I stumbled upon some information last week regarding the ‘Paleo Diet’ – I’m not even sure how I got there, but it looked interesting, and after reading the basics on several websites (including a great article at NerdFitness!) I thought I’d give it a shot. The one sentence pitch is “Grain is (evolutionarily speaking) a recent developement. We haven’t had time to evolve to deal with it. Avoid.”
I think part of the attraction for me is that there’s not a whole lot of serious food denial involved. Hell, who doesn’t love a juicy steak – and I tend to eat a lot of chicken naturally, so that’s a good fit, and I’ve always loved nuts – cashews and almonds in particular. I started about halfway through last week – I stopped getting the regular breakfast and lunch food that I get at the airport, and decided to go for Panda Express – specifically Steamed veggies, Beef and Broccoli, and Chicken and Mushroom. This week, I’ve (I think) really stepped up my avoidance of ‘grainy’ food. I ate the 7 chocolate chip cookies that Ann left behind for me when she went camping. There have been some M&Ms in the trail mix that we had in the house. I’m on the fence as to whether Corn on the Cob fits more in the ‘grain – avoid’ or ‘vegetable – nummy!’ category.
On Monday, I cooked a 3.5 pound roast that had been in the freezer since May. I browned the roast in some olive oil, then started cooking a couple of onions in the drippings. Put that into the crockpot with some carrots and (since I didn’t have any diced tomatos handy) a jar of salsa. Cooked that for around 4 hours on high, and another 1 on low. *eyes roll back in head* That. Was. YUMMMMMY. *and* it fed me (stuffed full!) for the better part of 4 days.
Tuesday, I decided to see what drive-through damage I could do, and I went to KFC and got their 8 piece Family Meal in the new ‘grilled’ recipe (breading is grains), Coleslaw (veggies, and I’ve loved that stuff since I was a kid. I’m sure there’s a little bit of sugar in it, but I’m not being super ultra hardcore…yet), and Corn on the Cob. Kept me fed (again, pretty much feeling full most of the time) for lunch, dinner, breakfast, and a snack on Wednesday afternoon.
Keeping in mind that I’ve been on vacation this whole week (and have 3.5 more days to go), and that I’ve been sitting at my laptop at the kitchen table for the vast majority of this time working on music to play in Lord of the Rings Online)…
Last Friday morning, I got on the scale and was 245.0 pounds.
This morning I was 237.2.
I’m sold.