What are some great paleo staples?
I know Bliss can help loads on this, haha!
I’ve read so many conflicting things; no dairy, dairy. Less fat, more fat. No bacon, bacon for sure.
I’m so confused! What’s the basics?!
The basics are pretty simple. Every single meal should be composed as follows: a large helping of protein, such as meat, fish, chicken or eggs, and a large helping of green or brightly colored vegetables which are not white potatoes. (Potatoes are indeed vegetables. But they are quite energy-dense and you do not need that much glucose unless you are an endurance athlete.) Optimally these would be all organic, all grass-pastured or wild-caught sources of protein. However, if that’s not possible for you right now, don’t let it stop you from diving in anyway. Some sources emphasis leaner protein, others do not… I just don’t worry too much about it right now.
So that is the basics: eat a bunch of protein and vegetables. You may also eat plenty of fruit, but not so much fruit that you eat less vegetables. The fruit would be like your dessert or your side dish. You should drink water. You may eat nuts as well, but remember that a serving of nuts is a mere 1/4 cup. Don’t go overboard with nuts or nut butters. Another item that seems healthy but can be adverse is fruit juice: it’s really, really full of sugars so most Paleo eaters stay away from it. As I say, you should be drinking water.
In the fats department, you can help yourself to olive oil, coconut oil, red palm oil, avocado or walnut oil, as well as rendered animal fats like lard or duck fat. Coconut milk is also a delicious fat source and a wonderful cooking ingredient. Some people use ghee as well, but I don’t. I get up to 50% of my calories from fat some days. Don’t fear the fat. I mean, you don’t need to eat it by the spoonful. But when you cook yourself some eggs or whatever, use plenty of tasty fat in your pan. When you make a salad, throw on tasty olive oil. That’s all I mean. No need to get out the miserly teaspoon measure.
Traditionally, strict Paleo eaters stay away from: sugar, dairy, all grains, all legumes. Very, very strict people also restrict or nearly eliminate salt. I do not fall into that category myself, as you know. I love me some bacon. But that’s the argument against bacon: it’s full of salt and often has added sugar as well… so you will have to make your own choice there. Another thing Paleo people tend to avoid is all vegetable oils including canola oil; this is because all those oils are extracted via chemically-based factory processes rather than simple cold-pressing. You don’t want to be eating an oil that had to be bleached and deodorized! This guideline can be tough to follow at first. Again, don’t let that stop you from just giving it a try and doing the best you can. If you have to eat some canola oil, well, that’s life! Don’t sweat it.
When a person eats mostly Paleo style but they still choose dairy, that is called Primal style. Typically they will choose full-fat dairy and it will be a condiment or an ingredient rather than a main meal. Lots of people do this and it seems to work great. I don’t do it because the dairy seems to mess up my skin.
I guess if I were a very, very strict vegetarian, I’d go with beans for a protein source but keep all the other guidelines the same: no sugar, tons of greens, no grains, etc.
That’s about all there is for basics. Protein, veggies, fats, fruits, a few nuts. Fill up your plate and enjoy!
A final note: if you eliminate grains and sugar cold turkey from your diet, you will probably feel really funky and awful for a week or so. This is normal!! You’ll feel amazing after that. But I waded in more slowly and avoided this problem myself, so just know that this situation exists and you can just fight through it or go around it, whichever you choose. It’s good either way.
When I see people lose the same amount of weight as me in less than half the time.
I just want to slam my face in my carpet and roll around a bit.
Anyone else?
I do get frustrated over that sometimes. I’ve never been able to lose weight fast. But I just tell myself that losing the weight is not even half the battle. I’ve been losing weight since 2006, but the pounds I dropped stayed off. Keeping the weight off - that’s the true battlefield. So don’t worry about the overall speed. My plan is to be able to stay slim for the rest of my life. “The rest of my life” is a long time even for an oldster like me, so I try to let go of rushing and hurrying.
Is this normal?
So I’m on my low carbing and I spent the majority of last night and right now feeling sick like a dog and dehydrated to hell.
Is this normal or should I be worried? I’ve never felt like this before.
Reblogged to give you a more complete answer: when you suddenly or rapidly decrease your carb intake, you’re decreasing your body’s supply of readily-available glucose which it has been using for fuel all this time. It takes a while, sometimes longer than a week, for your body to get with the program and open up the pantry and get out some fat to use for fuel instead. So while you’re waiting for your body to wake up, you will feel like total crap.
The main thing you can do to combat the crappy feeling is to try to get some fat with every meal. Coconut milk or cream in your tea, butter on your veggies or whatever. It will increase the feeling of fullness or satiety and reduce cravings. Oh yeah, look out for the cravings which will surely arrive by the time you are reading this post. Sorry about that. Good luck!!!
