Living La Vida Paleo

I mentioned on my weight loss page that I began reading about a paleo lifestyle around Halloween this past year and gave it a trial run between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The trial was successful and so the husband and I decided to give it a real honest shot after the New Year. Beginning once I was home on the 2nd we cleaned out the non-paleo foods from the pantry and went shopping. Eating paleo means meat, lots of veggies, some fruit, healthy fats and saying no to starches and sugar. The basic idea is to eat like out hunter-gatherer ancestors prior to the agricultural shift. That means no corn, no wheat, no dairy and trying to eat as little processed food as possible. My favorite explanations of the paleo lifestyle comes from Sarah Fragoso of www.everydaypaleo.com. She explains how simple it really is, no counting, no measuring just eating good food and being more active. The first book I read though was from Robb Wolf called The Paleo Solution. In his book Robb explains the science behind the lifestyle and my nerdy side really connected with it.

One of the interesting conundrums about paleo is that cardio is discouraged or at least our traditional notions of what cardio does for your body are discouraged. If you think about it, the hunter-gatherer did much more walking with bursts of all out run-for-your-life moments than running at the same speed for hours on end. She also did more heavy lifting. So, while I really enjoy running I think I'm going to try and shift my exercise focus once the marathon is over. More heavy lifting, less running.

So, how is all of this working out for us? Well, we have managed to eat out about 5 times in the last two weeks while only eating non-paleo foods once and I'm down 9 pounds. I'd say that's pretty darn good. I have energy when I run, which I was concerned about given the decrease in starchy carbs. Overall I feel really good and I haven't struggled with the crazy cravings nearly as much as I thought I would. I have indulged in some dark chocolate once and I made some cookies last night using almond butter and chocolate chips (not strictly paleo but not bad considering my goal is 95%). I plan to keep on keeping on and I'll check in again in a few weeks.