Try tea, a good cup of earl gray with some honey and a slice of lemon is pretty damn tasty.
Plus, antioxidants and all that.
^He also takes it in the butt. But that’s off topic.
Seriously though, I made the switch to tea from coffee about two months ago. I found that first off, it’s healthier. Second, I don’t need coffee if I eat an actual breakfast. And third, that the habit of drinking coffee is really just replaced by drinking ANYTHING. I was hardwired to drink “something” every morning, I could probably switch to warm water and it’ll still make me feel warm inside.
Never been a tea fan… Tried it, a few times, always had to add too much stuff to it to make it semi-palette-able to me that it was no longer healthy.
I weighed myself a couple nights ago and came out at 197lbs (6’ tall). It was a kick in the gut. Throughout most of my life I was skinny as a rail. Even throughout high school and “college” I would never get over 150lbs. I would go to Jim’s or John & Mary’s and order two whole subs myself and eat them in one sitting…wouldn’t gain a pound. One night working at Ted’s I ate a hot dog, footlong, double cheeseburger, onion ring, jumbo hot dog, and a chicken sandwhich…in half an hour.
When I started dating my now wife she was a heavier girl. We got lazy, more comfortable with each other and we both put on weight. After many failed attempts at this diet and that diet, my wife finally got going with weight watchers. Since then she is down over 90lbs. In doing so I knew I couldn’t let her work that hard and just sit on my ass and shovel pizza in my face. We both started cooking healthier, maybe not to the level of some of the aforementioned posts but it was a big step in the right direction. We both still have shitty days where we wind up sitting at mighty or jims or <insert any other buffalo eatery>.
I notice how shitty I feel when I’m eating a 7/11 lunch rather than something healthier. It’s still a transition going from eating like I did in high school to scaling back. But you definitely feel a lot better when you eat “properly”. I joined the gym with the wife, and continued running for about the third year now.
Sounds like me. I was the same way, 2 Tahou’s Garbage Plate’s a day during college and I wouldn’t gain a pound. 6’3", 150-160# from the time I was 14 till I was 21. I then got a desk job… and slowly put on weight until the max I have been (221), which I’m fighting my way down from. Already lost 4# in the last 2 weeks (as of this past Tuesday, prob down another lb or two by now).
I’ve been 185-190 since senior year of HS, but I know that any less than that and I’m really not going to be healthy.
I don’t care what I weigh, as long as the weight I do weigh is healthy and I’m in good shape.
Same here. Age and a desk job sucks. Used to be able to eat anything, work out sporadically, and still have a 6 pack. Not anymore.
Oh, and good on you guys for not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. So many people try to go from college style eating to 100% super strict diets and as soon as they have one slice of pie on day 3 they completely fall off the wagon and start mowing donuts topped with lines of coke off a hookers ass. I’ve gotten pretty good at making each decision a new one at every meal, but that’s happened to me many times.
Yep, same story here with how I used to be. 15x pounds, eat anything, didn’t matter. That changed when I turned 32.
And are we total food nazis now? Nope, if we go to friends places, have a party, etc, damn straight we’re going to make party food. Still, I find myself not going crazy with it, as I thought I would, because I know the after-feelings now.
has anyone here cut out dairy?
I’m a HUGE milk drinker… half gallon of 2% every 2 days… I love it… I also eat cottage cheese, and greek yogurt (plain,with granola)
I hear all the health benefits of cutting it out…but, i also hear health benefits of dairy… like, high in protein, calcium, vitamins… etc
hilarious
Seems person to person. I’m brutally lactose intolerant (can’t digest the lactose sugar so I shit my brains out when the bacteria in my gut do it for me and produce tons of methane as a result) so it’s a no go for me. As far as what I’ve read: for people who can digest it, even in with hardcore paleo nuts some say it gives them acne and sore joints, others will drink a gallon of whole milk a day as part of a mass gaining regiment. It’s got a nice ratio of protein/fat/carbs for post-workout, but I think the people that have trouble don’t digest the protein in it very well (the casein part specifically, whey doesn’t seem to be so bad.)
The guys I follow just put it under the try-it-for-yourself category. Go 30 days without, then add it back in. See which side made you look/feel/perform better. Everyone seems to say go full-fat if you’re going to consume dairy.
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Except for butter. I always forget that butter is dairy because I can digest it (no milk sugar in it). Eat lots of butter. Pastured (i.e. kerrygold brand). It’s fucking delicious and by all accounts so micronutrient dense most geeks call it a superfood. Some research indicates it synergizes with cod liver oil to boost testosterone.
Because of this I usually have eggs cooked in butter with some bacon and coffee for breakfast. Then down a tablespoon of cod liver oil (it really doesn’t taste bad, better than straight fish oil IMO0 and a 5000 iu vitamin D on my way out the door.
Holy shit. Take supplements.
How many mammals drink milk after age 1 or so? (not including that kid in Grown Ups)
Then again, everyone is different. I was never lactose intolerant, per se, but could tell the difference in how I felt after cheese, milkshake and other dairy binges. It was never good.
I’m trying this paleo thing, some questions for you more experienced gents…
green peas & corn? Im hearing both no and “well they arent so bad for you” and “yes they are full of nutrients”…
Agave nectar? honey?
truvia? white sugar? sugar in the raw?
I’m not a black coffee kind of guy… i’m reading heavy cream is ok, but what about for sweetening it? Fry, it sounds like you put butter in yours… hows that? I suppose my unsweetened almond milk is a no go…
will a few beers kill off any benefits of eating paleo?
what kind of spices / sauces / salt, etc should I really pay attention to?
fruit juice? as long as its 100%, not from concentrate? watering it down is even better, right?
I guess it’s all what your goals are. For me, I just want to get healthy, so a general junk-food removal and eating better + starting a workout routine was the primary motivating factor; Hypertension, Cholesterol Issues, and my heart condition…
But I’m not going all balls-out on complete diet/lifestyle change.
Got rid of the 95% of the sugars in my diet.
Very limited milk, just a small amount in my coffee in the morning. Rest of the milk is either Soy or Almond milk now.
Fats are extremely watched, and limited.
Veggies/Fruits, which were very limited/rare in my diet, are now 50% of what I eat.
Sodium/Salt I limit myself to 3 grams (per the doc); which is actually quite a bit, I don’t eat more than 2/3rds of that on a normal day.
Rarely eat out anymore, and when I do, it’s normally healthy (unless it’s a cheat day)
Alcohol intake has reduced extremely; down to 1-2 glasses of red wine a day (Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Merlot, Cab. Sav, etc)
Soda/pop has been almost completely removed, only on “special occasions”; replaced with 1-2 gallons of water a day.
I figure this was a good enough starting adjustment; and stuff I could “easily” do without falling off the wagon completely in 2 days. In the 3 weeks that my wife and I have been doing this, we’re both down weight, feeling better health wise, sleeping better, etc. I’ve had 2 cheat days (One dinner/drinks with work, and today).
I used to get all of it at Market in the square in West Seneca, it was around 25 dollars per week for everything. A 5 pound bag of carrots was 1.88 at the market.
Here in Austin, I have yet to find a little market with as good prices. Just have to keep exploring I guess.
I feel bloated as all hell this morning, had a wegmans sub for dinner blahhh
Same here. Made pulled pork yesterday for our superbowl party, which included chips, cheeses, crackers, and every other fucking food group + Beer…TO THE GYM!
I made it out unscathed. didnt gain a pound and im feelin pretty good, even after a slice of pizza, some wings, and some beers.
Keep in mind that the #1 thing you’re doing with paleo is healing your gut. Google leaky gut syndrome. It’s still pretty controversial, but they’re finding that gluten and some other foods damage your gut/blood barrier and lead to shit (literally) getting into your blood which drives inflammation and lays the ground work for all sorts of autoimmune diseases and obesity. Paleo also does a good job of normalizing your blood sugar if you keep your carbs in check, and promoting a healthy gut bacteria population which we’re just starting to learn the importance of. Finally it cuts a lot of toxic foods out of your diet, eliminating foods with anitnutrients that are stealing shit you need and making you less healthy.
Peas and corn are fine. (I.e. hard shelled mexican can be pretty damn healthful.) The concerns here are the gut health and anti-nutrient issues, but they’re both pretty benign. Maybe don’t eat them both every night, but don’t worry about them.
As for sweeteners, this is the blood sugar thing. I’m not too up on my artificial sweeteners, but I always opt for the “food” over the chemical. Maybe some artificial sweeteners are OK, but do your own research here. I’ll put butter and coconut oil in my coffee once in a while. It’s a lot of fat so your stomach won’t be happy if you’ve got any sort of low stomach acid (lots of people do.) You’ve also got to blend it or shake it up in a jar or it will never mix. It’ll be the creamiest coffee you ever have in your life. Tastes different too. It’s pretty good. Really good for you to get a big whack of fat in the morning so it’s worth trying once in a while. Don’t use salted butter though. Gross. Just don’t underestimate how hard it is to get off of sugar. They’re finding that sugars and breads hit your dopamine recepters in a frightneningly similar way as morphine. Carb addiction is legit, so have some respect for it. Know that it’s an addiction and if you can break it you’ll feel a ton better and lose the cravings.
What’s wrong with almond milk? Nuts are fine. Well they’re high in omega-6’s (the whole inflammation thing) so maybe the milk is too?
Will beers kill the benefits? Well, yeah. I mean, it won’t undo previous good decisions but it’s full of gluten so it will damage your gut. If you’re trying to heal your gut then switch to liquor, which really isn’t that bad. Vodka, tequila, whiskey, gin. They all wind up gluten free via the distillation process.
Spices… Whatever, don’t get neurotic here. Make your meat and veggies taste good. Just watch out for sauces, they’re usually full of sugar and sometimes flour.
The problem with fruit juice is it’s just a big glass of sugar. Doesn’t matter if its from concentrate.
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Had cheese filled pasta shells at a friends house for dinner Saturday, felt like a bag of ass Sunday. Then had pizza and crackers and pretzels and cheese and nuggets and more crackers and cheese and more crap. I brought hard ciders because I told myself I was going to avoid gluten. lulz during the superbowl? OK Fry. I actually got sick last night. 
Feel OK today. Brought my 4 hardboiled eggs for breakfast and 2 cans of tuna with rice and an avocado and an apple for lunch. Looking forward to starting MGS 2.0 at lunch.
Oh, and I’m damn near off caffein. What a world of difference in energy.
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Oh, and here’s a handy reference for “What CAN I eat???”
http://robbwolf.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/thePaleoSolution_FoodMatrix.pdf
Some other interesting quick-start guides here.
:tup:
You must go through breath mints like crazy with your breakfast and lunch combo there. I’m going to try coffee with Agave syrup in it. I went from drinking Timmy’s double doubles (which aren’t two cream and two sugar, it’s more) to drinking coffee with just a spoon full of sugar. I can drink it black too (Which is 0 points via Weight Watchers).