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I had to wear Tuff Skins in elementary school, but thankfully not like these! The Sears catalog mention brings back memories. I spent a lot of time in the toy section. Makes me appreciate the internet LOL!
]]>Weight Loss – I’ve lost a total of 30 pounds but I’ve been maintaining my current weight for six weeks or so. I haven’t been tracking body fat but wish I had a scale or other device that would measure it. Along with the bit of weight I lost last year restricting calories, I’m down a total of forty pounds since Jan1 of 2010. I do have some fat that I’d like to lose, but I’ve reach a weight number that I’m satisfied with ( about 175 lb).
Clothing Sizes – Before going Primal, I was wearing jeans with a 34″ waist, but I’d have to pick out the biggest ones with that label. In slacks it took a 36″ size to be comfortable. Now I’m due a new wardrobe. I’m very comfortable in 32″ jeans and slacks and may have to go smaller.
Fitness – I’m generally following Sisson’s Primal Blueprint Fitness plan. I’m walking five to six days a week (moving slowly) for 45 min sessions. Twice a week, I ‘lift heavy things’ (myself) and once a week I do a sprinting session (for now those are running sprints). I’m able to power through the workouts consistently now,although I’ far from mastering all the exercises.
How I feel – At this point I consider this diet to be therapeutic and would not consider going back to my former diet. Heartburn is non existent, my energy level is high and consistent. I have no bloodwork data such as cholesterol but I’m confident it has improved as well.
Other anecdotal cases of success – My Dad has lost over 20 lbs and has had similar results with heartburn symptoms. My Uncle has also lost weight and has been able to eliminate one of two blood pressure medications and his acid reflux meds. Now my pastor has started the diet and has lost almost 20 lb in the last six weeks or so.
We still need to improve our food quality. Most of our meat and veggies come from conventional sources, but I’d say we’re well within Sisson’s 80/20 rule.
Interested in the Primal blueprint? Check out Mark’s Daily Apple.
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This week I wanted to feature another podcast that I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of since starting to follow the Primal / Paleo lifestyle. This podcast is by a guy named Angelo Coppola and is called Latest in Paleo. You can find Latest in Paleo on the 5BY5 podcast network and the show notes are over at LatestInPaleo.com.
My single favorite take-away from listening to all the episodes (at least the ones of 5BY5.tv) is that humans are not broken. That’s right. We used to get by just fine without drugs to manage our blood chemistry and sanity and every other ailment that the food, drug and medical industries market to us ceaselessly these days. Disease prevention by diet and proper exercise is very difficult to monetize so we end up getting treated with drugs instead of good food.
In the weekly podcast Angelo gives the latest Paleo news, and comments on the latest discussion in the media about food and nutrition. When you listen don’t turn it off too soon. His “After the Bell” segment often has a hidden gem. Like last week’s episode where he played the audio from part of a TED talk by Ann Cooper on School Lunches. I followed up and watched the video of the talk and it’s so powerful I decided to add it to this post below. This makes me want to petition my local school system for better lunches. My daughter carries her lunch every day and I haven’t convinced her to give up the PBJ yet so I guess I’ll work on that first!
Anyway, don’t miss Latest in Paleo if you want to learn more about why you’re not broken and how to keep from needing to be fixed.
My Primal updates for the week
I’m six weeks into pretty much “Primal eating”. I know it’s not the main objective, but I’m still keeping an eye on the scale. Finally this week I broke through the current weight plateau. After my “official” Sunday weigh-in I’m down a total of 10 lbs. since starting the Primal Lifestyle, and 5 lbs. under last year’s low when I was counting calories. I don’t think my scale is very accurate so that’s why I don’t usually post my actual weight, but it’s around 190lb now.
How? I think it had a lot to do with my first intermittent fast (IF). As my body adjusts I’m finding that missing a meal (usually lunch) is not a problem. In fact I rarely eat what would be considered an actual lunch anymore. Maybe a piece of beef jerky here and there, but no more. I’ve read about people doing a 24hr fast once a week or so or as schedule dictates. Tuesday evening we had a nice steak dinner so I just decided to skip breakfast and lunch on Wednesday. Although I got hungry a couple of time during the afternoon, it was not a problem waiting until dinner on Wednesday to break the fast. Actually I’m late posting this and I’ve already done another 24hr IF but I’ll talk about that one next time. When you’re well nourished, eating is more enjoyable and I’m finding that I can schedule my meals around my schedule instead of my meals scheduling me.
Right on time, I just got The Primal Blueprint Insider email newsletter and the subject was Intermittent Fasting. Near the end, Mark says:
To sum up, if you’re interested in the following…
- Mobilization of adipose tissue for energy (burning body fat as fuel)
- Improved insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake (again, good for burning body fat)
- Increased resistance to oxidation damage to lipids
- Increased human growth hormone secretion(utilizes body fat for energy while preventing protein/muscle catabolism)
…skip that next meal.
Another good development from the fasting was that I also gave up soft drinks for the day. My favorite is Sun Drop. We always buy the diet version, but it’s still bad. I figured since I had 24hrs invested into quitting it I may as well see how far I could take it. As of this writing, it’s been a week since my last drink. It’s actually more difficult giving up Sun Drop than all the other processed carbs food. I’m sure caffeine has something to do with it, but I don’t think I was that hooked on caffeine. A lot of it is the sweet taste and the “bite”. I’ve had a small amount of iced tea and green tea (store bought), but mostly water. I think I’m going to make it without going to “Sun Drop-ahaulics Anonymous”.
Workouts are still going well, but evidently I did pull something during the sprints last week. The top-middle of my right thigh has a sharp pain if I try to run. I think it got aggravated during a workout on our Gazelle glider during a rainy day on Friday. At any rate, looks like I’ll have to nurse it for a while before I can get back to the sprints.
This is getting long and rambling but I have to share one more site that I found on RobbWolf.com. It’s the site of the Weston A. Price Foundation. It has dense articles, but a lot of good info from research done by Price who was a dentist. Here’s a good article to start with: What’s Wrong with Politically Correct Nutrition.
That’s it for now! Thanks for reading.
Brett
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I ran across another great blog this week. It’s written by Hank Garner over at MyLowCarbJourney.com. Hank has lost some serious weight in the past year following the Primal / Paleo eating plan and he interviews some great people on his Low Carb Journey Podcast. One particular episode that deserves a link is Hank’s interview with Mark Sisson.
The reason I like this interview is that Mark and Hank have very different body types, yet the Primal way of life worked for both of them. Mark never had a weight problem and has been a runner most of his life. Hank is a self-professed “fat man looking for the truth”. So no matter where you are right now, I think you can relate to some part of this interview.
In the interview, Mark also gives a great summary of his health philosophy:
In a nutshell:
- fresh, organic, unprocessed food – no junk!
- daily activity – whether it’s the gym or a walk along the beach, it all counts
- plenty of quality sleep
- plenty of water, no soda or sweetened drinks
- antioxidants galore – the key to limiting stress
- a good fish-oil supplement
- lots of essential fats, reckless amounts of vegetables, and clean protein
- time for fun – don’t take anything too seriously – ethical behavior – because what goes around comes around
taking responsibility for yourself and your life – openness to new things and ideas
If you’re new to Primal living and want a good summary and explanation, check out the interview.
Before I close out the post, a quick update on my progress this week. I was able to work in about three and a half hours of walking with sustained heart rate, two Lift Heavy Things (LHT) workouts (bodyweight) and my first Sprint workout.
This was the first time I’ve actually sprinted since baseball practice in high school. I did six warm up jogs and six sprints of about 40 yards. At sprinting speed they were about ten seconds. From the way I feel today I think it was effective. I definitely used some muscles that hadn’t been used in a while, but no injuries. I think I’ll be ready to do it again next week.
Still little to no weight loss this week, but I’m still feeling great. Oh, and I made a batch of jerky all by myself. Look out world.
Grock on!
]]>If we consider the first month a trial, then this marks the beginning of a long term lifestyle change. I just feel too much better to go back, plus I know there are many improvements to be made and benefits to be gained by continuing to refine and improve the diet and fitness plan.
Primal Cookbook Review
I pre-ordered the Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals
Looking beyond the binding, the recipes are organized by suggested meal time, which is great. There are wonderful photos showing both the ingredients and the finished product. Being a photographer myself, I appreciate the quality of the photos. Co-author, Jennifer Meier is also the photographer. Kudos!
We tried the Buttery Eggs with Leeks recipe this weekend for breakfast and I should have made my own photo of Amy’s version. Doh! Maybe next time. I loved it. Amy likes her salsa with an omelet better, but it still gets a hearty recommendation from both of us.
New fitness plan started
I finally got the Primal Blueprint Fitness e-book and familiarized myself with what the “Lift Heavy Things” workout consists of. Turns out the heavy thing is ME! The suggested workout movements are simple and use body-weight for resistance. It’s very intense compared to the Bowflex routine I was doing, but at least I’m not starting at the bottom progression except for pull-ups. I’ve never done those at all.
Speaking of pull-ups, I didn’t have a good pull-up bar. I started out using the upper bar of the Bowflex, but it was really too narrow. We went to an Aldi grocery store this weekend and they had an assortment of fitness gadgets (go figure!) for $5.99 ea! One was a doorway pull-up bar so I got one. The bar was of very good quality, especially for the money. If you have an Aldi in your neighborhood, check it out.
I started with the self-assessment which calls for doing certain movement progressions to failure and comparing the results to a chart to determine your starting point. The self-assessment kicked my butt! I went ahead and performed another cycle as best I could, but I had to put three days between the first and second workout, so no sprints this week. Sprints are another component of PBF along with Moving Slowly, which I did plenty of.
The PBF plan calls for 3-5 hours per week of “Moving Slowly” in basically any activity which causes your heart rate to maintain between 55%-75% of “max”. This range keeps your body burning fat/protein without going into glucose reserves.
Without a heart rate monitor I really couldn’t be certain if my intensity level was correct, so I jumped on Amazon, read some reviews and ordered the Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor
My copy has worked great so far and I’ve already found out that the first half-mile or so of my 2.5 mi walking route was a bit too slow. On my last walk, I successfully got my heart rate up to target range and kept it there just about the entire time. This shaved a couple of minutes off my walk…a bonus.
I must be at what my body considers and equilibrium weight, because I barely lost a pound this week. That’s ok though, as I said, I’m in this for the long haul and it’s just a matter of time. I haven’t been below the weight I’m at now (about 195lb) in probably fifteen years, so it may be a tough plateau to break through.
New resources
I added two new blogs to my Google Reader this week. One is by Matt Madeiro, who started his Primal journey exactly a year ago this week and he has some great insights from his experience. Find his Three New Leaves Blog here.
The other blog is The Perfect Health Diet. It’s written by a husband and wife team of scientists. I’m using this as another opinion on diet. All of these bloggers have slightly different opinions and experiences and recommendations as to what can or cannot be included in the optimal eating plan and this is a good addition to the list.
Last but not least, we found a couple of sources for local eggs, so the continuous improvement of food quality has begun. We’ll probably shop for a chest freezer after the tax return gets here and start looking to buy some local meat to store in it.
That’s it for this week’s update. Feel free to share your “Primal Experiences” below.
]]>Last year at this time I was in the middle of a calorie-counting diet. I had lost ten or twelve pounds; maybe fifteen of the twenty I ended up losing. The last few pounds came off VERY slowly. I think there was one pound that took almost a month! I just attributed it to normal plateaus that come with dieting and workouts.
Since reaching my twenty pound weight loss goal in late April last year I had gained just about seven pounds, most of that since Christmas. I ate a bunch of Valentine’s chocolate during the month of February. Man was I dreading starving myself again to get those most difficult pounds off again!
Enter The Primal Blueprint. I’m glad to announce that as of this morning I have lost the seven pounds. In three weeks! Most days I’ve actually felt like I’m OVER eating, but the fat keeps coming off. I’m sure it will plateau from time to time but this effort is not driven by a certain amount of weight loss. It’s still nice to see some results this soon.
Sidebar: I finished reading The Primal Blueprint
this week. I’m interested in starting on the fitness program as well. There’s still a lot of content on Mark’s Daily Apple that I’m reading, but I may go ahead and get Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution
book. I’ve heard good things about it as well. Due to spending my reading time this week in an actual book, I haven’t added any new feeds to my RSS reader, so nothing new to recommend there.
Tuesday I had a photo shoot in Tupelo, MS at the Comfort Inn. I expected to be finished with it by 1 p.m. or so and have a late lunch. Long story as to why things didn’t go as planned, but I didn’t get to leave there until 5 p.m. I guess I could have stopped and took a break for lunch, but the main point is that I didn’t have to! I had no hunger pains at all until about 2 p.m. and even then it wasn’t ‘insistent’. I didn’t eat until I left there between 5 and 5:15.
I lucked out. I stopped at Shoney’s and the first thing the waitress told me was that it was ‘steak night’. Oh yeah! Basically that meant buy the steak and get the salad bar buffet with it. I didn’t even have to turn down a baked potato or any other “poisonous” food. I haven’t eaten at Shoney’s in years probably, but I’ve eaten there twice in the last two weeks when I’ve needed to eat out. Most certainly not organic, but they have nice crumbled bacon and sunflower seed kernels on the salad bar. Makes for a nice hearty salad.
I’m counting the consistent appetite as a convenience. No time to eat or nothing Primal seems to be handy? No problem. Just skip it!
I told Amy yesterday that I felt like a fish who’s been trying to live out of water and eating Primal is like jumping back in. Want to feel better yourself? Come on in! The water is fine
The Primal Blueprint
I have to give a big plug for The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. I got it this week and have been gobbling up the good info. I read a lot of blogs and books so I know when I see the real deal. Mark Sisson publishes a dizzying amount of content on what he calls the Primal Blueprint lifestyle. I think I want to change my mind and adopt this term instead of paleo If you want to learn more about improving your nutrition, your fitness and giving your body what it was created to have (I don’t subscribe to the evolution idea), then The Primal Blueprint is for you. Follow it up on Mark’s blog called Mark’s Daily Apple.
So far the most eye opening thing in The Primal Blueprint has been the chapter on ‘Don’t Eat Poisonous Things’. I can’t believe how bad for me some of the stuff I’ve been eating for the last forty years has been. Sure, sugar and other sources of carbohydrates spike insulin levels, and that’s bad enough, but poly unsaturated fats and genetically modified foods are downright scary.
Status Update
We received the food dehydrator this week and Amy made our first batch of jerky. Very good snacks. We also tried sweet potatoes with so-so results and we have a batch of bananas drying now. Once we get the hang of it we should have a great source of handy, primal snacks.
A couple of other results from this week. First I learned to make eggs over easy without breaking the yolks. I know, big deal, but you don’t understand how little interest I’ve had in cooking and food preparation in general before now. I Guess I found the geek angle with all the talk about “reprogramming my genes” and that got me interested.
My reflux and IBS type symptoms are still at bay, which I’m thrilled about. I’m still getting used to my new appetite and marveling at how stable it is! I’m down to two eggs with bacon, fried bologna or sausage for breakfast which is proving to be plenty to hold me well into the afternoon. Skipping lunch when I need to is more handy than I could have imagined.
At the end of two weeks I’ve lost four of the seven pounds I gained in the first two months of the year from eating Christmas candy and then Valentine’s candy. The weather is getting warmer and I’m getting in more walks. Push-ups were already a part of my workouts, but I haven’t spent much time incorporating any of the other workouts suggested by Sisson in The Primal Blueprint. One step at a time.
At some point we’d still like to find some ‘cleaner’ foods (organic, etc.), but for now we’re settling for the fare from our local grocer. At this point I’m claiming Sisson’s 80% Rule and not stressing about that. I want to do a little research and see if I can trace back some of their sources. It may turn out to be not all that bad, i.e. 90% rule?
If you’re thinking about giving the Primal Blueprint a try, I encourage you to jump in for 30 days. I’ve never seen positive results this quickly from following any other eating plan. Period.
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Last week I shared about my all-of-a-sudden move to a healthier way to eat and live. I like the term ‘Paleo Lifestyle’ so I’m going to adopt that term for my efforts.
I promised some background that led up to my decision to adopt this diet/lifestyle. This post turned out to be longer than I meant for it to be, and is probably more info than you need, but I wanted to document it for myself if nothing else. At the end there’s an update on my first week’s progress so you can jump there if you like.
The Student Years
I’ve never had a big problem with my weight (I’m not obese), but I definitely have the tendency and genetics that encourage the overweight condition. I was a high school athlete (baseball), and that, along with the advantages of youth kept my weight consistent.
As I got into my University of Memphis days (Memphis State back then) I started to put on the pounds. I gained twenty pounds my freshman year! To reverse the trend I followed conventional wisdom and started visiting the campus gym and lifting weights. I also went on a calorie restrictive diet, following the Slim-Fast plan. I know…egads! As bad as that plan was, it had the desired effect. I lost the twenty pounds over the next three months or so.
I forget what my exact weight was at graduation from MSU, but I didn’t fall off the wagon completely. I may have fluctuated ten or fifteen pounds but that would have been max. My mother instilled discipline in me early on and I think that was what kept me able to restrict calories and do the self-deprivation thing. I still used Slim-Fast from time time.
The Real World
In the years following school I continued on a shallow roller coaster, but for the most part I managed to keep my weight within ten pounds with a combination of exercise and calorie restriction. However, I was slowly stair-stepping up in weight. Gaining ten and losing five over a year’s time. That went on for a few years, varying in frequency and modulation. After marriage and sitting behind a desk for several years, having less and less time to exercise and slowly losing my will power to worry about health and fitness, I found myself thirty to thirty-five pounds over my teen age weight.
The thing that got my attention were symptoms that developed over the last five years. Reflux has been gradually irritating my esophagus and every once in a while a bite of food refuses to pass. I hate that! Then all of a sudden I start having this really bad ‘gas pain’ for lack of a better description. It shows up out of the blue and a gas pill or two will relieve it in an hour so. Then last month the pain woke me up two different nights and the last time it really didn’t go completely away for a couple of days.
Now
I had the flu a few weeks ago and while I was at the doc anyway I asked about the abdominal pain. The doc suggested I start logging what I eat and try to notice a correlation between what I ate and the pain. My occasional use of Omeprazole for treating my more frequent acid reflux was also given approval.
I even mentioned to the doc that I felt like “all this processed food we eat is killing us, but I didn’t know what to do about it”. She just shook her head and said “I know, we just have to treat it the best we can”. No mention of diet or lifestyle change. I guess that wouldn’t be commercially advantageous. Criminal if you ask me!
Anyway, that’s where I was when I heard about Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
The Future
I’m very optimistic about the Paleo lifestyle. I’ve been reading and listening a lot this week and have read testimonials about a Paleo style diet relieving symptoms of everything from reflux to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) which is what I think my abdominal pain is.
I’ve had a great first week ‘going Paleo’. I have not cheated at all as far as carbs go. I’m still having some diet soda, but have increased my water intake. The results:
- Much more consistent energy level.
- Higher energy level. No after lunch sleepy feeling.
- More consistent and smaller appetite.
- No acid reflux or IBS type symptoms.
A note about the smaller appetite. At the first of the week I was eating four eggs and four pieces of bacon for breakfast. I’ve now decided that cutting that to three will be just fine. At lunch time I’m really not that hungry, so I think my body is already responding to the diet and is ‘re-teaching’ me what a sensible meal is.
My Paleo Future is bright!
This week’s resources
I’ve added Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution blog to my reader. I’ve also listened to a couple of his podcast episodes. Another podcast that I’m catching up on is Latest In Paleo. It’s good to give you a reference for what the strictest Paleo Lifestyle would look like.
Just today we hopped on Amazon.com and ordered a food dehydrator
It’s On!
Am I on the right track? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
]]>A turning point
This is a quick post to document a turning point for me in the health and diet department that should also impact my fitness.
What triggered it
The trigger for this coming change came from an unlikely source. Paul Thurott is the host of the Windows Weekly podcast with Leo LaPorte on the TWiT network.
In a recent episode (more than one actually), Paul mentioned a book called Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
Paul didn’t go into a lot of detail about the diet because as he and the author states “it’s not a diet book”. It was Paul’s statement that “…it’s not IF I lose weight, but how much…” and the conviction with which he said it that prompted me to order a copy of the book.
The first half of the book is a bit tedious as Taubes gives a detailed background of the digestive process and how carbohydrates affect insulin production and the consequences. However, I started devouring it in the second half when the “What to do about it” stuff kicked in.
To tell you the truth, i don’t know exactly what I’m getting into yet except that there will be very few carbohydrates in my future. It’s not “Atkins” or “Sugar Busters” or any other diet exactly. That’s one of the main reasons the idea appealed to me. It’s a “lifestyle”.
Other stuff I’ve found on the subject so far.
The Taubes book just left me wanting more so I searched for related books on Amazon.com and tried to figure out what some of the lingo was associated with this “dietary lifestyle”. I was introduced to the “paleo-primal lifestyle”. The main idea I’ve found is that we should eat the way our forefathers ate in the times before agriculture. In short we should be eating what was “recently alive and soon to spoil”.
My next book to read will probably be the The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson
I’m sure these will lead to others, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far.
My first day Going Primal
We just went shopping and re-stocked our “carb cabinet” as I call it last week. I’m anxious to get going with this new dietary direction / paleo-primal lifestyle, but not committed enough to waste a week’s worth of groceries no matter how poisonous.
Today at lunch though, I decided to see what it would feel like to skip some carbs. So I made scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. It was almost three o’clock this afternoon when the big bowl of Oatmeal Squares (which is my favorite cereal) I had for breakfast wore off. I started getting light-headed and had a mild headache. Strange feeling, but in a way I’m looking forward to exploring the paleo lifestyle and getting through to the other side. I didn’t give in to the cravings though and by 7pm I’m feeling much better. For now. :-0
Dinner was roasted chicken and cheddar cheese. Earlier this afternoon I snacked on some pepperoni and cheese. I’m simply stumbling through this for now. We’ll get organized in a few days.
We, you say? Yes, my wife and I are doing this together. She tried Sugar Busters a few years ago, but I scoffed and complained about the whole grain pasta and bread. Stoopid me! “Going paleo” together will hopefully make it easier.
Background coming later
There is some background that needs to be shared before you can understand how I had this seemingly knee-jerk reaction to one guy’s mention of some book, but I’ll save that for another day.
Feedback
What about you? Have you discovered the paleo-primal lifestyle? How’s it working out? Any advice? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments.
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