Late last month, I ended about three months of eating a strict Paleo diet. (Yes, Mike, I said diet.) I won’t rehash all the reasons I chose to do it, electing instead to provide a summary of my experience. Quite a few people I know are interested in doing it themselves or have done something similar on a shorter timeline, so I’ll do my best to answer the burning questions.
How did you make it three months?
A lot of planning and an amazing wife. Seriously, if you’ve got that then you’re golden. By that I mean you have to plan ahead on meals out, take snacks with you when you travel and always have meat and veg in the house. We had an organic veg CSA for 16 weeks, Melissa went to the grocery pretty much weekly and I was blessed enough to have Paleo dinners waiting for me when I got home from work/CrossFit. If you want fresh food, you are absolutely going to have to shop every single week. You can freeze meat, but it’s hard to freeze that much (unless you have a huge freezer) and you’ll always want fresh in season vegetables. Setting a menu on Sunday for the week will go a long way to taking the stress and scrambling out of meals.
It’s so expensive to eat fresh, organic meat and vegetables. How do you manage?
Buy in bulk. I don’t mean CostCo bulk, but bulk from the producers. Our CSA gave us an opportunity to source months of vegetables from the farm and we bought huge quantities when other things were on sale. There’s a no preservative (etc.) bacon that we really like, but it’s about $7 for 12 ounces. No way we can afford that, so we bought about a dozen packages when it went at sale for 50% off and froze it. Essentially, we overbuy when prices dictate and go without when they don’t cooperate. Just like eating with the seasons, eat with the prices. We’re looking to take things to the next level by getting a chest freezer and buying a half hog direct from the farmer. It may sound extreme, but it’s really not. We know our producer, we cut out the middle man (not to mention the gas he’d guzzle) and we’re acting responsibly in ensuring all aspects of the animal are used.
Did it cure all your allergies?
Of course not. I’m allergic to carrots and I likely always will be. What I’ve realized, through some experimentation, is I’m allergic to wheat. Not only did my gut reject it when I ate it (more than just the first time), I’ve had a noticeable flare up on my psoriasis. Yeah, I’m fairly certain it’s wheat. This is kinda a bummer, but it does make future choices easier for me.
What was the best part?
I’d say there are two – one mental and one physical. The mental benefit is it allowed me to develop a healthy relationship with food. For the first time in my life, I felt good about my choices and ended the guilt*. Being overweight for 25 years, there was a constant mental battle with every meal I ate… even when I was eating decently. During those three months, I was actually excited about what I was putting in my body and felt nearly all of it were steps to a better me. The physical benefit came in the form of a general well-being and never feeling bloated or “greasy.” You know, that feeling when you’ve eaten too much and you feel like a fat, greased pig? None of that.
What was the worst part?
Eating outside my house. Restaurants are becoming increasingly gluten-free friendly (especially in Seattle), but they haven’t caught on to Paleo friendly quite yet. Finding a meal usually meant ordering something, swapping out one or two things and not eating at least part of it. My options were severely limited and at times, restaurants were simply off limits (e.g. nearly all Asian food). During those three months, I probably had 50 hamburgers without a bun. On the bright side, it forced us to eat a huge majority of our meals at home. What’s not to like about saving money by cooking tasty food for yourself?
Are you going to stick with it?
With strict? No. I’m not that militant. What I will be doing is reverting back to what I was doing before, which was Paleo-ish. I will likely avoid grain (corn included), soy/legumes and diary, but occasionally mix in rice and beer. We’ll continue to buy products with as few ingredients as possible and preferably all of them something we can pronounce. Okay… I admit it… I’m going to eat friend cheese curds a few times a year. If you’ve ever had them, you wouldn’t hold it against me. My goal is to have 80% of what I eat be strict. I’ll also probably go strict for one month at a time, when my gym does its Paleo Challenges.
Should I try it?
Heck yeah! It’s not a panacea but I’m willing to bet you will feel good after 30 days. I understand not everyone’s life is as conducive to it as mine, but you can make it work with planning. If you’ve ever had auto-immune disorders or health issues that seem to elude treatment (obviously it’s not going to cure cancer) then you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. Need tips? Hit me up!
YAY PALEO!!
*Italics added for emphasis as this is a massive, massive takeaway and likely one that will impact me for the rest of my life.
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