30 day paleo challenge....day 2

Today was the first big struggle in terms of wanting coffee......... ahhh the sweet smell and taste of espresso! Certainly I have that horrible tension headache that you get from caffeine withdrawl - just between the eyebrows.

One thing I forgot to mention was that I am taking 20g of fish oil per day (as per recommended in the Robb Wolf guide). This is not a long term prescription but rather it is something to help you "heal" the inflammation until your body. However, I think I would rather drink my own urine that have to taste it so I wonder if there is something I could put in it to make it taste better?

Food wise, Breakfast left over beef curry, Lunch, Trout with salad and olive oil and Dinner was Roast chicken, parsnips, sweet potato and olive oil.

30 day paleo challenge....day 1

I have just finished reading the superb Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf and I thought I would give the 30 day paleo challenge a go.

Although I am aware of the potential benefits of doing this, I have never actually done it fully for 30 days so now is the time.

One of the most interesting points I took from the book is the issue with gluten. Apparently, "cutting down" on your gluten intake is not good enough becausee It can take up to 14 days to eliminate the effects from your system- and I certainly have been eating more frequently than this.

So....... day 1) Breakfast eggs , Lunch Mackerel with lettuce and tomatoes and dinner- curry, grass fed beef and coconut milk with cabbage and broccoli.
Feeling a bit iffy due to having no coffee (without milk or cream it just ain't the same!)

Are starches as bad as we think?

Earlier this week I spent some time with my delightful family. My Nan, who is 92 (bless her) has just come out of the hospital so I thought I would pop down and see her and give her my best wishes.

My gran has the most voracious appetite of any old lady I have ever soon. It is fairly common place to see an old dear nibbling on a piece of lettuce and being satisfied for several days. However, my Nan is the exact opposite. I recall that on once occasion we went out for a meal together as a family and for dessert we ordered the sharing platter dessert (notice the deliberate emphasis on sharing there). Once the dolce had arrived, no sooner had it been placed on the table whereupon my Nan lunged into it like a crack addict going towards their next hit. She gobbled up at least three quarters of the tasty morsel herself- The greedy BITCH!

I digress. My Nan, is as thin as a rake and has been for as long as I have known her. I do recall reading somewhere that Insulin control has been linked to longevity (a future post methinks). When I questioned her about what she ate when she was younger, there was no fruit and hardly any sugar. She did eat a lot of potatoes and some bread but never had a problem with her weight. Oh and she ate copious amounts of fat and butter. Incidentally, this was also the staple diet of my mother (bread and dripping anyone?).

Some research recently has suggested that the carbs we eat from starches may not necessarily impact people as badly as was previously thought. Certainly once a person is insulin resistant, then starches do cause a serious problem if you can no longer tolerate carbs. However, the damage may not be from starches themselves but the combination of excess sugar in the diet that gives the insulin system a damn good battering for several years and buggers up the system.

Potentially, this could mean that once you have "healed" your metabolic conditioning, you may be able to introduce starchier food without the same detrimental effects.

Coffee hell!

Hi there. Sorry I have been gone for a while, I am gonna shape up for 2010 and make sure I hit this ol'blog regularly!

Recently, I have been feeling very lethargic throughout the day at least compared to normal. Now, my diet is pretty, pretty, pretty (Larry David anyone?) good so it has been a mystery to me whats been happening. However, after reading something about Adrenal Fatigue, I decided that maybe I am an unknown sufferer.

One of the causes attributed to adrenal fatigue is excess coffee. Now, I am British and there is no people on earth who get more excited about hot beverages then us (just mention the word "tea" around any woman of a certain age in this country and see what I mean), however, I FUCKING LOVE coffee man! Not just the effect of the caffeine but the whole darn experience, the heat of the cup, the smell of it.....................Sorry back to my point. Coffee in excess can lead to adrenal fatigue, which can cause tiredness, lack of sex drive, craving of certain foods etc. And I drink 15 cups+ per day, so I am a prime candidate for this.

So today is day 5 of my caffeine free "diet". The first three days were absolute hell I have to say, with recurring severe headaches the most prominent symptom. Interestingly, I also had flu like symptoms on the second night whilst I was in bed. I checked for symptoms of caffeine withdrawl and this is a common symptom.

Anyway last night, the headaches subsided for the first time and I have to say I do feel much better and "full of beans" as my mother would say (I was often literally full of beans when I was younger-but ill save that for another day).

I will keep you posted on the long term effects of this however, I do intend to go back to drinking coffee, but purely because I want to not because I NEED to know what I mean?

Andy xx

Christmas struggles!

Yesterday was the first big Christmas meal of the season for us. The wife and I went to see my brother down the road in Manchester and a few of the relatives were there.

I am pleased to say I was very strong during the meal and had to withhold from the potatoes and the dessert (which was apple pie and did look very tempting!).

I have to say that I did feel guilty, turning away from the food. I think it was because when other people had made so much effort cooking it that it looks like a personal affront to their skills. I always find that I have to explain myself and go into extreme detail about my the consequences of eating carbohydrates (I believe I used the term diabetic coma). Not strictly true but I do feel like shit after eating this sort of thing. As usual there are always cries of "one potato wont hurt", which is indeed true but I don't see why I should feel like crap all day (and days after incidentally) just to appease my guilt!

By Christmas day itself, I will have to try my best to avoid Christmas pudding. This is my absolute FAVE thing for Christmas dinner. However, if you had to invent something that truly knocks me for six, this is it! My Kryptonite if you will. I have also noted with interest recently that the cream that is with it causes my face to go bright red, in fact I look like I have cleansed my face with poison Ivy!

Please don't be under the impression that I will not enjoy Christmas because of my abstinence! On the contrary, I will enjoy the feelings of being normal, by concentrating on meat, veg and fat (and maybe 1 chocolate :-)).

Merry Christmas!

Andy

Calorie Counting Nonsense-one step forward 2 back

The latest "research" has apparently indicated that the current calorie recommendations for people are wrong!

Great news! That's what us low carbers have been saying for a long time. So, is this finally the time that those "in control" cure the obesity crisis forever and point to sugar as the real culprit? Alas no.

According to this article, the current recommendations of calorie intake are wrong and people can eat 400 calories more per day. Great. And what foods do they indicate would fill the 400 void? A cheeseburger, ice cream, an average sized cupcake.

So having realised that years of recommended calorie intake isn't working, the advice is to eat more? Brilliant! No information about choices, or macro nutrients but eat more cakes and cheeseburgers!

No wonder people are so confused!

Bad bad breakfast!

Hey all you low carbers!

Despite the main-stream media still being fat phobic, I was delighted to see a program the other day on channel4 about how unhealthy and full of sugar the average breakfast is. I believe it is a step in the right direction for how detrimental to long term health these sorts of foods are.

On the program it was clear to see how the marketing of breakfast cereals has cleverly placed them as "leaders" in health . It appears that the consumer was catching on to the fact that cereals might be a little unhalthyl. The companies therefore changed tactics and rebranded themselves as "fortified with vitamins" or "whole grain full".

By the way, Kelloggs is worth a staggering £12 BILLION POUNDS! This makes them a very dangerous enemy in the quest for the health of the nation. When you think about it, they are doing more damage than someone like Macdonalds because the kids eat this stuff daily, whereas it will be unlikely that the same can be said of a Big Mac (at least in children anyway).

What is it about whole grains? Where did we get the idea that we need them to stay alive? Much love and low carbyness to all!


Best wishes,

Junkie