Paleo Challenge continued...

Here's my update on how our 30-Day Paleo Challenge finished up...

The highlights:
-Overall, it was a huge success!
-We followed a pretty "strict" Paleo Diet from 4/2-5/1 (see my previous post for food do's and don't's that we followed).
-At its conclusion, we both felt "better": clearer heads, fewer cravings, less ache-y, and overall greater sense of well-being.  Yay!
-We both loved the food and rarely felt hungry, and I got used to planning and cooking meals without feeling stressed out about its new-ness.
-We both lost pretty significant weight for us in just a month's time: me, 8 lbs; JK, 15 lbs!  Plus, my clothes fit better, and I swear I looked more "fit" in the mirror!  And I didn't do any additional major exercising--just a daily 30-minute walk.
-We have improved motivation to continue losing weight, and not to just "throw it all away" by jumping right back into the SAD (Standard American Diet).
-We followed a modified Paleo Diet from 5/2 to the present, with JK being a little more "liberal" with the foods he ate (and drank) than I was.  ;)

I spent the beginning of May (post-Paleo) very carefully subjecting myself to one new "trial" food at a time, once every three days, and carefully monitoring myself for any new "symptoms".  Then, as the month progressed, I got a little lazy and started mixing multiple new foods in the same day, or not waiting a full 3 days before trying a new one.  Regardless, I don't think I have any major food allergies or issues, but I think I do better without a lot of those SAD foods!  We are currently eating through some "trial" foods that we have left--mostly dairy--but we decided that I will likely not re-buy most of them.

Specifically, I have reintroduced (in this order--I have my priorities, haha!):
-Chocolate (cocoa, and 55-85% dark chocolate bars)--no symptoms,
-Butter (organic and cultured, pasture raised--but not exclusively grass-fed)--no symptoms,
-Alcohol: hard cider, white rum--no symptoms; but a careless beer sample gave me negative-symptoms big-time (I should have known better!),
-Organic Half-and-Half and Heavy Cream--no symptoms,
-Yogurt (organic, whole-milk)--perhaps a little constipation (sorry if TMI!),
-White rice--no symptoms,
-Cheese: cheddar, havarti, and mozzarella--no symptoms, and
-Organic whole milk--no symptoms.

I have also eaten several "no-no" (processed/gluten-containing) foods, with mixed results:
-Cheese- and Gluten-laden (homemade, at least) Lasagna, frozen from pre-Paleo days (kinda soggy and not as delicious as I remembered/expected it to be)--no obvious symptoms,
-a Schwan's ice cream cookie sandwich from a concession stand while camping--ugh, I felt like crap after eating that one--not surprising, considering the horrifying ingredient list, full of hydrogenated oils, soy, corn, and additives galore,
-Chips made from corn/brown rice/black beans, and Fireside marshmallows (oops, slip-ups while camping!)--no symptoms, just felt a little guilty,
-Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream custard--I felt fine after eating that, thankfully, hee hee,
-Kettle potato chips--no symptoms, and
-probably some other foods I can't remember right now...


I've drawn the following conclusions based on these past 2 months of mostly Paleo eating:
1. Paleo foods are more nutritious overall than SAD foods.  We are eating so many more vegetables, nuts, and healthy fats that we did back when dairy, grains, and legumes (and processed sugar/flour-laden foods) were a part of our daily fare.  We used to eat SO MANY gluten-/wheat-containing products, and lots of added sugars.  Even though most were items were homemade, and some were even made with "healthy whole grains", we have concluded that these are NOT healthy foods for us to continue basing our diet around!

2. The whole spirit of Paleo is to NOT eat grain-based foods, or pseudo-grain-like foods made with Paleo-approved ingredients.  But, since I am a real-life human, living in the real world (and, come on, I love to bake), I am going to make Paleo crackers, cookies, cakes, and what-not.  It's fun to experiment with new ingredients and the end results taste pretty good!

3. It's a slippery slope: once you start eating those pseudo-grains again (even if they contain only nut and coconut flours), it's so easy to want to eat them every day.  Then I want to get my hands (and mouth!) on some yeast (and wheat-containing) bread.  And I want to have dessert (aka sugar) after every lunch and dinner.  Yikes!  Perhaps I will try to limit how often I bake goodies to maybe once or twice a week.  We'll see.

4. Most processed goodies and foods are SO sweet--one-dimensional with no other flavor.  Yucky!  I am going to stick with more "natural" sweeteners in my Paleo-type goodies for now: honey, maple syrup, and coconut sugar.  If-and-when I use white/cane sugars, I am going to use way LESS than I would have before!  And I have to remember how addictive any type of sugar is for me and be careful...

5. Cheese and processed meats are SO salty, and potato chips too.  They are all incredibly addictive and NOT healthy.  Coincidence: salt = addictive?  I think not!  So I'm going to be avoiding these as much as possible going forward.  I'm sure I'll have my exceptions (aka bacon).

6. Many people would have a hard time spending the time and money cooking Paleo.  The meats and produce is expensive (especially if you buy organic/grass-fed/local) and the baking ingredients are definitely pricey too.  And cooking from-scratch is wonderful, but I know how stretched for time people get...  BUT people should TRY it!!!  Start with one Paleo meal a week, and build up to more often.  It feels wonderful to eat healthy, from-scratch foods that are so tasty, satisfying, and filling, and still lose weight.  It's amazing!  And I bet you will lose weight and feel better too!

7. Going Paleo is a journey, and I'll probably never do it 100% of the time.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with all the wheat-based flours I have in my pantry and freezer (and several breads and things already made from it).  Since I still want to lose more weight, and I know how addictive gluten- and white sugar-containing products are to me, I think it probably is best to avoid these now.  We'll see what JK thinks.  Maybe we'll eat through them, slowly and occasionally, mostly surrounded by Paleo meals.  Chris Kresser talks about trying to maintain an 80/20 rule of mostly Paleo, most of the time.  I am totally OK with that.

8.  Paleo foods aren't the whole picture.  I still need to exercise more (we've got a 5k race in 3 weeks that we haven't gotten off the couch to train for yet--and yes, I do need to "train" in order run 3 miles in 30 minutes!  heh heh).  I definitely need to sleep more (time to get back to the 10PM lights-out rule).  And I need to de-stress more (maybe I should try daily meditation?).  But Paleo is a good jumping point for taking care of myself and us!


Time will tell--I'm hoping we can lose more weight and feel better with Paleo than we have in a LONG time.  I'd like to feel comfortable wearing a bikini this summer!  <gasp, hehe!>  I'll do my best to keep posting updates as we continue on this journey.  Hooray for trying new things!


Forward Flavor!