Category Archives: Diet
Am I sacrificing?
I’ve had numerous people say they could never be as “strict” with their diet as I am because they couldn’t sacrifice so much.
Maybe this is why people assume that eating healthily means sacrifice...
My question back is always, “What am I really sacrificing?”
Here are two of the most common responses I get when I ask what I’m sacrificing….
“You can’t have pizza and such any day when you just “feel like it?”
For one, I do occasionally have pizza if I want it. I just don’t give into temptation very often.
And I don’t think it is a sacrifice to not eat bad food whenever I feel like it! But then again I’m also super happy eating butter, steak, bacon and the bazillion other fatty foods that I can eat every single day that other people avoid as “bad” for them.
I also realize the bigger picture. By avoiding eating the vegetable oils and gluten that comes with a lot of those “cheat” meals on a regular basis, I’m avoiding things that are seriously detrimental to my health. Also, why would I eat those cheats on a regular basis when I can indulge in healthier Primal cheats like dark chocolate, macadamia nuts, bacon and full-fat cheese?
So really who is sacrificing? Me with my delicious healthy foods and occasional cheats? Or you with your blander diet that makes you avoid fatty foods, but gives you the ability to eat bad whenever you want?
“You sometimes don’t go out or over-indulge in alcohol because you are sticking to your diet.”
I won’t argue with this statement, but I also don’t think of staying in occasionally or not “overindulging” as a sacrifice. For one, I’ve never been a HUGE party-er or a huge drinker so that didn’t really change with my “strict” diet.
I don’t go out any less…I just don’t always indulge in the carb-loaded appetizers you order…or the desserts. But unlike many diets I’ve tried, I don’t need to be a recluse on Primal. Very rarely can I not find at least one Primal dish to eat!
So I can still go out and party as much as I’ve always done. So…again, I don’t think my DIET is making me sacrifice.
“What do you mean you can’t try the food I brought in?”
I hate that when food is brought into work everyone always tries to force you to eat it. They try to make you feel like you are missing out because you aren’t trying it.
My theory though is that they envy the fact that you have enough self-control to refrain from eating something that honestly isn’t something you (or even they) really wanted to eat.
Is it really sacrificing to not eat something you weren’t planning to eat? Is it really sacrificing to skip that piece of pizza or brownie that you don’t know is good when you have a delicious meal that you brought with you?
Seriously, why eat something someone brought in when you don’t want it!?!
Now let me ask you, am I really sacrificing? Is being healthier while eating foods that are still satisfying even if they aren’t what I used to consider “cheats” worth not getting to indulge in some of the great “bad” foods I used to love as often?
I think so….
Nutrition Label vs. Ingredients
When I would diet in college, the first thing I would look at on any nutrition label is the calories and fat per serving.
Then the year I did low-fat, low carb, I started paying attention to not only the calories and fat, but also the number of carbs listed.
Since starting Primal, I rarely ever look at nutrition labels. Actually, most of the foods I eat don’t even have nutritional labels on them since they aren’t prepackaged.
And when I do eat a prepackaged food, the first thing I look at isn’t the nutrition label – it’s the ingredients.
If all the ingredients are natural, then I shouldn’t have to worry about what the nutrition label says. Plus, nutrition labels can be extremely misleading.
For example, let’s take two different diet sodas. Both have no calories and no sugar.
Size: 8 fl. oz.
| Amount Per Serving | % Daily Value * | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 0 | 0% | ||
| Total Fat | 0g | 0% | ||
| Sodium | 35mg | 1% | ||
| Total Carbohydrates | 0g | 0% | ||
| Sugars | 0g | 0% | ||
| Protein | 0g | 0% | ||
| Amount Per Serving | % Daily Value * | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 0 | 0% | ||
| Total Fat | 0g | 0% | ||
| Sodium | 60mg | 3% | ||
| Total Carbohydrates | 0g | 0% | ||
| Sugars | 0g | 0% | ||
| Protein | 0g | 0% | ||
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Both sodas basically only have a little bit of sodium in them. And because both sodas don’t have calories, most people would pick the Fresca since it is a light soda, which is supposedly a bit better for you.BUT if people looked at the ingredients, they would realize that these sodas are FAR from the same.
Diet Dr. Pepper Ingredients
CARBONATED WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, ASPARTAME, PHOSPHORIC ACID, ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL FLAVORS, SODIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVATIVE), CAFFEINE. PHENYLKETONURICS CONTAINS: PHENYLALANINE
Fresca Ingredients
Carbonated Water; Citric Acid; Concentrated Grapefruit Juice; Potassium Citrate; Potassium Sorbate; Potassium Benzoate and EDTA (to protect taste); Aspartame; Acesulfame Potassium; Acacia; Natural Flavors; Glycerol Ester of Rosin; Brominated Vegetable Oil;Carob Bean Gum PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE
There is one specific ingredient in Fresca that makes it a bazillion times worse despite the fact that the nutrition labels on both sodas look almost identical. That ingredient is Brominated Vegetable Oil.
Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) is composed mainly of bromine, a poisonous chemical whose vapors are considered both corrosive and toxic. BVO has been banned in over 100 countries because it is a potential carcinogen and causes a number of disorders starting from simple headache, fatigue, weight-gain to cancer, heart and kidney diseases.
So what the nutrition label on Fresca doesn’t tell you is that it contains a chemical that is corrosive and toxic and has been banned in OVER 100 countries!
So if you only look at nutrition labels, you may want to start reading the ingredients to find out what you are really consuming.
OR best of all…just eat all whole, natural foods so you don’t even have to worry about it! Check out this week’s Recipe Box Recipe for a great meal with a very simple list of ingredients!
6% of Americans call out sick the Monday after the Super Bowl
I was not one of those Americans. Nope I was up at the crack of dawn per the usual – a day full of training, working out, emails and paperwork.
I did wake up super full though this morning because for the first time in the last 6 weeks, I ate more than just some fruit, veggies and nuts for carbs. I had POTATOES…fried in duck fat for that matter!
I was not one of thousands of Americans eating pizza, crackers and popcorn last night. I was instead enjoying a ridiculously delicious Primal feast!
This was definitely not served at my house!
And, I didn’t feel like I was at all deprived or missing out even though many of my friends couldn’t believe I was passing on a day to eat bad food.
Nope instead of pizza and wings and veggie oil fried chips I had: (The pictures are a bit rough and the food isn’t displayed super nicely since it was just me and Ryan chowing down!)
Homemade duck fat fried potato chips (peeled potatoes and duck fat with salt and pepper)
Homemade guacamole (organic avocados, salsa, heavy cream and seasoning spices)
Chorizo queso dip (local pork chorizo, full fat raw milk or grass-fed cheeses and homemade salsa)
Parmesan, scallion and bacon dip (full fat Parmesan, scallions, nitrite-free bacon)
Homemade deviled eggs (cage free eggs, heavy cream, paprika, nitrite-free bacon)
Parmesan Crisps (grass-fed butter and full-fat parmesan)
stacked up next to the guacomole...and almond butter haha
Organic apples, raw milk and grass-fed cheeses and wild boar salami tray
Banana, almond butter, chocolate bites (organic bananas spread with raw almond butter dipped in super dark chocolate)
They don't look good BUT they tasted delicious!
Chocolate macadamia nut bark with sea salt (Macadamia nuts and dark chocolate sprinkled with sea salt)
AND because I’m not a big beer drinker…Organic Hard Cider! YUM!
All in all a perfectly Primal and super delicious meal without the crappy bad food hangover! I did eat a bit too much though and roll around on the bean bag complaining the rest of the night…but what the hey!
Next time your friends tell you that you are missing out by not eating their gluten-laden party foods, show them this list and ask them if pizza really looks better!
Dieting – Losing weight or being healthy?
So recently there have been a ton of articles about how what you eat isn’t as important as how much you eat. One article specifically states that adherence to any diet is what gets results not the diet itself.
I’m sorry but this is false. Diets aren’t created equal even if you can lose weight on them.
Yes losing weight is about calories in vs. calories out. BUT only if you don’t care if you are skinny fat with a very unhealthy inside.
I mean, I’ve been there and done that. I’ve done other diets (low-fat, higher carb diets specifically) and I’ve “lost weight.” I’ve suffered through the torture of giving up foods that I love.
And I never got real results. I never looked super lean and muscled. Before now, Id always gotten skinny-fat and I wasn’t very healthy.
But who wants to be skinny fat? Who wants to suffer doing a diet that doesn’t make them healthier?
NOT ME! I want great body composition and if I’m sacrificing at all to be on a “healthy” diet, I want the diet to make me healthier! So yea….I’m concerned with more than just simply calories in vs. calories out.
So the bottom line isn’t “All diets work if you stick to them.”
And I mean come on…it isn’t just simply easy to stick to ANY diet!
It’s hard not to preach…
Sometimes I find it very hard to keep my mouth shut when my clients talk about nutrition. I obviously share my opinions and views with them, but I have to remind myself not to continually preach to them about why their low-fat, crap food diet isn’t working.
And it’s hard. Because sometimes you just want to say, “Why are you claiming your diet is so healthy when it OBVIOUSLY isn’t working for you and you’ve been trying to lose weight FOREVER!”
But you can’t say that.
But sometimes it is just so hard to refrain…even though I do. I mean shoot if they were even claiming to eat Primal and not losing weight, I would want to preach to them to find something different.
I just don’t get how people just keep sticking with something that isn’t getting them results.
I mean I’ll try a diet for 90 days and if I’m not seeing any results, I’m done with it. Some of my clients have been doing their “diets” for years and haven’t seen results…
So why are they so set on sticking with their diet!?!
Is it a fear of trying something new and failing? Possibly…
Is it the difficulty of trying something new and potentially having to give up foods you like? Possibly…
Is it because they’ve heard the diet works for numerous other people? Possibly…
Is it because someone in the mainstream media cited some scientific study about the health of their diet? Possibly…
But are any of these really good enough reasons to stick with something you’ve PROVED to not work?
NOPE!
Stop paying attention to what mainstream media and your friends say worked for them! That isn’t one of the keys to finding your “dieting secret” remember!?!
Stop being afraid of trying something new! And risk giving up foods that you like! You may find other foods that you love even more on the new diet! Experiment!
I mean honestly, what is the worst case scenario? Nothing works?
If the worst case scenario is that nothing works, then nothing bad really happened, did it? I mean you weren’t seeing results before.
But there is a benefit to experimenting EVEN if you don’t see results. The benefit is YOU LEARNED! You learned more about dieting and probably discovered some new things that you both like and dislike.
I don’t want to have to preach about my how wonderful my diet is people! But please don’t preach to me about yours if it obviously isn’t working! Start experimenting…If you do, I’m more than willing to listen to any complaints or rave reviews that you have!
Interesting stuff from this week
- My post on Thursday had to do with the lingering belief that women aren’t men’s equals in the sports and exercise arena. Fit and Feminist also had a post concerning a similar issue, which I thought was interesting. It seems that strong, competitive, athletic women still aren’t full accepted by society. Instead society keeps trying to make these women more acceptable by imposing rules to make them more feminine. What do you think?
- So I made a couple interesting food discoveries this week. I found wild boar salami!!!! Nitrite free wild boar salami!!! IT IS AMAZING! Thank you Meat House! Also, Trader Joe’s had an aged raw goat’s milk pecorino romano. YUM!!! Nice and salty and delicious. And the best part is…it’s raw milk!
- I also have two delicious recipes I want to share. One is for a Primal cheat day – chocolate macadamia nut bark with sea salt. I didn’t follow Mark’s recipe, but he did give me the idea!
- The second is a protein shake, which is absolutely delicious! It is Trader Joe’s light coconut milk, coconut oil (for some good healthy fats), chocolate protein and water! If you like the taste of chocolate and coconut together, you will LOVE this protein shake! AND the coconut milk makes it nice and creamy and thick! Plus not only are you getting some protein out of this shake, but also all of the health benefits of coconut.
- Ok…”all natural” as a label on food means absolutely nothing. There is this new diet aid, called Proasis, which is essentially a protein and vitamin shot that they state is “all natural.” They claim it helps a dieter get all the vitamins, minerals and protein that they won’t get on a diet for weight loss. For one, how can a protein shake, fortified by vitamins be “all natural?” Two, if you do the RIGHT diet to lose weight, you will get plenty of vitamins and minerals and protein! Uhm, Paleo/Primal anyone!?!
- There is a children’s book now for “Paleo” children!! The book is called “Paleo Pals” and helps parents get their children excited about Paleo eating! Really neat! I love how much of a “culture” Primal and Paleo have become!
- One last thing…have you ever noticed that when one thing in your life is going right, you feel so much better about everything else? I have!! So I’ve made it through three weeks of this new diet, which is a strict version of Primal and I’ve started to look and feel great! It’s amazing how looking and feeling great gives you so much more confidence in every aspect of your life. You know the saying, “When it rains, it pours?” Well I guess the opposite can be true! When you have confidence in one part of your life and are happy, the happiness and confidence can really spread to other portions of your life!
Also, I’ve created a “Question Submission” page. I’ve already gotten a few questions, which I will address tomorrow in a post. Thank you for the submissions and keep them coming!
Top Dieting Secrets REVEALED!
Guess what!?! There are no secrets!
"You're eating a chocolate bar and walking at 2." Response..."I'm in the fat burning zone."
I wish there was some great secret that I could share with you (because then I would be a millionaire), but there isn’t.
No one has a magic tip that will make sticking to a diet easy or make the weight just melt off effortlessly.
BUT, I can give recommendations about how you find the “secret” that will work best for you.
The keys to finding YOUR secret to success:
- Research
- Experiment
- Be patient and dedicated
Seepage – Vegetable Oil Isn’t Good for You!
There has been seepage!!! Seepage of Primal into conventional wisdom realms!
YESSSSSSS!
I’m super pumped to see an article on Yahoo! by SELF magazine called “Could this popular supplement be making you fat?” . While the title kind of sucks, the article is wonderful because it says we are consuming too much omega-6 fat!!
Which, guess what…WE ARE!
And guess what is to blame for our excessive consumption of omega-6s? Processed foods AND specifically those vegetable oils that so many people love!!! Yea…and all of you are so afraid of butter and lard! (Which by the way has a great ratio of omega-3 (GOOD!) to omega-6 (BAD!).
Just look at the amounts of omega-6s (n-6) and omega-3s (n-3) in vegetable oils:
Corn Oil
57g LA (n-6)
0.8g ALA (n-3)Cottonseed Oil
48g LA (n-6)
0.4g ALA (n-3)Canola Oil
22g LA (n-6)
11g ALA (n-3)Soybean Oil
53g LA (n-6)
7g ALA (n-3)
Oh and now let’s compare these vegetable oils to those awful animal and full-fat dairy products that so many people shun:
Beef Tallow (grain-fed beef source)
4g LA (n-6)
0.7g ALA (n-3)Chicken Fat
17g LA (n-6)
1.1g ALA (n-3)Lard
10g LA (n-6)
1.4g ALA (n-3)Mutton Fat
5g LA (n-6)
2.9g ALA (n-3)Heavy Cream, conventional, grain-fed cows
0.9g LA (n-6)
0.6g ALA (n-3)
Wow, the ration of omega-6 to omega-3 is way better! AND not only is the ratio better, but these fatty animal products have way fewer omega-6s!
Looks like maybe we Primal and Paleo followers are on to something, huh? I mean even the public health doctor admits that our Stone Age ancestors ate a great ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 so why shouldn’t we eat like them!
What is it about the modern diet that’s leading you to eat too much omega-6? Like omega-3, omega-6 fats occur naturally in small amounts in plants and in the meat of animals that eat plants, while nuts and seeds tend to have more omega-3*. “In the diet of our Stone Age ancestors, there was probably more omega-3 than omega-6,” says Lassek. “The problem for us today is that there is more than 20 times as much omega-6 as omega-3 in the American diet.”
The culprit? Industrially processed vegetable oils, like corn and soybean oils, which according to Lassek, are added to most prepared foods.
(There is a typo in the quote above. *Omega-3 should actually be omega-6.)
Of course the article isn’t perfect… I mean it still is in the conventional wisdom realm. It has a stupid line advertising “Lose two pounds in one week!” and well it does have a line about canola oil being ok (which it isn’t!).
But hey…there is seepage!!
Are you addicted to food?
Are there certain foods that you can truly get addicted to? Dr. Oz says there are – Brain Hijackers: The 4 Most Addictive Foods.
The question now is…do I agree?
No. I don’t. I don’t think you can truly get addicted to a certain food.
Yes, I do think there are foods that we have a harder time avoiding/giving up on a diet. There are certain foods we are definitely more attached to.
But I don’t really think a true addiction is created.
I mean certain foods just taste freaking good so of course we want them all the time. Certain foods also comfort us or just remind us of happy times.
You could say I’m addicted to ice cream. I mean it has the sugar and fat that Dr. Oz says is addictive and I have the hardest time not wanting it when I’m in a bad mood, stressed or well…anything. I pretty much could eat ice cream all the time.
But I don’t think I can truly say I’m addicted to ice cream.
I just like the taste of it AND I associate it with good times and happy feelings.
So maybe it isn’t actually the ice cream or the chocolate or meat itself that is addictive, but the feelings and memories associated with the food that make us crave it.
I mean now I’ve started craving dried fruit more than anything….even maybe ice cream. Why this sudden addiction to dried fruit…specifically apricots?
Because I associate dried fruit with relaxed weekends on the couch with Ryan. I’ve been stressed free on those days and have totally gotten to relax each and every time I’ve eaten dried fruit recently.
So am I addicted to the dried fruit or the fact that my brain associates dried fruit with relaxing?
Hmmm…this could be an interesting experiment. I should try eating one certain type of veggie…like brussel sprouts…on any relaxing day/fun event and see if I start to crave them….
Calories In vs. Calories Out
Weight loss isn’t simply calories in vs. calories out.
If you want to lose weight not only on the scale but also improve your body composition, the type of calories you consume not only matter but matter MORE than how many calories you eat.
I never count calories anymore. NEVER.
I used to count calories when I ate junk – I needed to. I needed to count calories so that I didn’t eat more than like 1,200 a day and gain weight on the scale. I needed to count calories because I wasn’t eating the right foods.
AND on top of the torture of counting every calorie each and every day, my body composition wasn’t very good. I was doing all this work to just be skinny fat. YUCK!-
Not anymore!!!
I don’t need to count calories anymore because I know that the foods I’m putting into my body are healthy foods that my body needs. I honestly eat closer to 2,000 calories a day now and have a better body composition than I did when I was counting calories.
I’m sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but it just isn’t as simple as calories in vs. calories.
When you are eating the right foods, it is sooo much easier to achieve great body composition. You also feel soooo much better eating the right foods and eating A LOT of them!
Man Bicep 