paleo diet?/Low carb ideas?

Hi All,
I am new to this forum and fairly new to cycling. I am a runner who got injured after a marathon. My hubby is a cyclist, and got me started on it, I LOVE IT. I now cycle and run 7 days a week. The question is coming I promise. I am only 34 years old, and was recently diagnosed as being in early menopause(yikes). So the Md has me on a "new" way of eating-at least for me. It's called the Paleo diet, basically allllll organic, grass fed animal meat, and fruits and veggies. Emphasis on the veggies. This is supposed to help the menopausal sysmptoms!!??!! Okay so with that being said do any of you know of any low carb "energy" products i can take with me while I run or ride? I can take fruit but only a few pieces a week, I am noticing that the fruit is spiking my blood sugar(I am also hypoglycemic). SOOSOO It is hard to train without to many carbs in my diet. ANY suggestions would be wonderful. Also if anyone knows about this paleo diet and has suggestions, I would be sooo greatful!

newbiecyclingme.

Do you have a copy of The Paleo Diet for Athletes? This would be a priceless book in your situation. It basically talks about being an endurance athlete on the Paleo diet and how to fuel properly. Joe Friel co-authored it and he's pretty highly respected in the cycling world.

http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Diet-Ath...8871600&sr=8-1

I don't know much about the specifics of the trademarked diet, but off the top of my head...

What about pemmican? You could make your own, or here are some bars that claim to be from grass-fed beef, with or without honey and dried cherries?

Or you could try iskiate (chia fresca) and go real easy on/omit the sugar? Almost all of the carbs in chia are fiber, plus it's a seed, not a grain.

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Originally Posted by Newbiecyclingme

Hi All,
I am new to this forum and fairly new to cycling. I am a runner who got injured after a marathon. My hubby is a cyclist, and got me started on it, I LOVE IT. I now cycle and run 7 days a week. The question is coming I promise. I am only 34 years old, and was recently diagnosed as being in early menopause(yikes). So the Md has me on a "new" way of eating-at least for me. It's called the Paleo diet, basically allllll organic, grass fed animal meat, and fruits and veggies. Emphasis on the veggies. This is supposed to help the menopausal sysmptoms!!??!! Okay so with that being said do any of you know of any low carb "energy" products i can take with me while I run or ride? I can take fruit but only a few pieces a week, I am noticing that the fruit is spiking my blood sugar(I am also hypoglycemic). SOOSOO It is hard to train without to many carbs in my diet. ANY suggestions would be wonderful. Also if anyone knows about this paleo diet and has suggestions, I would be sooo greatful!

newbiecyclingme.

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I'm sure those who are hypoglcemic-prone will chime in. I do have some tendency for this and have been advised to reduce high glycemic index food, food high in sugar (added and natural), lots of white rice, etc.

Certain fruits are high in natural sugars. Doesn't mean you can't have them, just have them in small amounts. Melons, grapes (probably), etc. I still eat them just watch the time of day or amount. Watermelon is high.

So you want to avoid bananas? That's a good low carb. :confused:
I don't eat much white rice anymore, maybe 2-3 times per month. I choose light Asian pastas not the heavier Italian pasta. (thin Asian light egg linguine like noodles, buckwheat noodles, green tea noodles, light rice vermicelli.) Certain brown rice, red rice and brown rice seems to be good for me. Meaning I don't feel a bonk. Yes, true I have to reduce eating sushi. I just don't eat it often anymore. That's all.

I guess others eat beans. I don't eat much beans often since my system seems to require effort to digest. But it would be a good protein choice..

How much running distance are doing each time and cycling distance each time on average?

So your doctor said that paleo diet is supposed to help with premature menopause? Interesting. :confused: Presumably you are at a healthy weight?

Here's another brand of pemmican, made with grass-fed buffalo by a Lakota group, and Tanka Bars are widely available at retail - seeing them on a store shelf yesterday reminded me what I was thinking of when I posted before.

Thank you all so much for your info.

Yes I think I am at a healthy weight? I am not sure what you mean by that? I am 5'7" and I weigh 127?? Does paleo make you loose or gain?

I will cont. to try to avoid the heavier carbs, Sometimes even fruit sets my blood sugar going crazy. this is so insane to have this so early!! I thought I had another 15 years before this would set in!

I run about 6-8 miles a day 3 days a week, and I cycle anywhere from 60-90 min. 3 times a week. I do about 20 min of strength training 3 times a week too! Anymore advice would be wonderful!

If you could see my recent post and respond i would be so grateful!--especially about the weight?

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Originally Posted by Newbiecyclingme

Thank you all so much for your info.

Yes I think I am at a healthy weight? I am not sure what you mean by that? I am 5'7" and I weigh 127?? Does paleo make you loose or gain?

I will cont. to try to avoid the heavier carbs, Sometimes even fruit sets my blood sugar going crazy. this is so insane to have this so early!! I thought I had another 15 years before this would set in!

I run about 6-8 miles a day 3 days a week, and I cycle anywhere from 60-90 min. 3 times a week. I do about 20 min of strength training 3 times a week too! Anymore advice would be wonderful!

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I am not a doctor so cannot give an opinion on your weight.
Hypoglycemia isn't necessarily tied to a particular age bracket. Is it all fruit that makes you 'bonk'? Be specific and clear about the types of fruits. Or maybe you haven't monitored yourself for every type of fruit you have eaten since your diagnosis? It took me several months for me to figure out which type of rice and pasta I could have without crashing.

Not only that, WHEN I would eat the 'safer' stuff. Now I am more careful (but not obsessive, because I'm a different person with a different health status) when I eat such foods. ie. best I eat certain things not too late in evening. Timing of food intake is abit more important to me now than ie. 10 yrs. ago.

Be patient with yourself to understand which specific types of fruits, good carbs, works best for you. If you are still confused, maybe you need to see a registered dietician.

Have you been diagnosed with diabetes 2? Presumably you had to blood test and other tests to determine that you were not?

Personally, I tried Paleo (and Paleo for athletes) and found I couldn't do it for very long. I know there's the 2-3 week energy dip right at the start, after which people say they feel great, but I myself could *never* get through that initiation. My cycling really suffered. Eating out was always a challenge -- whee, salad *again*.

I now think of myself as "Neolithic" - grains and rice in moderation, beans and oats are ok in my book. Taking a page from Michael Pollan's philosophy, all simple and real ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup, if I want a junk food, I gotta make it myself from scratch and not a box-mix. But still, mostly fruits and veg that are in season, and small portions of the best meat I can afford.

Also, I brew my own beer, so, you know...

-- gnat! (I mean, seriously, what's bad about oatmeal?)

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Originally Posted by gnat23

Eating out was always a challenge -- whee, salad *again*.

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Actually there's a lot of similarity to my allergy diet. (I can use millet and buckwheat, but that is a hassle, so when I'm being strict, I mostly just avoid grains except for steamed rice.) If you don't have to avoid the little contaminants the way I do when I'm being strict, and if you don't mind eating meat several days a week, it really isn't a challenge at all. Dry salad and grilled unseasoned meat/fish/poultry are available just about anywhere.

I have to say that's when I learned to appreciate the flavor of vegetables. So many people smother their salads with dressing. When you finally realize that spinach tastes different from oak leaf lettuce tastes different from baby pac choi tastes different from broccoli... and each of them tastes really good, when they're good quality vegetables (and when a restaurant doesn't serve good quality food, I don't eat there) - not boring at all.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Dry salad and grilled unseasoned meat/fish/poultry are available just about anywhere.

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Yeah, that's what I just said. :D

I guess my problem with eating out was that entrees typically have a starch somewhere involved, and if I eat nothing but the meat and veg, I find myself wanting and unfulfilled. It's like there's still a pit gnawing at my stomach an hour after a meal if it's low in volume, even if there's a lot of fat.

I will say that I am impressed by the science behind Paleo, and I'm glad that it works well for so many people. I just personally haven't found the benefits outweighing the hardship of turning away sushi rolls.

-- gnat!

Guess each person's body is different. I've never really followed a particular "diet" though it could be argued heavily that lst 19 yrs. of my life, it was highly influenced by mother cooking certain foods in various healthy ways.

By the way, it is possible to be quite healthy without eating a ton of salads. Think simply whole fresh veggies either raw if you wish or cooked. Whole culture cuisines do not depend on tons of salads nor raw veggies. In some countries, unless the water is treated, it's safer to cook the veggies.

It's how the veggies are prepared without destroying the nutrients..and also using the cooking water for veggie broths or as the 'sauce' itself when served with the veggies with some seasoning. I actually eat raw veggies or salad maybe 1-2 times per week. Rest is cooked veggie dishes. That includes lightly blanching certain veggies. I have veggies daily. I have been eating veggies like this for past few decades.

I looked at newbiecycling's exercise regime..looks reasonable and good. If I did that same regular jogging with moderate cadence for same cycling time...and if paleo-diet is what it is, I probably would lose weight over 1-2 months. I don't jog but can only imagine I would lose weight alot faster because of the effort required to jog vs.cycling over same time period. Which for me is not necessarily a good thing unless I ramped up on certain foods. Already I am slim.

So newbietocycling does need to be careful about eating right foods to give her energy, etc. --in relation to her weight.


Maybe a doctor recommends a certain diet for some patients because it's easier for some people to readjust their food choices by lst understanding a healthier pattern of eating and meal types. Provides pre-set structures to allow for individual tweaking? :confused: Whatever helps for some people.

No one ever said to me to go on a low glycemic index diet. (Though I did buy a book to understand what it meant. :p) The advice to me was more on reducing or avoiding certain types of foods. I looked at the suggested menus in my book...forget it. I HATE being locked into pre-suggested menus or menu composition types. I try to eat instinctively healthy..which only works 90% of the time. Pretty normal, since I'm not an eating robot. :p