Paleo Shopping at it's finest!

So today I went to Winco after I received a GREAT massage! I was of course out kayaking and had done this after a few workouts. Needless to day, i am pretty wiped out and my body is feeling some of the effects of the workouts from today. I can honestly say if I wasn't on the paleo lifestyle I probably would not feel as decent as I do!

SO ONWARDS AND UPWARDS! Here is to Paleo Shopping for time. The pictures below are today's shopping trip minus some of the household items I had to buy. The deal is I shop at Winco because, well, let's face it.. it's cheaper. The whole point of today's post is to encourage those who think paleo is too expensive to take a different spin on it and while you may not be following "Grass Fed" and "organic" (While still better for you) it is OK to go out and shop at a regular "Grocery" store if you will. First, let's take a look at the lay of the land. You see, you HAVE to plan when going into a normal grocery store like Winco. It takes strategy and tactics... especially if you are going to do it for time!

So imagine for a moment, you are walking in the front entrance by the WALL OF VALUES... oh yeah baby.. the wall of values... well, the values are HUGE in processed and packed foods... so when I enter Winco... I turn to the right, and head straight to the produce section. For me in the produce section:

Veggies:

Bell Peppers, Green and Red

Lettuce (green leaf, Romaine)

Spinach (fresh AND pre-bagged baby spinach)

Brocolli Crowns

Cauliflower

Mushrooms

Carrots

Squash

Sweet Potato

Celery

Cabbage
Sprouts of all kinds

Fresh Cilantro

Fresh Basil

Tomato

Avacado

Fruit:

Berries- Raspberries, Blackberries, Blueberries and Strawberries (much cheaper here than save-mart or Vons

Peaches

Nectarines

Pears

Grapes

I really wasn't in the mood for any other fruit today!

Now as I move by the "Special Values" section and watch the groves of people loading the stuff up, i move along to the bulk section. In the bulk section, this wincow has some awesome stuff. so I purchase:

Raw slivered almonds

Raw Cashews

Dried Blueberris (for paleo energy bars)

Unsweetened Coconut

Dried Cranberries

Deluxe mixed nut mix

(and I grabbed ALOT of all of these this time through)

I then, since I was next to the coffee.. decided it was time for some caffiene, so refilled my coffee supply (while not paleo plan.. i figured once they knew about the coffee bean, they just chewed on them and got REALLY hyper.. therefore I can have coffee :) )

I then headed over to the Deli meat and had them slice up some:

Roast beef

Rotisserie Chicken

Smoked Ham

Which at the moment I am soaking in water to remove a great deal of the sodium from. I then proceeded to the meat sections and put the following in my cart:

Ground turkey

Ground Chicken

Chicken Breasts

Flank Steak

Ahi tuna Steaks (frozen)

At this point it was time for me to add the eggs, the olive oil, coconut milk, chinese mustard, and bamboo shoots.

I never hit the dairy (except for the Almond Mil... whcih if they have unsweetened is the best way to go ) or the bread section.. and as tempting as it was to go get ice cream today... I did NOT pick up my favorite Breyers ice cream! It was truly a challenge.

The cost of all of the above Groceries for approximately two weeks worth of food (and my personal affects) was $167. This Included all of the houselhold items I bought as well!

I would highly recommend NOT going shopping when you are hungry. more stuff than necessary ends up in your cart then! :)

Do any of you have shopping tips?

The weekend.. AAAARRRGH!!

Hey all!!

How awesome is it that we are halfway done as of tomorrow? How is everyone doing??? I know I am killing it!! My strength seems to be getting better and my energy level is through the roof right now. I can honestly say I am liking a lot of the recipes I am trying. I am getting some great results, feeling energized for all of my workouts and plowing forward!!!

I recieved an email from a friend of mine about gaining mass and leaning down to the 6 pack at the same time. Here was my response:


Hey bro!

What's going on my man! :) thanks for the email. I appreciate the huge compliment :)

Alright man.. you ready for this.. I truly feel the paleo plan (meat, nuts and seeds, fruits and veggies, little starch and no sugar) along with a heavy lifting and training program is the way to go. Unfortunately all of the yummy stuff we like, breads, pastas, grains, cereal, sweets... it's all really bad for us! It keeps us bloated, retaining water, and well, causes some shitty stuff to happen in our system.

So from my understanding and how I am feeling for my SECOND time on the paleo plan.. I have dropped a few percent body fat, I am feeling moire and more energized every day, getting stronger and gaining muscle at the same time. The trick on the Paleo lifestyle for gaining some muscle is to eat enough calories AND train appropriately for some muscle gain. This means timing your meals and spacing them out. Focussing on eating as natural foods as you can would be best.

Another option is the zone "diet" I tried this one too. It didn't work for me because thanks to paleo I found out I have a gluten (wheat) intolerance. Every time I have loads of grain, pasta, bread.. I feel sluggish, tired and bloated. So for me the zone worked to get me on track and then paleo kicked me into overdrive. After a while it tastes good, you find how to make things taste good and be Caveman like. I even cook this way fo rthe guys and add rice or other bread stuff for them.

For specifics:

www.paleodiet.com
www.everythingpaleo.blogspot.com
www.marksdailyapple.com
http://www.balancedbites.com

These are all good sites to get information from. Give me a ring and I can go over more specifics too!!!

The jist of what I want to get across today is this. Paleo lifestyle is actually easier than what it seems to be. It really once you get into the habit of having the healthier options and finding out where you can save money and where you need to spend becomes second nature.

I will also say this to those of you who are thinking of trying the paleo plan- Be prepared for the initial shock of your system in which it is difficult to exist for a few days. I can barely sleep now because I am so energized. There are nights I wonder how I am going to get to sleep if I don't get a few workouts in that day!

I feeel AMAZING!!! How about everyone else?

Additional information on Fats and Paleo energy bar recipe (Thanks Wade)

Wade Trammel and Kevin Hughes at the Firefighter Olympics doing a 225 lb Partner Carry. Here's to you Wade for today's recipe!

How is everyone doing today?

I had a new recipe from Wade Trammel of Mountain View Fire ( I met him at the firefighter olympics) and I wanted to share it with you. These are some of the best Paleo bars I have had and easy to make.

Wade- Thank you so much for this awesome recipe. I changed out and added no oil this time through because we didn't have any at the station, but they still turned out amazing!!! I also added almond meal to hold it together for this bunch. The whole clan at the station really enjoyed the recipe.

This is for a double batch, but the measurements aren’t critical. It’s basically a bunch of yummy nuts held together by almond butter and eggs!

1 Cup slivered almonds or roasted whole almonds that are pulsed into almond bits.
1 Cup toasted pecans chopped up.
1/2 Cup of shredded coconut (I use more, yum!)
1/2 Cup almond butter
1/2 Cup of coconut oil
2 tsp Vanilla (I also add a tsp of almond extract if you have it)
1 Tsp Honey
1/2 Tsp salt
1 Cup of dried blueberries or cranberries (watch out for lots of added sugar here, read the label)
2 eggs
I toast my nuts in the broiler or pan first, then chop or use the food processor to chunk them up.
Mix the whole mess well and spread it all flat on a cookie sheet sprayed with PAM or coconut oil. Bake at 350 for 15 or 20 minutes.
Let is cool in the fridge and cut them into bars.
I also throw in pine nuts if I have them.
I’ve modified this in several ways and it’s hard to make a bad energy bar. Use ingredients you like and you can’t go wrong!

I have been a little sluggish this week. I started out with very little motivation to work out today and finished a few workouts. I have noticed more and more items I am eating are affecting me either positive or negative. I can tell much more rapidly when my blood sugar is changing. How about all of you?

Also, I wanted to add an additional resource for you- Check out:

http://www.balancedbites.com/

Diane is an AWESOME nutritionist in San Francisco and has an amazing blog!! There is a TON of information on her website about paleo style of eating!!!

Where are we at?? And the truth about "Fats"

Well hello and welcome to something like day 10 or 11. I have lost count now and it has started to become more and more pertinent for me to continue to paleo now. I am noticing huge changes in energy, and definitely noticing when my balances are off or when I haven't eaten in the right amount of time. The biggest difference I am noticing a GREAT deal is when I don't eat enough fat throughout the day. So I wanted to spend some time discussing fats. I pulled the following diagram from:

http://www.omega-3-fish-oil-wonders.com/omega-3-fatty-acids.html

This website has a HUGE amount of information about fatty acids....
It is interesting how this particular website, which is of course promoting the need for Omega-3 fatty acids (so we can get to a ration of 2:1 like we are supposed to be) talks about this: " It is correct folks, we need to eliminate mostly all grains , cereals and grain oils if we are overweight, have hypertension or diabetes, in order to bring back the balance to our body. Watch out, I said eliminate most grains, not carbohydrates. We need carbs, not from grains but from all vegetables and fruits."

WOW.. what is paleo all about?? It's about balancing the body and getting everything back to how it should perform at it's ideal and optimum level. this includes fats.

OK.... so the lowdown.... And remember I am SIMPLIFYING to the ridiculous to keep it simple

Three main MACRO nutrients - Protein, Carbs, Fat and... I'll add Alcohol as a macronutrient...

Protien- typically broken into Essential, non-essential and semi essential Amono Acids. Essential simply means I can NOT produce within the body, therefore it MUST come from the food we eat. Semi-essential.. means half of that... and non-essential means our body produces it.

Carbs- Simple- one or two sugar molecules hooked together. Not always a bad thing, but better in natural occuring forms (fructose rather than sucrose)

Complex0 chains of sugar molecules creating starches and fibers.

Fibers further broken down into soluble and insoluble- Soluble fibers are like the pipe cleaners for our arteries and veins where insoluble fibers.. are kind of like pipe cleaners for other stuff... (you know how corn looks the same coming in as it does going out... Come on.. you know it does!!! )

Saturated- Solid at room temp (typically animal sources) (not necessarily a bad thing.. once thought to be the cause of all cholesterol and bad things in our bloodstream. Could have some benefit including Omega 3. The challenge comes in that we have an extreme imbalance between Omega 3 and Omega 6 (almost a 20-30 to 1 ratio or greater). this is why we have to balance out with our Omega 3 sources

Unsaturated- Typically liquid at room temperature. Also typically from veggie sources

Two types- Mono and Ploy unsaturated. As you can see from the chart above, the ploy unsaturated sources are GREAT for Omega-6 Fatty acids... WAIT.. didn't you say Coach that we are overeating our 6's? YES.. that's why we focus on our mono-unsaturated or "good" oils because they are higher in Omega 3's. As you can see- Walnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts (according to Koshi) Fish, Olive oil, Coconut... Coconut oil are all higher in omega-3 fatty acids.,. thereby giving us a better balance.

HYDROGENATED/TRANS-FATS. This man-made horror is a doosy. Interesting enough, they take an unsaturated fat, inject a hydrogen atom into it to create a different chemical bond and create a solid. WHAT? turning a liquid into a solid via chemical reaction? How can THAT be good for our body??? IT CAN'T be... and alas it's not.

So the trick is to avoid Hydrogenated fats at all costs.... processed foods aer full of them even though they may say "Contains no trans fat" Look carefully into the labelling guidelines for the nutrition industry and you'll see there are "not so strict" guidelines on the "No" on the labelling.

That's a nutshell overview of fat... If you want more information, please look at the website. I also found some good websites when I was researching "coconut oil" It comes up with some great information on why coconut oil is very good for us.

How is everyone doing on their challenge???

The accompanying text message was: I need my sponsor. Everyone else is eating bread pudding. Dinner Below!

Well Gary O, nicely done on ordering a paleo meal at your get-away this weekend while everyone else was having a good time with their bread pudding!

In all seriousness it's a challenge to continue to eat this way around people sometimes. But the deal is the reason you are doing this is to better your performance and the way you feel.

Here is today's informational link:

http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/top10-nutritional-mistakes.html

It is actually a well written article on some of the common myths within the realm of nutrition.

So out of curiousity, what are people doing these days?

I had a great energy day today even though I didn't get much in the way of sleep last night. I did enjoy getting out on the river to kayak today. It was nice to get out and about.

How is everyone feeling after the weekend? How did everyone do with the first big weekend of the lifestlye challenge?

Paleo Day 7- Eating Out!

Paleo day 7- Well, this weekend, I am sure there are a lot of you who may travel, go out of town, or just try to get away from reality for a little while. So I wanted to write today about my experience on the road. I am currently on the coast of California enjoying some time away from the heat of Fresno (YES) and staying in Lompoc of all places.

Unfortunately that mean NOT being able to plan or pre-pack meals for a few days since I was running behind this morning. SO here is what ended up happening today:

Breakfast was handled at home:

In n Out Protein style burgers no sauce, (2) With iced tea for lunch.

And for dinner: I was at Red Zone, a sports bar and grill. So here is what happened in the ordering process:

First, realize I am not the msot shy individual. So I am in the restaurant wearing my vibram five fingers. Whis of course already is drawing attention to me. So then, I proceed to text Ryan to figure out what alcoholic beverage I could drink.. since I was with friends, I wanted to ensure I was able to expend a little bit of cheatness on the table. (It keeps you SANE to allow yourself to cheat a little)

I asked first if they had any fresh veggies I could eat as an appetizer. The waitress suggested the veggies as above and below blanched in olive oil. I immediately jumped on that. I was starving and needed to fill my belly before having my "Paleo Cheat Drink" of Gin and diet tonic water. (and let me tell you... it tasted HEAVENLY after a full week. I was ready to pummel the veggies by the time they got there, which I quickly proceeded to do.

Then, when I was ordering the 5 oz chicken breast (Which was HUGE) i asked if I could replace the potato with a sweet potato. They didn't have any so I asked for extra salad and a vinagerette to use on my salad. They were more than accommodating which you can see from the picture above. Well here I thought it was going to be a little more salad and they came out with the plate which was awesome.

Now by this time, the waitress is probably looking at me like I'm a nut ball, because every time I opened my mouth, it was for something... healthy. and all the while, the rest of the restaurant is ordering... well... off the menu.. and I was ordering.. OFF the menu. It refers back to that video I posted around day 3 of why people ask the way I eat. Although.. I still think I get LESS CRAP when I am with my friends than when I am at the fire station with my eating style. :) For some reason, us fire guys just LOVE to pick on each other..... and I just happen to eat like a caveman... no, not food, but... actually eat like on.... creating messes etc. So this has earned me the name.. captain caveman on top of powder and squirell and Hammy and many of the other names I have been called.

Anyway.. back to restaurants...

Here are some tips when going out to eat at restaurants during the next three weeks:

Take a look at the menu and look at the minimalist portion of the menu- salads, chicken/meat plates.

If the dinner comes with rice, potatoes or some other type of starch, ask if they have fresh or steamed veggies you can sub out.

With salads, ask for olive oil and vinegar on the side

With meat, ask for a cut that is not over eating. Remember you are only eating to fuel, not to STUFF yourself.

Don't be afraid to take some home!

Eat until you feel satisfied, but not much more.

Split the plate with someone.

Ask for things to be grilled or sauteed in olive oil.

These are all things that of course will get you the look in the restaurant, but let me tell you.. it is so worth it!

Also- if dessert becomes an issue, try a bowl of fresh fruit.

These are the croutons I removed from the salad to remain paleo!

CHICKEN!!! I ordered spicy sauce on the side... and then used some to flavor the meat if needed.

What are some things you do when eating out to make sure you are staying within the realms of paleo?

Paleo Day 6- Sweeteners and some research

Alright Redpoint, CrossFit Gwinnett, FTF-ers

How are you guys doing?

Well, today has definitely been another different day. I just finished my third WOD (Based on a CFE workout) and I STILL feel energized!!!

I found this article today on the effects of artificial sweeteners and insulin response. I got it from Pubmed.gov. This is a GREAT website to find scientific research.

Signal. 1998 Nov;10(10):727-33.

Effects of artificial sweeteners on insulin release and cationic fluxes in rat pancreatic islets.

Malaisse WJ, Vanonderbergen A, Louchami K, Jijakli H, Malaisse-Lagae F.

Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, Brussels Free University, Belgium.

Abstract

Beta-L-glucose pentaacetate, but not alpha-D-galactose pentaacetate, was recently reported to taste bitter and to stimulate insulin release. This finding led, in the present study, to the investigation of the effects of both bitter and non-bitter artificial sweeteners on insulin release and cationic fluxes in isolated rat pancreatic islets. Sodium saccharin (1.0-10.0 mM), sodium cyclamate (5.0-10.0 mM), stevioside (1.0 mM) and acesulfame-K (1.0-15.0 mM), all of which display a bitter taste, augmented insulin release from islets incubated in the presence of 7.0 mM D-glucose. In contrast, aspartame (1.0-10.0 mM), which is devoid of bitter taste, failed to affect insulin secretion. A positive secretory response to acesulfame-K was still observed when the extracellular K+ concentration was adjusted to the same value as that in control media. No major changes in 86Rb and 45Ca outflow from pre-labelled perifused islets could be attributed to the saccharin, cyclamic or acesulfame anions. It is proposed that the insulinotropic action of some artificial sweeteners and, possibly, that of selected hexose pentaacetate esters may require G-protein-coupled receptors similar to those operative in the recognition of bitter compounds by taste buds.

Follow it up with this one:

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/11/3/230.abstract
Response to single dose of aspartame or saccharin by NIDDM patients.



Twelve normal subjects and 10 subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were given, in random order at intervals of greater than or equal to 1 wk, three drinks of the same beverage: one unsweetened, one sweetened with 400 mg aspartame, and one sweetened with 135 mg saccharin.

The amount of sweetener approximated that in 1 L of sugar-free soft drink. Plasma glucose, insulin, and glucagon were measured for 3 h after ingestion of the test beverage.

Plasma glucose declined slightly throughout the test period, probably due to fasting, with no differences between the three treatments. Neither sweetener affected peak insulin levels in subjects with or without diabetes. Analysis of area under the curve showed that mean insulin levels were statistically significantly higher after aspartame than after saccharin or unsweetened beverage in normal subjects only, but the magnitude of the difference was small and unlikely to be of physiological importance in the absence of differences in glucose levels.

Furthermore, the differences could largely be accounted for by a decrease in insulin values after both unsweetened beverage and saccharin, with no change from baseline after aspartame. Glucagon levels showed time-to-time variation but no overall differences. We conclude that ingestion of aspartame- or saccharin-sweetened beverages by fasting subjects, with or without diabetes, did not affect blood glucose homeostasis

So here is what I am taking from this research-

It seems to me there is a ton of research out there on sweeteners. There is stuff that says it increases insulin response, there is stuff out there that says it doesn't increase insulin response. Ace-K Came about to be the replacement for saccharin and splenda, Stevia came out because of how sweet and natural it is.

True Paleo followers stay away from ALL artificial sweeteners due to th presumed affects of insulin response as well as the chemistry of these unnatural products. Here is my take on them-

If you can avoid them by all means avoid them. They probably aren't the best for our bodies since they are just that... artificial. Stevia is a good option and Ryan will probably have some other good options which he can email me.

To give you an example of how you might sweeten something up. On my paleo cream pie this evening, I used coconut milk instead of "Cool Whip" and then today during my lack of sugar craving, I ised nuts to satisfy my "sweet tooth" like cashews. Since cashews have a little sweetness to them, it satisfied that desire for sugar. Again, these are just ideas. I will get some more information from Ryan and post for you!

I found a GREAT break it down article on: http://www.momssoapbox.com/artificial-sweeteners/

One final research article:

Horm Metab Res. 1987 Jun;19(6):233-8.

The effect of artificial sweetener on insulin secretion. 1. The effect of acesulfame K on insulin secretion in the rat (studies in vivo).

Liang Y, Steinbach G, Maier V, Pfeiffer EF.

Abstract

Acesulfame K is an artificial sweetener which has been used in the food industry for some years. As yet no metabolic effects have been reported. It was reported that the sweetener can induce a cephalic phase of insulin secretion. To analyse the mechanism of this phenomenon, we studied the effect of Acesulfame K on insulin secretion in vivo. Male Wistar rats, weighing 250-300 g were fasted overnight and anaesthetized with phenobarbital. A silicon catheter was inserted into the right cervical vein for injection of test substances and for obtaining blood samples. In some experiments, another catheter was inserted into the left cervical vein for continuous infusion. Blood samples were drawn at 0, 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 min after injection, and at -10, 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 min after the infusion started. Injection of Acesulfame K (150 mg/kg body weight) increased the plasma insulin concentration at 5 min from 27.3 +/- 3.0 microU/ml to 58.6 +/- 4.2 microU/ml without any significant change in the blood glucose. Infusion of Acesulfame K (20 mg/kg body weight/min) for one hour maintained the insulin concentration at a high level (about 85-100 microU/ml) during this period, and at the same time blood glucose was gradually reduced from 103.0 +/- 7.3 to 72.0 +/- 7.2 mg/dl. When using different amounts of Acesulfame K, the insulin secretion was stimulated in a dose-dependent fashion. The effect of Acesulfame K on insulin secretion was similar to that observed by injecting or infusing the same doses of glucose (150 mg/kg) body weight for injection and 20 mg/kg body weight/min for infusion), except that no hyperglycemia was observed with Acesulfame K.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

PMID: 2887500 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]