some other cool paleo things

The last article I posted contained the Paleo basics, but there is a world of little things you begin to realize when you eat healthy. I'll describe some of them in this post. This is, in some sense, a way of getting ahead, because most Paleo eaters have to discover these little nuances. You'll see what I mean...


Paleo Breakfast
Paleo breakfasts can get weird. I am of the opinion the breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Trainers across the world will tell you that you should eat as mcuh as you can possibly stuff into your mouth during breakfast because it jump starts your metabolism and improves immune function. Here's how Paleo makes this fun & interesting.


When you've been eating Paleo for two weeks to a month, you've probably radically changed your macronutrient balance in your diet. You've probably gone from high-carb to high-protein. High-protein almost inherently means low-carb. Low-carb is, in my humble opinion, the way to be because it forces your body to do really cool, efficient things. One thing that low-carb tells your body to do is called Ketosis. When your body produces energy through this process, your metabolism skips "expendable energy," that it used to get from carbs and goes to "active energy," which it gets from stored body fat. In other words, you burn fat just by being alive and awake. Pretty awesome.


One of the weird sensations that Keto produces though, is the "eyes are bigger than the stomach," thing... You know when you think, "I'm going to eat 30 lbs. of food right now, I'm soooooo hungry," and then you end up with half a plate of food that could feed Tokyo for a day. The thing you have to remember though is that if you're eating Paleo food, then that food is good to eat whenever you want! Paleolithic era man wouldn't toss half of a giant plate of food just because he didn't finish it - he doesn't know when his next successful hunt will be. The advantage that we have over him is that we have refrigeration. Store it!


Which brings me to the breakfasts. One thing that veteran Paleo eaters will do often is use the leftovers from the night before in breakfast. Because Ketosis is so common, this behavior is actually written into the diet. It can lead to some pretty weird breakfasts, but this is also a good opportunity to break the stigmas. Some people literally cannot imagine eating grilled Tilapia in the morning because they're conditioned to biscuits, bagels, cream cheese, bread, garins, grains, grains, and more grains... But it's so very good for you. High-calorie, good fat, high-protein seafood for your body right when you wake up? Yes please!


So save your leftovers and eat them in the morning. Your metabolism will thank you!


Coffee
...Has no nutritional value. Drink it. Love it. Embrace it. The reason why most diets restrict coffee is because 99% of people load it down with heavy cream and sugar. If you can drink it black, do it. If you can't, get one of Coffee-Mate's 40 million delicious flavors and only use 4 teaspoons or so. It's plenty, and it's only around 50 calories. I cannot endorse the use of sugar in coffee. Cane table sugar is so incredibly bad for your body, and for weight-loss and a lot of the Coffee-Mate creamers are sweet by themselves.


How can I be suggesting using a dairy product? Well, if it bugs you, consider it part of your 15%. Also, coffee creamer is one of the easiest things I found I could wean myself off of. It was about three weeks until I started drinking my coffee black. Most people don't drink coffee for the taste, they drink it for the warmth and the caffeine addiction. Chances are, if you're a chronic coffee drinker, you have a psychological need for it - the warm mug in your hands, the smell of it brewing, even the process of making it is pleasurable for you. The cream and sugar are are just added bonuses to make the addictive satiation taste better. 


So, what the hell, use cream. But work toward weaning yourself off of it. It's easier than it sounds.


Taste Bud Training
For your first few weeks of eating Paleo, you're going to have severe cravings. Mine was ice cream... I felt like I would die if I didn't eat some ice cream. 


One of the coolest things about Paleo is that unlike other diets where you exercise willpower for a month or two in order to lose a few pounds, Paleo is designed to train your body to eat right and use energy efficiently in the long term. One brilliant side effect is the physical change that your taste buds undergo. Let me explain.


You have crazy ass cravings for sweets, usually grainy sweets like cinnamon buns, or cheesecake. Maybe you indulge during your cheat meal. Go for it, that's why there's such thing as a cheat meal. Next week the cravings begin to fade, but are definitely still there. You start to substitute your previously beloved high-fructose corn syrup pastries with natural sources of sugar alcohol like fresh strawberries or apples. These sweet snacks are Paleo, but are "to be enjoyed in moderation," because of the high natural sugar content and high-carbiness. Your second cheat meal comes with another indulgence, where you finally satiate that craving you've been having all week. Bonus! It's metabolically irrelevant. Now week three comes along and you notice your sweet tooth is gone, but instead you're craving something else: strawberries, apples, lemons, blueberries, bananas, star fruit, cantaloupe, honeydew. Your body physically changes to taste nature's sweetness at an advanced level, and therefore your mind changes too. Now all of those HFCS treats you enjoyed before are too sweet. You start to wonder, "How did I used to eat that?" You remember the sugary film it left on the roof of your mouth and the ultra-sweet taste that didn't go away for hours. It was way too much. Your new, healthy sweets are the exact right amount of delicious, and to your great surprise they aren't killing you.


Well, that's it for now. I'll likely be doing a lot more of these in the future. Thanks to Marcie, my new nickname is Captain Paleo so, I feel I will need to continue doing my civic duty!