So, for the past couple of months I have been experimenting with a primal way of eating. Like all diets, Paleo have some good points but can also take it too far. The Primal approach (very similar to Paleo) is a little more flexible and is more of a way of thinking than a strict diet. I set about learning as much as I could and read The Primal Blue Print and Instinctive Fitness. They are both very good books and the idea that we should eat what our bodies have evolved to eat sits well with me. I had a basic grasp of this way of eating after reading Zoe Harcombe’s work and quickly lost a lot of body fat just by excluding bread. So, I decided that this primal thing would be worth a shot.
After 6 weeks of cutting out all refined carbohydrates, processed food and almost all legumes I have dropped 5 cm’s off my waist. I’m not sure of the decline in body fat percentage as I didn’t measure that at the start but it has definitely gone down. I have also found that I feel much better. No tiredness after eating. I don’t feel sluggish. I don’t need to eat all the time. I know when I’m full and my sweet tooth has gone into hiding.
I’m not going to go into all the details about the Primal lifestyle in this post but will continue to keep you updated on how it’s going. But the basic principles of the eating side of things are:
- Don’t eat processed food – especially grains!
- Eat meat, fish and vegetables as the main part of your intake
- Avoid legumes
- Eat nuts, seeds and a little fruit (not much or at all if you are trying lose fat)
- Eat healthy fats (coconut oil, olive oil, avocado etc) and avoid vegetable oils and margarines
- Try excluding diary for a while and then see if you can reintroduce it. If you feel ok then you can have raw diary ingredients.
One of the best things that I found from eating like a caveman is that I can have lots of meat and eggs. This makes breakfast a whole lot more interesting. Below are a couple of my recent breakfast experiments – they are awesome, you must try them.
Prosciutto Egg cups – from PaleoCupboard
Basically, line the muffin tin with the prosciutto and crack the eggs into the middle. Then bake for 15 mins.
Egg and prosciutto wraps – from NomNom
Whisk up a couple of eggs, fry them like a thin omelette. Then put the omelette on a plate, layer some prosciutto and roll up. You can even take them away as a snack or breakfast on the go.
Stay tuned for more updates on the primal experiment.