01292008

THE NEW (old) FRONTIER
Paleo diet, also known as the hunter gather diet, is my current experiment. And up to this point in my life the only hunting I did was for deals on a new flat screen TV online. As for gathering, I'm not a pack rat, so it has never been a finer point in my dietary need.

So today is day four on the Paleo diet. For the last three nights sleep hasn't come easy as my body comes to terms with the new fuel.

I have noticed a little fatigue and weakness during workouts, but that will pass in a week or two.

The food parameters are simple guidelines to follow: lean meats, vegetables, some fruits, and good fats.

Plain and simple, and I stress the "simple". At first with limited knowledge of cooking rules, meals were bland and rough. I think I got the hang of it now.

More interesting to me us the "not" section of the Paleo diet, such as no dairy. I love cheese and milk (well I loved cheese and milk four days ago) and up to last week I could count some sort of dairy in just about every meal I had during the day (cheese, yogurt, butter, milk, sour cream, etc).

Another no-no is starchy vegetables and carbohydrates. So being a gym rat in my past life this meant getting rid of everything I knew about carbs and sports (eat oatmeal to burn longer, carb loading, potatoes and yams for post work out meals, etc). Not only that, bread just tastes great!

From eating some kind of bread/pasta/rice at every meal for the last 29 years, it's definitely a lot to take in when you stop cold turkey.

All in all, I've read the research, and I've seen the results of the Paleo and no matter how much time and preparation goes into this, I'm worth it!

LIGHT READING


The book that started this adventure is " The Paleo Diet" by Dr. Loren Cordian. Over all it was a great read. I am partial to research and evidence backed claims, and this book packs plenty.

The book is broken up into three parts: Paleolithic man, scientific discoveries, sample recipes.

From Library Journal

Like Ray Audette's Neanderthin (St. Martin's, 1999), this is another "if you can't find it in the wild, don't eat it" diet that takes the germ of a useful idea and runs with it. According to Cordain (health and exercise science, Colorado State Univ.), Paleolithic humans were fit and lean because, as hunter-gatherers, they ate what was available: meats low in saturated fats, fresh fruits, and nonstarchy vegetables. Nor did they suffer from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, the byproducts of our poor eating habits and lack of exercise. Then again, the average Paleolithic life span was about 30 years, not long enough to develop most chronic illnesses. Still, the author asserts that by eliminating grains, dairy, refined sugars, and processed foods from our diets, we, too, can thrive as our ancestors did. Three levels of diet and six weeks of sample menus, with recipes, are included.

I would recommend this book as an introduction to the Paleo diet, but I would recommend further research and reading if you were to incorporate Paleo into your eating habits.