I have never been a dieter. Up until about 3 years ago, I was an athlete who worked out about 40 hours a week. I certainly had to make sure that I was eating the correct proteins and carbs to gain muscle and preform at my peak, but I never had to worry too much about gaining weight from what I ate. If I binged on cookies or french fries I had a 5am work out to burn it off. Nice life huh?!
Well those days are over. Not only have I exchanged my workouts for a 45/55 hour work week, but I am getting older. Those calories just stick to your sides better when you’re older I think. Not to mention that finding time to work out is difficult during the work week. But as I mentioned, I have never been a dieter. I enjoy the freedom of eating what I want, and I guess there is a possibility that it has something to do with being impatient to wait for the results of a diet and having no will power to say no to a juicy hamburger. But hey..that’s why Im writing this, because I have actually found a “diet” where I can eat most of the things I love and notice slimming and toning results.
Last month I turned Caveman (cavewoman maybe?) and I loved it. I ate all the meat I wanted along with fruit, veggies and nuts. I even made delicious coconut brownies from dates, eggs, and a bunch of coconut products. I think I semi became a coconut addict during my month on Paleo. I ate seafood, and trail mix and meat and eggs and veggies…so the day to day was not that bad. There are also a plethora of blogs, books and recipes available for this diet. I found it was easy to make the change in lifestyle and felt pretty good during the process with only a day about three weeks into it when I had strong cramps relating to the strict change in the food I was eating.
As someone who wasn’t looking for a diet, this whole experiment began when my roommate jumped on the bandwagon to support her mom who was prescribed the Paleo diet for medical reasons. She tends to fill our fridge with awesome food (she loves to cook( so I figured it would be easy to emulate her shopping and cooking habits while trying out a healthier eating style. I have heard people describe the Paleo diet as a glorified Atkins, but I really believe that the benefits are a lot more. The food you cut out decreases a lot of inflammation in the body and a simple elimination of bread really does feel good.
I have since taken a break from the regimen because of recent travel that made it difficult to be a picky eater, but I find that I still choose certain meals based on the Paleo thinking. As for my roommate: she is going strong and has even begun intense workout trainings (a reason that many people become cavemen).
Have you tried this diet?
Becoming French 