A bit more about Paleo or how to eat like a caveman..

I don’t consider myself as being on a diet anymore, normally because diets involve me thinking all day about food, converting it to points or colours, and for the most part being hungry or swimming in Diet Coke.  Since changing my lifestyle to eating clean and 80% Paleo hunger seems to be like my feet were a few months ago – nowhere in sight.

But why have I chose to eat what many seem to feel is a restrictive diet?

The fact that I have lost 40lbs and don’t feel hungry is probably my main motivator, coupled with my new found Duracell Bunny approach to life!

Firstly I was intrigued. I have known for ages that pasta, rice and starchy foods are not friends to my waistline unless I am training for a marathon, so a eating regime that excluded these seemed to be a great idea.

Initially I thought I would just try the lifestyle, and see if it fit….

After two weeks I noticed a massive difference.

I ran out of moisturiser the day I started and two weeks later (without buying any more) my skin felt fresher and looked smoother.

My hair normally needs a wash every other day, since eating clean I wash it every three to four days.

And of course my energy levels are up through the roof and I am sleeping like the dead.

A month after starting Paleo I felt so awesome that I would probably have given up my years old coin collection (yes really) to maintain that feeling.

Put simply, Paleo works for me.

What can’t you eat.

Before listing what is fine to eat on Paleo, a key thing to remember is the 80/20 rule.  Most ‘serious’ Paleo advocates all agree you can bend or break the rules when occasion or desire call for it.

But if you are going to approach Paleo wholeheartedly or kick start it with 30 days of pure, clean, living, then you want to avoid these bad boys.

Gluten

Wheat

Artificial ingredients  – such as aspartame, sorbic acid, monosodium glutamate (MSG), nitrates, artificial colors, potassium bromate, saccharin, calcium sorbate, artificial sweeteners and GMOs) to name but a few.

Fizzy Drinks and juices

Hydrogentated Oils

Grains

Processed foods

Legumes

Dairy – unless it comes from a Grass fed, pastured animal

Oils: avoid these: Corn oil, Peanut oil, Rice Oil, Wheat Oil, Sunflower Oil, Vegetable Oil

So what does that leave you

On Paleo you can eat an abundance of protein in the form of meat and fish, vegetables, eggs, salad, nuts and seeds – all the good stuff without any of the crap added to it.  Ideally you want to hunt out organic meat that has not been processed, Lidl offer a good range as do Waitrose.

The point is, you eat solid good food, that is additive free and cleans you up from the inside out.

Tips for losing weight through Paleo

Be sensible – you don’t need to count calories, however, if you consume entire bags of cashew nuts and really go to town on fruit you will find the pounds harder to shift.

Exercise, my experience of Paleo is that is gives me an excess of energy which I need to use somewhere.  I can run again, have started sprinting and do regular intense workouts in the home and the gym.

Because of my diet I know I am burning fat, when I run I can imagine the avocado I had for breakfast simply melting away.  It is a weirdly delicious feeling.

I also track my exercise output through a Fitbug Orb, (which we were sent to review) which follows my sleep and my overall fitness for the day.

 I wear mine looped around my belt, or you can wear it as a watch.  The Orb tracks all my movements and sends my stats to my iPad so I can manage my output levels and make sure I reach the minimum steps daily.  You can also use it to moniter how many calories you are etaing but my days of calories counting are over!

The motivational emails are quite lovely as well.  I love seeing my achievements daily on the screen, it is like a little well done at the end of the day when I see my aerobic steps flashing in excitement telling me well done!

Want to know more?

The internet is full of Paleo information, if you want to know more about why the diet avoids foods that historically have been advertised as full of goodness and low fat then I would advise you read ‘It starts with Food’ by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig.

Other people to check out are Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson, both huge Paleo advocates and both have some great hints and tips for getting started…..

If you want to have a nose at the sort of meals you will eat on Paleo, check out these great recipe sites. I think you will be surprised at what you find….

Nom Nom Paleo and The Healthy Foodie

 

Please note I am a novice to the Paleo lifestyle and am leanring more and more each day, this is blog is based on my experience only.  However if you are looking to start out and want any questions answering please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them…..