Wherein I go a touch more insane
You know, it's been a little too quiet around here lately, and I'm thinking that I need some people to start yelling at me. So you know what we're going to do! DO YOU?! No, I'm not going to admit that I put Diet Coke in Marlo's sippy cup. But close!
We're going to talk about my diet! Because no one has an opinion about food! Certainly no one who reads this website. Especially those who would never admit to reading this website but refresh it every hour and then judge me publicly without ever mentioning me by name. So sneaky!
Yeah. I drastically changed my diet almost three months ago. Why haven't I mentioned it earlier? Because I know better! If I had said then that I was going to cut gluten, sugar and dairy out of my diet you guys would have told me that I was going to die! And I always believe everything I read.
Actually, it wasn't just gluten and sugar and dairy. I don't eat corn or beans anymore. Or rice. It's what they call the Paleo diet, one that is based on what humans ate prior to the Agricultural Revolution. So I eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean meat, and seafood. Sometimes I eat small children, but only if they've been grass fed.
Why? (Actually, you're thinking WHAT THE HELL.)
Well, I've told you guys that I've been maintaining a pretty vigorous work-out regimen for about eighteen months. And in that amount of time I've put on fifteen pounds, most of it muscle. I know a lot of exercise routines out there are formulated so that you're supposed to shrink, but that's not why I wanted to get in shape. No, I wanted to be able to crush things. Things like blocks of concrete. To save money on contractors!
I wanted some muscle definition, and I was getting there, sort of. I knew the muscle was there, it just wasn't appearing on my body like I had hoped. And when you work out as much as I do, your appetite sort of follows suit and there were days when I could have walked out into a field of wheat and plowed the entire thing with my mouth.
Hungry. All the time. No matter how many times I ate during the day I was still hungry. And bloated. And tired. It was like pregnancy without getting to blame a tenant in my uterus.
So I did some research, and then some more research, and when I read about the Paleo diet a lot of it made sense. And I thought I'd give it a whirl for, oh, a good seven days. Because there was no way I was going to make it more than that without cheese. You can take all the cookies you want JUST LEAVE ME MY HAVARTI.
So I did it for seven days, and then another, and then another. And then I didn't even notice that I wasn't eating cheese anymore. In fact, it wasn't until I went dancing with Cami and her friends for my birthday that I finally broke down at two o'clock in the morning, drove to the greasiest Mexican fast-food joint in town, and ordered a tostada "with as much cheese as you're legally allowed to put on that thing."
That was the best damn tostada a person has ever eaten.
I'm basically eating Paleo about 90 percent of the time. In that other 10 percent is a daily cup of coffee I cannot give up (splash of skim milk), red wine, and the meal I eat when going out with friends. Because I do not want to be That Person whose dietary restrictions infringe on the good time of everyone else in the group. Y'all want to get some pasta? HERE IS MY TEN PERCENT.
The results? Unreal. I've lost seven pounds, and I'm starting to see my muscles taking shape. I can already see an incredible amount of definition in my legs and shoulders. I'm never bloated. I have an enormous amount of energy. And, the best part? I'm never hungry. That doesn't mean I don't eat anything. I eat A LOT. But I'm never panicking because I'm so hungry that I might eat my own arm.
It's been a huge game-changer for me, and it hasn't been difficult. I know that sounds crazy, but I don't miss bread or pasta or chips. I don't even think about cookies or cake or candy bars. Am I forcing anyone else in the home into this crazy-ass diet that you're totally going to debunk in the comments? Totally! In fact, I stand at the dinner table with a whip and tell Leta that if she doesn't eat that slab of tuna on her plate I'm going to make her sleep with it.
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FM Living
ChickWhitt said:
As a pregnant mama, I almost cried at the idea of no potatoes. The baby is apparently carb-tastic.
But I am so glad that you have found something that works for you! And that you aren't the crazy "I can't have anything but purified air for dinner" person either!
08.03.11 - 03:25 PM / 1alanmill said:
Nothing wrong with that diet. It sounds tough to maintain for those of us who eat out a LOT, but sounds balanced, and good for you.
08.03.11 - 03:26 PM / 2Truthful Mommy said:
YOU GO GIRL! I wish I had the will power. I am a self diagnosed carboholic.I'd rather work out 23 hours a day than give up carbs. It's my sickness. Hell, at one point I even had a pretty extreme eating disorder because I'd rather taste the carb and promptly get rid of it rather than simply not eat it. I am proud of you.I don't know why anyone would talk shit about it. You are the one who is adhering to the strict diet.It;s not hurting anyone and you sound like you look and feel absolutely fab! BRAVO MAMA!!!
08.03.11 - 03:31 PM / 3fishsticked said:
But cheese? CHEESE? Oh, okay, I could go without the cookies and candy and bread and pasta (though pasta would be a really big struggle), but cheese is . . . well, it's cheese!
However, I'm both impressed and intrigued. I currently sport a keg in place of a six-pack (a small one, like one of those small Heineken things, but a keg none the less) so this may be an option that would work for me. I'll just need to eat blocks of cheese every waking moment as my way of bidding it farewell.
08.03.11 - 03:36 PM / 4Hippittee said:
so glad that you've found something that works...many of my friends (who are tremendously cut) swear by this diet as well. hope you'll consider sharing some before and after photos.
08.03.11 - 03:37 PM / 5MadelaK said:
good for you! i was going to comment on your last post about how great your arm looks!....minus the enormous bruise. i think this diet sounds a lot more sane than, well, anything else. kudos, lady.
08.03.11 - 03:38 PM / 6napangel said:
That diet makes complete and total sense to me. Your approach sounds super smart. Off to read more about the Paleo diet. I could do with a lot less bloating.
08.03.11 - 03:44 PM / 7beezilla said:
Good for you. Wheat is nasty, nasty crap. Every single person out there could trace their illnesses to wheat I'm sure. Okay, so that's maybe reaching - given the U.S. penchant for corn syrup - but it's nasty nasty crap and it does create havoc with the body. It just blows me away that whole wheat is touted as the EAT TONS OF THIS STUFF TO BE HEALTHY food. Oy.
There's a reason all the 30+ and 40+ year olds are getting all the illnesses that used to plague the 60+ year olds. Yep, wheat and processed food.
You go... looks good on ya. I did all of what you did, in stages starting in 2006, and went from 180 lbs to 115 1bs. Now I'm trying to bulk it up and actually have to strive to keep the weight on.
Here's a lovely link about gluten (with an even lovelier title!) for the naysayers: How to Keep Feces Out of Your Bloodstream (or Lose 10 Pounds in 14 Days)
For those who want the carbs and gluten, please prepare them properly, the way we did for centuries. See Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" cookbook, and check out the Weston Price Foundation website.
Kudos Heather.
08.03.11 - 03:48 PM / 8HungryGrad said:
In a perfect world, I'd eat nothing but fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables; I'm one of the few people I know who specifically craves red meat. I don't care about processed carbs (actually I'd miss dessert and mayyybe potatoes, but that's it), and I'd be totally high-fiving you around the chunks of flesh and heap of leafy greens on my plate, but... like... how is the meat we have access to now anything like the meat peeps of the paleolithic ate?
Do you just eat pasture-raised beef?
Do you not bother?
Does it matter?
Am I just ignoring my body telling me what it wants because I've succumbed to the fad-du-jour of overeducated yuppie-ass hipsters?
Has your increased strength from your diet and chasing Marlo made you able to run down and wrestle the shit out of wild game?
Do you charge admission? Because I'd totally pay to see that!
Anyway, I guess no one really knows anything about this stuff... nutrition and environmentalism are hazy disciplines, and it's good that you've got something that works for you. The paleo diet strikes me as completely impossible for the vast majority of the world's population, but then, the guy who thought we'd all have starved to death by 2000 was wrong, too. :)
08.03.11 - 03:56 PM / 9cris said:
You're lying. You'd never tell Leta she'd have to sleep with the slab of tuna. You know full well she'd never let you throw it away after the first night, and then the bobcat wouldn't be mythical.
Also, how, how, HOW on earth and skies and everything in between and above and below and in a galaxy far far away would you ever be able to give up on donettes, lil' or not? Those are 25% of your diet (okay, two dogs, my math is bad, but, still, I'm thinking, with the daily coffee, it's more than 10%). No.freaking.way ;)
08.03.11 - 03:57 PM / 10arielsara said:
Good job on doing what works for YOU! I actually do something similar called the "Body Ecology Diet," and it sounds like a lot of rules are the same. I, too, thought I would not be able to ever give up cheese and I don't even miss it. Although, I cut out a bunch of that shit and realized, "Whoops! I'm allergic! That's why I've been feeling like crap." So there's no going back for me. Except for on the wine. There is no holding me back from that.
08.03.11 - 04:08 PM / 11slapper said:
I think this calls for before and after pics! ;-)
08.03.11 - 04:08 PM / 12Sivy said:
My family has been Paleo for a year - and we have never felt (or looked) better! Turns out all my "belly issues" were a result of a gluten intolerance. Welcome to the crazy Paleo family!
08.03.11 - 04:14 PM / 13dooce said:
@HungryGrad, I buy organic, free-range chicken and organic, grass fed beef as much as possible. It's really about avoiding the hormones, that's the difference. It's not perfect, no, and I guess if I wanted to do it down to the absolute letter I'd go hunt my own meat. But since that's not realistic, avoiding hormones takes me far enough.
08.03.11 - 04:14 PM / 14Chrysalis said:
You'll have to do better than that if you want to offend people. Paleo is old news. Everyone's doing it. Maybe become obsessed with Rebecca Black or something...
08.03.11 - 04:23 PM / 15angelle321 said:
I imagine you probably already read Mark's Daily Apple, but just in case you don't, you totally should!
I dream of being able to stick with primal/paleo eating but I keep falling off the wagon for dessert.
08.03.11 - 04:28 PM / 16haspotential said:
OH, MAN, I wish you had posted about this when you first started. I was exclusively breastfeeding my baby when she started showing signs of milk protein allergy. Okay, no dairy (or whey, casein, milk solids, etcetera). The signs (bloody diarrhea, I know you'll appreciate) continued. So I cut out wheat, soy, corn, eggs, nuts, peanuts, citrus, shellfish, onions, and a jillion other things that she seemed to be allergic to. Paleo is the closest thing I could find to what I was eating, so paleo-friendly restaurants were my savior. Once you give up dairy, the rest is... cake. (PS, the pediatric GI finally told me to cut it out and put her on prescription formula. I had already lost 30 lbs... off my pre-pregnancy weight, so 60 lbs since giving birth).
08.03.11 - 04:32 PM / 17haspotential said:
PS, Austin, TX is THE place to travel and eat any weird-ass thing you could think of. They are SO accommodating of strange food preferences.
08.03.11 - 04:33 PM / 18Square Peaches said:
Good for you; my husband and I have actually been talking about doing this. I went the Atkins route 3 years ago, cutting out processed food & sugar and sticking to lean protein, veggies, fruits, and nuts. I did keep low-fat dairy (Cheese!). (Atkins actually was preaching the evils of processed foods/carbs 10 years ago, but all anyone could concentrate on was The Fat! THE FAT!!) I lost 30 lbs and have kept it off. Oh, and my cholesterol went down to 165.
However, the crappy food has started seeping back into my diet, and I can tell the difference. Diabetes runs in my family, and I surely do not want to go that route.
And kudos for allowing yourself that 10%. Even my doctor told me that life is meant to be enjoyed, and that what we do 80% of the time is what counts; so I made sure to allow myself the occasional indulgence.
Question: how did you feel after that tostada? I noticed that after I cleaned up my eating, some of those indulgences made me feel like CRAP. I found it actually went a long way in helping to not miss the stuff I gave up.
08.03.11 - 04:52 PM / 19Nhiro said:
I'm jealous! I've contemplated making the switch to a keto diet for a long time, but I'm on a tight (non-existent) budget right now and carbs are cheap. And being Asian, rice makes up about, oh, 90% of what I eat. :/
08.03.11 - 04:52 PM / 20lilrilly said:
I get so much enjoyment out of your posts. Heather, YOU'RE DOING IT RIGHT. I haven't read any comments above as it's 9am here, I haven't had my coffee yet and I don't want an aneurisym. I will never understand why you get so much venom. It's f'd up. Thanks for giving me a laugh all through my PND.
08.03.11 - 04:58 PM / 21apanda said:
Sounds great! I have not heard of a "diet" for this until now, but my interest has been sparked behind the whole eating how we did before we started farming thing since I watched Meat Head. That was a little bit of an eye opener in terms of putting things into a historical prospective.
08.03.11 - 05:00 PM / 22Jennine said:
Love you, Heather... but I couldn't care less about your diet. Sorry to disappoint!
08.03.11 - 05:10 PM / 23ReneeD said:
My husband has been doing Paleo for a while as a result of a challenge at the gym he goes to (Girl, if you want *crush* things, take up CrossFit! The 2011 Games were just last weekend. http://games.crossfit.com/features/videos/champions ) It has definitely been good for him.
I don't buy all of the supposed science behind the Paleo diet, and I don't believe that one diet is going to be optimal for all people, but it's hard to argue too much with a diet that promotes giving up/reducing processed foods and eating lean protein and lots of fruits and veggies. I just gave birth and may do the Whole30 challenge ( http://whole9life.com/2011/06/whole-30-v4/ ) when I decide it's time to attack the baby weight. We'll see.
08.03.11 - 05:24 PM / 24Juliejules said:
Not many feathers getting ruffled--maybe you should have driven home the child eating a little more.
Good for you. I gave up dairy early (okay, f it...I've slipped a few times) in the spring and I've never felt better. I thought the cheese thing would do me in, but I'm still here and I haven't killed anyone.
Happy eating
08.03.11 - 05:28 PM / 25wilberfan said:
Yay! Since Heather is Oprah of the Internet, the Good Paleo News will only spread faster.
I was vegan for 18 years, until last October, when I kept encountering this Paleo Diet stuff. Almost made my head explode trying to comprehend that I'd been (literally) doing it wrong for almost 2 decades.
I second the Mark's Daily Apple suggestion. WELCOME TO THE FOLD, DARLIN'!
08.03.11 - 05:52 PM / 26KarenN said:
Good for you!
08.03.11 - 05:32 PM / 27rpgoodwin said:
Heather, I'm glad you found something that works for you. I've tried to go no-carbs and have found the initial week of headaches and grouchiness and cravings to be insurmountable, but I know it's effective and I'm currently trying to dial way back on packaged foods and sugar. My question is this: what do you eat before working out? I have found that without some cereal or granola in my tummy I don't have the energy or stamina for an effective workout. Eating protein before I exercise makes me burpy and queasy and fruit doesn't stay with me long enough. What do you eat to fuel up? Thanks.
08.03.11 - 05:58 PM / 28MrsIngie said:
I have been eating Paleo since November 1 and it is fantastic. I feel great and have lost 30 pounds. It has helped (not cured) a lot of my autoimmune issues. We can't get much grass fed beef or butter in Canada, so I just try and get the hormone-free stuff. To say it has changed my life is a complete understatement, I am a zealot :)
08.03.11 - 06:01 PM / 29mama without in... said:
I agree that paleo is the way to go as much as possible. I am also happy you are getting the word out. I get fanatical about where our food comes from, buy directly from farmers and ranchers, etc. It's been really good for my whole family. Our Dr. is very supportive but thinks (and I agree) that kids need some carbs until they are maybe 10. Not necessarily grain but in our case the kids are super active/athletic and thin and I just can't pull them totally off whole grain bread yet.
08.03.11 - 06:22 PM / 30