See, I've been on the Paleo diet before... actually, about three separate times. The first time I stuck to it for about three weeks. The following two times were sad attempts and lasted for a few days. This was because I am a bread fiend! But this time, I'm going to really try to stick to it!
First off, a bit about the diet itself....
I found all of the information about this way of eating in "The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet" by Robb Wolf.
Essentially, Paleo is short for Paleolithic. So basically, eat as the cavemen ate! According to the science in the book, the human body was never designed to digest and process grains or dairy. In the scheme of things, grains have been a part of the human diet for about 10,000 years, which I guess is a short amount of time. As hunters and gatherers, our paleolithic ancestors ate the meat of animals that they killed and the berries and veggies they were able to pick. Since they were mostly nomads, they didn't have time to raise crops or livestock (imagine trying to milk a wild buffalo), moving wherever the animals went.
Also, supposedly the paleolithic people were healthier in that they technically ate organic food and fresh meat. However, I've heard and agree with the arguments that most cavemen didn't live past the age of 20 due to whatever reason, so I'm not sure how true that statement is. Regardless, this can be a healthy diet nowadays.
So, that's a very brief rundown of the diet. So this means, no bread, butter, milk, legumes (that includes beans and peanuts, but most other nuts are okay), and sugar (but honey is okay). Included in that would be anything that's highly processed, like some cooking oils, etc. Also, no fruit juice, since it normally has a ton of added sugar to it, but I love to drink carrot juice while on the diet. I think "Boathouse", or something like that, carries a really natural line of veggie juices and they're all really good with no sugar added.
So, on to Day1...
So today wasn't great. I mean, the tail end of it was, but I failed in the morning and throughout the afternoon.
I almost forgot that I was starting the diet today, and actually woke up and grabbed a cookie. Yup, that's right, a cookie! In my defense, my sister makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted. But yeah, that's how far set back I am in nutrition for myself... a cookie for breakfast.
Anyway, after I ate my cookie and realized today was day one, I decided to try to counteract the unhealthy cookie with something healthy. I wasn't really hungry and my pantry and fridge are incredibly low in paleo treats, so I grabbed some roast beef from the deli and snacked on it a bit.
I then left the house and ran errands, but didn't get a chance to eat again until about 7PM. This is pretty much a huge no-no. It's important to eat throughout the day on this diet because, since you're consuming so much protein, you burn off your food really quickly. So I was starving, which was bad since I live with non-paleo eaters. I desperately wanted to grab a quick bowl of cereal or toast an english muffin. Somehow, I managed to resist.
I made some chicken breast with a really good marinade I don't remember the name of, and cooked it on the George Foreman grill. I diced it up and put it on top of a dark green salad with olives. For dressing, I used balsamic vinegar and a dash of extra virgin olive oil. Yummmm! It was really fresh and I felt just the right amount of full when I was finished.
Afterwards, I had a cup of tea with a bit of honey.
At around 8PM my stomach was growling again and craving something sweet. So I took one of the extra pieces of chicken I cooked and drizzled a teeny bit of honey on top of it and ate it. Honestly, for some reason that completely satisfied my craving. Thank god, since the cookies were calling my name again!
Anyway, that's day one! Let's hope day two goes a little smoother! If anyone has any questions about what the diet entails (or doesn't entail) feel free to ask! I'm a river of knowledge on this!
Sweet dreams~ Sara
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