Physical health, diet and nutrition is something that has always been a big part of my life in one form or another. I haven’t always followed a good diet by any means, as I’ve used and abused my good genes pretty hard instead.
An athlete dad raising me on bodybuilding and nutrition helped get me jobs for fitness equipment companies and gyms. I didn’t work out during those jobs even though it was free for me then, but it’s just what I knew, so I got into jobs easily.
As I’ve gotten older, I can tell you how much that not taking care of yourself stuff can catch up to you, and quickly! I used to be able to eat, drink, and be merry in just about every way, but that hasn’t been the case the past few years, and it has affected my business as well as my personal life.
Much of the past five years has been spent actively pursuing my own good health on a more regular basis. Last year, I stepped it up even further, with all kinds of experiments to see what worked and didn’t work for me.
I’ve seen and watched others try every diet that you’ve ever heard of, and even tried a few in recent years. I did my best to live vegetarian for almost two years (technically pescatarian because I still ate fish, but fish meat is practically a vegetable).
There were many reasons why that just didn’t work for me.
After hearing Andrew over at Evolvify mention Paleo several times, I started looking into it a bit more. It goes by several names and detail changes, depending on who is talking about it. Some call it the Hunter-Gatherer diet, Robb Wolf and Dr. Cordain call it Paleo, whereas Mark Sisson‘s style differs slightly and he calls it Primal. The media likes to mockingly call it the caveman diet.
All I know is that it works well.
The first serious reading I did about it came when Tim Ferriss posted an excerpt from Robb Wolf’s book on his blog. I picked up Tim’s 4-Hour Body book when it came out, and decided to try his “Slow-Carb Diet” experiment.
I had done a bit of research on the ideas he talked about in there, mostly through Wolf and Sission. Tim’s book laid it out pretty basic, despite not being fully paleo. It was easy to follow and never left me feeling hungry. I lost weight without really trying and noticed immediate improvement in several areas I hadn’t even thought about being diet-related.
Things like skin issues and respiratory problems I’d developed. My blood pressure went down to lower than it had ever been, and my super-high cholesterol dropped down to well withing the “normal” range despite eating as many as 9 eggs a day (nine was an unusual day, but I eat at least 2 a day).
Remember when I said I abused my body for a long time? I smoked for 25 years. I quit years ago when I started having respiratory issues. Quitting didn’t seem to change them at all. A year or so later I started gaining weight, and the breathing problems got worse, which I attributed to getting fatter.
Partially right. When I took grains and sugars out of my diet, my breathing cleared up like I’d never had an issue on about the third day. Just gone. Even before the weight started dropping off.
After a short time, I tried removing other foods, and really began experimenting with different food effects. I have it pretty well dialed in now, so that I know when I eat any particular food, how my body is going to react to it.
I’ve still got a ways to go, and am not going to turn this into a fitness blog, but I’ve been doing this for a year now, and wanted to put the information out there in case others are struggling with weight, fitness, physical vibrance, or other health issues. There is a lot of good information out there, and you can get started with some of the links included in this post.
Do you have any experience with a Paleo diet or Primal lifestyle? Let me know if you have any questions below.
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We have also noticed health improvements by changing our diet. Cutting out processed food really makes a difference, and now that stuff tastes like pure chemicals to me. We do a modified South Beach, concentrating on really reducing sugar, potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.
I think of “Paleo” as stuff I could conceivably grow, process, and/or catch myself. From wheat to bread is a long path, and I’m lazy, so that would be a food to avoid. From grapes to wine, and from cow to steak are also fairly long and arduous paths, but I’m highly motivated on those, so they get the green light
When people ask me, that’s how I describe it: I don’t buy processed foods, or basically anything that has a list of ingredients. Grocery trips are quicker, I’ve learned to cook a lot more, and have hardly touched the microwave all year.
I still need to focus on getting better quality of foods, like grass fed beef, but I’m working on that.
I probably should have said that in the post.
I actually use the microwave a lot, but mostly to reheat the awesome leftovers from a previous healthy meal
Also, I cook my morning egg in the microwave. One egg, whisked with a tablespoon of hot salsa, cover the bowl, ‘wave it 2 minutes. Quickie one-serving frittata (fritatta? frittattattatta?), yum.
And this is a little embarrassing, but we buy the raw vegetables you can microwave right in the bag, like broccoli or snap peas. I initially hated the idea; why buy veggies in a bag? But as I picked up a “real” head of broccoli, and put it in a plastic bag to carry it home, it occurred to me that duh, at least the cooking bag saves some water in the RV by not having to wash the veggie or a pot. The microwave in a bag stuff is just a veggie, no spices or preservatives. Kind of like the salads in a bag. Since I HATE to wash lettuce, that innovation means we eat waaaaay more salads now, too. Sean makes a killer balsamic vinaigrette.
So I’m torn about the plastic, but have to cater to my innate laziness a little bit!
We have that issue too. We have no garden space either, and fresh produce spoils faster than we can eat it sometimes. We buy a lot from the farmer’s market, but can only get it once a week.
It’s hard to eat well and not use so much plastic. I hate how many plastic bags I see every time I’m out paddling through the mangroves.
Glad to hear it’s still working out for you!
It sure is! Easiest and most natural way I’ve ever eaten. I’m still not posting any before/after underwear pics though
I’ve just been getting into a paleo-ish mode of eating. I’ve been aware of this approach for some time but only now read “The Four Hour Body” and started taking action on being 20-25 lbs above my recent minimum weight.
One thing I noticed is that I really, really like sweet foods. When they are sweet and high in fat too, it’s even better (or worse …). After a couple of days of eating only high-nutrient / low-carb foods, I have noticed that I haven’t been craving those foods at all. I can eat a meal and then forget about food for a few hours, which is nice. Previously, I would be slamming chocolates, candy, and other high-carb snacks constantly between meals.
Of course, part of this may be “new diet high” so I am concerned about jumping to conclusions, but I’ve been finding this approach good. I don’t feel deprived or hungry, I haven’t felt any carb cravings yet, and I have been eating until I am satisfied. I plan to chronicle this over a 30 day period and see where it leads me.
I had the same problem, as I suspect most of us do. Energy from carbs doesn’t last long, but energy from fat digests slower (there’s probably a better explanation on one of those sites, but that’s how I understand it).
I find I don’t get that ravenous hunger thing 3-4 hours after eating something carb-heavy, and often skip meals I would normally have “scheduled” because I’m just not hungry. I haven’t gotten into official Intermittent Fasting talked about on Mark’s site and book, but I can see the benefits.
We love diet hacking
From extended fasts, intermittent fasting, South Beach, etc. Several years ago we completely cut out corn syrup, and that’s stuck.
Mid-last year I went gluten free and feel great as a result. We’ve been thinking about going more to a primarily primal diet as well as our next hack. My biggest concern is combining that with my strong mostly vegetarian preference – I’ve not had mammal meat in over 20 years, and I’m not about to break that. So probably not going to be able to easily cut out the legumes, a major source of my proteins. We’ll see tho. Cutting out the sugars I think would do us both good.
How’s your sweetie affected by the diet changes? If I recall, she and I had a similar diet. Curious to how two vastly different diets can co-exist within a household
By the way, looks like we’re heading your way next week … would be great to get together with you guys!
She hasn’t eaten land animals for about 18 years, and she had great results from cutting the gluten/grains out of her diet. Mark Sisson’s wife is a Primal Pescatarian as well (all these labels are so silly). She still eats the beans, but they are one of the things that really rip up my guts when I try eating them, so I don’t.
So basically her diet is about the same, sans so much bread and pasta…and she still doesn’t steal my bacon
Let us know when you have some free time, and we’ll get together again!