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How to Change Diet


Tizzo

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I've been browsing around this forum on what I can find with regards to nutrition/diet. Right now I probably have the worst diet possible and I've read a bit about the "paleo" diet and it interests me. I'm 26, 5' 10" and 200+ pounds (while somehow remaining semi athletic), and always tired. From what I've read and gleaned from the forum changing my diet would help a lot with my problems. I need to learn how to grocery shop and cook to properly implement any plan.

Was hoping you guys could point me to some good resources.

Thanks

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http://robbwolf.com/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

http://whole9life.com/

Robb Wolfs book "The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet" is a great place to start. It breaks down paleo and makes it incredibly easy to understand, he even includes a shopping/cooking guide to get you started on the right foot.

When I started cleaning up my diet it was really rough, My body was addicted to sugar from massive amounts of carbs and processed sugars. After about two weeks of eating clean i was sleeping better at night, no longer tired during the day, and i was killing it in the gym.

Paleo is hard to follow like any other diet because its so damn easy to cheat. Stick with it, you only have one body and you might as well make it last.

PM me if you have any questions, i'll help you the best i can.

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Tizz, the only way I was ever able to change my diet was by changing my mind.

I had to change the way I looked at food. Now i see fuel and nothing more or less.

The best part is that now, I eat anything I want.

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  • 4 weeks later...

To be honest, I should preface this by saying that I have been a professional web-based nutritional consultant for the last 5 years - working with highly advanced athletes and ordinary folks day-to-day on the web...it's all I do. So take what I say with that in mind.

There are worse fad diets out there than Paleo. There are two issues there however. First, it's not a permanent fix. Sooner or later you are going to eat something that is not part of that diet. So it's a band-aid fix at best. The fundamentals of watching protein intake and being picky about your carb intake are rock-solid however. The second issue there that is likely a more immediate threat to us as athletic shooters is what it does to your carb-sensitivity, blood sugar levels and insulin resonse. We're all very different genetically. And so we all have different needs - that's nothing you don't know. But if you want to make sure you eat well and perfrom well, it's just like shooting...you have to put in the time and effort. Write down the foods you eat. Track the protein, carbs and fat. Gather the data. And watch how that data correlates to your weight over time. And then start making subtle changes based on that. Doing anything extreme, be it Paleo or anything else...it rarely ends well. Statistically, 95% of the people who start a diet like that "fail" and end up gaining weight back after 2 years. And the only reason that rate is so high is because again, it's a fairly extreme way to live and the human animal doesn't like losing control over what they eat. Additionally, if you are going to diet and be successful in the long run, it's all about education. So again, I would recommend you start tracking the food intake/body weight and let the numbers dicatate what you do.

Sean McCauley, CSCS, CISSN

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A lifetime of behavior and habits are difficult to break. You can call it an addiction, bad eating habits... whatever. It's not easy getting back to the fundamentals of good eating....

Can't very well get back to the fundamentals of good eating if they were never there to begin with. Another problem has reared its head; I started back up taking night classes while still working full time 40 hrs + a week. I've not been able to focus at all on diet.

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A lifetime of behavior and habits are difficult to break. You can call it an addiction, bad eating habits... whatever. It's not easy getting back to the fundamentals of good eating....

Can't very well get back to the fundamentals of good eating if they were never there to begin with. Another problem has reared its head; I started back up taking night classes while still working full time 40 hrs + a week. I've not been able to focus at all on diet.

Some people can pull off a radical change. For me, it had to start in manageable steps. Just eating a good breakfast and paying attention to portion sizes was where I started. Did that for a year and took off weight slowly. In the fall, I got a new incentive to work harder at it and cut out a couple of things (rice, pasta, potatoes, cokes) and started losing weight faster.First of the year I started keeping a log of what I'm eating, and I'm seeing changes every week or so.

But every step along the way was a minor one, and the changes are changes I can live with. No need to suffer.

BB

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First thing is dump as much processed food as possible. Cook your own food. Dump the sodas. Yea it's hard but if I can do it I know anyone else can do it too. ( my third try) I've been off sodas since September and have lost 14 pounds as a result. Of course I do have the occasional desire for one but those moments are fading with time. Next up is cutting back on the potatoes which will probaly be the most difficult thing I've ever tried to do. They've been pretty much a daily staple my whole life. Going to try the one day at a time method. You know. No potatoe Mondays and hopefully get it up to no potatoes on 4 out of 7 days. Trying to substitute fruit as snacks but that's an on and off thing at best now. Bacon and or sasuage is now limited to only 1 pound in a month. This month was bacon and next month will be sasuage. Baking instead of frying. Raising my activity level daily. Trying to burn an extra 200 calories a day by adding just a bit more activity over my daily norm. That plus small changes in my diet should help me drop 25 pounds by year end.

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Daily Apple is the way to go.

Cut out ALL grains. Corn is a grain.

Eat meat, chicken fish and veggies.

Lighten up on the dairy. Some fruit but in moderation. Same with nuts. Peanuts are not a nut.

If you need carbs because of high athletic activity, then get those carbs from sweet potatoes and beans. Not very many USPSA shooters will need these carbs.

Your blood sugar will improve, your digestion will improve, your energy level will improve and you will lose weight.

The Daily Apple methods are neither a fad or difficult to start or to maintain.

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Daily Apple is the way to go.

Cut out ALL grains. Corn is a grain.

Eat meat, chicken fish and veggies.

Lighten up on the dairy. Some fruit but in moderation. Same with nuts. Peanuts are not a nut.

If you need carbs because of high athletic activity, then get those carbs from sweet potatoes and beans. Not very many USPSA shooters will need these carbs.

Your blood sugar will improve, your digestion will improve, your energy level will improve and you will lose weight.

The Daily Apple methods are neither a fad or difficult to start or to maintain.

I'm currently working on cutting out soda.

I also mountain bike and play racquetball, how do you deal with those types of sports?

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With a DA diet/lifestyle, you will eat 50 to 100 grams of carbs a day, assuming you eat your veggies.

If after a couple of weeks, you find yourself out of energy during a long bike ride or long day of racquetball, add some more carbs but do not add sugars or grains.

But give the real low carbs a whirl for a couple of weeks. And let your body adjust to the decrease in carbs.

You will feel great.

A breakfast of bacon and eggs. No potatoes, no toast.

Lunch, a big salad with some leftover main course from the night before thrown in, oil and vinegar dressing.

Dinner, meat/fish/fowl with a couple of side of veggies. Load up on the veggies.

Eggs OK, butter OK.

A little fruit for dessert or a snack.

Easy and filling.

If you really want to get into it more deeply, cut out processed foods, eat grass fed meat and free range chickens and eggs and wild caught fish.

And skip a meal once in a while.

Edited by rgkeller
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At your age, you need to cut out all sugar, soda (even diet), take Flintstones vitamins, drink a lot of water, and not eat any processed (like fast food and Velveeta cheese). Anything you eat or drink-like a beer -has to be counted in your calories. But you may want to get a set of basic blood tests-a complete metabolic panel-about a 100 bucks- and make sure it's all ok. It probably is, but at 26 you shouldn't be tired all time, unless you are depressed or something. Which I doubt. A bad diet can make you feel like crap. At my age-I just stocked up on Twinkies, cause Hostess filed for bankruptcy-I can eat whatever I want, because I put years of training and staying in shape and if I want a Twinkie, I eat it.

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And skip a meal once in a while.

What's that all about?

The DA guy and some others believe that man was not meant to graze like cattle. (I know a lot of diets say to eat several small meals a day, but they don't)

The "in" term for skipping a meal is "intermittent fasting." Sounds sexier I suppose.

It is amazing, however, that if your intake is high in protein and fats and low in carbs, that eating is unnecessary to keep your energy levels up - at least for several hours.

You are much better off skipping a meal than eating some bad stuff.

Once you wean yourself from the carb loaded grains and other sugars, you WILL find that you are less hungry and hungry less often. A LOT less hungry.

Edited by rgkeller
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What do you guys do about eating out with friends and family? Skip the food or just order the closest thing that fits?

Also, I've got a pantry full of carbs, pasta mostly.

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What do you guys do about eating out with friends and family? Skip the food or just order the closest thing that fits?

Also, I've got a pantry full of carbs, pasta mostly.

You don't have to eliminate carbs, just cut them down. When you eat out, just pick the things that come closest to your goals. And don't beat yourself up if you occasionally slip - just work a little harder the next meal or two to make up for it. The important thing is to reduce carbs over time, and the occasional bowl of pasta, rice, or potato won't kill you.

Think of it like shooting a bad classifier. You don't give up shooting or beat yourself up because you threw a mike or fumbled a reload on the clock. You shake it off, focus on what you need to do next, and over time it doesn't make much of a difference.

BB

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What do you guys do about eating out with friends and family? Skip the food or just order the closest thing that fits?

Also, I've got a pantry full of carbs, pasta mostly.

I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant that didn't have some sort of meat with veggies on the side?

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I've been meaning to reply to this one for a while. After reading Tizzo's original post re: symptoms (which I shared) and the suggestion of Paleo, I decided to give it a try. The impact has been significant, and in a good way. Only after 2 days, the fogginess I would get after eating was gone. Completely gone. That alone was great improvement. But over time, so many of my hypoglycemic symptoms just disappeared. I used get pretty cranky in between meals, and little snack bars (even the "healthy" ones) didn't really help. Now, I rarely snack between meals and if I do it's a small orange or an apple. My mental clarity is just better and I feel less agitated and less tired.

It's also worth mentioning that I was already eating a pretty healthy diet prior to this; i.e. 80% organic, very low "overt" sugar, etc. (I haven't had a soda since 2000). But I was still eating a lot of grains (cereals, breads, etc.) and a lot of dairy (milk, cheese, etc.) I've found that as I have gotten older, the remaining physical problems have tended to get worse. So, this change in diet has helped to really close the gap.

Re: the Paleo diet, I've only been at it a month but I'm already starting to see it more as a frame-work, than a strict way of life. I try to stick with the three cheat/open meals per week, and also, I don't sweat the small stuff. If something needs a bit of salt, I salt it. Occasionally, I'll put a little (very little) cheese on something to add flavor. And although I haven't really measured my intake, I suspect that it is a tiny bit off and could use a change; less meat, more veggies, same level of fruit. As for weight loss, this has never been a big issue for me, but I have noticed I have lost a few lbs since starting. I am normally a runner but haven't done much in the last 6 weeks due to a foot injury. I realize that once I get back into it I will likely need to make an adjustment to the diet to compensate for the additional calorie burn (i.e. oat meal, black beans, etc.)

Overall, I do recommend the diet. Many thanks to the folks who originally suggested it.

Grunt

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A bunch of people have expounded on Paleo, so I won't add a bunch of noise to it - I'll just say that, in the end, what "Paleo" (depending on who's version of "Paleo" you're looking at) really represents is eating clean food that will not cause or lead to metabolic or digestive disorders. It's effectively a low inflammation diet, as well - you're avoiding foods that have a lot of anti-nutrient content in them. For most people, simply avoiding grains (in all forms - that means most beer, too) and sugars (which also means a lot of starchy carbs), and cutting way back on the dairy makes a big difference.

When you go out to eat, it's actually pretty darn easy to get stuff you can eat. A lot of folks struggle with going to a Mexican place - just get fajitas, and eat the meat and grilled veg, get some guac to go with it. Just stick to meat and (most) veg and you're golden. If you see something you like that comes with BBQ sauce or something like that on it, you can request it without the sauce, or sauce on the side (realize that most sauces have grain in them... flour is frequently used to thicken them).

Something that hasn't been mentioned is that a good exercise program in tandem with clean eating will make the biggest difference for you - the exercise induces hormonal changes in the body, and those are pretty powerful things, as well. cheers.gif

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+1 on what David Re said, Here in Leesville,LA there is not alot of place to choose to eat (especially for paleo), seems there is a abundance of mexican and chinese restaurants so we usually pick mexican and i always order the fajitas with no cheese and extra veggies and guacamole and without the tortillas. Alot of people stress obout going out while on the paleo way of life, Ill admit that i used to then i realized that if you try to eat paleo 100% percent in todays world it will comsume your time and money trying to get everything either grass fed, organic, no presevative etc,etc... Now i eat as good as i can with the available foods at hand and do not sweat the small stuff, I still find myself eating about 90-95% paleo. If you are really interested in finding out how you compare take one full month and for every non-paleo meal,snack,etc,and mark every meal that is not paleo, at the end of the month add them all up, it will be less than you think.

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