Knowing that I usually turn to comfort food in times of high stress, and wanting to feel the satiety I've been missing since the DepTran incident, I decided to add the occasional batch of low-carb veggies back into my repertoire to help avoid the temptation of eating more and more calorie-dense meats & eggs. I did have one rather debilitating macadamia & cashew binge around hour 70 of the past working "week", but other than that I've been eating delicious meals along the typical pattern of a smaller morning meal of meat & eggs, and a larger dinner of the same with some veggies if desired. As I explained to one of my gobsmacked cast members, I only eat cabbage and zucchini when my moods tell me I could use a sugar fix :P My energy levels have not wavered at all over the past, well, months really, and my digestion hasn't been as troubled with the addition of veggies as it has been in the past, though the nuts sure had an impact.
So here are the past ten days worth of eats, in chronological order, ending with tonight's perfect cold winter night meal - Coconut Chicken Curry! If you're not sure what you're looking at, just hover your cursor over the image and all will become clear...
With the run of show performances dominating my life for the next few days, I'll be sticking to my little morning meals - possibly protein shakes to maximise my sleep - and my larger dinners, which will usually be prepared by my primal-convert Mum! She's coming up to stay while she takes a break from her own stressful job, and will be running food up to me as there will not be time for me to get home in between teaching hours and the beginning of show preparations. So much hair to finger-wave, so little time to chow down! I look forward to photographing and sharing her efforts with you all soon.
Roll on Sunday...
I cut out grains, sugar and starches at the beginning of 2009. I have been keeping a journal as I have progressively shed my bulges and my processed foods. I am aiming to live a clean, primal lifestyle, and I wish to share my eating habits with those who wish to clean up their lifestyle and live happily and healthfully. As the cliche states - if I can do it, so can everybody else.
16 comments:
That lamb rack looks absolutely amazing. Yum!
All the best for tomorrow! Give your mum my love.
xx
Best of luck with your production! It all sounds so awesome and exciting...yay!
Loving the photos of the food, they give me great ideas on what to feed my fiance. I'm trying to convert him to a primal diet like yours, but he's pretty stubborn (and addicted to sugar, refined carbs and other junk). Tips, hints or ideas please!!
I eat a more paleo kind of diet (because I basically HAVE to eat copious amounts of fruit as I love it so much), but he hates veges and fruit so a more fat-based, animal-based diet seems perfect for him. He needs to loose some chubbiness! :)
Anyways, keep up the primalness and take care of yourself over this stressful period x x x
Thanks Liz! Will do!
Hey Grrrl, thanks for the wishes! My beau was a sugar junkie too, but when I stopped feeding him starch and he saw the weight start falling off, he skips the sweets on his own most of the time now. What helped him get started was when I started getting quite experimental with curries and stir-fries and other hyper-flavour dishes, just without the carbs.
So envious of your ability to binge on fruit since you're under-weight. Man, I don't even know what underweight feels like, since the only time I've been underweight was when I had pneumonia when I was 6! But I'm not convinced that so much fruit is good for you, given the information regarding fructose, and I know that my gut doesn't like too much fruit (though I used to pack myself with grapes even though I knew the stinging gut pain wouldn't be far away), so I probably won't add it back into my life except on very rare occasions. It's nature's candy bar, for insulin-resistant folk like myself, anyway...
Hi, i haven't been in this blog for a while. I have a question. Do you eat cheese in your diet? Because there are cheeses like mozzarella, monterrey, cheddar, american, provolone and other kinds of cheeses that have no carbohydrates. So i would like to know if you eat cheese. And by the way ive been doing the real high-fat, low protein, low carb diet. And now i am doing it the right way, higher in fat, with butter, and fat and i am not scared of fats any more. Because i have learned and noticed that fats do not raise my insulin levels at all and don't make me bloated and chubby at all.
Unlike carbohydrates which do raise insulin levels and do make me appear bloated and chubby in the mirror and even protein can raise insulin levels.
So by experince i have learned that the right way to lose weight is to eat a diet high in fat, low in carbohydrates and also low in proteins
take care
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Thanks for the tips! I'm making a chicken curry tonight, I just purchased some organic coconut oil etc. so our pantry is well stocked for primalness!
Yer, the fruit thing is something I need to figure out. I tried not eating any for two days last week and I had the WORST indigestion ever. Maybe my body needs fruit??
BTW, underweight does not feel good. I've lost my boobs and everything! Not sexy. I'm thinking of adding more saturated fat to my diet as an experiment...I'm still kind scared of it though...
Thanks again! x x x
Hi again M-S,
I don't consume dairy except for butter and the occasional bit of heavy cream in a protein shake, and if I'm really craving cheese I'll eat double brie since it's highest in fat and lowest in carbs. Cheese does have carbs. It also can cause intestinal issues if consumed in excess. Cheese made of pasteurised, non-organic milk has a lot of negativity associated with it, and many people have issues with the casein in milk from cows as well as the lactose in the milk of most animals. I don't suffer viciously from dairy consumption, though I do get the odd digestive issue when I have too much, and I notice that my skin is clearer when I'm dairy-free.
By low-protein do you mean less than 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass? Because that's not something I can support. Remember that protein only has the potential to raise insulin levels if the body is short on carbs and needs to convert protein through glucogenesis, which only creates as much glucose as is directly needed, so shouldn't trigger much insulin production at all, if any. You should get a blood glucose monitor and actually test your body's responses to amounts and types of protein, since chances are your fears are unfounded and may be doing more harm than good if you're forcing your body to devour your muscles.
Yes, fat will never raise insulin levels, since the two are unrelated in the metabolic process of digestion.
And a general note - always remember that the method that works for you isn't necessarily "the right way" but just one method that works for you, right now. It may not work forever, or for everyone, or be your only option. Health is more important than fat loss - the acquisition of health usually results in fat loss, not the other way around.
Hey again Grrrrl,
Enjoy the curry! I was worried that I would have digestive issues from the coconut curry having had taken such a long break, but no such issue has arisen. Yay!
Two days without fruit would be a shock to the system since it's used to the acids and fibre. If you gave it a week, you'd probably start to see a bit of normalising, although it might take longer since your intestines would have some healing to do. I've been pretty lucky with all my swapping and changing since I'd have very little constipation issues - my usual effect, if any, is the opposite. All issues are helped by high fat consumption, of course. Definitely try boosting your sat fats - I was already an E cup, but since going primal and watching the rest of my body shrink, my boobs have actually bumped up another cup size! Wowsers! I can't imagine not having boobs - that's even harder to imagine than being too skinny in other areas! I haven't had a flat chest since I was maybe 7!
Hello Jezwyn: Thanks for your answers. Well i read in a ketogenic diet forum that carbohydrates do raise insulin levels and protein as well. And that the only macronutrient which won't raise your insulin levels was fat. So that's why ketogenic diets, and the Dr. Atkins low-carb diets are high in fat, moderate in protein and lower in carbohydrates.
I used to do it this way: high in protein, low in carbohydrates and low in fats. And that's why i still felt bloated an didn't lose weight because i was consuming most of my calories from proteins, and very little from fats.
I read in the Lyle Mcdonalds ketogenic forum that carbohydrates have a 90% elevating impact on insulin, protein has about 40% to 50% of influence on insulin, while fats only has about 10% of influence on insulin.
So that's why they said that the diet should be high in fat, moderate in protein and real low in carbs. (like 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrates a day)
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Hey M-S,
Yes, I know the proponents of the 'protein raises insulin' theory, but it's rarely an issue except for those with diabetes. That's why I encourage you to test your body's own reaction before you start cutting protein too low. You didn't answer my question of how much protein you're consuming. How many grams per day?
You just said it yourself - a ketogenic diet is high in fat, moderate in protein, and low in carbs. If protein was highly insulinogenic, then it would kick you out of ketosis.
Info will only get you so far - after that, you need to do what works for you. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing - a lot is even worse! :)
Hey again!
I made meatza last night for the fiance's brekky...he loved it. I am going to be stealing soooo many of your recipes from now on hahaha :)
Hmmm...you make an interesting point in regard to the fruit thing. Maybe I should try something radical and go virtually zero-carb, like Methuselah did, for a week or two and see what happens!
Like Methuselah did? Pah! You know I'm usually a carnivore, right? I'm only eating veggies right now to help keep me psychologically full in this time of high stress :) I feel wonderful on meat-only, although I must say eating a couple of cups of sauteed veg at dinnertime hasn't had any negative effect on me this time around.
Go carnivore for a week, and see how you go. If you get heaps of fat and eat offal, you won't suffer any malnutrition. And meat is so tasty! :)
Yeh, I know that you kick Methuselah's butt in the carnivore department, but I don't know if I can be that hardcore. In his experiment he still ate some nuts and avocado, and that's probably what I'd start with. Or maybe not...maybe I'll take the plunge and copy one of your typical fortnights! Watch this space... :)
Just wondering if you could point me in the direction of some good reading regarding saturated fats? Like I said, I'm still a little wary of SFA, and the whole "they'll block your arteries and you'll die" mentality is hard to shake. Is The Primal Blueprint a good place to start??
Thanks muchly!
Go to the top of my right-hand navigation bar, and click the link 'Show Me The Science'. The first section is all about saturated fat, cholesterol, and heart disease. Let me know if that leaves any gaps of info that you want filled in. I'm still working on that page, though I have no time at the mo'.
I don't think Methuselah did himself right by including plant foods in his experiment, since how can you possibly judge the results of a carb-free, fibre-free way of eating whilst you're still sending both into your body? Many people go meat-only as a detox for years of intestinal abuse, so you can always treat your two weeks as a healing process (Melissa from Hunt.Gather.Love. did that to help her digestive issues clear up, and now she can eat plant matter without any of her old grain-damage problems). As for being afraid of saturated fat on the carnivorous diet, don't forget that we're meant to eat animal fat, which isn't just saturated fat anyway, and if you're still feeling weird, go to a Cardio ward and ask the patients what they usually eat. Nine times out of ten, they've been following the low-fat bandwagon just like the rest of us. Bet you'll find a veggo in there too. ;) And then go to an old folk's home and ask the same questions... Fight the propaganda!
That page of yours is pretty awesome! I've ordered Good Calories Bad Calories, Primal Blueprint and Protein Power off of Amazon too...time to kick the fat-phobia in the arse!
And I'll try and go zero-carb...no fibre, no nothing...in a couple of weeks. There's no organic butcher where I'm staying right now so I need to find a good online source to stock up. Mmmmm meat :)
hi, im kinda like the opposite- . must cut carbs out! that is if i read your post correctly (im the guy with the sht English and sugar "issues") anyway, with this one meal per day business, im loosing weight non stop. (not that great, had to buy a few belts, new clothes) tried to find almond / coco milk like you sugested but that didn't work, the thing is impossible to find. evaporated milk? Greek yogurt? also no luck. got some stevia liquid (wtf, the bitterness)more fail. so what did i do to- temporally- drop my double 400cc milk fest?
ice cream. replaced the milk with eggs and cream ! ( and sugar,im still taking my fix, that is one spoon of NESQUIK, aprox 7g carb + the dark cocoa powder)
do you like eggs? do you like cream? do you need a title extra "carb" , give it a try! (i know im lost) XD
"And a general note - always remember that the method that works for you isn't necessarily "the right way" but just one method that works for you, right now. It may not work forever, or for everyone, or be your only option. Health is more important than fat loss - the acquisition of health usually results in fat loss, not the other way around."
That is such a great way of expressing this Primal/Paleo thing. I just found your blog, and am trying to catch up. I think your comments in the Comment sections are among the best reading in the whole Paleo blogosphere.
I am no expert in any way. I do lots of self experimenting, and do think I will have to modify my eating habits due to my own health issues.
And, your recipes look really good. I am going to have to be more creative.
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