Paleo/Primal Eating

So a friend of mine asked me what my thoughts on the Paleo "diet" are, and if I would blog about it. So here are my thoughts.

Since deciding to get healthy, I have been making a conscious effort to read more about food & nutrition. While I still have A TON to learn, I am picking up more things here and there. My journey to get healthy has evolved quite a bit over the last two years. Two years ago, my main goal was to log my food and make healthier choices. At that time, healthier choices were adding more salads into the mix, doing more of my own cooking, mixing in some veggies, and essentially eating food that I considered "healthier." There was a time where I wasn't eating breakfast, so when I began to log my food/calories, I was eating Nutrigrain bars. I was also eating a lot of oatmeal, and not the best kind either. I was buying the packaged oatmeal with the variety of flavors. You know, the oatmeal FULL of sugar. Yeah, that's the one. At the time, what I was eating was healthier than my previous diet full of fast food. But while I was eating "healthier" than I had been before, I was still eating things that were really not the best option for me.

As things progressed, I wanted to cut out more of the processed food I was eating, and opt for healthier foods. Around that time my friend Katie and her husband Fonz had joined Crossfit and they were beginning to eat Paleo. Intrigued, I had Katie explain it to me, which lead me to read about it online. I toyed with the idea for awhile before I took the plunge and decided to try it out.

Would I consider myself Paleo?? No, I wouldn't. I'm not quite on that level yet, and I'm not 100% sure that is the right path for me. If anything, I would consider myself more Primal, and somewhat loose at that, though I'm working on it. There is a difference, and I will explain and provide some links as well. Please note, I could be wrong in my explanations here, this is just what I've picked up via internet research. But I consider myself more Primal as I have yet to cut out dairy and grains completely yet. I still have milk from time to time, I love cheese, and I do find myself eating some grains upon occasion.

The thing is, both Paleo & Primal are very similar. What they both have in common, the need to eat REAL food. Both diets cut out processed foods & sugars, and aim for diets with animal protein/fats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Basically if a caveman could have eaten it, it's fair game. There is more to Paleo & Primal, so I've put some links below for your reading pleasure.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz2NCVuYZ18

http://www.foodrenegade.com/why-i-heart-paleo-primal-wapf-diets/

Now to answer your questions as to why I chose to go the more Paleo/Primal route. To me it really just is a no-brainer. Often times before I opted to eat more Paleo/Primal, I would find myself hungry with very little left for my daily calories. As I started to eat more protein, and fill my side dishes with veggies, I was full longer and had less cravings. And honestly, I felt good. When I made the switch toward the Paleo/Primal direction, I was a little hesitant at first, but after about a month or so of it I felt a change. I felt better, which is not surprising since I was eating REAL and better food than I was before.

Another reason why I chose Paleo/Primal... I've seen it work. As I stated above, my friend Katie & her husband Fonz have been doing the Paleo thing as well as Crossfit, and I've seen the success they have had with it. Katie has been working on getting back into the swing of Crossfit & eating a stricter Paleo diet, and has toned up and lost some weight. Fonz on the other hand went into Crossfit & Paleo full force and lost quite a bit of weight. We're talking over a hundred pounds in a ten month time period. So I've seen that, when you really put in the work, you can be successful. So seeing the differences in my friends, and having their support, I decided to go the Paleo/Primal route. And hopefully soon I'll be incorporating a very modified version of Crossfit. But that is a post for another time.

If anyone would like a more in depth blog post about this, I can definitely work on that. As I said, I'm still learning and will share any new information I come across if you want to read it. :)