Hey
there! Welcome back. Let’s just dive right in and talk about what has been
happening with my day to day Paleo experience. I have been feeling pretty good
lately. I am stronger, more focused and generally happier. However, I have
found a major down fall with my personal paleo experience. I am finding myself
not eating if I don’t have a good option around instead of eating something not
within my paleo plan. So more and more I have found myself skipping lunch and
getting frustrated because my options are limited.
The
problem is not the diet, actually the opposite, I am still more energetic on a
missed meal than I was when I was vegan. I think the problem for me is time
management. I find myself running late and refusing to jump for the fast and
quick options that announce themselves all over the streets as I drive to
class. Every weekend I come up with all these great and elaborate plans of all
the things I am going to prepare ahead of time so that I have a stocked pantry
with ready to eat options during the week- needless to say, that hasn’t
happened yet.
Do
I think that I would have a much better experience if I was more organized and
had time to make awesome substitutes for all the cravings I have been having
lately? Yes, I really do think that I could have a much better experience. All
this has got me thinking about the downfalls of the paleo diet. And whether those
downfalls are worth the trouble for me.
One
of my big downfalls, which I know is going to sound silly but stay with me, is
that I am not a caveman living in a pre-agriculture society. So what? Well, to
be completely honest it is not as easy to find natural foods as it is to find
unnatural ones. I mean, a caveman could theoretically speaking, walk up to an
apple tree and take one and eat it. Yet on the other hand, when I walk to the
little cafeteria by my class to get an apple, they are on occasion all out. In
other words no apples, but plenty of processed and packaged snacks that will
give me a boost of energy before guiding my crash.
I
know what you are thinking, buy your own apples from the grocery store or the
farmer’s market and bring it to school. Once again, theoretically that is the
way it should be, not to mention it is probably more cost effective. But
sometimes I have so much to do that it slips my mind to run to the store to get
an apple to I can have a snack in class. But that’s beside the point. I am
finding hard to maintain a healthy eating routine because of my lack of
options.
While
the latter is my personal problem or obstacle with the paleo life style. I know
that there is a lot of research about why the paleo diet may not be the best
option for a healthy diet. So let’s explore one of those arguments together,
the major one, there is no way that we can know or imitate what our ancient
ancestors did. I found an article called “Michael Pollan Explains What's Wrong
with the Paleo Diet” written by Cynthia Graber who is an award-winning print
and radio journalist (MotherJones).
In
the article, which is a summary of an interview, Pollan offers some of his
point of view regarding healthy eating habits. Let’s look at his argument
against how often we should be eating meat. “One problem with the paleo diet is
that "they're assuming that the options available to our caveman ancestors
are still there," he argues. But "unless you're willing to hunt your
food, they're not." he continues
with the explanation that, “the animals bred by modern agriculture—which are
fed artificial diets of corn and grains, and beefed up with hormones and
antibiotics—have nutritional profiles far from wild game. Pastured animals,
raised on diets of grass and grubs, are closer to their wild relatives; even
these, however, are nothing like the lean animals our ancestors ate. So,
basically, enjoy meat in moderation, and choose pastured meat if possible”
(Garber).
Between
you and me, I don’t think that is much of an argument, really what he is saying
is widely accepted by paleo advocates. Under no circumstances did I believe
that I will be eating exactly what my Paleolithic ancestors ate. I did not however,
anticipate the extra added cost of getting clean meats- and by clean I mean
grass fed no hormones added meats. Pollen’s argument is really about how
realistically most people cannot afford to buy clean meat for every meal, and
thus he concludes by eating meat in moderation. The cost argument does have
some ground but not a direct attack or criticism of the diet itself. Don’t you
think?
I
don’t think that there is an argument quite strong enough to persuade me away
from continuing to pursue the paleo lifestyle. Although to be completely honest
I have modified my interpretation so that it works best for me. I ran into
great advice in one of my cook books that said something along the lines of
shooting for an 80/20 % paleo diet (Credicott). What I like about this
philosophy is that if we strive for perfection we may fail, but if we can
account for mistakes, which are inevitable, than success has a much greater
rate. I am ok with knowing that I will have struggles and I will not always eat
or drink what I should. Yet, I am confident that for the most part I will be
doing myself and my body a favor by being conscious of my decisions even if
they aren’t great ones.
Work
Cited
Credicott,
Tammy. Paleo Indulgences: Healthy Gluten-free Recipes to Satisfy Your Primal
Cravings. Las Vegas: Victory
Belt Pub., 2012. Print
Graber, Cynthia. "Michael
Pollan Explains What's Wrong with the Paleo Diet." Mother Jones.
Motherjones.com, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 May 2014.
I like the idea of accepting and anticipating mistakes, and how it increases success in the long run. It's definitely unfortunate that the healthiest foods nowadays are also the most expensive, only widening health disparities among social classes. Personally, I could never do this type of diet - I don't have the organization or time management skills required, and I starve very easily. I'm glad that this is working for you!
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very honest about the hardships associated with a Paleo diet. I can see how tempting it must be to eat something out of the diet when you are hungry and out of options that fit into the diet. The end note about having an 80/20 split on the diet seems reasonable and like a good step towards healthier eating. Like Matt brought up, big social issues arise with food availability and pricing, an issue that involves subsidies and governmental food policy. If we can reverse the flow of money into subsidizing not wholesome meat but rather fruits and vegetables, our culture and society would benefit immensely. I hope that your diet continues to go well.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteI learned so much about the Paleo diet thanks to this post. I have been hearing all about this for a year, and I had no idea what it was all about. I agree with Nick in that I think this blog does a very honest and sincere depiction of what it is like being on the paleo diet. Temptation must be a huge factor along with pricing and availability as Nick said. I don't know how long you are planning on continuing this for, but I wish you the best of luck with it.
This is a great post about dieting. I myself did a rather limiting "cutting" diet last summer, and ended up losing 30 pounds of fat while somehow gaining muscle. The key to doing that was exactly what you describe here: accounting for cravings. A good way to do this is to be diligent about your diet for 6 days out of the week, and then have a cheat day on the 7th day of the week in which you can eat whatever you want. This allows your metabolism to stay up, and accounts for the inevitable craving you are going to have for food like pizza. I like that you brought up the importance of eating grass-fed meat, as this the health benefits of this are not well known. Excellent post!
ReplyDelete