So as you could probably guess from the title, I have decided to try my hand at going…
Couply reason’s for my dietary change, I will explain these here…
1. I was always tired!
As a stay at home with twins that sleep a full 10-12 hours at night, you would think that I had ample time to get that beauty sleep in. I did/do. Except I would wake up every morning after 7+ hours sleep feeling like I hadn’t slept a wink. I couldn’t understand why I was feeling so lethargic throughout my entire day and even a midday nap would not change anything.
2. Not getting enough of the good stuff.
My up and down and all around style of diet, while being able to get away with it during my Half Marathon training, was not going to be helping with a continued weight loss, a focus I had put on hold during my training. I thought that this would be a way to force myself into getting more of the good stuff in, and less of the other stuff.
It seems my plan has worked, and has stuck!
In fact, it is probably one of the only changes I feel like I could keep and maintain.
Let me tell you why…
No more cravings! – Since starting a week and a half ago, I have not craved one morsel! I am a cake eater from way back, but never had that thought crossed my mind. I don’t have strong sugar cravings, and pastry was on my list of LURVES, but nope, none of that either!
I will say though, that the only thing that I crave is a ‘bread texture’ (not bread itself) in my nut breads as they end up being more like cake.
I have yet to feel hungry. – I probably don’t eat as much as I should, but most of this comes down to my organisation to get more paleo approved foods into me. As they usually require some kind of preparation or cooking I find myself running out of time to get a bit more balance in there. However, this has not led to me feeling hungry. I eat and I get full and am good till the next meal. No hunger pains in between like I have found with other dieting methods. I am also 2+kg’s down from when I started transitioning the change.
Alert and energetic. – I can go my whole day without feeling lethargic and tired. My concentration is better because I am not tried and I have become more productive because of this.
More freedom. – Before, in order to lose the weight I would count my calories religiously. And while this did produce some good results in itself, I felt it restricted me to an extent. I felt like I was always having to miss out on things and I often was left unsatisfied. Yes, with a Paleo diet you are restricted as to what food groups you can eat, but I have not once ‘felt‘ restricted – I have not felt hungry and I have not craved.
I still log my foods as I go through out my day, but I listen more to what my body says than what the Calorie counter tells me. I do this just to see what I am actually eating over the course of the day, and the app consolidates the nutritional information for me, so I know what to work on.
I eat as much or as little as I want and am still satisfied.
A physically clean feeling. – I cleaned out my pantry! Mostly due to a small moth infestation meaning I had to throw out everything that was open. These were mostly things that I could not continue to have on such a diet, so it was no big loss (except a monetary one). Now my pantry is stocked with all the things we need and none of the things that we don’t. I am a bit OCD in the fact that if my areas do not feel tidy, orderly and spacious I feel like my world is slightly (entirely) out of control. It visually appeals and so I am naturally happier!
It is working for my kids. – They go down to sleep better. I was struggling beforehand to get them to settle in a good bedtime routine, they would play another 1-2hours after I had said goodnight and shut the door. Now when it is lights out, it literally is lights out. They are also behaving better during the day, they don’t fight as much, and they play and investigate more. Now as a mum of 2 year old toddlers, this is just F’ing amazing!
And so with the good, comes the not so good…
It does require a hefty load of planning! – Cutting out entire food groups means that you are restricted in what you eat. Making things that taste good is usually the aim of the game, so when you do take those restricted foods out it does sometimes make things tricky. But with some planning, research and careful thought it can work out fine and will eventually become habit.
You are restricted. – So, here are some good links to find out the do’s and don’ts of the paleo world.
An Ultimate Paleo Guide, A simple straight forward paleo guide and a Paleo guide with a little humor thrown in.
I think you need to go into this change with an open mind, and slowly transition into it to make it stick. Once you get the hang of it, you never feel like you actually miss out and you kind of feel rewarded intrinsically when making the better choices.
My children wont go full paleo. – Until a time where I have got things under control with my paleo diet unfortunatly there are some things that my children will still eat. As I said before, it does take a lot of preparation to get it right and for the moment because it isnt entirely natural for me I tend to run out of time to try all the recipes to replace what they currently eat.
So… a few little tips for anyone thinking of trying it –
PINTEREST! Get one, and start pinning recipes, guides, tips, information, everything! It is literally a life saver when it comes to normalising in a paleo world.
Research, Plan and Prepare. You need to make time for this, seriously! It may be a lot of time at the beginning, but it is an investment, and it will slowly get easier and quicker. I plan my entire week on a chart making sure to cover every single meal. It helps with grocery shopping, and you actually find that you can save money planning meals wisely.
Change your way of thinking. For example, I am having a hard time replacing Bread with a more Paleo bread. Instead, I have resorted to the fact that It wont happen, or wont happen to the same expectation you get from a normal slice of bread. Instead change. Change your meal concept, change your thoughts about if you really need bread, replace bread with something that isn’t bread at all. Be open to change and be positive about it.
Transition into it. As of yet, there are still small changes I need to make, but these changes are going to be easier for me to do because I am slowly phasing things out and introducing new things in. You don’t do yourself any favours by going cold turkey, make it a positive change and not a resentful one!
Now if you have made it to the end of this post, I thank you! I know it isn’t always an attention grabber when talking about diet, especially one that initially seems so radical.
I am not asking for everyone to go out there and try it. If what you are doing is working for you, go hard with it, but if you are looking for a change, go ahead and try it. It is the most natural thing once you get the hang of it, and I know if you just give it a stab, I am sure you will receive the same results as I have.
Thanks for reading,
And yup, I’m still running,
Jay 🙂
P.S. Finally added another song to my Beasty Playlist, go on over and have a look by clicking here!!!
On a Jam Hunt 