Hello!
This blog post isn't a recipe, but more about information.
I have been intrigued by paleo for some time now and after months (years?) of clean eating and pretty regular exercise with no real results, I decided to look more into it.
I've been following @crossfitchemist for a long time and have always looked at her food pictures and though "THAT LOOKS SO GOOD!" or "I WANT BACON TOO!" Maybe mostly the second one...
After a few conversations regarding diet, she suggested I read It Starts With Food.
I immediately fell in love with the concept.
Eating foods that make you feel good.
Eating foods that encourage a healthy physical and psychological response.
Makes sense, right?
The part that has stuck to me the most has been the bit about digestion/knowing when you're full.
10,000 years ago, humans had to hunt/forage for their food. We obviously don't have to do that anymore and a lot of foods and made full of chemicals and artificial ingredients to keep costs low and profits high.
The problem with this, is our system isn't made to digest these chemicals and they honestly do nothing for you. They don't make you feel good, they don't make you look good, they're just not contributing anything to you at all.
The way your gut works is that your nutrition is absorbed through your intestine and once enough nutrition has passed through, your brain gets a signal to stop eating because you have absorbed enough nutrition.
These macronutrients your intestine is looking for are fat, carbohydrates and protein.
Let's say you have one plate of chicken, quinoa and vegetables and another plate with candy.
You eat the balanced meal with vegetables, chicken and quinoa and get a proper response at a proper time since your food is whole and nutritious.
If you're eating candy, you're eating a copious amount of "food" but since you're not absorbing any proper nutrition, your body doesn't get the signals to stop eating and you end up overeating.
I swear, when I read this, it all made sense and it was like a lightbulb went off.
Of course you eat more food if it's not doing anything for your body because it's craving proper nutrition and since you aren't giving it any, it keeps asking for more food, hoping you'll give it something it can use.
Probably my favourite part of the paleo system is that you're given the knowledge of what food are good for you and which are bad. You're obviously encouraged to make wise choices, but there are NO restrictions. If you want to cheat, you cheat. But you know you're not helping your body out.
After I started reading the book, I went gluten free for about four days. A Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
When I went back to work on Monday, I didn't pack a lunch and decided to get subway and got flatbread. As soon as I took bite, I got a big belly ache. My body had already gotten used to using something OTHER than gluten for nutrition. (Gluten is actually useless to our body but that's another blog post. This post is already getting too long.)
Anyway, that was a bit of a rant/ramble but all this to say basically that this is something I'll be writing more about and hopefully providing some paleo recipes and results and encouragement.
Another concept proposed in the book is something called Whole30.
This program (I HATE the word diet) is a way to reset your body, get it used to eating real, whole, unprocessed food. No cheats. No sugar. No alcohol. Thirty days.
I'm planning mine for September 2013, so I'm sure some posts will come from that as well.
If you have any questions, so NOT hesitate to send them in the comments, or email budgetfriendlytrophy@gmail.com and I'll do my best to give you a proper and prompt reply.
xo D.
