Paleo Eating Day 3

Well day 3 of Paleo eating and food logging.  I feel ok, a little hungry and bitchy at times, but i did a BJJ and then a crossfit workout today and felt fine.  Sticking to leaner meats has helped alot, much better to protein to fat ratio.  Mostly chicken and leaner cuts of red meat.  Stuff like sausages and ribs are tasty, but for this kind of eating its just not enough protein to be consuming all the time.  We are buying 1/8th of a cow pretty soon and are going to stuff all in our freezer.  Can’t wait.

Anton

Dropping Weight

Sorry no posts lately.  I have been busy at the gym and trying to do more grapping, as well as other life responsibilities.

I was suprised the other when i stepped on the scale and weighed 162.  A few weeks before that i was a pretty regular 175.  I think what made the difference was really being conscious about sticking to the Paleo diet.  I didnt try to consciously deprive myself of food, i just made sure to eat natural foods when i was hungry, and get some paleo friendly carbs after working out.

We’ll see how it all progresses.  I feel good on the mat, but weaker than i should under the bar.  I guess i need to remember that improving my grappling is  #1, if i spend more time at that my lifting may drop by a bit.

Anton

No Breakfast

Lately i have not been eating my first meal of the day till 10 or 11 oclock.  And i dont feel like i am depriving myself of food.  I just get up, go to work, and just dont feel hungry till that time.  Usually i would eat at 7.  I think being more vigilant about Paleo eating has made me less hungry.  When eating alot of carbs hunger pangs are often due to the body’s craving for sugar and the insulin spike that comes with it, not neccessarily true hunger.  Performance is still fine, i am on the mat grappling and feel greatt.

We’ll see how it goes.

Anton

The Perfume Analogy

Check out this video from Robb Wolf, where he talks about food and presents a good analogy.

Friends or family ask me about the Paleo diet, and when i try describe it to them alot of them think i am nuts.  A typical response will be “but i’ve eaten rice, toast, crackers, drank milk, for years, and i feel fine.”  That may be true, but its like Robb says in the video, the more we keep shoveling that stuff into our bodies eventually its just going to stop objecting and blunt its response.  Just type II diabetes, keep bombarding your body with carbs and sugar, forcing it to constantly release insulin, and eventually its going to stop reponding.  I know when i started eating stricter Paleo, really eliminating milk, grains, and wheat based products, i felt much better.  Then after a few weeks i would some pizza with buddies, and viola, the next day my nose would be runny, my throat irritated, and i would generally feel like crap.  I think if this our body’s initial reaction to that kind of food, it means it is not good for us.  But try it for your self.  Do Paleo for two to three weeks.  Eat meat, vegetables, nuts, fruits, and healthy fats.  Then go back to your usual eating habits, and see how you feel.

Nice Paleo Diet link

I came across this link off the main PaleoDiet.com page.

Paleo Diet Link

I think it offers alot of good concise information.  Perhaps something to show your friends who think you’re wierd for always eating meat and vegetables.

I still have some rough spots to smooth out, but i am doing much better with my eating.  Unfortunately beer and wine seem to give me a headache now, so i am not sure how much i will be drinking that.  Perhaps i will just stick to tequila…

Anton

Why do i eat carbs

So its been snowing alot here in Portland, OR the past few days. I’m from Florida so its all kind of new to me, plus it does not usually snow here in the city. They don’t salt the roads or have that many ploughs, so alot of stores are shut down and folks are staying home.

There was not much food at home, so Katie and i went out with a friend to find something to eat.  Not many places were open, so we ended up at this cafe/bakery that had sandwhiches and soup.  I opted for a cuban sandwhich with chips and a cookie.

Why do i let myself eat things like that.  For most of the past few weeks i have been eating pretty much paleo, the usual lots of meat and vegetables and fats, with a sweet potatoe if i need the carbs after a workout.  I have been feeling pretty good and even find myself less hungry than i used to be.  Well i was halfway into my cuban sandwhich meal when i started getting a headache and a gnawing hunger inside, even though i was eating.  I finished my meal, and an hour later still feel kind of crappy.

Maybe this will be enough of a lesson to not eat this kind of stuff.  I think i am going to try and eat at home more.  All i want is meat and vegetables and fats, and its hard to get that kind of stuff at alot of places.  When we eat out its mostly either thai or mexican food, as its easy to find paleo friendly choices.

Anton

Week 2 of Paleo Eating

So its been almost two weeks eating Paleo style. Meats, veggies, fats,  a bit of fruit, and no processed carbs.  Overall i would say i have felt pretty good.  The first few days were rough, headaches and a feeling of constant hunger, even though i had just eaten.  Probably due to the fact that during my bulking diet my blood sugar was always high from the carbs and crappy food i was eating.  Starting the Paleo plan i made sure to take in plenty of protien from meats and healthy fats from nut butter, olive oil and meat.  I have been trying to average 2500 cal a day and 1.2 grams per pound of bodyweight in protien.

After a week of this i ended up at the Hawthorne Fish House with some friends, and was hungry.  Its a gluten free place, everything is fried in rice oil.  So i figured what the heck, and got a basket of chicken fingers and sweet potatoe fries (i don’t eat fish really).  Pretty tasty going down, but right after i felt a gnawing hunger in my stomach and just wanted to eat more, even though i had just consumed a bunch of food.  That was my reaction to all the carbs in my system after a week of being carb free.  And sweet potatoes are paleo approved.  Just not fried in rice oil.  So while the no gluten was definintely good, the carb bomb still was not.   I think the reason alot of this is hard for people in the beginning.  They are getting enough calories from Paleo food, but the body is used to that carb spike every few hours.  So after a few days of discipline you fall off the wagon and eat half a dozen doughnuts.  The key to this is eating plenty of fat and protien, which satiates your appetite.  And if you feel hungry wait half an hour.  Often that hunger is hormonal, as your body is craving the carbs.

After intense workouts or juijitsu sessions i make sure to take in plenty protien and often have a sweet potatoe, which minimally effects the blood sugar.  I like sweet potatoes, they are easy to nuke in the microwave and eat.

We’ll see how the rest of this goes.  After two weeks alot of people report they feel a mental fog being lifting and they have tons more energy.  Don’t think i have reached that point yet.  One thing i have noticed is my appetite the morning seems to have decreased.

Anton

Day 1 of Paleo Eating

Well i am back on a Paleo eating plan, unweighed and unmeasured for the moment.  I was dreading this after all the sugar and carbs i had been eating the past two months, but the first day was not awful.  Had three slices of bacon, three eggs and veggies for breakfast.  Pork carnitas with chard and green peppers in marinara sauce was my lunch.  For dinner it was chicken stir fry from New Seasons.  Over the course of the day i did feel some hunger and cravings, but plenty of fat from olives and nuts helped that.  Hopefully the next few days will be the same and then it can be smooth sailing.

Anton

Eating for weight gain

I’ll be kicking off Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength routine today.  I think i would function better with more muscle and less fat.  I could cut down at my present weight and probably be around 150, but i would not have any more muscle, and most of the guys in juijitsu are big enough as it is.  I would just get flung around on the mat.

I had been logging my food before for a bit but stopped due to laziness, i guess.  Today i started an account on FitDay.  Its pretty convenient, you just enter amounts of what you ate and it calculated all the nutrients.  I can see how much protein, fat, and carbs i am eating.

My plan is to simply lift hard and take in more calories then i expend, which should hopefully result in some muscle.  Starting Strength is three days a week, and ideally should be done on its own.  But i can’t bear to drop grappling, so i will have to manage the best i can and make sure i eat enough.  I am shooting for 3200 calories a day (bodyweight of 160lbs x 20) and will monitor from there.  If i gain weight to fast i will scale back, and if i am not putting anythig on i will have to up it.  I am initially trying to get all my calories from Paleo friendly sources, meat, lots of fat, nuts, veggies, and some carbs like sweet potatoes.  If adequte food intake becomes a problem then i will have to look at less acceptable sources like Burgerville (yum).

Since i started logging today and have been consciously trying to get enough food i have felt really good.   I realize now that previously in my day to day eating i was not getting nearly enough fat.  I have eaten a ton more fat today and have felt great, despite the limited carbs.

If you are interested in check out my Fitday log you can find it here.

I’ll post here at regularly people can see how this is all progressing.

Anton

Back On Coffee

Sorry no posts in a while. I have been pretty busy with stuff. This blog entry will kind of a multi topic update, then i will get something else out soon.

So i have been back on the coffee for about a week. Ahh sweet coffee. I just missed it to much. I guess on some level i obviously craved the caffine, but i feel i really missed the taste and smell. I have been limiting myself to regular cup or if i go out a 12oz size a day. I think that will be enough to let me enjoy it, and as long as i dont start drinking quad shots of espresso in the afternoon i should be ok.

I have discovered a new favorite breakfast item, Chicken chorizo. Its a mexican style sausage, and you can find it at Trader Joes. Other stores usually have the pork variety, which is tasty too, but the chicken version has more protein and is less fatty. An easy way to prepare it in the morning is to saute up some onions in olive oil, then cut open one end of the chorizo casing and squeeze it out into the pan. I usually use two links. Let it cook for a few then add some eggs and your veggies of choice, i like spinach, chard, broccoli, and green/red peppers. Mix this whole concoction together and when the eggs and chorizo are cooked you are done. This high protein meal combined with all the veggies should keep one full for a while. I can now eat breakfast in the morning and remain full till lunch at noon. Back when i was eating oatmeal or even eggs and veggies for breakfast i would be hungry again by ten. If some of you are looking for an easy filling breakfast give the chorizo dish a try.

I was up in Sequim, WA, this past weekend visiting family and my friend spotted what sounded like the most disgusting drink in a convenience store.

Bud Light combined with Calamto, which is apparently tomato juice and clam broth. I don’t think it can get worse than that. Take a crappy beer and combine it with something equally as bad. If anyone out there has tried one i want to hear about it!

Anton