paleo diet?/Low carb ideas?

[gnat23]

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?)

[OakLeaf]

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

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.

[gnat23]

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

Yeah, that's what I just said.

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!

[shootingstar]

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? 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. ) 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.