The Paleo Diet

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Jul 28, 2015
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Missoula, MT
I've been on the Paleo diet for about 2 months. If you've ever heard of the Whole 30, its like that but less restrictive. No grains, dairy, certain kinds of oils, and most sugars. For oils, you can use olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee or lard/tallow. For sugars, you can do honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar, but in moderation. I also cut out alcohol as well. Lost 15 lbs in the first 3 weeks.

For me, beer and sugar were/are the enemy. Hard for me to moderate. With this diet, I eat lots of meat, eggs and vegetables, and some fruit. Huge salads every night. Developed a recipe for waffles using almond flour and tapioca flour, and it is really good. Fry my eggs in lard every morning. What could be wrong with that?

Fat has been demonized by the general populace for a long time, but its really only the heavily processed fats and hydrogenated fats. Fat is good, excessive carbs and sugar are bad. I'm training my body to burn fat for energy instead of sugar. With sugar, you crash, and then your body wants more. And the cycle continues. Can still drink coffee, and sometimes make bulletproof coffee (add ghee and coconut oil). The fat makes the caffeine last longer, and also satiates at the same time. Tastes like a latte, without all the sugar.

There's a great book by a fella named Mark Sisson that explains this diet and why it makes sense. He's got a great website with info, recipes, etc, called Mark's Daily Apple.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/#axzz48BxfwlOA


I may drink again, but probably not till I knock down a bull elk this fall. Then whisky all around!

In reality, this is a diet that cuts out the junk. And what is more paleo than hunting for your own meat?
 
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Auburn, Nebraska
Nice job on the diet! I've thought about doing this as well. I eat fairly clean now but haven't gone to this extreme yet. Mark has been on the Joe Rogan podcast and I think the Gritty Bowmen guys embrace it. I want to try it for its anti inflammatory benefits. I'm 42 and struggle with arthritis. I'm fairly lean already at 6' 175 and 12% BF and work out daily. slowly trying to gain a little but struggle gaining weight while being so active.

Interested to hear more about your experience on the diet and how you felt overall.
 

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Bit of a long winded comment.

I also went paleo a little over 3 weeks ago. It sucked something awful for 5-6 days, but that's mostly because I went high fat low carb immediately too. Paleo is not necessarily super low carb but a lot choose to make it so. I cut carbs down to 20-30 grams a day immediately and got the low carb flu, I just felt hungry all the time and had no energy and just generally bad. The good news is that goes away fairly quickly and can be avoided altogether if you ween yourself off carbs. Once your body adapts and goes into ketosis the changes are dramatic. Historically I've had a major sweet tooth and I've mostly lost my taste for sugars and simple carbs. I feel better than ever now. I have more energy and better recovery. My joints, especially my knees, don't hurt as bad and I've installed flooring for +20 years. The most shocking thing for me is the mental change, my head is far clearer and I'm more alert. Carbs put you into a fog that most people don't notice because they've never known different. I'm down to 203 from 229 4 weeks ago without changing my physical regimen much. I'll likely be down to my target weight of 185 in a month and then I'll add a few more good carbs (it is surprising how many carbs are in veggies) back into the mix to hone what exactly I'll need to perform at peak in September.
I also don't believe this to be a fad diet. I feel good enough on it that the inconveniences of not eating more traditional foods that are far more abundant are worth it. I've also learned that I'm pretty sensitive to sugars and just didn't know it because my diet was so bad before. I cheated to see if the benefits I was noticing were in my head and the results were conclusive. 1 cookie and 2 glasses of wine and I had heartburn and indigestion and felt awful the rest of the night, I couldn't wait for it to leave my system and get back on track.

Another benefit to high fat low carb is it should cut weight on the necessary food I bring into the back country. Protein and carbs are 4 calories per 1 gram , whereas fat is 1 gram for 9 calories. I haven't got it dialed for September yet but I'm hoping to be able to keep food weight down to under a pound a day for 2500-3000 calories.
 

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WKR
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I do a modified version of Paleo eating to support athletic performance. I've found that my body can't convert fat fast enough for energy once I dip into High Intensity Intervals. The switch happens somewhere around 70% of max heart rate. On training days, I eat 3 sweet potatoes (2 well before a workout, 1 well after) + a giant bowl of steel cut oats+whole milk and whey protein about 3 hours before the workout. I've found that extra carbs on training days really make a big difference. On my off days, I may only eat 1 sweet potato since I don't need the carbs and will eat more fat instead (I eat veggies, but I don't really count them as carbs). I also drink a lot of whole milk -1/3 to a 1/2 a gallon daily. Its just a really efficient way for me to get a lot of fat and protein and my body handles dairy well so no digestion or inflammation issues. If I don't eat a sufficient amount of carbs on training days, I can usually tell because I have trouble sleeping that night. If I eat poorly, say a giant plate of nachos and drink a bunch of beers, I feel like crap the next day, especially my joints. Lots of inflammation and it seems to get worse and more noticeable as I age. Sucks, too -it basically a food hangover.
 

elkyinzer

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I love beer and good food. Pure Paleo would be tough for me but I adhere with some of its principles and I feel pretty healthy.

I'm thankful to have a good metabolism and be athletic because I eat like a 400 lb person sometimes. I agree with your take on fats and I don't have a sweet tooth anyway so that's not a problem. My body does well with grains, even processed wheat, and like Poser if I am under carbed I really feel it at high levels or exertion hitting the wall. People's bodies are different owing way back to what our ancestors ate and ultimately there is no one diet that works for everyone. Glad you found one that works for you. Did I mention that I love beer?
 
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Live2hunt,
Do you have a preliminary list put together for what you'll be packing in sept? I just did a 3 night bear trip with mtn house but would like to replace those with something paleo friendly.
Thanks
 

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Live2hunt,
Do you have a preliminary list put together for what you'll be packing in sept? I just did a 3 night bear trip with mtn house but would like to replace those with something paleo friendly.
Thanks
I'm working on it. I'm thinking:
Pepperoni
Almonds
Larabars
Pemmican
Almond butter & Apple chips or banana chips
Home made dehydrated meals (saw a chicken curry that looked pretty awesome that I am gonna play with)
Maybe Heather's choice
Olive oil to bump fat where necessary.

I'll post a detailed breakdown when I get it sorted cause Lord knows I could've used some help on this road but there is much to go off of.

I'm certainly open to suggestions too. Looking for 150 Cal/oz or more.
 
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I am thinking something along the lines of

Dehydrated buckwheat with some add in for breakfast.

Meat pack for lunch. I like the foil tuna and salmon ones.

Diy dehydrated dinner. Elk or deer, veggies, sweet potato etc.

For snacks pemmican, homemade protein bar, epic bars, Lara bars etc.

I still have a ways to go to get a system down but working on it.
 

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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I am thinking something along the lines of

Dehydrated buckwheat with some add in for breakfast.

Meat pack for lunch. I like the foil tuna and salmon ones.

Diy dehydrated dinner. Elk or deer, veggies, sweet potato etc.

For snacks pemmican, homemade protein bar, epic bars, Lara bars etc.

I still have a ways to go to get a system down but working on it.
Buckwheat isn't paleo, I don't think so anyway.

How long have you been eating paleo?
 

Poser

WKR
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Why is that?

It's not technically "Paleolithic", it is a "pseudo grain", gluten free and has a low Glycemic Index. If you need carbs, it is a great source. 122g of Carbs per cup.

I've said this like a dozen times on this forum, but for the backcountry hunter, there is a no more perfect breakfast than Heather's Choice Buckwheat Breakfast: 26g of Fat, 58g Carb, 21g protein. It's the perfect combination of everything you need to get you up some elevation and keep you warm once you get there glassing. The fat source in these breakfast meals is beef gelatin. There is nothing else prepackaged on the market that comes close to these kinds of macros. One of my hunting partners doesn't like the taste of them -he says the beef gelatin just tastes weird to him, but even he eats these because there is no finer prepackaged breakfast combo for performance. Personally, I like the taste of them quite a bit.
 

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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I'll have to give it a try though that seems like a huge amount of carbs to me because I've kept mine at 30 or less per day for awhile, I'm not burning mountain energy though.
 

Poser

WKR
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I'll have to give it a try though that seems like a huge amount of carbs to me because I've kept mine at 30 or less per day for awhile, I'm not burning mountain energy though.

In the mountains, all of that is out the window if you're already in good shape. It's "eat as much of all macros as you can get"'or you're just coming back with 10 lbs less muscle than when you left. I'd gladly eat 10,000 calories if I could figure out how to carry them.
 
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It's not technically "Paleolithic", it is a "pseudo grain", gluten free and has a low Glycemic Index. If you need carbs, it is a great source. 122g of Carbs per cup.

I've said this like a dozen times on this forum, but for the backcountry hunter, there is a no more perfect breakfast than Heather's Choice Buckwheat Breakfast: 26g of Fat, 58g Carb, 21g protein. It's the perfect combination of everything you need to get you up some elevation and keep you warm once you get there glassing. The fat source in these breakfast meals is beef gelatin. There is nothing else prepackaged on the market that comes close to these kinds of macros. One of my hunting partners doesn't like the taste of them -he says the beef gelatin just tastes weird to him, but even he eats these because there is no finer prepackaged breakfast combo for performance. Personally, I like the taste of them quite a bit.

I wasn't aware of these. Definitely going to give them a go!
 
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