PaleYo

Archive - January 2014

Why Grass Fed?

Total weight loss: 33.5 lbs.

I have never felt better.

Everyday I find out new things about this lifestyle.  I have been made more aware of why we need to eat grass fed meats and dairy, organic eggs and also, organic fruits.  It is imperative to eat grass fed meats!  What an animal eats has a huge influence on the nutritional value of what we consume.  Grass fed beef is generally leaner and lower in fat content than grain fed, and for all you calorie counters, that means less calories!  If Americans all went to grass fed beef, they claim obesity would be down by a lot…so, perhaps we should give it a try?  But if you as an individual start eating grass fed, you would probably lose 6 lbs. in a year, by just changing that alone.  Also, it is much higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, which helps fuel our brains.  There’s also a lot of other benefits to having an Omega 3 rich diet, go Google it.  Grass fed beef is the richest source of CLA…it’s one of our best defenses against cancer and tumor growth!  Bring on the vitamin E!  Win-win scenario.  So go do yourself a favor, and get GRASS FED!  This is a really good article I found on why we should eat grass fed beef.  I would definitely recommend checking it out if you get a chance.

Has anyone read the book “Eating on the Wild Side” by Jo Robinson?  I am thinking about picking it up.  I also found out that if you buy meat and it says “from Australia” or “from New Zealand”, then it’s most likely grass fed.  I found some of the meat from “down unda” in ShopRite.  The reason why most of the beef from there is grass fed, is mainly because the weather conditions are ideal to keep cattle grazing all year.  We do have grass fed cattle here in the US, too…check out U.S. Wellness Meats.  I’m going to order some stuff from there this weekend.  Thanks, Noah.  Set up a freezer in my garage again for the occasion.  :c)

My friend at work is fascinated with my lifestyle, and she showed me a video she found online.  The video was titled “My Potato Project; The Importance of ‘Organic’“.  This little girl conducted an experiment showing why organic was the way to go.  Basically, some stores use something called “bud nip” or Chlorpropham to keep the potatoes from sprouting vines on the shelves and when they are kept at your home, while studies show no confirmed cases of toxicity in humans after consumption (at least not from what I read), the argument she makes is rather interesting.  :c) Check it out if you have a few minutes.

“Losing a pound isn’t necessarily a reward.  Being healthy and feeling good about yourself is the reward.”

-Nancy Peterson-

 

Cracking the Code: Paleo and Workouts

All of the content written here is based solely on personal experience and things I have read.

Okay so we know Paleo is considered the Caveman diet, so essentially the working out part is based on the Caveman lifestyle.  It should mimic natural movements, so that means you don’t have to go spend 45 minutes on an elliptical at the gym (all the non-gymrats rejoice).  “I pick things up and put them down.”  Seriously, repotting some plants or moving rocks around the yard would be the ideal workout.

In my opinion, for anyone who just goes to the gym to run on the treadmill, cut it out.  That goes for anyone following Paleo and is trying to achieve maximum results!  If you are trying to lose weight and get fit, all that cardio won’t do much for you.  I read that it causes your adrenal and thyroid glands to get over worked…ANNNNND it can accelerate aging!  Yikes!  But, fear not!  If you like your cardio, then you should start doing it at a slower pace.  Hiking, riding a bike, snowboarding…they all fit the “slow and steady” category which is ideal for Paleo people.  And just for the record, the graphs and fancy things on a treadmill that track fat burning zones and whatever else, don’t believe them.  ’nuff said.

Paleo workouts should include movements that mimic and improve skills that would help us in the “wild”, so to speak.  Paleo and machines at the gym are not friends.  Go over and use the free weights.  Do some lunges, dips, and a few pull-ups.  You need workouts that will give you functionality strength.  You can integrate P90X into your workout regimen…if you don’t own it, get it!  The “Plyometric” DVD will be your BFF.

If you’re not an outdoor-sy kind of person, you should start getting more acquainted with the great outdoors.  Pull weeds, move rocks, wash your car, push the lawn mower…all of these types of activities are good!  I am a big fan of spending hours cooking.  I’m on my feet, walking around the kitchen, mixing things in bowls, cutting things up…and it’s been working for me.  Plus, the reward of the delicious food you create, makes all that hard work worth it.  Whatever you decide to do, be creative!

Paleo is all about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).  If you’ve heard about Crossfit, then you know all about HIIT.  That would be any workout that you alternate between intense bursts of activity and periods of less intense activity or complete rest.  (e.g. 1 minute sprint, 2 minute walk)  You will have better results doing 15 minutes/3 times a week of HIIT, than that guy that spends an hour jogging on a treadmill.  HIIT will help you  burn calories during your workout…as well as hours after your workout!  That sounds like a sweet deal to me.  All you have to do is get that heart rate up; push it to it’s limit.

Steady cardio will encourage muscle loss, so if you’re trying to maintain your muscles…2 words: HIIT and weights.  Your weight loss will come from the fat stored, not your hard earned muscles.  Let me try to give you a visual…we’ve all seen marathon runners, usually their stature is lean and fit, but if you look at Olympic sprinters, they are generally more muscular than the marathoner.  Marathoners do steady cardio, but the sprinter does HIIT.  Make sense?  You’ll burn more fat at high intensities for a longer period of time than at a steady state, and HIIT will be the key for this!

There’s also something called EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption).  With HIIT you increase your metabolism and your human growth hormone (HGH), this will keep you burning calories up to 24 hours after HIIT.  If you go for a jog, sad to say, but you burn almost ZERO calories afterwards.

I know that’s a lot to take in…but you got this!

For everyone just getting started with Paleo, check out the list on this site: Pillars of Paleo.

“Never say the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”

Milk…Does It Do A Body Good?

…in my opinion, no.

I used to be a HUGE milk drinker.  Whole milk-every day-pretty much with every meal.  As I entered my 20s I started to notice that the day after I would drink milk I would be terribly bloated with leg cramps and a headache.  I didn’t really attribute it to much, I simply cut down on how much I drank daily.  I also ate a lot of American cheese, not Kraft singles, the deli kind.  Since becoming Paleo, and cutting dairy out (except butter), I have felt significantly better.  Butter is mostly fat anyway, not much lactose, but I buy grass fed and I also use ghee (clarified butter).  <—if you haven’t bought it yet…do it…now!

I may have mentioned it before, and I’ll say it again: milk turns baby cows into big cows!  We needed milk when we are younger to help us grow and develop, and it also introduced a good form of bacteria to our gut flora.  But as grown adults, you don’t need to be growing.  I’m sure there are cases where people need to drink milk, but for most of us, we don’t need it.  Besides the fact that mammals shouldn’t be drinking other animals milk…we’re the only ones that do it!    We can get calcium from other sources.  Plus, almond milk is pretty good.  If you do want to consume dairy, fermented dairy is the best kind.  Fermentation helps get rid of most of the sugars too, so that’s way better for you!  Drinking calories will actually increase insulin response, so why even bother.  It isn’t that dairy isn’t nutritious, it’s just that there are other things far more nutritious to eat in place of dairy….fair enough?

Lactose and casein are pretty bad for us, as far as weight and insulin control go.  If you do buy your milk from the supermarket, that’s not a great choice.  The cows that produced that milk most likely had a diet of corn and soy…so when you consume that milk, you are also consuming that corn and soy!  And…if you drink skim milk, that means they “skim” the milk…leaving all the “important stuff” behind.  Oi vay.  Grain fed cows…they have high omega-6 fatty acids, and after awhile, elevated intake will cause inflammation, which by now we know, we avoid at all costs living Paleo because noone wants to be inflamed (that just sounds painful).   Lots of these cows are on growth hormones and antibiotics, when you drink their milk, you’re drinking the by product of what was given to them.  Stay far away!  We are sadly misinformed on so many things.

So for all the people who are anti-Paleo, and think the idea of eating like a caveman is ridiculous…foods are not rejected solely on the fact that caveman didn’t have them, we just like to have the evidence that the food choices we make have higher health benefits.  We are genetically adapted to living Paleo if you think about it.  It isn’t a diet made up by doctors and “experts”, this is how people lived…it’s “nature’s diet”.

Next on the agenda…

Do you suffer from osteoporosis, kidney stones, hypertension, asthma, insomnia, motion sickness, inner ear ringing, and/or exercise induced asthma?  If you answered yes to any of those, then I have a cool Paleo fact for you that will change your life (hopefully)!  People who follow a Paleo diet tend to have more alkalinity in their bodies because of the foods they eat, so any diseases related to an acid/base imbalance (listed above) will improve.  To all my vegan/vegetarian friends, Paleo is impossible for you.  Sorry.

Another note, I follow the recipes in the “Practical Paleo” book, but I have a few issues with them.  One, don’t assume that everyone knows how to cook poultry!  Her cook times stated are very short for a lot of the recipes, and the shopping lists are insufficient.  I printed out week 1, went shopping, and ended up having to make a few more trips to the store because certain key things were not on the list!  So for week 2 I will take her list, and go through all the recipes and make sure I write everything down.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t just have persimmons lying around.  Oh, and as if “Whole Paycheck (Foods)” wasn’t expensive enough…macadamia nuts, prevalent in a lot of her recipes thus far, are quite costly (for not that many)!  I’d rather fly to Hawaii, pick my own, and fly back.  Luckily they can be substituted for cashews.  I don’t want to break the bank, and I don’t think anyone should.  If you run into the same problems with the recipes, do a little research and do it within your means.  I want to encourage people to adopt this lifestyle, and in an affordable way (it’s possible).  I don’t want people to be discouraged by some of these “pricey” meals, or ingredients that you scour the earth in order to find.  Even that turns me off to it!

“You are only as strong as you allow yourself to be, never get discouraged, never give up.  Consistency and dedication is the key to success.”

Follow Me On Twitter @paleyoblog

Second day of my 30 day adventure.  Had some leftovers from yesterday, and a turkey leg for dinner.  It was interesting to say the least…not a fan of dark meat tho.  :c/   I got the recipe out of my Practical Paleo book, and the cook time stated is far too short!  Needless to say, we have a few people in this house with tummy aches.   So I put the other turkey leg back in the oven and cooked it on 425 for another hour or so.  Tomorrow, it’s lunch.  We’ll see how that goes…haha.

I’ve been reaching out to my twitter followers, asking them to share their stories with me about Paleo, or reading their blog…or anything really.  Hopefully someone responds.  If anyone reading this blog has a story they want to tell me, and I’ll share on my blog (with their permission), I’ll gladly do so.  You can reply to the post, or e-mail me at paleYoblog@gmail.com.  I really want to hear what everyone has to say!  You inspire me, honest.  So if you’re not following me on twitter yet…go do it!  @paleyoblog …let me know you found me from my blog.  I’m trying to reach new heights!

“I was smiling yesterday, I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow simply because life is too short to cry for anything.”

Cheers to a New You!

Hey there!

Hope everyone is leaping into the new year with inspiration and determination!

I started another 30 day plan today…so far, so good.  Crustless quiche with bacon for breakfast, and then some mustard glazed chicken thighs with a salad for lunch.  Yum.  I forgot how much fun it was to discover new foods.  It’s going to snow pretty bad, so I may be able to get a few meals prepped over the next two days.  In the meantime, I’m hoping that a few people in the Facebook group I created can get motivated and can get excited about trying this 30 day plan with me.  I’m no expert, and I’m not trying to be.  It just so happens that I tried something that worked for me, and I want people to know that if I pulled it off, anyone can.  I want to offer information about my personal endeavors…failures and successes.  I feel great, and I just want everyone else to feel great.  I managed to drop 32 lbs. in my 30th year…so going into my 31st, I’m aiming to lose some more.  I want to see more of a transformation from the gym by the end of the 30 days as one of my short term goals.  I’ll most likely take a picture at the beginning and end of every week, see how I’m progressing.

Anyone else doing a 30 day challenge?  Let me know how it’s going for you!

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”

-Hannah More-