It's been well over a year (going on 2!) since I started Paleo and I will never go back. Better skin, better digestion and some weight loss finally! Jos and Nom Nom and Melissa have all inspired me as well and now I can add you to the list Nina! Hoping you'll photograph some of your new Paleo meals and share them with Chowstalker one day soon. :-)
GOING PALEO...
08.07.2011 22:41
So I've been thinking about this for a while now...
When I started following Jos's blog I had NO IDEA what Paleo means. But she explained it to me a bit and I started to research on my own.
Since I am single and I CAN only take care of myself without listening to stuff like: "I am not gonna eat THAT," or "What the hell is this green thing?" I learned to eat really well. I started to educate myself about meat, I am buying and eating meat every day now, I use pork, beef, chicken, turkey and fish every single day. In the past my diet was almost meatless (this probably isn't a word, haha). I have no idea what the hell I was eating, now when I look back... thick sauces, deep fried stuff, pizzas, pasta with heavy sauces, very small amount of veggies and fruits... It is a massive difference, when I look at my mealplan today. I learned to plan what I am gonna eat and I learned to stick with my plans. Still I have problems avoiding stuff like chocolate, candy bars, potato chips, some quick meal fixes when I don't feel like cooking...
But recently I started to flirt with this thought of becoming 100% Paleo eater. Jos is mentioning Nom Nom Paleo a lot, on her blog and on Twitter too, one day I just clicked and I found myself reading all night all those wonderful, colorful and for sure tasty recipes at Nom Nom Paleo. At the beginning I was like Alice in a Wonderland, it was so much stuff, things I never knew are possible (Coconut Chips as a salty snack??? No way! - these one by Melissa), and still I am amazed how creative can you be without using ANY processed food. I started to avoid processed food since reading Jillian Michaels's Master your metabolism book, but my "trying" was not always necessarily "doing" it. Too many excused as I always had them, like "no time," "too expensive," "my husband will not eat this," and blah blah blaaaah, you name it.
This Paleo approach simply touched me and I decided I will try to go this way from now on. Nom Nom Paleo has a lots of links with very good information, what I read first is this Quick Start Guide by Robb Wolf, it is simple, but it covers the basics you need to know when going this way. I also ordered his book on Amazon today and I will be getting it next week. Tomorrow I will do a big Pantry Cleaning (I do not have much stuff that is "not allowed" anyway, so it is gonna be a short one) and some shopping. I never used spices or herbs in the past, my husband always loved spices and he was buying it all the time, he owns like maybe a 100 different glass spice jars with different stuff, but guess what - he never used it anyway :D And I was always using like salt + pepper and... that was about it :D I have much more today and I am slowly learning to combine and properly use those spices. I still love just salt + pepper on my beef steak, but I love experimenting with spices now.
I like doing things easy when it comes to food, and I was never able to be on any "diet" because you just had to think about it a lot, avoid a lot of stuff, measure, count and so on. This diet seems so natural to me, and so easy to live with. I think I can say I am halfway there, cause meat + veggies is basically all I eat lately, but I still have some cuts to do (pasta, rice, sweeeeeeeet stuff), but that wont be a problem, I know it. Sugar will be the hardest, but what would the road be without an obsticle? :)
Jos says that I will soon feel the difference and I am sure I will. It is great to have a support and A LOT of resources to derive from, I will do a lot of reading of all those great websites I found about Paleo diet.
Sooo, ready to eat like a caveman??? Sure :) Don't wish me luck please, I need will power more :))
Comment: GOING PALEO...
woot woot!
Datum: 12.07.2011 | Vložil: Ayca
Heey Nina!
Haha we are so similar! Last week or two weeks ago, I started to read more about Paleo diet too! My boyfriend used to be a paleo-eater so he has loots of books about that at home (and lots of enthusiasm to make us switch again) :D However, in Sweden where we live, life is so expensive, going paleo is waay beyond our limits. (That's a good excuse for me to hold on, the real reason is my love to dairy) I'm Turkish by origin and you probably have a grasp about Turkish people and their yoghurt love.(If you don't, we simply live with yoghurt :) ) Take that and double it. No no triple it. I just love yoghurt so much I probably eat at least half a kilo everyday :) And cold milk! And pasta :( Well I cut down my carbs to a good amount, but I don't think I can completely cut them out. So, I will be a semi-paleo eater. :) But I totally admire your strength and willpower to do so. Go girl!
Re: woot woot!
Datum: 29.07.2011 | Vložil: Nina_CZ
Yay, Ayca! :) Funny, those similarities :)
For me it was a pretty quick process, I jumped into it and THEN started reading about it, haha. Now I am loving it and I can't imagine eating any different. I can't even remeber what was it like going grocery shopping before! What was I buying? :D I never liked yoghurt, but I love cold milk and pasta and sugar and Dr. Pepper.... but not anymore! :D Thanks for you support girl!
Fingers crossed:)
Datum: 12.07.2011 | Vložil: Ivet
Well, I have to say, I admire you, Nina. And Jos too. I came across with Paleo lifestyle a few months ago when I started bodyrocking. I didn't spend much time looking into it though. I guess the main reason was that it's way too strict for me. I love food. I believe you can create amazing stuff according to Paleo rules too but there is no way I would cut dairy (I love cheese, yogurt, occassionaly milk), stevia or honey to sweeten my coffee, or even fruit of my diet. Since I started following the bodyrock movement - you, guys:-) - which was about three months ago, I've cut down my carbs (bread, brown rice, oats) intake to one portion a day only. And that is a big success for me, really:)
Anyway, all I wanted to say/write (I kinda got lost in my own story a little) is that I wish you good luck with this big decision (at least I think it's pretty big) and I admire you for this. I really do! And please, keep us updated with your progress and experiences, I might change my mind eventually:-)
Love Ivet
Re: Fingers crossed:)
Datum: 12.07.2011 | Vložil: Nina_CZ
Thanks a lot Ivet!!! I really appreciate your support :) I am just 3 days in (and YES, I did have a one piece of chocolate yesterday, booo) and I am really enjoying it so far. I used to LOVE dairy - I can drink gallons of cold milk every day, I really love the taste of it, and cheese, oh my, cheese was my favorite thing ever. I stopped eating dairy some time ago when I read something about milk on Alfonso Moretti's site and I got used to life without dairy pretty quickly, and started to feel "better" soon, not that I was feeling bad before, but something changed and I really don't know what it was. I used to have stomach cramps a lot, digestion problems, I felt "heavy" a lot. I don't since I am off dairy. This was somehow a logical step for me. I am not saying that "from now I will eat this was forever cause it is the best I could do" but it works for me so far and I am gonna give it a try as long as it works :)
Welcome to the cave!
Datum: 09.07.2011 | Vložil: Jos
Yay!! I'm so glad that you start embracing the way "cave people" eat hehe. Take it slowly at first and try to listen to your body. For some people, it's even easier to reset their body and banish their sugar demon by going cold turkey, like doing Whole30 challenge where it's 100% paleo without any slips. You can read all about it at Whole9 blog https://whole9life.com/category/whole-30/ for more info.
Re: Welcome to the cave!
Datum: 09.07.2011 | Vložil: Nina_CZ
Thank you Jos for all those links you are providing! I was reading the whole9 website until 3am and I am really excited about it all, I love their manifestos, those made me understand WHY. Also I love their post about the meat, my mom was living with a vegetarian and he did not allow her to have meat at home so she stopped eating it too and now after 7 years she would love to (or I told her to) eat meat again and she doesn't know how, I can't wait to show her that post. I think I might try the Whole30 soon, I need to educate myself a little more and do some shopping and getting used to. Thank you again for showing me this way :)
Re: Re: Welcome to the cave!
Datum: 10.07.2011 | Vložil: Jos
You're very welcome! :D Again, I'm excited to have you to be on board!
