A Year of Paleo Living

In the middle of January 2014, I decided to make some significant changes to my diet. After purchasing a couple cookbooks and doing a lot of online research I jumped into the Whole 30. After that initial 30 day period, I moved slightly away from the Whole 30 and went with a Paleo diet instead.

Sidenote: For those of you that don’t know what the Whole 30 is… basically you eliminate all grains, legumes, dairy, sugar, and alcohol from your food supply. Paleo is the same in terms of the things you eliminate, only it is less strict about the number of fresh fruits you can consume.

So, for basically the last 12 months I have been grain, legume, dairy and sugar free. Yes, I make some exceptions. I put skim milk in my decaf coffee. I still enjoy a good beer. And every now and again I’ll cave and have a delicious bun-covered burger. But beyond that I’m pretty strict about the diet. I make veggie-filled salads for lunch. I cook up breakfast nearly every morning. I haven’t eaten a single potato since 2013 (sweet potatoes don’t count). The same goes for rice and beans.

Yes, it’s crazy. I fully admit that. But, for me, the benefits far outweigh the struggle of eating Paleo.

Benefits:

• When I am being strict and very focused on eating according to the Paleo diet I am migraine free. For me this is HUGE. I went from being in horrible bed-all-day pain for 4-5 days every 4-6 weeks to not having a migraine at all for the first 5 months I was all Paleo. Now I have a headache after a day or series of days in which I cheated, but beyond that I am headache free. (The Christmas holiday was rough. Who can turn away home-made cheesecake and the rolls my uncle makes that just melt in your mouth?)

• My energy levels are different. I feel more energized as soon as I wake up in the morning. I power through 5 am workouts, something that would have been absolutely impossible and unheard of two years ago. I become less tired in the middle of the day too. There is no mid-afternoon sugar-crash slump. Sidenote: As someone who works out fairly intensely when I hit the gym, it took me more than a month to figure out the right mix of paleo-approved foods in order to have the energy needed for the workouts. The first month was so difficult, as I was burning my calories at the gym than I was consuming in an average day. The book Paleo for Athletes really helped me figure out some of the logistics of what I needed to tweak.

• My stomach is flatter. No, really. Maybe it is the absence of grains, or that infamous ‘wheat belly’ but my clothes fit differently and my stomach is flatter from the diet – it really has nothing to do with the exercises I do. Pretty awesome side effect that I never expected.

• Junky snacks are 1,000xs less tempting. After a year of not eating cookies and candies and ice cream and chips I find myself a lot less interested in them. In fact they don’t taste as fulfilling either. I splurged at the start of the Christmas season on a Peppermint Mocha, and even with skim milk it was so sweet and so overwhelming I couldn’t drink half of it. My tastes have certainly changed.

• Cheat foods are enjoyed so much more. I don’t go all out and cheat on a meal too often, but when I do cave and get the burger with the bun and cheese, that burger tastes a million times better than I ever remember them tasting when I ate them more often.

• My cooking and baking skills have improved. Now I need to get creative and think outside the box. What can I make for dessert that will be tasty but not filled with refined sugars? How can I make a Christmas morning casserole without using bread or pie crusts?

Drawbacks: (because it can’t be all rainbows and unicorns)

• Eating out is difficult. So is eating at the houses of friends, relatives, holiday parties, etc… While a lot of restaurants have a gluten free option it doesn’t really fit the bill. Often times I either plan to cheat that day or prepare myself for a really odd meal. The first time I ate out on Paleo I went to the Cheesecake Factory with my siblings and they gave me such a hard time for my salmon and steamed broccoli. Whatever.

• Meals need to be planned ahead. It is impossible to just open the fridge and pull out a meal. In order to get the protein, carbs, etc… planning needs to go into it. And when I am craving a mid-day or late-night snack creativity is a must, because there is no reaching for the popcorn or the sweets.

• It can be pricey. Buying and living off of fresh fruits and vegetables all the time can be a very expensive endeavor. I spent a lot of time price comparing the local grocery stores and trying out new ones. Luckily I found a couple that have very reasonable prices for produce, making it a mush less expensive endeavor. Plus, eliminating all the dairy and grain items saves a lot of money. Cereal, bread and cheese are expensive.

Have you ever given Paleo a try?

A Year of Paleo Living is a post from: ModlyChic