The Paleo Diet, aka the Caveman Diet, we challenged ourselves to follow it for 30 days. Why? Well, there were a few factors.
Blake had been thinking of ways to implement a nutrition challenge for our gym members at the beginning of the year and we wanted to see if following the Paleo Diet would be a good fit.
I (Haylee) was 3 weeks postpartum and wanted a way to help me get back to feeling like my normal self since working out wasn't quite a safe option yet.
So we embarked on our 30 Day Paleo Diet on Tuesday September 21st. The first few days were okay, we already ate pretty clean, however the things that were in our current diet that we had to take out were:
-Rice
-Barilla Vegetable Noodles
-Cut back on potatoes
-No Saturday night ice cream (hardest part for myself, I LOVE ice cream)
-No bread for sandwiches
-No shells for tacos
-No dairy, like cheese & yogurt
In reality it really didn't seem like we were changing much, but after a few days in, we could tell we were missing some foods.
Day 1-3
It's new, we are excited, we are feeling energetic. We really think we've got this. All positive thoughts and vibes. We are eating strictly meats & veggies. The first 3 days were pretty easy, making meats & veggies taste different was a little tricky, but I like to cook so I was getting creative.
Day 4-11
Why are we doing this again? Days 4-11 were tough, mentally and physically. Mentally all we could think about were the foods we couldn't eat anymore. We were daydreaming of tacos with shells and cheese, drooling over the thought of a hardy sandwich with a side of chips, and craving anything sweet. Physically we both were dealing with some bloating that caused significant pains and discomforts. A problem we were facing was the lack of snack options. Blake starts his day at 4:15
am and goes all day until he gets in bed at 9:30pm. I was used to being able to pack him snacks like granola bars, Greek yogurt, PBJ sandwiches, etc. But while following the Paleo Diet those options are not an option. We were stuck with Larabars, grain free Paleo granola, & fruit and though they were delicious, they were causing us severe stomach aches. Especially myself, so snacks were out. For a breastfeeding mama chasing around a 2 year old, I was DYING. I was so hungry, because I wasn't able to snack. It seemed like everything I was eating was hurting my stomach and I was so annoyed and Blake was getting bored with the limited options. We asked one another multiple times day 4-11 if this was really worth it.
Day 12-30
Wow! Boy did things turn around quickly for us, and we found ourselves LOVING the Paleo Diet. After some MAJOR researching, I found out what was causing our bloating issue (all the fiber from the veggie
s) and a solution to our upset stomachs! White rice! Before you dis it and say "well that's not Paleo, you can't say you did Paleo for 30 days" read this article.
If you don't want to read the article, long story short, yes rice is a grain, Paleo Diet is supposed to be grain free, because of anti-nutrients and gut irritants grains contain. BUT "Rice doesn’t have any fiber but this isn’t necessarily bad. For people with gut flora problems, fiber-rich foods can sometimes cause more damage than they cure." BOOM! Once we added in a small amount of white rice to our lunches, it was smooth sailing from there. Our stomach bloating deceased and we were feeling amazing.
RESULTS
Eating Paleo for 30 days did cause us some minor weight loss, however that was expected with myself since I just had a baby. What we really noticed was the TREMENDOUS difference in inflammation in our bodies. Our clothes were fitting different and we didn't feel "puffy". It was absolutely incredible.
The snack problem resolved with Epic Beef Jerky & RX Bars for Blake. I however actually stopped needing snacks. My body adjusted to only eating 3 meals a day, and I personally love it.
We have continued to eat Paleo since challenging ourselves for 30 days, because we just feel better. We have more energy and we have learned food intolerance for each of us. Will it be our challenge for our members? Absolutely not, it is an extremely hard diet to follow for the average person. Will we continue to eat this way? Absolutely, yes. Probably for the rest of our lives. Can you do it? You can, you just need self control and determination.
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