caloric percentage of protein in the diet?
In Alaska the native populations’ diet consist of protein and fat with hardly any carbohydrates at all. Perpetual “winter.”
These ratios are highly dependent on the geography and the season. Very highly dependent in some cases ranging from 90% fat and protein with the Inuits to perhaps 70% carbohydrates in some tribes that ate a whole heckuva lot of tubers. But for purpose of discussion, we’ll go with the documented 30/40/30 macronutrient breakout as % of caloric intake estimates.
My n=1 take on it.
I personally don’t keep track of my macronutrient %. However, given the variety that I eat with my diet that consists exclusively of water, meat, vegetables and occasionally fruit (with excursions into high quality 87% chocolate about once a month, wine on weekends, and coffee nearly daily), my caloric carbohydrate intake is rarely above 30%, perhaps some days much much lower.
I don’t eat nuts (unless they’re hidden in my food), I never really cared for them, and because I had/have diverticulitis, I tend to avoid them all together. I tend to agree with Melissa regarding nuts and seeds. Given my fear of a diverticulitis flare up, I just avoid them. To each is own.
I have done a spot check on fitday.com every now and then, and the ratio is about 50/30/20, with fat always being 50% or more, followed by protein, then carbs at 20% or less.
I work out only once a week, no more than 20 minutes. In the spring and summer, I’ll resume a weekly sprinting session. Usually, I only do these sprints about once every 2 weeks though. I have maintained my current weight now of about 215 pounds for the last 6 months or so. My body composition gets better with each month. I work many hours in the week, have a lot of household obligations with family, was traveling nearly 2 full days out of every week for the last 7 months. I skip dinner once a week, usually Friday night, to do an intermittent fast that goes from about 1pm on Friday to about 9am on Saturday morning. I try to do my weekly workouts on Saturday around 730am. When this doesn’t happen, I work out on Sunday or Monday.
I indeed think there are benefits to working out in a fasted state, but my life right now doesn’t always allow me to work out when I want to, or twice a week. I can’t always do an intermittent fast 1-2 times a week, and eat seafood as much as I’d like. Could I be cutter? Could I be even leaner? Could my muscle mass be larger? Could all of this happen quicker than the continuous improvement that I’m seeing now?
Well, perhaps, but to what end? Over the last few months I have learned to enjoy the ride. I have enjoyed consistent improvement in physical and mental health the more I have become at peace with trying to achieve insulin sensitivity and with the macronutrients of the natural human diet (with its normal carbohydrate content coming from fruits and vegatables, NOT grains). It will take care of itself.
By the way, I don’t know why in every picture I’m so crooked. I’m going to really work on symmetry and posture over the course of the next few months. I post paleo transformation pics truly without the intention to be vain, for as you can see there’s “work” to be done!, but it will happen, over time. I’m showing you warts and all without any bravado. I’ve been doing this for 1.5 years now, but there is no picture at “the end” of this journey that I’m going to post as if to say, “This is it!” My goal really is not to even give body composition or nutrition that much thought for the next year, just let it happen. The content of this site will soon reflect that objective in the next few months.
Put simply, my maintained reduction of ~60 pounds since 2008, my improving body composition, my improving metabolic health… is simple. I am not at war against carbohydrates or fat or protein.
I eat a NORMAL amount of carbohydrates that humans have eaten for millions of years. In that regard, I would hardly call it “restricting carbohydrates”, I eat plenty of vegetables and fruit that have carbohydrates.
I eat a NORMAL amount of fat and protein that humans have eaten for millions of years.
I don’t eat an abnormal excessively high amount of carbohydrates unlike anything ever seen in the history of the human diet by simply avoiding sugar, high fructose corn syrup, grains (wheat, corn, rice, beans) and potatoes. I also eat hardly any dairy, only cheese sprinkled on a salad when eating out at restaurants. So, I’m at peace with all of the macronutrients. In turn, my body is at peace metabolically. My hormones work with each other as they should, my muscle mass stays lean, and my insulin sensitivity is enhanced by my natural diet and my weekly weight workouts.
In fact, by following my natural diet it has become impossible for me to become fat, because I’m not at war with the macronutrient of fat. Excessive sugar, fructose and carbohydrate are causing the obesity and the other diseases of metabolic syndrome (must see video here). Yet, currently, thanks to our buddy Ancel Keys (read Michael Eades write-up here) and misguided politicians (are there any other kind?) we are not at war with excessive carbohydrates, we are at war with fat. 1984.
We have always been at war with Fat
The public are blind to the change; in mid-sentence, an orator changes the name of the enemy, from “Eurasia” to “Eastasia”, without pause; when the public are enraged at noticing that the wrong flags and posters are displayed, they tear them down — thus the origin of the idiom ”We’ve always been at war with Eastasia”
-Wikipedia entry for George Orwell’s “1984″
The War With Fat. This “war with fat” is only 30 years long, it started with a very flimsy casus belli (like many wars do), and the powers that be tell us we’ve always been at war with fat… or at least we should have always been at war with fat. This recent study showing that fat is not the culprit as regards heart disease, of course, is being forced down the memory hole by lowfat/high carb Big Brother.
Our bodies aren’t in conflict when they ingest fat. They never have been. We are not, nor have we ever been at war with fat. We are becoming fatter as a nation as we eat less fat (and protein) because we are instead eating more and more carbohydrates from sugar, fructose, and grains. But the Doublethink lowfat/high carb dogma out there tells us that fat is the enemy, that the war with fat is real!
Here’s an exchange from Orwell’s “1984″ rephrased by me for the context of this Orwellian nightmare we’re experiencing regarding the propagation of “healthy whole grains” and “fat is our eternal enemy” :
“In accordance to the principles of Doublethink it does not matter if the WAR ON FAT is not real or not possible to win.
The WAR ON FAT is not meant to be won.It is meant to be continuous.
The essential act of THE WAR ON FAT is the destruction of the produce of human labor.
A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance.
In principle, the WAR EFFORT AGAINST FAT is always planned… to keep society on the brink of starvation.
The WAR ON FAT is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects. And its object is not victory over Eurasia/FAT or Eastasia/OBESITY… but to keep the very structure of society intact.”
Ok, before you accuse me of wearing a hat made out of tinfoil and hiding in the basement, let me first explain the following. I am not a pacifist, I am not a hippie, and excuse me in advance to some of my UK readers, but I am not a big fan of John Lennon. So give up the grains and…
All we are saying is give peace with fat a chance.
I had lunch with a coworker today. We went to a BBQ joint. It was hamburger special day. He jokes around with me from time to time about my “caveman diet.” I have made every effort over the last 3 months or so to not bring my diet into a conversation even when a good friend brings it up for conversation’s sake. I find when others bring it up they’re much more interested when I talk about it.
So, I ordered my burger, and as always it was without the bun and a salad instead of fries. My friend said something about low-carb.
Above picture is stock photo, but basically is what I ate.
I replied that actually I was eating a “normal carb” lunch… trying not to sound like a jerk. He asked what I meant by that, and I told him that I’m eating normally, I’m eating how humans ate for millions of years. The vegetables with the meat have a normal carbohydrate level commensurate with the carb level of a “caveman diet” portion. I pointed out that low carb in a way would be eating very little fruits and vegetables or no veggies/fruit at all. Low carb shouldn’t be defined as “not eating bread or corn.” I’m eating the norm, and he was eating a high carb meal… again, trying not to sound like a jerk. Well, I know this guy rather well, and he knew I wasn’t trying to offend him. I was just taking “normal carb” imagery out for a spin. It needs some refining, some “softer” delivery lines. I’m looking forward to working on that theme.
Anytime I hear from now on “low-carb” to describe paleo (or any other normal carb persuasion), the “normal carb” gun now will come out of its holster. And that’s the real issue, how does the “normal carb” explanation get through to a high sugar/carber without coming across as sounding like a jerk if I’m basically saying they’re a sugary high carb abnormal mess!
I think it has to be said with a smile, I think it has to be explained that their image of a normal carb diet as being abnormally low is a function of numbers
-numbers of people eating high-carb currently on this earth
-numbers of ag subsidies on corn, rice, and wheat that steer them that way,
-numbers of incorrect studies back in the 50’s & 60’s that became dogma before insulin was understood
A high carb diet is not a function of what’s best for our bodies. I dig the show Mad Men. It’s set in the 60’s. Everyone on the show smokes, on the plane, on the subway, in the office. Everywhere and everyone, smoking. The person that didn’t smoke was “abnormal”, in the sense that they were out of the norm by not smoking. We know now that smoking is not good for you. Of course, I believe smokers have the right to smoke, but I’m glad to know that the risks are better known. There is a growing body of evidence that a high carb diet is bad for you. Just because most people in the industrialized world eat that way doesn’t mean it’s normal, and it doesn’t mean that people who eat a normal carb diet (paleo diet) are abnormal.
Smokers and high-carbers, everyone may be doing it, it doesn’t mean it’s healthy.
