I mean diet is just what you eat, right? Sometimes people ask me what I eat.
Easy, food! From my shopping bill, lots of it…
Over the last year or so, me and food have taken a bit of a journey.
I am quite lucky in many senses that I naturally love vegetables and fruit. Raw crunchy carrots, broccoli, beans, fresh home-grown tomatoes, apples, mini oranges… list goes on and on. In fact, till about a year ago, I always thought I had quite a healthy diet (chocolate and brownies excluded).
From my long distance running background, I found that pasta was my all time favorite carb, closely followed by bread (although I do prefer wholemeal to white, bread that is. Wholemeal pasta is the stuff of nightmares).
There had been a lot of buzz about the Paleo diet, and after reading about it, the principles, the benefits and general rules, it sparked my curiosity. Maybe this way of eating was worth a gander.
I always thought I was a bit cavegirl anyway.
Last summer, I rid my cupboards of bread, pasta, sugar and all things un-caveman. I will admit, that chocolate (70% and over) remained in my diet. I am an addict, remember. Oh, also honey. My father keeps bees as well as chooks, and the honey is divine. I figured there were bees in caveman times, so used sparingly would be ok.
So it passed, that I started eating caveman like.
The first week or two was pretty hard. Mostly getting used to not having bread and pasta to fall back on for a quick dinner when coming home late after climbing. Also, social occasions and eating out became tricky.
Gradually I got into the swing of things, and to keep me sane, one day a week I allowed myself a treat day (eat what you like). Treat days were bad, as I did tend to eat rubbish, but good as I felt so awful from all that junk, I couldn’t wait to get back on it the next day! Mostly, I ate whole unprocessed foods, and felt pretty good on it.
The result, not much changed! I felt amazing. My weight stayed the same (maybe due to the cheat days), I looked a little leaner, but since I hadn’t had my body composition measured before I started, it is hard to put a figure on it.
After a few months, life got super busy. It is a strict diet and I had been making all my own meals at home. Slowly I started slipping back into my old way of eating. Not terrible, but not great.
And so it continued.
Over the last month I have been trying a more softly softly approach to the paleo diet. Basically, in moderation. Sticking to the paleo diet 95% of the time, but still allowing myself a piece of cake once in a while, and bread and pasta, maybe once a week.
This style of eating is much easier for me to stick with rather than the all or nothing approach and having treat days. I can fit it into my lifestyle while still getting the benefits of all that lush wholesome food.
Find out what works for you. What makes you feel good inside and full of energy?
mmm, broccoli…
