So Determined!

Roseygirl1

I am in a Really. Bad. Way. I am having a serious flare of my spinal autoimmune arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis. This morning, I was in tears because I was in so much pain. I couldn't straighten up all the way for a couple of hours. (You know how you sometimes see elderly people walking bent over, practically looking at their feet? That's the condition I have. I'm 59 years old and I've had 2 major spine operations already. Thankfully I am not fused in that bent-over position.)

I need to do two things with my diet: I need to take some weight off my poor damaged spine, and I need to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. There is a lot of information on the web about grain-free diets and some improvement in this condition, so I game to give it a try!
I've also read IT STARTS WITH FOOD which has a lot of good information. So between the food template, and using MFP to help me keep my calories under control, here I go!

Today is Day one. I did 40 minutes on the exercise bike at 11 mph.

B: nectarine, prosciutto (on the run)
L: mixed green salad, olive oil, sardines, avocado
eye round of beef, roasted mixed vegetables
snack: sauerkraut, sugar snap peas

I see my primary care doc next Thursday, and I will ask for some help with this. I'm really suffering.

Akimajuktuq

Commit and DO. There's nothing to lose right?

I am completely confident that you will find some relief with Paleo, but (like many of us) being stricter with food choice might be necessary especially in the beginning. The body needs to heal from years of damage, it won't be over-night - but it might be fast enough to amaze you. Commit to be 100%, for now. Stick with it, and it might be hard for awhile, but it gets easier, I promise.

Honestly, most of my health issues vanished before I lost much weight. It's the food first. When your body is properly nourished, and fed enough, you will lose excess body fat as a side effect of a healthier body. The only reason I am not losing fat now is because I brought my calorie obsession into my Paleo lifestyle and that was a fail.

Don't shy away from fats, at all. Grass fed animals (preferably), coconut oil daily (this might be an AIP issue? not sure), butter (even better: ghee), etc. And you might need to do the Autoimmune protocol. I only had to eliminate nightshades temporarily for my chronic knee pain (ALL my life I suffered!) but I didn't have to follow the full AIP. Now I can eat nightshades but am cautious. A return of pain and the nightshades go for awhile again. No food is worth sick/pain.

I wishing you the best. :flowerforyou:

Roseygirl1

Thank you SO much for the words of encouragement. It means a lot. It sounds like you yourself have had a journey with using Paleo as a means of healing. I would love to hear more of your story if you care to share. I'm curious about your statement about having difficulty counting calories while doing Paleo. I am so concerned with getting some weight off my spine, I am trying to stick to about 1500 calories or thereabouts.

Yesterday was a good day, after the rocky start in the morning. I managed to do 40 minutes on a recumbent stationary bike while watching HGTV.....I cranked up the resistance during the commercials for a kind of "sprint" and so it was good for strength AND cardio. (I used to be a long-distance cyclist before my health crumped, so I am comfortable doing hill 'sprints'.) The back support of the recumbent helped me avoid back problems.

Food was good too.

This morning, I had some of my leftover eye round beef from last night with leftover roast mixed vegetables and some sauerkraut. For lunch, I will have sardines with some kind of vegetables, and dinner is kind of up in the air---I am picking my younger son up the airport around dinnertime and we might go out to eat at a diner. In which case, I will have some kind of fish with a salad and cooked vegetable.

I am purposely leaning more on fish because of the omega-3 issue, it's supposed to be anti-inflammatory. I don't take any meds or supplements, although I did just get a bottle of Blue Ice Cod Liver Oil. It's not too nasty.

Commit and DO. There's nothing to lose right?

I am completely confident that you will find some relief with Paleo, but (like many of us) being stricter with food choice might be necessary especially in the beginning. The body needs to heal from years of damage, it won't be over-night - but it might be fast enough to amaze you. Commit to be 100%, for now. Stick with it, and it might be hard for awhile, but it gets easier, I promise.

Honestly, most of my health issues vanished before I lost much weight. It's the food first. When your body is properly nourished, and fed enough, you will lose excess body fat as a side effect of a healthier body. The only reason I am not losing fat now is because I brought my calorie obsession into my Paleo lifestyle and that was a fail.

Don't shy away from fats, at all. Grass fed animals (preferably), coconut oil daily (this might be an AIP issue? not sure), butter (even better: ghee), etc. And you might need to do the Autoimmune protocol. I only had to eliminate nightshades temporarily for my chronic knee pain (ALL my life I suffered!) but I didn't have to follow the full AIP. Now I can eat nightshades but am cautious. A return of pain and the nightshades go for awhile again. No food is worth sick/pain.

I wishing you the best. :flowerforyou:

SteamClutch

Sounds like you are in the right place and on the right track. You are a bit fragile right now so slow simple movement is your best option. I wouldn't worry about coming in under calories as much as getting the right mix of nutrients in the food that works, but for sure get the grains out of your house, they are your biggest problem right up front and if they are within reach they may reach out to you.

Akimajuktuq

Sounds like you are in the right place and on the right track. You are a bit fragile right now so slow simple movement is your best option. I wouldn't worry about coming in under calories as much as getting the right mix of nutrients in the food that works, but for sure get the grains out of your house, they are your biggest problem right up front and if they are within reach they may reach out to you.

^This. Slow down, eat well, and heal. You will need extra calories for the healing so forget the restricting calories, it's just the FOOD. I don't eat a ton of fish, it's not my favourite, but when I do eat fish it's VITAL that it be wild. There's little health benefit from farmed fish. If you are eating enough nourishing food and watching the starch/sugar (one can eat too much fruit and sweet potatoes imo) you will lose excess body fat without worrying about it.

You aren't mentioning any fat in your meals; don't fear fat.

Roseygirl1

Thanks to both of you for the information. I am using about a tablespoon of olive oil, coconut oil, or high quality ghee with each of my meals. I do have a tendency to push too hard in denial of my age and condition, so it's a good reminder to build a base of recovery by just trying to move a little more. I do some easy workouts in the pool, too. And I have an adult tricycle that I love. In fact, I rode to the bank and then to the farmer's market this morning. I have pastured organic chicken, beets and turnips with nice greens to them, zucchini and yellow squash (for zoodles), onions, and a few peaches.

My niece is coming over soon and we'll go for a nice cycling outing together. Nothing pushy about it.

Is it coincidence that while I woke with some discomfort, I could walk straight first thing in the morning? I dunno. This happens to me every time I cut gluten out of my diet. I feel better almost immediately. Weird.

Thanks all!
Susie

Akimajuktuq

NO, it's not weird. It's almost unanimous in the Paleo community that wheat is the worst thing to eat. I felt better immediately after eliminating gluten (and all grains) from my diet. I NEVER ever have had wheat since and will never again. It hurts my body so bad that I am never tempted to have it. That's my one hard rule: "never cheat with wheat". With your health challenges I would recommend the same mentality towards wheat. Even though I am well and have no more pain (it's a miracle!) wheat is a "never" food and other treats are a "sometimes" food.

Roseygirl1

Day 2 wrapped up:

B: roast beef and roast veggies (olive oil for fat)
L: salad with roast beef, turkey, olives (olive oil)
bluefish, green beans and tomatoes, lettuce salad (olive oil and butter); 4 oz. chardonnay

Activity: about a 3 mile bike ride

Feeling good and feeling determined!

primalkiwi

Looks like you are doing great! I just had a sneak peek through your diary - looks like you really have a handle on things but I would suggest you may need to up your fat and calories a little especially if you are active. Add fat in slowly though if you are not used to it as it can cause upsets with a sudden increase. All the best with your journey towards health :-)

Roseygirl1

Gulp. -114 on fat today?????? Even after making an adjustment?

In any event, I was stiff and had some discomfort this morning, but nothing to make me cry, so that's some progress. I had a crazy busy day so dinner was a frozen prepared meal but at least it had no wheat or other grain in it.

I am really enjoying grilling peaches in ghee----what a lovely seasonal treat.

I look forward to continuing healing.

Tomorrow I shall get some exercise!

maria_antoinette

Akimajuktuq
You mentioned you are not longer losing any weight... ? how long has it been since you lost any weight??? I mean i think its good enough that you are not gaining and you are healthy..... but it must be frustrating....
its not like putting back unhealthy food will help... and calorie restricting did not help either...... so nothing to do but keep moving and keep the faith ..

I wish you luck,
if you are doing anything to break this plateau, i would love to know.

Akimajuktuq

Gulp. -114 on fat today?????? Even after making an adjustment?

In any event, I was stiff and had some discomfort this morning, but nothing to make me cry, so that's some progress. I had a crazy busy day so dinner was a frozen prepared meal but at least it had no wheat or other grain in it.

I am really enjoying grilling peaches in ghee----what a lovely seasonal treat.

I look forward to continuing healing.

Tomorrow I shall get some exercise!

Please, please, please work on seeing fat as your best FRIEND.

Your macro ratios are actually awesome, even ideal for what you need right now. BUT, those fats need to be healthy. Please find a way to avoid processed foods. (Are there really prepared meals with no wheat and no toxic oils?) I do cook-ups on the weekend so that I don't have to cook every night. I'm a single mom so there's no such thing as too busy, it's choice. I can also whip up a stir fry in minutes, or half an hour if the meat is frozen.

Oh, and more veggies!

But, again, you are healing and you need more food, and quality is utmost. Really. Please, health first.

Akimajuktuq

Akimajuktuq
You mentioned you are not longer losing any weight... ? how long has it been since you lost any weight??? I mean i think its good enough that you are not gaining and you are healthy..... but it must be frustrating....
its not like putting back unhealthy food will help... and calorie restricting did not help either...... so nothing to do but keep moving and keep the faith ..

I wish you luck,
if you are doing anything to break this plateau, i would love to know.

That's what happens when we don't trust the FOOD and eat too little for too long. Loss of muscle and a slowed metabolism. Nope, not frustrated because I'm focused on HEALTH and I'm Paleo forever. I've healed all my other health problems, now it's all about exercise and strength building.

maria_antoinette

I am the fixing metabolism phase at this point in life.... because after 20+ years of calorie restriction i am pretty sure my metabolism is ruined... and although i have LOST ALL the weight restricting my calories..... its just not fun to maintain anymore... and every year its like LESS calories for the same weight......

My plan since June has been to follow PALEO and cut out all sugar and grains and processed foods and most dairy.. and I have added Healthy Fat to my Diet for extra calories and much more WEIGHTS.. less cardio..

Doing this from now on HAS to better then what i was doing before.. REGARLDESS of the fact that i weigh the same doing the calorie restriction.......

kikih64

You've come to the right place Rosey! Check out the success stories if you ever need inspiration. It sounds like you are doing awesome and already feeling the effects of a good diet. Keep up the great work!

Roseygirl1

You've come to the right place Rosey! Check out the success stories if you ever need inspiration. It sounds like you are doing awesome and already feeling the effects of a good diet. Keep up the great work!

Thank you so much!

Today I walked pretty slowly---just couldn't push at all. I honored that. Walked 1.74 miles according to map my walk.

B: 3 eggs, 2 slices bacon, bunch of sauerkraut
L: zoodles with tomato meal sauce---heavy on the meat, some grassfed ground lamb I have.
mishmash of roasted chicken meat mixed with roasted eggplant and some roasted red pepper sauce.

If I am too hungry before dinner, I will have to wing it....maybe some grilled peaches with meat.

I upped my calories to 1600 and changed the macro percentages to 20% carbs, 30% protein, 50% fat. But I'm trying not to get hung up on the numbers but stay focused on eating real food and moving a little more....along with healing rest.

Thank you, group, for all the support. It helps.

blynnblair

You are in the right place and have a great mindset! I agree with not pushing it and stressing out your body more by doing too much exercise, especially since you just had a flare. I learned I react to nightshades after I went on AIP (autoimmune protocol) or 30 days, my joints hurt so bad from them!

"The Paleo Approach" by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne would be an amazing resource for you, there's so much to learn about the connection between inflammation and diet, and she explains so much in her book. Her cookbook comes out next week as well!

Good luck in your healing journey

superjean1

I agree that you should check out The Paleo Approach. A great resource for autoimmune issues. In addition to dairy and gluten, I've found corn, tomatoes and eggs (egg whites) also to be a big trigger for for my inflammation.

blynnblair

OH yeah, egg whites!!! oh man those are bad for me too, I forgot about them since I never eat them anymore.

I agree that you should check out The Paleo Approach. A great resource for autoimmune issues. In addition to dairy and gluten, I've found corn, tomatoes and eggs (egg whites) also to be a big trigger for for my inflammation.

Roseygirl1

Thanks, I will reserve a copy of THE PALEO APPROACH from my library. (I try only to buy books if I go back to the library more than once to read any given book. Otherwise I'd be broke!)

I need an early bedtime tonight. Tired.

Be well, Paleo groupies!

Rosey

homesweeths

I noticed you said you felt worse the day after you drank a glass of wine. Could there be a connection? I know I do better if I avoid wine. I might have a glass once or twice a month, and sticking with red wine seems to work better for me than the sweet whites I prefer.

Also, as was mentioned, you might want to try the auto immune protocol for a month or two. I noticed one day of your menus (today?) was very heavy in nightshades -- tomato, peppers, eggplant.

Minimize sugar if you can (argh, peaches are so delicious in season, but so high in sugar!). When I was getting a handle on my arthritis pain, I ate almost no fruit except for a few berries here and there. You can get all the vitamins you need from eating a "rainbow" of fresh vegetables.

Roseygirl1

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will definitely look into that autoimmune protocol.

I came across an article on EVERYDAY PALEO by Jason Seib (I think that was the name) and it was called top 20 tips for fat loss. It said, basically, eat mostly "meat and fibrous vegetables", avoid using paleo ingredients to make things like breads, cookies, cakes, etc. It said (on the activity side) to work first on building "walking like a vagabond" into your life. THEN add lifting weight, and only then, short sprints. In other words, avoid steady-state cardio.

This makes humungus sense to me. In my state, I am not only recovering from an autoimmune arthritis flare, I have had Lyme Disease, and since I am a caregiver for a disabled adult child, (as well as a support to my MIL in the nursing home and my parents in independent living), I have dealt with a great deal of ongoing stress. A lot of my excess weight is in my belly. Stress-related and very unhealthy.

SO....I have a revised plan for regaining vitality. I am not going to concern myself with how fast I walk, and I am not going to push myself to walk so far as to increase pain. I am going to cultivate the art of walking shorter distances more frequently in my day, as my body permits, and to gentle myself into building a base of walking. I am going to focus on HEALING and let weight loss be a side effect of health.

So my plan for today: it's beautiful here in upstate NY

---

walk!
Rosey

SteamClutch

Beautiful, I think you are getting the whole deal with that plan.

Roseygirl1

So I walked first thing this morning....easy pace, about a 25 minute mile and I walked 2.4 miles (60 minutes) without any significant pain. The slower pace allowed for enjoyable walking.

I think I am developing the right mindset: focus on health, NOT a weight loss diet per se.

I am going to aim for a minimum of 3 fish meals a week for the anti-inflammatory properties. We have a local business that bring fresh sustainably caught wild fish in from Boston twice a week and I will try make one of those fish meals a fresh catch---the other two can be canned sardines or herrings.

I feel so hopeful for the first time in a long time! I have a plan! Walk, walk, walk...gently and consistently, eat paleo with an emphasis on meat and fish with fibrous veggies, a little bit of sweet potato, yucca or other roots for starch and variety, and when I feel better, start a low and slow weight lifting program. Got it! Add in rest and relaxation and there is a program for recovery!

Rosey

Akimajuktuq

You are on the right track and your positivity is shining through. :flowerforyou:

Roseygirl1

You are on the right track and your positivity is shining through. :flowerforyou:

Well, your history with healing is an inspiration!

Rosey

Akimajuktuq

You are on the right track and your positivity is shining through. :flowerforyou:

Well, your history with healing is an inspiration!

Rosey

Thank you. :smooched:

Every day I am so grateful that I finally came to realize that there was another option instead of just sick/fat. It makes me sad that so many people around me are still stuck there (even having organs cut out!) and are annoyed if I offer suggestions to improve their lives. So, I try to be a good example and keep my passion a bit under wraps in person. Of course I'm pretty vocal about it around here.

Roseygirl1

Here's a copy of those "20 top fat loss tips" I was writing about earlier. I think they could as easily be called "Top 20 health-promoting tips."

25 Fat Loss Tips by Jason Seib

These tips started as a very popular series of posts on my Facebook page, and by the time all twenty were posted it was obvious that they would need to be compiled in one place for easy access. Please remember that none of these tips stands alone. They are all part of a lifestyle that will promote the sustainable fat loss you are looking for, but none are magical fat loss spells held secret from the world until now. Use these tips to get really healthy and you will find the body you have been looking for.

#1 In the beginning, eat primarily meat and fibrous vegetables. Limit starchy vegetables and fruit to once or twice per week.

#2 Walk like a vagabond! The minimum amount of walking you should do each day is as much as you can. The maximum amount of walking you should do each day is as much as you can.

#3 Be sure you are eating enough calories. If you convince your body that you are in a famine, it will place a high premium on fat, storing every little bit that it possibly can and holding onto it for dear life. Muscle mass, on the other hand, is very biochemically expensive and your body will dump it rapidly in favor of saving body fat for survival. 1800 calories is a good place to start for women, at least 2200 for men, but without knowing anything about your metabolism, these are only guesses. Some experimentation will be in order. Experimenting takes months, not days or weeks. This is no place for desperation and it is no place to make food your enemy. Be sure to see tip #1 or all bets are off.

#4 Stop doing cardio. The only reason to do traditional steady-state cardio is to “burn” calories and the result will be a lot like the caloric restriction described in tip 3. Hunger and cravings will increase, sleep can be disrupted, and your metabolism will eventually slow down to save energy for your cardio stress events. This is a great way to break a metabolism and make fat loss a lifelong struggle.

#5 Once walking is a regular thing for you, and cardio is not, it’s time to start moving some heavy weights. Big compound movements are best (deadlifts, squats, presses), which means you will need to get some help with proper form. Never, EVER lift with anything but perfect form. In my opinion, a personal record does not count unless form was immaculate. We don’t move weights, we move our bodies through perfect ranges of motion while we happen to be loaded with weights. Build a strong, capable body and fat loss will be oh so much easier. Women, I’m sorry but this step is not optional if you really want to create the body you see in your dreams.

#6 Prioritize sleep. Broken or missed sleep will often lead to insulin resistance and increased cortisol, both of which can make fat loss very difficult and very often increase cravings. Try to get at least 8 hours of quality sleep during human sleeping hours. 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM is a good example, 12:00 AM to 8:00 AM is not. If you are serious about your fat loss goal, you won’t take this advice with a grain of salt. I have VERY rarely seen anyone with bad sleep patterns go from overweight to lean. Seriously, maybe once or twice in my entire career.

#7 If you want a body that looks great for a lifetime, not just a few days before you begin gaining back your lost weight, you are going to have to get really healthy. Healthy bodies look great by accident. This means you can put tricks and gimmicks aside. You should not be trying to get “skinny” at any cost, unless of course you don’t mind rapidly regaining fat after all your hard work. Every idea you have or are told about fat loss should fit into this statement: I want to be healthier so I have decided to ________________. Answers like “starve myself” and “work out in every waking moment of my life” and “spend my life pretending I’m running from a very slow predator” clearly don’t fit here.

#8 Stress must be managed, and you probably have more stress than you think. If you aren’t managing your stress, expect extra midsection fat. Cortisol, our primary stress hormone, can make fat loss difficult or nonexistent. Start meditating for just 10 minutes each day. Yes, we all feel stupid at first. No, you aren’t terrible at it, we all jump to that same conclusion in the beginning. Meditation is practice for managing a brain that you can’t turn off and we have mountains of hard scientific evidence demonstrating its benefits. It is not inherently spiritual in nature and it does not offend anyone’s religion, unless your religion doesn’t approve of stress management. Get an app like Calm or Headspace to help you get started. 8 Minute Meditation by Victor Davich is a fantastic book that will help you out, as well. Of the multitudes of people that I have given this advice to, I know that very few have taken it, but I have never heard of anyone, no matter how sceptical, who started meditating and regretted it. Give it a month and you will be shocked at how much of your life it touches.

#9 Once walking and lifting are in place and steady state cardio has been a thing of the past for a while, begin sprinting once or twice per week. Sprinting = maximum effort for a very short duration, like 30 seconds on a bike, rowing machine, or running on a track. 3 to 5 sprints with enough time to catch your breath in between should be adequate for anyone if intensity is maximal. Intensity is subjective to your physical capacity, which means everyone can sprint. Your 100% effort might not look like 100% effort for me, but we will both be going as hard as we can. If you are out of shape, don’t choose running sprints. Sprint on days that you lift weights rather than adding extra workout days to your week. Sprinting will help to use up stored glycogen and create more EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption), both of which mean more fat loss.

#10 Don’t work out, other than walking, more than 3 or 4 times per week. You lose fat and gain muscle primarily in recovery, not in the gym. If you want to go to the gym because it’s fun and you love the people you train with, then it’s time to admit that your goals have changed. Fun is your goal now. Health and fat loss have taken the back seat. Nobody can judge you for this or say you are wrong, but call a spade a spade and don’t be hard on yourself when your secondary goals aren’t coming to fruition like you primary goals. It’s the same if you feel like exercise is your main stress reliever, if it’s your “me” time, or if you battle with exercise addiction. All these things push fat loss down in the hierarchy of your goals.

#11 Stop snacking. Consolidate all your food intake to no more than 3 meals without reducing calories. I’ll say this another way for clarity: the calories you normally consume in the form of snacks should not be eliminated from your day, they should be moved to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. More time between meals, and especially more time between carbohydrates, can help you achieve better metabolic flexibility, which is basically a measure of how easily you access body fat for energy when glucose is gone. Poor metabolic flexibility makes you think you are hungry between meals, but you are actually craving carbs. Adequate calories should be measured over whole days, not hours, and with good metabolic flexibility hunger will be a signal, not an alarm. Some willpower will be necessary for a few days, but this is an issue that should be forced if you hope to have healthy fat metabolism, even if it doesn’t feel good at first.

#12 Don’t drink your calories. Eat whole food and drink water. Liquefying your food is like external digestion. If you liquefy something like spinach that is otherwise a very low glycemic food, you make it much easier to digest and the resultant glucose enters your bloodstream much faster. This increases the insulin response which is counterproductive to fat loss goals and improving metabolic flexibility. Even shakes containing pure protein will cause an insulin response. Green smoothies, shakes, and juice should all be avoided for fat loss. Yes, this advice includes pre/post workout shakes. If you lost weight on a shake or smoothie diet, you lost weight from caloric restriction and keeping it off will be next to impossible. Coffee and tea are okay, but not if you NEED caffeine.

#13 Don’t eat “healthier” versions of the garbage you used to eat. Paleo bread, primal pancakes, caveman cake, etc. are treats and should be treated as such. These foods are not ideal alternatives to meat and vegetable and they can certainly inhibit fat loss goals. A switch from a typical standard American diet to healthy human food should mean a change in the foods you eat, not a change in the ingredients you use to make the same old junk. If you think of eating to lose fat as “dieting”, you will attempt to fit all your food into the “rules” of your diet. When you understand that sustainable fat loss happens as bodies get healthy, you will abandon your old unhealthy habits in favor of those that promote vitality.

#14 Remove carbohydrates from breakfast. We wake up in the morning in a hormonal state that is actually great for fat loss, but an insulin spike will slam the brakes on this situation in a hurry. A breakfast of bacon and eggs trumps oatmeal and toast every time. Of course, this also applies to sweetened coffee drinks. The data isn’t entirely clear, but you may even get an insulin response from artificial sweeteners, especially if you have a lot of fat to lose.

#15 Exercise with intensity. To be a minimalist (see tip # 10), you must work hard in the gym. Exercise is acute stress designed to elicit adaptation. Training too often or too long can turn acute stress into chronic stress, which will detract from health and halt fat loss goals. To avoid this, we work very hard using heavy weights for strength and muscle gain, and short duration techniques like sprints, high intensity interval training, and supersets to round out a fat loss program. If you are a CrossFitter, your average “WOD” should be less than 15 minutes, and less than 10 minutes may be even better. Obviously, the shorter the workout, the more intensity you can apply to it. Intensity is relative to your current physical capacity, so everyone at every level can train with intensity because it simply means giving it your all. Form, of course, ALWAYS takes priority. Only go as hard as good form will allow. Outside of real life emergencies, there is NEVER an acceptable time to let form slip, regardless of what you may have been told by those who think working out should be a sport.

#16 Log your food once in a while. There’s no need to weigh and measure anything. Simply write down what you eat for 3 consecutive days every now and then. Include absolutely everything you put into your mouth. This exercise can be very enlightening. You may be surprised by what you have been overlooking.

#17 After you have been eating, sleeping, and training correctly for a few months, and if your stress is well managed, you might try reducing your eating window without reducing calories. Some call this Intermittent Fasting, but I prefer to be less technical and just call it skipping breakfast. Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day, and there is plenty of great research to support this recommendation, but too many people jump in with both feet before they have the metabolic health to support it and the result is sometimes more midsection fat, erratic energy levels, broken sleep, and all the other stuff that might come with too much stress. Also, those who don’t know better often end up with calorie restriction to go along with their shorter eating window. So, be sure you don’t reduce calories, but rather move your average calories into less time each day. I like 8 hour windows that look something like 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Again, and I can’t stress this enough, if you aren’t already well on your way to great health, this advice isn’t for you.

#18: Try to avoid eating or drinking only for flavor. Flavor should indicate nutritional value. For example, nobody eats cake and ice cream when they’re hungry. Appeasing your taste buds is the only reason to eat these foods. This is a motivation for eating that was largely absent in all but the last blink of our 2.6 million year human history. By all means, you should enjoy your food, but nutritional value should take precedent over the yum factor in the HUGE majority of your meals. Remember “Just for the taste of it, Diet Coke”? For those of us in the healthy relationship with food that I am describing here, this message becomes “There’s no valid reason to ever drink Diet Coke!”

#19: Stop dieting. Diets don’t work. There is no such thing as a short and sweet set of fat loss “rules” that will work forever. Your body is going to change. Your plan should, too. A base concept like paleo/primal/ancestral/caveman/whatever can seem like magic in the beginning, but it will take very few people all the way to their goals. Some experimentation will be in order if YOU intend to find YOUR way to peak health. Experimentation will require a basic understanding of the scientific method. Try to change only one thing at a time (carbs, meal timing, conditioning work, etc), while controlling as many variables as possible, and then give that one change at least a month to produce some data for you to work with. Yes, a whole month. Desperation is for the unsuccessful.

#20 (This one probably should have been #1) Get an intrinsic motivation. If you follow all these tips with disdain for the process, expect to fail. To say this another way, if you hate all the things you must do in order to escape a body you hate only slightly more, your failure is all but imminent. If this describes you, you aren’t ready for the major lifestyle change required to get the body you want. First, you will look for tricks and gimmicks, thinking things like, “This supplement/workout/diet is the SECRET I’ve been missing all these years!” Then, when all the “secrets” fail, you may get on the right track, but you will see it as a cross to bear and you will fall off the wagon repeatedly, punishing yourself for being a “failure” each time. In reality, you just don’t have any internal reasons for doing this. You wouldn’t be changing your body at all if you were on a desert island with nobody around to judge you. Truly fit and healthy people (not exercise addicts) love the process. The way they feel means more to them than anything they gave up to get there. It even means more to them than the way they look, even though they look amazing. Health is the foundation on which they build everything else in their lives, not something that happens in the periphery of the things that they would rather be doing. If you really want to succeed, this healthy lifestyle must be a passion, not a burden.

There you have it. Follow these tips and your body will change for the better. If some of them sound a little unorthodox to you, try to remember how poorly we have been served by the mainstream fat loss prescription. Focus on health and let the rest happen by accident.

Go forth and be awesome.

monkeydharma

Hi Rosey,

I like your attitude. Unlike a lot of faddists who show up here, you seem grounded and tackling the paleo/primal lifestyle in a manner that's almost guaranteed to succeed!

One thing occurred to me while reading this topic. Given your autoimmune/pain issues, you may want to take a look at how many veggies you are eating from the nightshade family. Attached is an article that explains (so I don't have to retype it)...

http://www.livestrong.com/article/367949-list-of-nightshade-vegetables-fruits/

Good luck on your journey!
Norm

Roseygirl1

Thanks for the link, Norm. I did check it out and I do see that I rely heavily on eggplant, tomatoes and peppers, especially this time of year as they are abundant in our farmers markets. I think I can manage to stick with leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets and turnips and their greens for my go-to vegetables. *sniff sniff* Eggplant is my favorite vegetable!

GREAT day today. Pain is diminished.

B: herring, avocado, sauerkraut
L: eye round beef, homemade mayo, avocado, sauerkraut, zucchini
haddock grilled in butter, green salad, steamed broccoli with butter, glass of wine (out to dinner with hubby for date night!)

Took two walks today, one for 60 minutes and one for 30 minutes. Have a great night, all!

Rosey

Hi Rosey,

I like your attitude. Unlike a lot of faddists who show up here, you seem grounded and tackling the paleo/primal lifestyle in a manner that's almost guaranteed to succeed!

One thing occurred to me while reading this topic. Given your autoimmune/pain issues, you may want to take a look at how many veggies you are eating from the nightshade family. Attached is an article that explains (so I don't have to retype it)...

http://www.livestrong.com/article/367949-list-of-nightshade-vegetables-fruits/

Good luck on your journey!
Norm

monkeydharma

I rely heavily on eggplant, tomatoes and peppers, especially this time of year as they are abundant in our farmers markets.

I can relate. I need to minimize my use of them, and this time of year they all show up weekly in my CSA box.

What I wind up doing is - rather than using peppers or tomatoes every day, I use them all in one fell swoop, like in a pot of chili. I just understand that the next day or so I'm gonna hurt a bit.

But my Gold Rush Chili is worth it!