My experience with the Paleo Diet

[AZRickD]

From about September 2011 through about a full year, I had been "sick" (intermittent fatigue). Some upper GI (stomach) issues. Nothing to speak of in the lower GI. Aches.

Three or so months of blah followed by a month or so of okay, repeat. All blood tests were negative. Doctors stumped. Riding hours dwindling to the lower double-digits per year. Sleeping 12+ hours per day on the bad periods.

In September 2012, during the beginning of another episode, I decided to dose myself with some pro-biotics. My symptoms reversed within a few days but that could have been coincidental.

In November I met up with a dirt biker during our series Competition Committee meeting. He was looking great (a little pudgy before). He said he had been on the Paleo Diet for the last several months and his weight had dropped (without trying) and his energy was up. He explained, very basically, that it consisted of dropping ALL grains from the diet as well as legumes (beans, soy, peanuts). And the food that you replace it with is high quality meat (fish and ribeye steak for me), veggies (gobs, including the paleo favorite "Big-Ass Salad"), and good fats (animal, olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil). No processed oil (Canola, corn, soy, etc). No processed food. If not cooked myself from raw ingredients, don't eat it. I went home and googled and was on my way.

Results after about six weeks --

I removed grain totally from my diet. I have no idea if I had any kind of gluten sensitivy which is a primary concern to many. On the other hand, within days of dropping all forms of wheat, oats, rice, etc, the biggest change was the near complete disappearance of hypoglycemia symptoms. No beans (legumes), either. This is coupled with removing processed sugar from my menu as well which leads to blood sugar spikes and crashes. No cake, pancakes, sweat tea. Keeping fruit to a minimum.

I also go longer between meals. Not because I'm trying to reduce calories (I'm actually stuffing myself most days - veggies and meat, mostly) -- I'm just not particulary hungry more often than not. Yesterday afternoon I went on a mountain bike ride around Deem Hill (my standard getting-back-into-shape half-lap). Normally I'd have to down a glass of OJ to get me through it and then I'd come back hungry as well. Not this time.

As a bonus, I've also dropped about 20 to 25 pounds without doing much exercise during the period other than stretching (P90-X Stretch) and a short ab workout for my back. I'm fitting into clothes I haven't worn since the last time I was in shape (just before the Sept 2011 chronic illness).

Part of the Paleo program is to go 100% Paleo for a few weeks and re-introduce some foods one at a time to see if there is a sensitivity (not necessarily an allergy). I didn't notice much of anything when I tried a good hunk of bread one day, or dairy at another time. But I got a rude awakening when I tried my fave peppers. I used to cook with them all the time. They were one of my go-to Wok-able veggies.

Peppers (green, red, jalpeneo, etc, etc) are part of the nightshade family (also includes potatos, eggplants, tobacco, tomatoes). They have alkaloids (tomatine, nicotine, etc) which I later found out can cause problems.

This wasn't a re-introduction, really. They were on sale and I grabbed a back of mixed mini-bell peppers. I took two of them to work and munched on one late in the morning. My skin got itchy, my stomach gurgled, a couple of muscle groups started to ache (forearm, shin), and the areas around a couple of joints started to ache. This lasted for about four hours.

I googled "Paleo + peppers" and learned of the nightshade connection. After the symptoms subsided I decided to go guinea pig and munched on another one. The symptoms returned and lasted for eight hours and it sucked. It reminded me of what I was going through last fall when I first got sick. I was going through bunches of peppers back then, not-so conincidentally, I surmise. I've had two accidental re-introductions since (restaurant food). Similar results.

[desertgasser300]

Been on it for 4 weeks, lost 11 pounds with only still walking for 45 minutes a day at 4.0 MPH at a 4% grade on my treadmill. I was running the same amount but not watching my food intake and had zero results with weight loss and still fatigued during the day. Not on a full blown paleo but more just staying away from man made/engineered foods.

Glad to see its working for you. Now maybe you won't be such a bottlenecker now....LOL!

[AZRickD]

After about three months I have dropped a total of 30 pounds and mostly stable at 197 lbs. Again, without trying to lose weight. Excersize includes only P90X "Stretch" 5 days a week and P90X Abs 3 or so days a week for my back issues. I might do the rare MTB ride but usually not because it's a bit chilly in the Phoenix mornings still.

I did a 2.5 hour hare scramble last month without pitting and without any kind of Gatorade-like substance in my Camelbak. Pre race meals were normal paleo. Protein, fat, carbs (veggies and yams). Post race was more of the same (plus beer).

Two weeks ago we did a long reset enduro of about five hours. I stuffed a baggy full of bacon, half a yam, and a nut bar. I had planned to have a bottle of Gatorade at the gas pit but I forgot it. Also, my water has a squeeze of lemon and a light pinch of salt --> calcium, sodium, and chloride.

Through it all my blood sugar was nominal. I was wiped at the end of the enduro, and I was hungry, but no sugar crash.

We have another 2.5 hour hare scramble next weekend. No special plans.

[farmerj]

Great info., Rick. Glad you're finding such good results. I'll take a closer look as I do think that "what goes in" affects how we feel...

Jeff

[AZRickD]

If you're searching for info, use search terms "paleo" + "fill in the blank."

To find out what foods are good for you...

paleo + protein
paleo + fat
paleo + vegetables
paleo + oil

To find out what foods are bad for you and why...

paleo + grains
paleo + legumes
paleo + peanuts
paleo + bad fats (processed vegetable oil)
paleo + nightshades

You'll be sent to sites like paleohacks.com, mark's daily apple and others.

Sifting through the bad and good information, misinformation and contradictory information will take some time, but you'll begin to make some sense of it.

You'll hear a lot of "What would Grog eat?" which is intended to guide people toward a simpler diet. I ignore the caveman aspect of the diet and seek simple, high-quality, unprocessed food. Do some experimentation to find if you have any foods that cause you problems (nightshades, dairy, nuts...)

And lastly, try to avoid using nuts as your "snack food." The best thing to do for a between-meal snack is to make a mini-meal that contains, veggies (your main carb source), fat, and protein. I try to keep very little nuts on-hand (because I will pig out on them). I use nuts to sprinkle on my "Big-Ass Salad."

[GMP]

What does it do to your cholesterol level?

[GMP]

Very true. Years ago, spending a lot of time on a dive boat, I ate a lot of that stuff, seemed fine. Now I can't stomach it. A big salad,with a slab of chicken, steak, or fish on top is a major part of my diet, although rarely steak lately.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[AZRickD]

This weekend's race in Globe, Arizona marks 3.5 months since I started this paleo thing. My weight is still stable around 197-ish (I haven't weighed myself in a week or so). I am fitting into some of my 33-inch pants and most of my 34-inch pants are downright baggy.

My only deviations from fairly strict paleo eating is that I eat more fruit and nuts than paleo dudes consider Kosher -- At least, up until a couple weeks ago, since I ran out of nuts and don't particularly feel a need to buy more. The best way not to eat stuff is to keep it out of one's vicinity. My other quasi paleo transgressions: pastuerized milk with coffee, yogurt every now and again, and the rare beer per week.

I did the same dietary prep for Globe as before -- ie, nothing. I just ate as per normal. The morning of the race I ate a fairly light breakfast of three thick strip of bacon and one egg and fried up a few yam slices. I finished a few cups of coffee and hopped on the bike which was filled with about 3 gallons of pre-mix which I figured would last me five laps (assuming I got lapped twice by a speedy AA guy) with at least a half gallon to spare. That meant I wouldn't have to pit, and I didn't, so I didn't.

Since the weather was around 40F I had just a quart of water in my hydration pack with the proscribed paleo pinch of salt & squeeze of lime to keep me going. Through the race I remained pretty strong until the sleet turned some sections a bit slippery. After lap 4 my stomach started gurgling which meant I was "hungry" but my blood sugar, while probably dropping, was in no way crashing. I shoulda eaten another egg or something.

The paleo endurance athletes say that they burn fat well up to about 2 hours or so, then need to go to carbs. My fifth and final lap started at the 2-hour mark and I suppose I would've benefited from some liquified carbs of some source.

I finished the race at five laps (leaders did six) and I was ready to do another one had I not been saddled with the emotional burden of a crazy-cool finisher medallion. I putt-putted off to my camper to scarf down some more bacon and yam with a Fosters chaser before packing up for home.

The next race in two weeks is at San Manuel, Arizona (between Globe and Tucson). This is going to be a fairly quick (for our usually technical courses) 78-mile hare scramble (3 26-mile loops).

That's about 4 hours for me, so I'll have no choice but to put a little bit of carbo in my hydration pack and probably schlurp down some yam, nanner and a bit of OJ or something at every lap.

[tm_enduro]

AZRick
I am not a Paleo, more of a whole food type guy. As well as a bike rider (former racer), I am a competative masters runner (over 40). I have found that when do long races (10K and over), I can build up my reserves with sushi (tuna, salmon, and white rice) the night before the race. For shorter races I just have a kale/spinach shake, but for longer runs I will eat 3 or 4 eggs with the shake. But, I often find that a protein (prefer vegan) shake with 20+ gm of protein is manditory, immediately upon finishing, then head to the local mexican restaurant for carne asada (and fried eggs, if they will endulge you).

[AZRickD]

It's a plan.