On Feb 19, 2006, at 8:23 pm, Greg Davis wrote:
> I got into paleo mainly from reading De Vany's blog but also
> because I was in to weight training and found that the conventional
> dogma of stuffing your face full of as much calories as possible
> couldn't be very healthy long term (plus I don't like wasting money
> on food). So I sought the most efficient way to keep muscle on and
> feel good about my diet.
I've never looked into this in detail, but for a long time I've
assumed that the stress hormones your body has to release to maintain
adequate blood sugar when you constantly stuff your face with starch
is one of the biggest causes of muscle loss. Wild animals and non-
domesticated people do not lose muscle if they go without exercise;
gym bunnies who go from 4 hours' training a day to nil turn into
balls of flab almost over night. I like the idea that if I train
myself into the ground one day, that training is still with me weeks
later.
> Since I still consider myself to be a paleo rookie I am still a
> little paranoid that I might need to add some more carbs in.
I was scared of eating fat at first, but that was 90% mental
conditioning. You probably think you need carbs because you never
went a day in your life without them before you started paleo. I
find it helps to assume that the exact OPPOSITE of everything they
tell you is true... that way there's not much to learn :)
> Intense exercise is an every day thing for me and I am naturally
> lean to begin with. If anything I'm considering adding some ground
> quinoa or amaranth to my nut flour pumpkin bread that I like to
> snack on with meals. Or maybe I should just eat more fruit.
Do you feel weak on your current low-carb diet, or do you find
yourself unable to train as hard/long as you want? If you are
frequently training to the point of collapse, maybe you should add
some fruit in your diet to replenish your glycogen faster. But if
you are really training that hard - maybe you should ask yourself
why? Like I said before, once you have the muscle structure you want
you shouldn't need to work hard to maintain it. If you want to stay
fit, maybe you would benefit from something complementary like
swimming, running, climbing, yoga, etc. That way you're giving your
body a broader workout.
I recently got into a heated debate on the Runner's World website
(which is now over THANK GOD) about why high-carb is bad for
generally bad for stamina in general people ( they lost, but they
don't realise it :D ). Unfortunately, a lot of them turned out to be
competition runners obsessed with training every waking hour and
squeezing every last stride out of their bodies. If you train *that*
hard you might need carbs to keep your muscles going, but if you are
content to be 99% fit instead of 99.999% fit, don't bother. The
stress from worrying if you should eat quinoa or amaranth is just
eating at your muscles ;)
> Intermittent fasting works well for me, on days where I fast I feel
> very alert and productive. Curious to hear other people's
> experience with this.
This is a recent news article about intermittent fasting, although it
doesn't appear to realise it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4723162.stm
Intermittent fasting can apparently increase your life-span up to 50%
but don't ask me to support that specific figure. The most common
pattern studied is alternate day feeding. If you can manage one or
two meals every other day, you will naturally eat less and save even
more money. And you can invest the difference in a pension fund,
which you will enjoy for *even longer*. It's win win win!
My problem is that 20 years of food intolerance burnt my adrenal
glands out, and they are very reluctant to recover. So while I get
by fasting in the day, and occasionally skipping days or eating very
little, I don't get many of the benefits of fasting. IE I feel like
crap whether I feast or fast - just a lot less like crap than when I
was eating non-paleo.
Ashley
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