Clean Eating or 'Palaeo Diet' Tips?

Awesome_Nautilus

Hi guys,

I'm hoping to transition to 'eating clean' to help with my weight loss journey. I'm happy with my weight loss so far, but have hit some sort of plateau and hope that eating a healthy clean diet will get me back on track.

Has anyone got any tips on making the transition?

My current diet is high in sugar and processed foods (albeit, the 'lighter' options). I am also a vegetarian.

Thanks!
Ellie

fittestpal

The best advice I can give you is make a slow transition and get better everyday. If you rush into changing your lifestyle you will be overwhelmed. Start by making healthy choices when you have the option to do so

tennisdude2004

Agree with the slow transition post. Do it a bit at a time.

Good luck.

Interested to see how off the rails this thread gets!

kgeyser

There's nothing wrong with wanting more whole foods in your diet, but it isn't necessarily going to be the thing to break your plateau - basically the foods you are eating have nothing to do with your plateau. 1500 calories of processed foods and 1500 calories of whole foods are going to keep you at the same place, since weight loss is calories in vs calories out. Here are some ideas to get out of plateau:

- Recalculate your TDEE and make sure that all your numbers are up to date. We need fewer calories as we lose in general, and our bodies become more efficient at exercise which leads to lower calorie burns. Sometimes the key to breaking the plateau is just the math.

- Change up your exercise routine. Different exercises, durations, intensity.

- Review your macros and see if changing your percentages helps. You might not be eating in a way that optimally fuels your workouts and meets your goals. And take a look at your micros and make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need.

- Replace some processed foods with homemade versions, but don't make drastic changes right away. If you've been eating a lot of sodium, the water weight could be masking your weight loss - sodium is what bothers me the most about processed foods. Homemade stuff takes longer to prepare, so you burn more calories that way, too.

- Make sure you keep weighing, measuring, and tracking while making changes so you have data to reference. Some people make the mistake of switching to whole foods, seeing a loss because they've inadvertently created a bigger calorie deficit, and chalking it up to the food. Then they get lazy with the logging because they are eating "better," and either plateau again or see a gain. Just read through the forums, you'll see lots of "help, eating clean and exercising and not losing!" posts from people who have fallen into that trap.

Good luck, I hope you start losing again soon!

tennisdude2004

just as an add on to the post above re- change up exercises.

why not try adding a sprint session to your weekly routine?

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sampleworkouts/a/30sec_sprints.htm

LBennett34

Short and not so sweet cardio sessions will break you through. Consider HIIT or Tabata training. Intense but works!

MyChocolateDiet

my best tip on paleo is don't do it. i think it's horrible. may be costing me my marriage as we speak. so sick of the rules the restrictions and the pressure to do it as well. there seems to be no single authority so it's just confusing and anyone doing it can "customize" it which really means just change their mind willy nilly from one day to the next and drive their friends and family crazy while acting all superior and like the ONLY authority with the real answers of paleo. then when all those restrictions make you afraid to eat anything and you get skinny from starving yourself you get to tell people you are right about it working but really your just starving from mass confusion and frustration. oh did I forget to mention, you will also be hangry and mean to those around you. good luck.

Awesome_Nautilus

Thanks for the tips and advice guys! Really useful

corgarian

I'm a vegetarian, and I try to not eat processed foods (Dont judge my last 3 days its been stressful. lol). You can check my diary for foods.

What I do is pre-make all my lunches (I do it on sundays) so that I'm never tempted to eat fast food for lunch. I also portion all of my snacks for the week. I eat a lot of raw veggies with a homemade dip, trail mix, cheese, dried fruit, apples with almond butter, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, ect.

EDIT: As a vegetarian its very hard for us to be strict paleo. It restricts foods we need in order to get our proper nutrients. I fully support reducing processed foods (I'm sorry im not one of those "a calories is a calorie is a calorie people), but I dont think as a vegetarian you should strive for full paleo.

dalejackson

My husband and I use a cookbook called Thrive Foods: 200 Plant Based Recipes for Peak Health by Brendon Brazier quite often. Some things in the book are a little strange and hard to find, but we've found that once we have all of these things on hand they appear quite often throughout the book, so it's not like you're buying a whole bottle of Ume Plum vinegar and then never using it again.

I am amazed at how good the food turns out, and how easy most of the recipes are. And I'm not a cook... but I get a kick out of making something awesome out of all natural foods. My favorite is the vegan cheese brocolli bowl!

Good luck!

lilymae71

I follow AIP (autoimmune protocol) because I have several autoimmune diseases. It's basically 'stricter than paleo' but I'm not perfect (nor should anybody try to be PERFECT, I think--very stressful). I still drink alcohol and eat some sugar but since I take no grains nor legumes -- and a bunch of other things that I've found I cannot digest through doctor-supervised elimination testing food challenges, like broccoli

My point is, eating whole foods is always a smart choice. And you can stay fat or grow fatter (I did!) eating very, very clean (but too much!). In my case, it's because I've suffered malabsorption for decades. Fixed that and oops.

I, too, was vegetarian for almost 17 years. It's tricky to eat unprocessed protein sources. I always do best if I get about 1g protein per pound that I weigh. That's NOT a requirement but it's what I've found from experimenting since 2009.

dalejackson

1500 calories of processed foods and 1500 calories of whole foods are going to keep you at the same place, since weight loss is calories in vs calories out.

Disagree. It's more about the nutrition that you get from the 1500 calories you eat. 1500 calories of brocolli a day (as unreasonable as that is), is NOT going to have the same effect on weight loss as 1500 calories of cheese burgers a day.

pattyproulx

my best tip on paleo is don't do it. i think it's horrible. may be costing me my marriage as we speak. so sick of the rules the restrictions and the pressure to do it as well. there seems to be no single authority so it's just confusing and anyone doing it can "customize" it which really means just change their mind willy nilly from one day to the next and drive their friends and family crazy while acting all superior and like the ONLY authority with the real answers of paleo. then when all those restrictions make you afraid to eat anything and you get skinny from starving yourself you get to tell people you are right about it working but really your just starving from mass confusion and frustration. oh did I forget to mention, you will also be hangry and mean to those around you. good luck.

Sorry to hear your marriage is breaking down but I highly doubt it's food's fault. (I've heard Paleo bashed for a number of things but breaking up marriages is a first)

Eating a more paleo diet is a great way to get more nutrition out of your food. My wife and I have done it for 4 years now and love it.

We're not 100% but we don't care. It's not a religion and you do what works for you. For us, it means eating more vegetables, fruit, and meat than we did in the past and removing less nutrient-dense foods like grains and sugar.
If we go for dinner somewhere and the only option is lasagna, we'll eat it. If we're out on the town and want to treat ourselves to something non-plaeo every once in a while, we do it.

Our 'diet' doesn't rule our lives. It just results in our eating a lot healthier at home and gets us creating healthy and nutritious meals regularly. As others have said, you don't need to rush into it (though we did when we first started and it worked well for us).

Anyhow, you might get better responses on a Paleo/Clean Eating forum, because these public forum threads on Paleo usually turn into a disaster.

Feel free to add me to your FL.

disasterman

i won't comment on the "clean eating" or paleodiet aspects. But I've found the World's Healthiest Foods list (http://whfoods.com/foodstoc.php) to be an informative and thorough free resource which collects much up-to-date resarch on various foods and also tips on preparation, etc.

AsaThorsWoman

Agree with the slow transition post. Do it a bit at a time.

Good luck.

Interested to see how off the rails this thread gets!

Here to see the derail as well...

But for reals though, your local library has a ton of Paleo cookbooks.

I used *USED* to have a Vegan boyfriend before my Viking in Bloody Armor found me, and I even found Paleo Vegan recipes and cook books.

pattyproulx

1500 calories of processed foods and 1500 calories of whole foods are going to keep you at the same place, since weight loss is calories in vs calories out.

Disagree. It's more about the nutrition that you get from the 1500 calories you eat. 1500 calories of brocolli a day (as unreasonable as that is), is NOT going to have the same effect on weight loss as 1500 calories of cheese burgers a day.

Agreed- What you eat has a considerable effect on your hormones, which also affect your BMR. It also make a big difference in terms of satiety and long-term sustainability.

If person A eats 1500 calories of food that fill him up and keep his metabolic rate elevated and person B eats 1500 calories of food with little to no nutritional value which leaves him hungry and starving nutritionally, there will be a difference in weight loss in the long run.

Weight loss is calories in - calories out. The calories out part of the equation is much too often ignored.

AsaThorsWoman

my best tip on paleo is don't do it. i think it's horrible. may be costing me my marriage as we speak. so sick of the rules the restrictions and the pressure to do it as well. there seems to be no single authority so it's just confusing and anyone doing it can "customize" it which really means just change their mind willy nilly from one day to the next and drive their friends and family crazy while acting all superior and like the ONLY authority with the real answers of paleo. then when all those restrictions make you afraid to eat anything and you get skinny from starving yourself you get to tell people you are right about it working but really your just starving from mass confusion and frustration. oh did I forget to mention, you will also be hangry and mean to those around you. good luck.

The whole "Acting All Superior" thing does seem to be a common phenomenon. I try to combat this by never talking about my diet with others unless they ask about it.

Now, if they open the door, I may or may not come crashing in like the Kool-Aid man.

Some people have some really negative attachments with "health" or "weight loss" or "lifestyle changes."

Let them be.

They'll be ready when they're ready, until then, they don't want to hear about it, it upsets them.

pattyproulx

Also another incredibly effective way to increase your BMR is lifting heavy and doing interval training.

Give up on the slow steady cardio and move to lifting weights and doing sprints. You'll see a huge difference.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

my best tip on paleo is don't do it. i think it's horrible. may be costing me my marriage as we speak. so sick of the rules the restrictions and the pressure to do it as well. there seems to be no single authority so it's just confusing and anyone doing it can "customize" it which really means just change their mind willy nilly from one day to the next and drive their friends and family crazy while acting all superior and like the ONLY authority with the real answers of paleo. then when all those restrictions make you afraid to eat anything and you get skinny from starving yourself you get to tell people you are right about it working but really your just starving from mass confusion and frustration. oh did I forget to mention, you will also be hangry and mean to those around you. good luck.

Don't blame the food for whatever your going through. Take personal responsibility for being mean to those around you. There is no reason as to why someone should be hungry eating this way.

I eat way better and am never hungry with this lifestyle and my body is healing.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

Agree with the slow transition post. Do it a bit at a time.

Good luck.

Interested to see how off the rails this thread gets!

Here to see the derail as well...

But for reals though, your local library has a ton of Paleo cookbooks.

I used *USED* to have a Vegan boyfriend before my Viking in Bloody Armor found me, and I even found Paleo Vegan recipes and cook books.

I use a lot of vegetarian cookbooks also with eating Paleo to add more variety. I figured as long as the recipes are based on whole foods and adequate nutrition, then it is acceptable.

Wtn_Gurl

my best tip on paleo is don't do it. i think it's horrible. may be costing me my marriage as we speak. so sick of the rules the restrictions and the pressure to do it as well. there seems to be no single authority so it's just confusing and anyone doing it can "customize" it which really means just change their mind willy nilly from one day to the next and drive their friends and family crazy while acting all superior and like the ONLY authority with the real answers of paleo. then when all those restrictions make you afraid to eat anything and you get skinny from starving yourself you get to tell people you are right about it working but really your just starving from mass confusion and frustration. oh did I forget to mention, you will also be hangry and mean to those around you. good luck.

Sorry to hear your marriage is breaking down but I highly doubt it's food's fault. (I've heard Paleo bashed for a number of things but breaking up marriages is a first)

Eating a more paleo diet is a great way to get more nutrition out of your food. My wife and I have done it for 4 years now and love it.

We're not 100% but we don't care. It's not a religion and you do what works for you. For us, it means eating more vegetables, fruit, and meat than we did in the past and removing less nutrient-dense foods like grains and sugar.
If we go for dinner somewhere and the only option is lasagna, we'll eat it. If we're out on the town and want to treat ourselves to something non-plaeo every once in a while, we do it.

Our 'diet' doesn't rule our lives. It just results in our eating a lot healthier at home and gets us creating healthy and nutritious meals regularly. As others have said, you don't need to rush into it (though we did when we first started and it worked well for us).

Anyhow, you might get better responses on a Paleo/Clean Eating forum, because these public forum threads on Paleo usually turn into a disaster.

Feel free to add me to your FL.

I'm so glad you said that! Thats my outlook too.. i dont want to be religous about my eating choices, because sometimes you really want some kind of 'forbidden" food, and you may as well enjoy it. Like summer is almost here, I know I will visit the Dairy Queen ice cream place a few times, yet, I mostly eat clean during the week, and one ice cream sundae is really not going to hurt me in the big picture. I think your eating is very sensible and will work on the long run! I'm having success doing like you are doing also.,