Let me back up. Last summer, right after we brought Jace home, Buck had heard about the Paleo Diet and wanted to try it. He researched it slightly, found out what he needed to eat, and did it for two weeks. He didn't even do it 100% accurately, and he lost 14 lbs. As in a pound per day, because he did it for 14 days. And he didn't even do it to try and lose weight. He felt amazing. He had all this energy all of a sudden, was sleeping better, feeling better, and he loved it. He was hooked. So he proposed the diet to me. My response? I laughed at him. I had just had a baby and was producing enough breast milk to feel an entire infant orphanage in Zimbabwe, and was eating like a hoover vacuum to keep up with my milk supply. I couldn't diet! There was NO way I could give up my precious dairy! (I drink so much milk) and grains? They're in the food group aren't they?? So how can grains be bad for you?? My attitude wasn't open to the idea at all. So we left it at that. Then, once I was 6 weeks post-partum to the day and okayed to excercise again, I immediately started my workout DVD. I did it religiously, reaching my goal of working out 6 days a week. (Sunday=Restday) So for the past 6 months, Buck and I both nagged at each other. I tried to get him to work out in any way, and he kept trying to get me to eat better. When we went home to Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with his family, Buck's younger sister (the amazing cook who taught me how to cook all week) she has also been eating some Paleo things, and she made Paleo waffles one morning, totally grain and gluten free. They.were.amazing! It totally changed my attitude toward anything Paleo. Finally, we both somehow came up with this: Our Paleo Challenge. Not a diet, but a challenge. We wanted to challenge ourselves to see if we could be healthier. We were originally going to start it in December, but, that quickly failed. What with all the Christmas goodies and treats everyone gives you...yeah right. So once we got serious about it, and payday came, we started. The very first thing we did was go to our local library to do research. We checked out this book:
Everday Paleo Family Cookbook by Sarah Fragoso.
The whole first part of her book explains what Paleo eating is, and why it's healthy. AND, the main reason why I like her book? Is because she totally focuses on family. This is a cookbook, but she spends a lot of time talking about how to become closer to your family, and be healthier together. She also has lots of tips on how to do things, how to get started, and how to save money while eating Paleo. She also has a website. I will be referring to her a lot, so whenever I say Sarah, I'm referring to her. It was extremely interesting, and I feel like I learned a lot. Now, does she know everything about health? Will this diet work for everyone? No, and she doesn't claim any of this in her book by any means. She was very informative about Paleo eating. So, what is Paleo you ask? In a nutshell, Paleo refers to the Paleolithic times (Caveman era) Basically, it's eating things that the cavemen could hunt, and gather. So, things that aren't man-made (with some exceptions), things that aren't processed, and things with sugar. Oh man. Are you feeling like you just lost everything you eat? Because I did. But I was pleasantly surprised. Here's what Sarah says in her book; (and I'm quoting her, giving her full credit on what she says) "The primary tenets of living a Paleo lifestyle are: avoid grains, legumes, dairy, vegetable oils, refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and all other highly processed foods. Eat meat from animals that lived the way nature intended their species to live-e.g. cattle fed on grass. Eat both vegetables and fruit, but eat more vegetables than fruits. Eat quality fats like avacado and coconut oil. Eat nuts and seeds, but in moderation." She then goes on to expain why grains aren't good for you, and why dairy isn't good for you. I learned a lot from Sarah, and the things she said made sense to me. So we followed her suggestions and got started.
Once we got all of the food we needed to start, we then made some of our own condiments. We made our own mayonase, ketchup, ranch, sauces, chicken stock, etc. And to my surprise, they are good! I love everything we made, and none of it is processed, nor has sugar. The only sugar we eat is raw, un-cooked honey. We bought the awesome tub of pure coconut oil from Costco (best price I've found) and even got some canned pure coconut milk. You can still buy things from the store on this diet, just look at the ingredients and if it has anything added to it, get a different kind that's not processed.
I have been so surprised with how much I like Paleo food. And I've become obsessed with coconut! I thought this diet would limit me so much, but instead, it's totally offered more. I'm eating things I never would have even thought to try. I've been keeping a food log, and writing down how I feel while "clean eating". Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. So, after making all the starting out foods, and things to cook with, we then weighed and measured our bodies. (We bought a scale, so we can use the same one every time) We also took "Before" pictures of ourselves. Talk about horriffic, and motivating, these picures. Everyone who has done Paleo before says that they don't see the weight in numbers drop as much as they see the number of inches go down. Once girl said she lost like 4 inches just off her stomach alone in about 2 months of Paleo eating. We are going to do this challenge for 30 days, and I'm not going to measure myself until the challenge is over. I will post on here if I lose anything, and how much, but I'm not sure when I'll post those "Before" pictures. I think I want to do this diet for more than 30 days before I take an "After" pic.
This picture is of the Chicken stock we made to use to cook with. You're probably thinking, "Wow, what a lot of prep work." Yep, I thought so too. But the thing is, I don't mind the prep work. And it is work, and you for sure have to be prepared. We started this challenge on Monday, January 13, 2014. So we're exactly 2 weeks into it today, and so we both have to be prepared with meals and snacks to take to work with us, because there's not really much we can buy that is "legal". So it does take prep, but no more than if you were already packing lunches for work to save money anyway. It's just different food you're packing. You're also probably wondering, "Is it more expensive to eat this way?" I worried about this too. But so far, I've found my grocery bill is basically the same. We are buying way more produce, but also not buying things like cereal, oatmeal, crackers, chips, bread, flour, torillas, beans, etc. So the money I'm saving from not buying those things is giving me more money to spend on produce. We're buying more meat, and that's the only place I've really seen it be more expensive. But not bad. We love fish in this house, so we eat a ton of fish, turkey, and chicken. We eat beef and pork more sparingly. Oh, and we're not going without bread and things, we're just going without grains, wheat, and gluten.
We use almond and coconut flour instead. Weirrrd...you're thinking. I thought so too. But it's good! And tastes like you're eating bread! However, these flours are more expensive, and I find it much cheaper to make my own. Again, more work and time to prepart your own things. But I don't mind, really. It's pretty fast. We went to Costco to get a lot of our things, and they had a 3 lb bag of almond flour there for $18 dollars. What?? $6 dollars per pound?? I couldn't do it. Instead, a 3 lb bag of whole, raw almonds was only $12. So about $4 dollars per pound. Still pricey. But hey, can you really put a price on a healthy body? So instead, I just used my Blentec Blender and made my own flour. So easy! I YouTubed it to see how to do it.
Okay, so actually starting out. The rules to our challenge are these: workout 5-6 days per week; eat pure Paleo food; have no sugar; drink lots of water; spend time together; get 8 hours of sleep; and we're allowed one cheat day per week. (Which saves me!) We woke up Monday morning, and I did my work out. I do a Jillian Micheal's DVD in our basement, which is a combo of weight-lifting, cardio, and abs. Buck works out at his work, in a little gym they have there. He lifts weights and then either runs on a tredmill, or bikes.
The first day, was totally fine for me. But I wasn't worried about the first day. I was worried about days 3-6. And rightfully so. After the first two days, I had horrible headaches every night, despite how much water I drank. They were sugar headaches. Guys, I can't even tell you how much sugar I consumed, everysingleday. Coming off the sugar, was rough. But I'm sooo glad I did it. I saved fruit to eat to curb my sweet tooth. We have been eating vegetables for every meal, and meat for lunches and dinners. Sarah has some awesome recipes and so far, I've loved everything we've made from her book. The first week, (besides the headaches) I didn't really feel different. Or at least I didn't think I did. We had a cheat day after being on it for a week, and we went and had Sunday dinner at a friend's house. She had made some brownies from a box mix, and even though I thought they tasted good, they were sweeter than I remember. And they hurt my stomach. Once back on the diet after my cheat, I felt re-newed, and like I could do it for longer even. Being at home is the easy part. Going to work however, is a totally different story. At work, I see everyone and all the fast food they eat on their lunch break. And I want it. And people bring in sweets, and candy, and baked goods for everyone to share. One doctor that I work with, brings in a bag of small candy bars everysingletime he works for everyone. It's like his staple. It's way hard for me to be good while at work, but so far I've done it. This last Saturday, we had our second cheat day. The fire dept. I work for held a Thank You Dinner for us, and I had some dessert that was to die for. It tasted so good in my mouth, but it was sooo sweet, and hurt my stomach again. And I felt bogged down the next day from eating bread.
Oh, and another thing. Those of you who have read my blog before, you've read about my constipation issues I've had in the past. Those of you reading this who haven't, you can stop reading here if you don't want to read about my bodily functions. Ha ha. But I'm documenting our journey, so you get it all :) I've never had great bowels. The extreme is when I'm pregnant and can't go to the bathroom for two weeks at a time, but my normal? I usually go every three days, or at best, every other day. The nicest thing about eating Paleo??? I've gone to the bathroom like a regular person!! I go once a day guys, for real! This is amazing, and I've never felt so good! Between working out, eating better, and sleeping better (mostly), with being only 2 weeks into this challenge, I'm getting hooked and starting to see how I can make this a lifestyle change for me. Buck loves it too. We mainly use Sarah's recipes but once we return her book, we'll be using websites and Google for recipes. I already google a lot of recipes in addition to Sarah's. So, if you'd like to keep up with our progress, feel free to tag along, and even comment with any advice, recipes, books, websites, anything you've got, because we're just beginning and learning as we go. I'm going to try and keep updates along the way. Those of you who read this, thanks for joining us in our journey to be healthier!
1 comment:
Way to go!!! You motivate me! Terry and I just started no desserts/candy from now until baby. It's only been 3 days for us and I'm already annoyed with what I "can't" have, but this gets me excited to hang in there! Your challenges is way harder! It helps me feel like I can conquer this easy one we set up for ourselves! Thanks and good luck!!
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