My Paleo

>"My solution for day hikes… a 19 month old baby girl who weighs 23 pounds in a back carrier… lol."

Laurie: "Pumping baby" instead of "pumping iron"? Been there, done that. I started getting "tennis elbow" when our son went from 8 to 16 pounds in 3 months. I thought, "He CAN'T double every 3 months or he'll be 128 pounds at his first birthday!"

>"Competitive rower, eh? I think people are surprised to know just how much energy and force is expended with activities like rowing and sculling"

Energy: Yeah, you do NOT want to get between the crew of an 8 and the buffet table!

Force: If they catch an oar on the water they can get ejected right out of the boat. I don't mean later by the coach. I mean instantly by the physics.

There are youtubes of people water skiing behind 8s.

6-foot women are in demand on master's rowing teams. Especially ones with strong legs!

I usually balance her on my hip… which helps a lot. She's only in the 50th percentile for size and has been since the get-go.

The buffet sounds just like my LD running friends. I've never seen such ravenous carb consumption… lol.

Even paddling a canoe requires strength and balance. I could well imagine, watching rowers, that those oars and the force behind them can be mighty powerful. The only time I use my legs canoeing is on the portages so there is a big difference in that aspect. I might try it one day… but I've got a whole list of other things to tackle first (5K race, 10K race, half-marathon, hike the Annapurna circuit, thru the AT, canoe the Thelon or Nahanni, hike in Banff and Jasper and Wells Gray, etc.)

Ken wrote "Doug this diet sure sounds like a diet us diabetics use. Good luck to you and I hope to see a thinner Doug in Feb."

Yes… good luck with it Doug. All the best.

Ken… it is somewhat similar to how I eat minus the fatty foods (bacon here is a rarity) and adding in whole grains, legumes and things such as quinoa. Because of carb counting these things are very controlled and moderate which is partially why I am no longer on medications. I avoid white bread and I basically try to stick to the outside aisles of the grocery store. Fruits, veggies, nuts/seed, lean meats, fresh fish, dairy and eggs punctuated with a bit of grain-based carbohydrate.

I grow a lot of sprouts too… and as many of you know, I even do this on the trail/waterways in the warmer 6 months of the year.

Okay, we have been on this diet for over two weeks, and I have stuck to it 100%. I really don't want to lose weight, but eating nuts helps keep the weight stable. We finally got a dehydrator (Nesco 700 watt). Wasn't available locally so we had to order it online. My biggest concern was the food would taste awful and bland. Not the case. To be honest, it is easy to stick with, at least for me. We went to a movie last week and the wife was shocked I didn't get a huge bucket of popcorn, one of my favorite treats. It didn't sound appetizing, and smelling all the popcorn in the theater didn't bother me at all. To be honest, this is a pretty simple change. Joyce reports that the food costs a lot more, but we are eating a lot of fresh stuff. She found a lot of good things at Trader Joe's.

Now I have to figure out how to integrate it into my backpacking meals. That shouldn't be difficult either. But I found that only eating jerky and fruit on the trail was pretty boring fare, so I will start playing with the dehydrator tomorrow night and putting together packable meals.

Just a thought…

Over at Mark’s Daily Apple the forum members are very active together. They’ve already collaborated and written two cookbooks for primal meals that are free to download. I was just thinking, when reading Nick’s post about experimenting with backpacking meals, how could we all get together, find information on and try out different meal plans and put together our own paleo backpacking cookbook that would be free to download to all other members? I think there are many people who are stumped on this… since backpacking requires some different criteria with meals than cooking at home.

What do you think?

Here is the page from Mark’s Daily apple with links to many recipes.

Here is the link to reader created cookbooks

Actually that is a good idea. I tend to be a boil water kind of guy, but just re-hydrating food doesn't sound appetizing. In the past just buying pre-packaged stuff like Mountain House has been extremely convenient, and more important to where I hike most of the time, is not needing to wash anything except the spoon, because in the desert water is too precious a commodity to waste on cleaning pots. Right now we are just getting down the at home recipes. But the Nesco purchase was the first step in adapting the diet to backpacking. I would be very interested in the input of others.

I have some that I use on almost every trip. 4 meals that I'm happy to rotate indefinitely. Most of my trips are usually only 2-3 days anyways, so this works great for me. Happy to post them up if this takes off. Great idea!

I've been doing Paleo for a few weeks now, and should be able to chip in a couple of recipes since I am accustomed to making/dehydrating my own BPing meals (for example, a paleo-friendly, beanless chili). Great idea!

Time for an update photo Doug. Or should I post the before again?

Me, I feel like a house. I need to lose a few or more as well.

I've been reading this thread with great interest, and I find it very interesting as well as inspiring. I think I would like to go Paleo, too. However:

1. I am a vegetarian. Is a such thing as a Paleo Vegetarian? Well, actually I am a Pesceterian (a fish-eating vegetarian–I love wild salmon!). With my present diet I get most of my protein from lentils (lots of Indian dishes) and eggs (trying to cut down due to cholesterol concerns, though). Are beans, lentils even allowed? I don't want to have to take up eating beef, chicken, etc.

2. I have breakfast concerns. I love a typical Italian breakfast–strong coffee with a sweet pastry thingy. For me breakfast has always meant carbfest (breads, cereals, etc.). I have recently switched over to oatmeal to try and make the carb part of the breakfast equation more healthy (compared to a danish). But oatmeal is a carb, isn't it? How do I re-engineer my breakfast?

Truth be told, I am not a healthy vegetarian, meaning that I eat a lot of carbs (mostly breads).

Thanks…

Chris, it is very difficult to be a vegetarian without eating carbs, perhaps even dangerous. You need to get enough calories and without the calories from animal fats (paleo eschews vegetable oils other than olive or avocado or the like) you will simply not get enough to sustain yourself, unless you eat carbs. The calories from fats are what replaces the calories lost from taking carbs out of the diet.

Technically any legumes (beans, lentils, peas) are not allowed in the paleo diet, because of problems associated with the enzymes in legumes and because they cannot be eaten without proper processing. However, unlike grains, there is less resistance to legumes and some people eat them in moderation.

Carbs are necessary to lower because without lowering carbs you cannot switch your metabolism over to the ketogenic process, which works in the absence of carbs; your body will automatically utilize the carbs because it is fast energy. The paleo diet and fitness routines are based on the ketogenic metabolism.

Part of the problem with protein from vegetables is that the body cannot get at most of what is there, even with plant-sources of protein that are as complete as those of soy or quinoa. The amino acids remain locked within the food source by the time it gets to the intestines. This is why the waste matter that is finally released has considerably more mass from vegetable sources than meat sources.

Fish, as a paleo-approved food, is an excellent source of protein and fat, especially because deep water, "blue" fish carry very healthy amounts of Omega-3 fats… the kind you want to increase in your diet. Many people live exclusively on fish. Here in Japan getting good variety in fish is very easy, but it may be more difficult in countries where fish is less popular.

Oats are carbs and if you want to go truly paleo, supposed to be forbidden. If you read the forums in Mark's Daily Apple, though, you will see that a lot of people have a very hard time giving up oatmeal.

"Time for an update photo Doug. Or should I post the before again?"

Spare the community! Unfortunately, I fell off the Paleo wagon. I plan to get right this weekend and get back on track. Fortunately, I've only gained back a couple of pounds. I hope I don't have a bunch of false starts, I need to get on with it.

Miguel,

Thanks for the reply. I suppose with some tweaking I could come up with an "Aquaman" diet. I checked the links you provided in the other (forum cookbook) thread and only found one salmon recipe (it did look nice, though).

I've been wanting to get away from carbs for some time now. I can't put words to it, but when I consume carbs, such as bread, I get a lightheaded feeling and my ability to concentrate decreases. I don't know if carbs are to blame, however.

I just seem to lack energy all around (mornings are rough). I try to compensate with coffee and sweets, which picks me up for a little while, but then I'm feeling unenergetic/unmotivated again.

Once I tried to go a week without carbs. If you don't cook for yourself (i.e., rely on eating out), it is near impossible to do. Carbs are cheap and they fill, hence the reason why restaurants use big portions.

I thought of quinoa as a potential oatmeal substitute (would that even work in terms of flavor/texture?)

But yes, as you mentioned, we do have the best selection of fish here in Japan. If I'm going to embark on this change for the better, I can't think of no other place to do it (well, Seattle perhaps).

"I just seem to lack energy all around (mornings are rough). I try to compensate with coffee and sweets, which picks me up for a little while, but then I'm feeling unenergetic/unmotivated again."

The Paleo/Primal adherents (I'm trying to be one of them) will tell you, well, of course! Short term energy, crash, get your brain to scream for more short term energy, crash, ad infinitum. Vicious cycle.

I've read a few of the Paleo/Primal books now, I'd recommend Sisson's "The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation". It's got all the necessary info contained in "The Primal Blueprint," but it's shorter (too many books go on and on and make the same point about 17 different ways, the transformation book only makes the same point 6 or 7 different ways, so it's not as irritating nor as long). But it really helps you understand exactly what you're going through.

Doug – you are aware that scotch is not part of the diet, correct?

"Doug – you are aware that scotch is not part of the diet, correct?"

Why do you think I fell off…… ;-)

The problem with all of this is that there is so much we probably do not know. For some people diets significantly impact their metabolism, for others there is a psychological impact, and then there is stress. Some of this can be a big deal to some people.

Before we started this diet, when I was at home my wife made me eat foods that she thought were healthy and often contained too many carbs, but were "low fat." I travel often and really ate poorly, lots of fast foods. At night I used to snack on chips. But I was not overweight. A large part of this is probably genetic and the fact that I walk everyday and usually do some kind of a hike most weekends. I run a little bit. During the day if I am busy (whether it be in my home office or on the road), I sometimes forget to eat lunch… time just goes by. So I just don't crave food often, except some days I would get a desire for an ice cream cone and would act on that.

I have stuck with this diet, because I really want to be supportive of my wife's effort. I have not experienced headaches or a general lack of energy. At my age (61), I can gain weight if I pig out a lot, but food just isn't a big deal to me. One thing with this diet, I am hungry between meals unlike the past, and I have been eating a lot of nuts and fruits for snacks in between meals. And I do not want to lose weight. I just weighed myself and have lost 8 lbs. So now I am at 150lbs and 5'11." Now if you look at a BMI table (not the perfect tool), I can still lose another 15 lbs and still me in the "normal" range, so the loss is probably not something to be concerned with.

So all of this just means that every person is different and will react differently. I have researched this diet quite a bit and it just makes sense to me. One was a 21 day diet by Dr. Loren Cordain. The 21 days does three things. You will lose weight if you stick with it (good for the mind), you probably will turn it into a good habit, and you will probably start to feel normal again. So at first some people are just going to have to try harder than others if they want their desired results. And that is the really, really hard part.

Chris, yes you can be a vegetarian and paleo. It depends on whether you will eat eggs and or fish or shellfish.

read here:
http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/08/13/ancestral-health-symposium/

and:
http://huntgatherlove.com/node/555

http://paleohacks.com/questions/56799/mingers-talk-why-cant-we-all-get-along-similarities-between-veggies-and-paleo#axzz1UvNZD2BN

good luck.

Chris, I ran across this today. Thought it might interest you.

(By the way, I think I read that you are in Japan? Which part? I’m thinking of trying to get together a Japan UL gathering. The Japanese UL’ers have been leaving me out of most goings-on (no idea why), so I figure I should take the initiative and gather anyone here willing to meet up.)

Miguel,

Thanks for the link. Will check it out.

I am in Tokyo, on the Yokohama side.

I've been doing Paleo for about 7 weeks now and I absolutely love it. I was turned on to it because of a trainer friend and several posts about it being good for people with Chron's disease (which I have). I have to say, with no BS, that I feel better now then I ever have. I have more energy, feel more positive mentally and am overall very happy with the results. I've lost about 18 pounds in these 6 weeks, which I know is not sustainable but, a nice change. I do have the occasional Guinness and I had a quarter of a donut but, I stay pretty strict to the diet. I love the way animals taste!!!
Its definitely not for everybody but, what I do like is that it changes you mentally. What I mean by that is, you start looking at everything before you eat it. You become mindful of it being either good or bad for you. I've learned to pick up some food, Pause, then decide if I want to eat it. That Pause has helped me tremendously. What am I gaining from eating this? Will it really make me be less hungry or is it just something to eat?

This is just my experience and I wanted to share it.

So for you guys doing the Paleo diet, what do you typically eat for breakfast?

Try this. as a start.

Then This site has daily run downs of what the household is eating. Gets you to really understand how this way of eating looks and works.

When I was still fishing, I used to strip the egg sack from female trout while I was cleaning them, swish it aound in the stream, and then pop it into my mouth, chew, savor that rich, yolky, raw flavor, and let it slide slowly down my throat. Sigh….
How much more Paleo can you get? :0)

How much more Paleo can you get? :0)

Not much! :^D