Without getting too heavily into the science behind it all (More of a "just tell me what to do already" kind of mentality), I took Bryan's advice and Rob Wolf's book "Paleo Solution" to heart. My fiancee (now wife) Jen did the same. We agreed to purge the house of all the processed foods, sugars and carbs. She had to persuade me a little. Okay a lot.
That was really painful for me... I was hungry all the time and having to watch all that food being dug out of the cupboards, fridge, freezer and pantry hurt me in my soul and my wallet at the same time... but I believed! So out it came and into a pretty good sized box, which we donated to a houseful of dudes.
I didn't feel too guilty about giving them all the food I was now convinced was poisonous, since they were pretty much living on beer and pizza anyway. I've been there...
It was a little scary when we realized how utterly bereft of food the house had become.
Almost every single bit of food we'd stashed away was made up almost entirely of corn, soy and sugar. I guess when we ate vegetables and felt healthy it must have been like a drop in the bucket of all the other crap we were eating!
There was almost nothing left in the fridge besides eggs, lunch meat, el-cheapo sandwich cheese and the obligatory bag of carrot sticks. Maybe some lettuce. Not promising, but good for a good smack in the face by reality. Obviously we needed to eat more vegetables.
That was a good start, but we had much to learn. I got into the habit of watching documentaries on Netflix and the information started piling up quick. A good place to start is "Food Inc." If you haven't seen it, it's worth your time.
There is so much to cover, there's no way I'll run out of subject material here for a really long time. Stay tuned, join/follow/comment/criticize etc! The world needs this information.
TSN
Cheer! Great start, Jen and Zach! The lunch meat and cheese sound suspect (still mucho processed), however...
ReplyDeleteI laughed to myself the other day when reminding myself of some of the tenets of the paleo diet on wikipedia. Wiki: "Fiber intake in preagricultural diets is thought to have exceeded 100 g/day.[68] This is dramatically higher than the actual current U.S. intake of 15 g/day." I consume around 100 g of fiber on most days. Wiki: "It has been estimated that people in the Paleolithic era consumed 11,000 mg of potassium and 700 mg of sodium daily." I think I always consume over 11,000 mg potassium and usually under 700 mg of sodium each day. I will post screenshots of my cronometer data on facebook and tag you. [note: I eat a high carb (>80% of overall Calories) low fat (<10%) low protein (<10%) raw vegan diet comprised of mostly whole sweet fruits (>1000 Calories per meal) and some leafy greens (>1 lb per day).]
I would like to see a paleo diet eater consume 100 g of fiber on most days. The meat consumption would go way down. I believe animal flesh and products are only NEEDED when there is not enough plant-based foods around to meet a person's caloric needs. Fortunately, we live in a time and a location where global commerce makes it possible to eat a whole plant-based diet year round for those of us whom do not live on the equator.
A kick ass comment I made on facebook today. So, I thought I would share:
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that the older you are the less fat you require in this order: Adult < teenager < adolescent < toddler < infant
Mother's milk is ~55% fat (by caloric value; ~39% carbohydrates and ~6% protein). So your total intake of fats should be never be >55% of total calories consumed as you get older (if you want optimum health). As an infant ages they become more mobile, thus requiring more carbohydrates (NEVER an increase in protein requirement, as percent of total calories). This results in a percent decrease in fat.
Each gram of fat is worth 9 Calories while each gram of protein and carbohydrate are worth 4 Calories. Since infants have such small stomaches mother nature has placed more bang for your buck macronutrient in milk to fuel infant development. Of course, the fats are used to build brain tissue and form cell membranes and to make hormones, as well. However, as more of those things get made the less of them need to get made in the future.
No matter what type of fat, too much fat is too much fat. Your body only has the capability of digesting a certain amount of fat per day, the rest putrefies in the intestines and/or gets clogged in the circulatory system... If you do not have a gallbladder, then you can process even less per day.
I consume less than 10% of my daily calories as fats. For instance, yesterday only 3% of my ~2864 Calories consumed where from fat. Avocados are 70-80% fat (by caloric value; depending on the variety). By eating about two of your slices pictured I consumed 8% of my ~2555 Calories from fat on the 17th. So it does not take much to go high fat.
Unfortunately, the FDA defines high fat above 30% of total caloric intake and estimates that the average american consumes about 33% of their calories as fats (~17 as protein and ~50% as carbohydrates, of which 1/3 are consumed via sweetened drinks and much more as processed foods containing refined sugars and little to no soluble fiber... sad...)