Dairy is murder for me. I have acquired lactose intolerance.
Thanks for the encouragement guys!
Clayton -
Ever since going primal, I’ve found tomatoes, coconut, onions and mushrooms palatable. Inversely, I now find inpalatable major soda brands (Coke, etc.) and major candy brands (Hersheys, etc.) Also, I can look at anything bread and tortillas and not generate an urge to have some.
The primal lifestyle has changed how I look at food. I no longer eat till I’m full and, instead, eat till I’m satisfied, and I only eat when I’m hungry–for the most part because of hanging out with friends and dating. Btw, as far as alcohol, I can drink the “hard core”/“manly” liquors now; however, I now find the sugary drinks inpalatable.
Man, I’ve totally fallen off the wagon. I’m back up to 217. It’s frustrating because food is the first thing to go out the window once life gets stressful and problems start coming up. I got to get back in the groove again.
Haven’t read much on this thread so maybe this has been answered; are you trying to do a diet or are you changing your fundamental philisophical approach to diet?
@vive: Change my approach - but that’s harder than just going on a diet since it requires changing one’s attitudes about food. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we’re overweight and unhealthy because we assign food too little importance. Just three weeks back, I was feeling great; but I was thinking about food almost all day - what to eat for breakfast, what to eat for lunch, what new recipe to try for dinner. The quality of the food you eat is a reflection of the care and thought you put into it.
Problems have come up (as they always do) and the first thing that goes out the window is that time I was spending thinking about what to eat. But yeah, I’m going to pick up and get back on track.
Clayton -
OK, good
because dieting is a joke.
It’s very hard to do a fundamental overhaul - and the more dramatic the more difficult. But as long as you have it as your goal (and have concrete ways to think and implement yourself towards the goal) and put it in your mind you are changing your life style in a certain way - it is very possible to do, maybe even almost inevitable.
The number one piece of advice I could give is don’t get dicouraged by failure. All success is learning from and how how to deal with failure and actually “showing up” and doing something. Also, always enjoy the ride to your goal, no matter if you fall or not - it should be a fun thing to change from poorer habits to more interesting and better ones.
As far as “thinking of food all day”; that’s going to happen when you do anything like this (this would even happen if someone required a new hobby, or whatever) that’s just the way it works. It may be best to think of it as something of a “honey moon” phase.
Three observations: I had been fasting for about 24 hours when I went out to eat with friends. I ordered Thai beef fajitas and breaded fish nuggets, of course this came with noodles (or rice) by default, from one of those healthy food court places. I didn’t plan on eating the noodles to begin with, so I started eating the beef and the fish, and about half way through I couldn’t eat anymore because I felt satisfied. I then fasted for another 24 hours thereafter.
Second observation: Some people may think that going primal would be expensive because you’re buying organic, grass-fed, and free range instead of cheap grain products. I certainly thought I’d go broke eating grass fed steaks everyday. But I’ve found that since you’re actually eating less that you’re actually buying less food at an overall lesser total cost to satisfy yourself.
Third observation: Has anyone else noticed that high-end restaurants mainly serve steaks and fish with butter and greens, and that sides of potatoe products and grain products are actually seperate menu items? Compare this to lower-end restaurants where the entrees include rice, beans, noodles, pastas, breading or buns.
Also, check out the following people. None of them were starving for lack of ability to purchase food; they’re fit at an old age, so I wonder what they ate.
Btw, it’s Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller.
i’ve been meaning to start the primal lifestyle. i can literally feel the inflammation in me when i eat unhealthily. i feel the best way to do a complete lifestyle change would be to have someone do it with you, and to hold each other accountable. i can’t seem to find anyone who wants to do this with me. does anybody have any tips for starting and sticking to this? do you do the 80/20 or are you 90/10, or even 100% primal?
i’m going on vacation in about 3 weeks. i’d like to start this tomorrow, and keep it up until that time, and possibly even during vacation (will be a roadtrip, so i don’t know how possible that will be). i think a cool idea would be to have an anonymous journal online where you can write what you have (or haven’t) accomplished that day, and people can comment. the constructive criticism and/or support could probably help a lot of people do things such as this. of course, they’d have to be honest. does a site such as this exist? i think james altucher runs a website kind of similar. you put in goals, and then each day check off the goals you actually accomplished and can earn badges or stamps or something. i’m not sure of the website name, or if others can comment, but has anyone here tried it out?
I’m not exactly 100% primal/paleo but I have made efforts to try out some of what is suggested in the literature. I’ve reduced my carb intake with very little bread/pasta (every few weeks I may have bread during one meal), jacked up the fruit and vegetables intake (at least one serving of vegetables with a meal, daily spring mix salad, fresh fruit smoothie with banana every other day etc), increased the lean and fatty meat for protein, and added supplements like potassium, B-Vitamin and fish oil. Processed foods high in sodium, vegetable oils etc are pretty much avoided whenever possible; at the minimum I’ll have a frozen supermarket meal every few weeks. Even then it’s tricky figuring out what’s exactly being put into your supermarket foods. For snacks I have nuts like pecans, walnuts or baby carrots/berries.
The fatigue I’ve had frequently from prior years has steadily been decreasing (mainly due to a high caffeine intake as well as taking prescription adderall. Now I take Vyvanse and have just reduced the dosage, looking to eventually wean off of that as well and thus be on no pharmaceuticals whatsoever) and I have ever greater amounts of energy and alertness. I’ve also maintained a steady weightlifting and cardio routine since the new year. And oh yeah, ending 4 years of cigarette smoking helped a bit too (quit in 2010)…
Slightly OT, but I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping the body in motion even after exercise, ie stretching and maintaining flexibility. Despite the dearth of solid scientific evidence supporting stretching’s usefulness, I did find that a long period of neglecting to stretch after running for a month gave me some pretty obnoxious IT band pain. While I can’t conclude that this was the sole reason I developed knee pain, I reintroduced stretching exercises into my routine from a few weeks of physical therapy and it has died down. Neglect of your flexibility can debilitate you if you aren’t careful and responsible with how your muscles are being treated.
ay man why not try doing parkour? flexibility is good.
@Cortes: Careful with the running. Running is way oversold in terms of its benefits and the costs are much higher than advertised. I’ve known a few people who run religiously yet always struggle with weight and are almost constantly milking mild to moderate injuries.
The simple fact is that the human body was not designed for LSD despite all the propaganda. Sisson doesn’t talk about why there is so much propaganda but I have a theory (I always do!) … I think it’s the MIC. Marching, quick-stepping and jogging/running have been a mainstay of military PT and discipline at least since the time of the Romans. But we didn’t evolve to march or engage in endurance battles. We evolved to mostly walk at a slow pace, lift heavy things from time to time and occasionally sprint really fast (fight or flight). We used our massive, energy-intensive brains specifically to economize on the need to use our even more energy-intensive thighs. Brains over brawn.
Anyway, I’m sure you’re familiar with that info, just putting it out there for lurkers.
And I’m still stuck at around 214. Life issues keep intruding and upsetting my attempts to get a smooth daily routine. One huge positive is that I can isolate the effects of unhealthy grains and sugars on myself. It’s very empowering to understand cause and effect in one’s own diet. Eat X, feel good, eat Y, feel like crap. Pondering past experiences and their causes is helping to give me true motivation to make right choices.
Clayton -
Except cardio is the most effective way of using fat for fuel. Taken with a low carb diet, sprints and intervals during one’s cardio session are even better than pure distance running for fat burning. I have no interest in proving or disproving the benefits of LSD and distance running. I am not sure what you know about your acquaintances proves, other than the fact that those people may have diet issues as well as neglect to stretch and maintain their muscle flexibility.
I just wanted to say that I think rationalising ‘primal’ or ‘paleo’ diets by invoking hunter-gatherer ancestry is somewhat misguided. There have clearly been significant evolutionary changes in human physiology in relatively recent periods. People whose ancestors came from agricultural societies and who eat a modern agricultural diet have much lower rates of diabetes, alcoholism, heart disease, iron deficiency and cancer than do those from a less agricultural background (and who eat a modern diet). Non-tropical peoples seem to have less of all these things than do tropical peoples. Those of European ancestry are also mostly lactose tolerant.
This doesn’t say anything to prove or disprove any possible health benefits from primal diets, but the belief that there has not been any dietary adaptation to agriculture over the past 10,000 years doesn’t really hold up.
Let me guess, you have recently read The 10,000 Year Explosion.
Nope, I haven’t read it at all, though the title sounds familiar. I can’t really comment on it.
Exercise and dieting are key. I always eat things that i enjoy but also are healthy. I eat 5-6 meals a day and go to the gym twice a day (once on my way to, and leaving work). This is the routine i follow…
Wake up at 5 am
Meal 1: 6 egg whites cooked. and a whey protein shake with 1/2 a cup of raw oatmeal with a handful of blueberries. Also take fish oil and multivitamin pills.
Workout at 6:00 a.m. Focus on main body part for that day (arms, chest, legs, shoulders, back, etc). Then end the last 20 minutes with swimming.
Meal 2 (8-8:30): Whey protein shake and a of a peanut butter and banana sandwich
Meal 3 (10:30-11): 1/2 of another peanut butter and banana sandwich
Meal 4 (1:00): brown rice with broccoli and chicken breast and another multivitamin
Meal 5 (4:00): the last half of the peanut butter and banana sandwich
Workout (after work 5-6 pm) Abs and cardio only at gym
Meal 6 (7:00): Whey protein shake, 1/3 lbs deli meat, and one more multivitamin.
Rest on weekends. might do light exercise (shadow stand up, push up, pull ups, ab work out, etc…)
If i want to lean up more i’ll switch the extra sandwich for chicken breast. Right now im trying to gain weight.
Btw i’m 5’10 and about 175 i don’t have an exact number on my body fat percentage, but it has to be around 12 to lower based on the visibility of my abs.
Also, I recommend kettle bell workouts. It might not isolate certain muscles like traditional lifting does, but the strength you gain is much more impressive. Wrestlers and MMA fights use kettle bells for that reason. That and you can do them at home instead of spending $ monthly at the gym. I personally haven’t done this yet because of my constant moving around, but when i do i will buy them and start. This site has great deals and they sponsor Joe Rogan Podcast (A big Paul supporter) http://www.onnit.com/kettlebells/
While I imagine you are in great shape, by most standards, I do wish that you would experiment with the primal diet and see if you like it better. All that grain in your diet cant be good for you, and if you replaced those calories with animal fats, you might discover that you have better endurance and dont need the multivitamin. These are just a few suggestions, please dont take this as criticism of what seems to be a disciplined and productive regimen that you have constructed.
Thanks, but i do the multivatims because i avoid the sugars in some fruits. On the weekends i’ll have a fruit once in a while, but i mainly do it for extra vitamins. My edurance is pretty strong since i eat a lot of carbs and i swim so often. I love pork and beef but only on the BBQ grill. I live in a apartment with not patio or open windows so i can’t really grill like i want to. I honestly don’t know much about the primal diet. i heard Woods talking about it and it seems pretty understandable and enjoyable. What needs to be understood is that everyones body is different, and depending on goals certain foods provide different results. Now im not going after Primal (specially since i know little about is), but it took years for me to find what works for me and what i enjoy. If you could, please provide a article explaining primal eating so i can further understand.
Here is a good place to gets started
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz21N0pkk8L
Thanks. Lol i was already on the site before you sent it. I’m looking up grains a little more. If i find carbs from vegatables that i enjoy i’ll definitely switch. Need to read up on what vetables carry good amount of carbs.