Thanks for all the inspiration Ro. You've made my day. But really.... brocolli? You're not suggesting that I'm going to start eating brocolli. omg. (maybe someday- for the time being, I'm happy with my other veggies). lol
One thing I failed to mention to Jessica - if you're anything like me, overly logical and skeptical - read Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories. I've bought multiple copies and have been handing them out to my friends. The book has made it so much easier for me psychologically to do this.
gale
Ro <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi, Jessica, welcome to paleo eating!
After improving my health (not counting still having RSD), and losing 270
pounds through paleo eating, I can pretty much tell you with authority some
things that worked for me. Everyone's mileage varies, even on paleo.
Especially on paleo, given it's so theory-driven.
1. Read the list archives, and the recipe archives. (also linked from one of
the archive pages, from a paleo recipe List that existed).
2. As someone said, completely wipe out one's pantry and fridge of
non-paleo. Invest in a second fridge and freezer for garage, if able. I
keep the bulk of my vegetables (a couple of bunches of collards would
otherwise take up a whole shelf in my inside fridge, for example) and fresh
foods in outside fridge, freeing up inside fridge for containers of cooked
food and the next wave of thawed/fresh ready-to-cook food. I keep a
six-month supply where possible of grass-fed beef and wildcaught fish in
outside fridge. I keep a 'meat' bowl inside fridge outside, and routinely
move meat from freezer to fridge to thaw on a regular menu cycle. (bowl is
for catching juices if the vaccum pack from supplier fails).
3. Change one's mindset to FOOD = DRUG. Or if you prefer, FOOD =
BIOMEDICAL CHEMISTRY. Once it's all bits and bobs of compounds broken down
and floating around inside you, a piece of brocolli is on the same level as
a bit of aspirin, in terms of it's just chemicals acting on/being acted on
in your body.
4. Write down how you feel, today. Take note of things that you have no
idea why you feel that way--minor aches and pains, chronic sinus headaches),
insomnia, swelling joints, tiredness, whatever. Make a note along of what
seems to be getting better "on it's own". It's easy later on to feel so
good, you forget what it was like, and how far you've come. Seriously--do
this! Make documentary video of how you are now--waking, walking, eating,
feeling.
5. Find the best sources of meat possible. Even if it means going out of
state with some coolers and dry ice twice a year (don't have to do that now,
thank goodness; though if Ga drought continues, heaven help my grassfed beef
supplier, sigh).
6. Don't make yourself crazy. I'll repeat this one: don't make yourself
crazy. Don't try to do everything right the first while. The most
important things are drop bread and grains, and milk. Don't freak if you're
not a pemmican maker. I never did that. Paleo "close enough" can be
considered as much fresh food as possible, eschewing processing and
additives, focusing on simply baked or broiled meats, plenty of fresh
colorful veggies and dark greens, and a little fruit and nuts (if you can
tolerate; some can't, or not certain nuts), and good oils. You have to
listen to your body and decide what's good. For me, that was a minimum of
oils, mostly fats from nuts, avocado, extra virgin coconut oil, and olive
oil, and now avocado oil, since I can find it in health food store. Once
you get a cooking/eating rhythm down, you can delve deeper into paleo, tweak
your menus. For instance, making smoothie bases. Rely on what you make, vs
trying to buy gimmicky nutrition bars (full of naughty sugars and
ingredients) or specially prepackaged foods. It's cheaper and better for
you, once you get the hang of it, it's even easy.
7. Get the book "The Garden of Eating" by Rachel Matesz. Rachel used to
be on the paleo list, and while her book is not strictly paleo, it's the
best/closest thing for me out there, plus it's full of a lot of useful tips
on how to streamline what is the most used personal resource on paleo--time.
Realize cooking everything fresh takes time and getting used to the
investment of that time. She has a LOT of pointers for streamlining
shopping and food prep. This can make or break you, on paleo--the time
factor. Respect it. Work it. Develop a system.
http://www.thegardenofeatingdiet.com/Index.asp
8. Learn to do a few cookings a week of certain proteins, and fill in with
steaming veggies during week, and keeping a fresh cutup fruit bowl in
fridge, always some boiled eggs or smoothie base or leftover meat or veg or
salad on hand. Trying to start everything from scratch, every meal, mostly
doesn't work in our modern lives. PIck and choose what can reheat (I
personally never use microwave to reheat; I steam or oven or pan saute
reheat) and what is better done at last minute fresh.
7. Keep some smoothie base in freezer, in personally-sized increments, for
making those occasional meals on a run, when just have to get out the door
soon. It's easy to plop the base and some fresh/frozen organic fruit into
a blender, dump in a travel cup with straw, and go. These are higher in
fruit-type carbs, so I don't use this constantly, but they are a very useful
staple of my diet. That or grab a boiled egg and a piece of cooked chicken
real quick. Never don't have some cooked protein at least on hand. The
worst thing is to not eat enough, esp protein. I make my smoothie base from
one of Rachel's base recipes, using powdered egg whites ordered online. (no
whey or soy protein powders for me).
8. Vary your menu/eating rhythms. I found when I would get in a rut,
things would slow. Variety in food is good; we don't know exactly what
paleo eating was, and we can only approximate it anyhow with modern
foodstuffs, so by eating a variety of paleo-friendly foods, we lessen the
chances of getting too much of any one thing 'bad' and heighten our chances
of not missing out on something 'good' for us. Also, much less boring,
which helps with compliance, as the docs would say. Varying my eating
rhythms seemed, to me, to keep my body from getting in a metabolic rut. I
will occasionally semi-fast for a day, just to give my body a break (not
often). I will sometimes eat supper at breakfast, or not eat fruit for a
few days, just meat and greens/veg, and a few nuts. Theory there is to
mimic natural hunter-gather cycles of Ok I brought down a gazelle today, but
on another day we're treking and have not so much to eat. That's an awfully
rough way to explain it, but you get the idea.
9. Read Lablels. Read books on how to read labels (there are such). I
didn't know that Natural Flavorings, or Spices, could allow processors to,
with Fed approval, put not so good for us (in some people's opinions)
processed additives, etc, into our food. Really, avoiding most of the
middle of a grocery store is a good idea.
10. Stop trying to explain/jusitfy yourself to others. Let how you are
feeilng/looking/being be your testimonial or "proof of theory", then direct
them to the web after a brief explanation.
11. Internet shop. I order raw nuts, egg white powder, coconut oil, etc.
Not to mention cooking tools, like microplane graters.
11. b. Invest in a really dencent set of saute pans, a steamer insert or
several, and a powerful blender. I used a Vita-mixer. Won't regret the
investment in stuff you use constantly.
12. Plan ahead. Plan for times you have come home from work, stopped by
the store, have to still put up groceries, and suddenly just don't feel like
starting a meal. Plan for time crunches. Plan for times you can't your
wildfish or beef or favorite oil. Have options, or just wing it as best
possible. Don't use those as excuses, but don't a let a 'supper' of some
eggs and a piece of scrounged pear, or a moment of omg I used regular olive
oil vs extra virgin freak you out.
13. Eat smaller meals more frequently, but still some bigger meals less
frequently. Again, vary things up a lot. I found my appetite (ie HUNGER)
substantially decreased on paleo unlike it had ever done with any other way
of eating.
14. Be prepared for a possible (not guaranteed) rocky first 3 weeks or so.
My body was SO far gone on SAD (Sad/Standard American Diet), that it was
like What-in-ever-loving-hades are you DOING to me, woman??? I felt weird
and cranky at times and I found myself going to the bathroom a lot. I felt
totally overwhelmed with the new ways of shopping, planning, cooking, and
esp EATING vegetables. But I kept on. Total immersion worked for me, not
doing it a little at first. Sink or swim. You suddenly realize your joints
don't hurt so much one morning. Wow, no sinus headache for three days in a
row. These things keep you going. Celebrate them.
15. Get off your own back, especially if you're a perfectionist. Roll with
the paleo punches. If you slide, look at those things you wrote down about
how you used to feel, and remind yourself of how much better you feel now.
If you 'slide', then celebrate being human, but don't use it as an excuse.
I used to repeat "Anything is better than where I used to be." a lot.
Even eating brocolli.
16. Learn to cook. Don't laugh. I was astounded the first time I ate
brocolli that I had steamed myself, without having it yellow-green and
limply overcooked or cold (eww), with a little added chopped red bell
pepper. Wow, this is really edible, I thought. Realize that there are
really ways to prepare things so they are, in fact, almost good lol.
17. True hunger is the best seasoning. You will find you will relish some
piece of fresh and vibrant food that in the Dark Days, when you used to eat
potato chips and ice cream for dinner, you would've ordinarily thought uck
about. But don't always wait until you are hungry to eat, because then you
tend to grab whatever. Think of your body as a fuel machine, and keep it
stocked. Also realize your hunger will often diminish a LOT on paleo, so
using that as a guide for when to eat doesn't always work. It's like by the
time you have a dehydration headache, it's already past time to drink
something; by the time you're really starved, it's past time to have eaten.
I mostly eat small bits every few hours, and sometimes or mediumly-bigger
meals 4 or 5 hours apart.
18. Celebrate every day what waking up feeling clean-eyed and busy-tailed
feels like! I really never knew this feeling before. I thought Well, wow.
No wonder other people manage to get out of bed in the morning and bounce
to work, if this is even close to how they feel. Be prepared to be
surprised.
19. Food is a drug. This mindset really bears repeating. Nothing is
really inert. Everything we consume or even inhale or absorb has a
biochemical reaction/consequence.
20. Avoid high-temperature meat cooking where possible. I prefer not to
add a lot of possible carceniogens by frying/high temp grilling of my meats.
I tend to do a lot of braising, baking, steaming, and gentle broiling. I
tend to avoid long-time cooking of proteins like in a slow-cooker or
crockpot, as I have read things about what this does to the protein's
structure that gives me pause. You have to do your own reading and make up
your own mind.
21. Don't keep your mind made up. Keep reading, keep trying things (for
more than a single meal), to see how you feel. Once I was "on Paleo" for a
long time, it was easier to see how changes affected me, because I could
borrow the scientific methodology (or nearly) of change one thing at a time,
and see what happens. Not confusing the issue with multiple changes at
once. For instance, I eventually eschewed the microwave, no matter how
time-saving, and also the crockpot and mostly charcoal grilling (ok yes
Fourth of July must mean a grilled burger by the pool. Sue me.)
22. Enlist help. Spouses will see how you become, and want in on the act,
often. Kids can be amazingly helpful with the right attitude from you.
Heck, start a paleo club or group in your area or church or whatever. I've
had so many people ask me about it, that I have thought about running a
Beginning Paleo group. My doctor, astounded by my changes over the years,
likes to parade me in front of her other patients when I visit and have me
sing the praises of good nutrition. She has come around, notes paleo
articles in the Mayo Journal, and considers me an example of how she as a
medical professional should practice a little humility and open-mindedness
to new ideas alongside her traditonal SADrN (Standard American Doctor-ness)
(yes, I just made that up). And she now presses for nutrition to be
emphasized much more in medical school.
23. Have sex a lot. Ok, perhaps this isn't paleo, but omg my hormones
really reset themselves after awhile. And really, if you have a partner,
what can it hurt? ;-) I'm just saying, enjoy life.
Hope these help!
Yours in paleonutrition,
Ro
On Jan 29, 2008 8:06 PM, Jessica Baker-Beasley
wrote:
> As my subject suggests, I am just starting out on the Paleo eating path.
> I
> first read about it in a newspaper, then started researching. To me, it
> just makes sense. But I was wondering if anyone could offer any
> advice/help/support/tips/info/whatever that helped them when they first
> started??? It's a lot of information to adapt & changes to make, so any
> tips would be greatly appreciated!!
>
> Jessica
>
>
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