we've been traveling up and down the east coast for the last couple weeks, visiting friends and family, and aside from our pending nuptials in september, our new eating lifestyle has been a hot topic of discussion when catching up with friends and family.
"what's this paleo thing all about? is this another one of those fad diets? isn't it just atkins? fat makes you fat -- how can you eat all that fat?!? there is no way i can not eat carbs, i love carbs too much!"
first let me talk about why we picked up the torch...
we've lost at least 25lbs between us in the last couple months, and we have never felt better. a visit to the doctor will be happening relatively soon as well, just to confirm that our levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and other factors are where they should be. but we have had more energy above all else, we sleep and think better, AND we don't count calories -- probably the biggest win of all.
it's a simple and also a complicated way of life, at least for now, but put briefly: we do not eat grains, starches, legumes or added sugar. we eat lots of fatty meats and vegetables and many fruits. whenever possible, we try to eat animals or their products that are grass-fed or pastured.
is this a fad diet for us? polotek and i don't think so. for one thing, we've never stuck with something health-related as long as we have with this. other diets fail mostly because we are usually miserable. or tired. or bored. this feels like a permanent change.
plus, it just makes sense. i mentioned in my last post about reading "why we get fat" by gary taubes. that book, and plenty of other reading material i've come across very clearly outlines some of the problems with the western diet, the major problem of obesity in our society, and how what is dished to us as a solution (basically the calories in < calories out model) is unsustainable for significant weight loss and/or maintaining it. i mean, tell me who REALLY is going to count how many calories they take in and burn everyday for the rest of their lives...? not me. i've tried. and failed. again and again...and again.
now, i'm not going to tell you that we will never have a piece of bread or a noodle or a gummi bear for the rest of our lives. but those are treats for us, and are much less present in what we eat than a couple months ago. balance is key. we can still indulge once in a while and come out ahead of where we would be had we not adopted our new lifestyle.
and all that fat?! yes, i was amazed at first, too. then i picked up a book and read more about how it all works. EATING FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT. not if you are eating the right kinds of it and not deranging your metabolism by combining it with foods that significantly raise your blood sugar. keeping the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3s around 4:1 is great for preventing health problems. read about it. that's why we eat grass-fed or pastured. eating fatty meat accompanied by refined carbs or processed foods is a no-go. so just have some vegetables with it, instead.
and people also ask, isn't paleo just the atkins diet? they share some similar principles, but they vary at points. i'm putting this venn diagram below to help with comparison.
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polotek and i call ourselves 'paleo', but when you look at the main principles of what that entails, we actually skew in the "primal" direction. but i kind of group paleo and primal into one group, since i've found that people have lots of variations in what works for them.
at this point in the conversation with our folks, people say that they can't give up the carbs. polotek's brother even commented that when he previously tried to cut carbs out of his eating, he felt like he couldn't get full. he needed the carbs to feel like he'd had enough to eat. which brings me to this: changing the way you eat is ALWAYS about having 'this' and not 'that'. in no case can you 'have your cake and eat it, too'. if you feel like you need carbs and sugar, and can't imagine living with them, then you probably won't have much success with a paleo lifestyle, or hardly any other diet change.
as i said before, it's not the end of the world if you have an indulgence here or there. after all, quality of life is what matters most. educate yourself on what's in your food and how it makes an impact on your body. then make a solid choice about what is most important to you. it would be a major win if you even decided to only allow yourself to eat whole wheat or whole grains, and nothing refined. or just cut out foods with added sugar or high sugar content. and start small, you don't have to change it all overnight. incorporate one thing at a time at your own pace. find what works for your body and your mind.
