Last Saturday, CrossFit MNL launched The Paleo Challenge 2 - Team Edition. To kick off the Challenge, it hosted a "seminar" on the Paleo diet. To those new to Paleo, I feel that the speaker's talk may have deterred, rather than encourage, the participants.
For instance, he spoke a lot about grass-fed beef and, of course, our ancestors only ate premium meat in those days seeing as everything back then was free-range and organic but, nowadays, especially here in the Philippines, our access to that kind of meat is next to nil, with most people too busy working to cook their own food and probably living in households where there are other non-Paleo eaters to feed and therefore have little to zero control over what they consume or how it is prepared.
Given these limitations, I would have encouraged the consumption of any and all types of meat and seafood, regardless of how they were raised or fed, as these would still be better than any of the big Paleo no-nos, namely grains, dairy, legumes, sugars and transfats.
The speaker also strongly discouraged the use of salt. FYI, salt is essential for good health, especially for those of us who work out like fiends and need to replace the salt we lose when we sweat. Low sodium intake can actually lead to health problems. I think the authors who discouraged too much salt in the diet were addressing the salt intake of the average American who consumes excessive amounts of processed foods. Once processed foods are eliminated on the Paleo diet, then the amount of sodium we use to flavor our food should be at a reasonable, wholly justifiable level.
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Of course, depending on who you are reading, whether it's Dr. Loren Cordain ("The Paleo Diet") or Mark Sisson ("The Primal Blueprint") or Robb Wolf ("The Paleo Solution"), there are all these different approaches as to what constitutes a Primal or Paleo diet. Bear in mind, that these books were written from a Western standpoint, addressing Western concerns (obesity, diabetes, etc.), with Western resources (berries, elk, bison, etc.).
The common denominators among the proponents of the Primal/Paleo lifestyle is the consumption of meat, seafood, and non-starchy vegetables, and the elimination of processed food, grains, legumes, and sugars. The jury seems to be out though regarding dairy, nuts, fruits, and starchy vegetables. In the case of the last three, if you're trying to lose weight then eat these in moderation. I would eliminate starchy vegetables completely.
In the case of dairy, milk sugar seems to be the major bone of contention, which is why some will allow it in the form of yogurt, ghee or full-fat cream because these contain negligible amounts of lactose. Personally, I would not have made all types of dairy a concession in the Paleo Challenge. It is a challenge after all and milk and milk products containing lactose should have, at the very least, been identified as undesirables.
One of the harshest lessons that I've learned by going Paleo is that, when you've been clean for a while, the moment you introduce a non-Paleo food into your system, your body almost instantly revolts against it. This seems to be a sure-fire way of letting you know what your body can and cannot have.
There are a lot of people out there who do not know that they are lactose intolerant. I certainly didn't know. For most of my life, I thought it was normal to live in discomfort. Until a few years ago, when I tried going without dairy and the pains and discomfort disappeared. I have a friend who is constantly nursing a cold. Allergies, he says, but to what he cannot say. I suspect he's lactose intolerant. But he won't ever know that until he stops taking dairy.
During the talk, a question was raised regarding eggs. How many a day? Is two too much? The speaker replied that one - including the yolk - per day was good but that one could have unlimited egg whites. I'm not sure what the logic behind this was. If the concern is cholesterol, Paleo requires the consumption of large amounts of protein and anything that has a face (or the potential to have a face, such as an egg) is a protein source. That means animals, which means cholesterol, and if Paleo doesn't have a problem with meat then it shouldn't have a problem with eggs. And if you've done your research, you'll know that all the nutrients of an egg are in its yolk. Here's are some good links on eggs:
An Eggyolk A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
Eggs For Good Health
In my research on the Paleo diet, the data being unearthed by the new Paleo-logists debunks a lot of conventional wisdom regarding diet and exercise, requiring a paradigm shift that may be difficult for most to swallow, especially after being fed with erroneous data for so long. Cholesterol, for example, has been demonized so much by medical science that instead of it being seen as a symptom of a disease, it's seen as the cause. (Read here on why cholesterol is not bad for you.)
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Since I've started Paleo, eggs have become my staple. Hard-boiled eggs are the easiest to have on hand. The maid boils a few of them for me in advance and I'll have one or two when I get home after CrossFit. If there are extra, I'll keep them in the fridge and snack on them whenever I get hungry.
And then there's the subject of fat. I seriously doubt if our ancestors trimmed the fat off of anything. Again, I know they had the best-raised, quality meat available to them but Paleo requires a rather large consumption of fat and it's the fat that you cook with that they are more concerned about. That would be corn oil, peanut oil, soybean oil and grapeseed oil. Go for lard, coconut oil or ghee when cooking with high-heat. Use olive oil for salads.
Then there's the touchy subject of "cheat days", which I brought up with CrossFit MNL. Correct me if I am wrong but the whole point of going through a challenge is to challenge yourself, right? The very concept of a cheat day, for me, immediately puts Paleo into the category of a fad diet. (Here's a good discussion on cheat days on Paleo Hacks.) I seriously don't know how anyone could adopt a Paleo diet and not, eventually, make it a lifestyle choice. Cheating on it causes you so much pain that you just find yourself automatically making more sensible choices when eating. And the fact that a small dose of gluten sets one's progress back by two weeks kinda defeats the whole purpose of getting healthy, doesn't it? So to have an officially sanctioned cheat day to me is just absurd. I would give plus points for those who don't have cheat days and big minuses for those who have gluten even on cheat days.
Not that I don't cheat. If you've read my past entries, you'll know that I do. For one, I drink whenever I go out. But, as much as possible, I try to go with Paleo-approved cheats such as red wine (fruit-based), tequila (plant-based) or vodka (grain or potato-based). Big minus points should be allotted for beer, since it contains gluten. (Have your spirits on the rocks or with soda water. Diluted is best, of course, so that you can nurse your drink and consume less alcohol in the course of the evening, unlike if you opted to do shots).
We'll always be tempted by something and it is inevitable that we'll fall off the wagon but penciling it in is making it a habit. You don't want to fall off the wagon habitually. It should be an exception, not the rule.
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And no one should ever give someone like myself a 24-hour free pass. Oh, the damage I could do... If you only knew what I consumed, in the eight hour period alone before I called a cease-fire to the assault on my body, you'd be shocked. Suffice it to say that, the whole of Saturday, I felt like throwing up. I didn't think I'd be able to go through the 4 PM WOD without a visit from Mr. Pukey because, even before we began, I could feel the excesses of the previous evening backing up in my throat.
Having said all that, whichever Paleo approach you eventually subscribe to, some Paleo effort is better than none and I wish all the participants in The Paleo Challenge 2 good luck! (Especially to my teammates, Nickey and Herb!)
Some Paleo Advice
I started doing Paleo some time in August. I haven't always been strict about it and had those notorious falls from grace. But no matter how far I fall from the wagon, the important thing is that I've gotten back on it again.
I started out with my weight at 120 lbs. My target weight was 115 lbs. but I must have shot down to 114 lbs. around the time I was on hospital duty when my father got sick (last Sept. 17-24). There wasn't much I could eat so I lived on hard-boiled eggs and bananas, and the occasional roast chicken whenever I could nip down to the restaurant across the street. Of course, after last week's binging, I dread getting back on a scale again.
So far, this is where I am at.
Since grass-fed meat isn't easily accessible, grain-fed will have to do so I don't stress over where or how my protein source was raised. Although for those of you who do want to give grass-fed beef a try, you might want to check out Juan Market. I haven't ordered from them yet so, if you do, please give me some feedback.
At the Paleo seminar, CrossFit MNL invited ice cream makers who produced ice cream from coconut milk, and a pastry chef who baked cookies from banana flour. They tasted a bit odd to me but, if you're curious, here are their details:
Fog City Creamery
Kate Baked: [email protected], +63-917-836-9112
Sarah Fragoso, in her book, "Everyday Paleo", uses coconut flour. She is raising three children on Paleo and uses coconut flour as a substitute for breading in fried food, something I sorely miss. I've found a recipe online and will try to make some this weekend when I am in Siargao.
Re sweets, whenever I have a sweet craving, I have some fresh fruit. When I am in Siargao, my breakfast is similar to the one that I had when I went on raw food. A selection of cut-up fruit (bananas, papaya, mangoes, etc., except for watermelon) with coconut milk and coconut flakes. And the maid always has a pitcher of fresh coconut water for me in the refrigerator.
I'm now trying to add more green, leafy vegetables to my diet, as well as cruciferous ones such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.
I try to avoid vinegar but won't beat myself up if I have some as fermentation is a natural process. Balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar are in the shopping lists of both Rob Wolf and Sarah Fragoso, and I'm sure that if they were in the Philippines, they'd list cane and coconut vinegar as well. But I've already gotten into the habit of having my salads with just lemon. Or I'll pile whatever meat I am having on it so that the flavor and juices run on the greens to give the salad some flavor.
The maid knows that only salt, pepper and herbs can go into my food. I need to convince her to start cooking sinigang from scratch, with real tamarind rather than using a mix. Fish sauce, I am fine with although I still have to look for a more Paleo-friendly fish sauce. No flour, soy sauce, or any artificial flavoring. None of that Knorr or Maggi stuff. I try to avoid anything cooked in packaged tomato sauce but don't stress about it if that's the only option I have.
I've started reading food labels. If you find labels confusing, a good rule of thumb would be to go with things that list only "one ingredient" that occur naturally in nature and is edible on its own. For instance, if a fish sauce brand only listed "anchovies" and "salt" as its ingredients, my life would be tangier! I know what an anchovy is and I know what salt is. But if it includes "natural coloring" and "artificial sweeteners" and some chemical compound I can't pronounce, I should keep searching for a better fish sauce.
Recommended Articles:
5 Reasons To Follow A Caveman Diet
Jenn's Paleo Journey
Should You Be Eating Like The Caveman?
The New Age Cavemen And The City
Recommended Blogs:
Everyday Paleo
Mark's Daily Apple
Nom Nom Paleo
Paleo Diet Lifestyle
Robb Wolf
