My Month of Meat (and seafood, eggs, nuts/seeds and healthy fats)

Hello!

I am switching gears a bit. I have decided to try the "Paleo," short for "Paleolithic," diet for 30 days ( I am currently on Day 2). Thank my friend Janelle who lent me the book, "It Starts With Food" and also thank my inability to resist testing [seemingly sound] nutritional claims for myself! I am not going to give you an in depth explanation about the Paleo diet. I will tell you what you eat on it, but I won't go into any great detail because that would take too much time AND you have Google (or Bing if you prefer) to do that for you.

What I will be eating:
- vegetables
-sea  vegetables (kelp, arame, dulse wakame)
-meat (grass-fed, organic, pastured--not to be confused with "pasteurized," this means the animal was not raised in a factory or barn but on actual grass pastures)
- eggs (from pastured chickens),
-seafood (wild caught),
- fresh fruit
-raw nuts and seeds
-other healthy fats: coconut (meat, butter, unrefined oil); olive oil; ghee (clarified butter i.e. butter with the milk proteins removed)
- green tea, herbal teas

Ghee: clarified butter i.e butter without the inflammatory milk proteins

What I will NOT be eating:

-added sugar or artificial sweeteners in any form including maple syrup, agave, stevia or...raw honey. I am actually undecided about the raw honey because I just love honey in my green tea and I only add about 1/4 of a tsp anyway...
-grains (not even whole grains: no bread, pasta, baked goods, wheat, corn, brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth etc).
-legumes ( no lentils, beans, peanuts, soybeans or products made from soy).
-dairy (except ghee).
- processed crap i.e cheetos and pumpkin doughnuts.

In general I have heard the Paleo diet explained as healthy  because it's the way "early humans" ate.  Some proponents of the diet say that our digestive system hasn't evolved along with our agricultural practices and therefore can't handle all of the things we include in our diet in the present day. Well...I don't care all that much about how cavewomen or cavemen ate. I'm doing this because the research I've done (research that does not actually mention cavepeople) has adequately convinced me that some of the foods that I assume are good for me might actually be harming me.  Specifically, I'll be following the Whole30 program (created by the authors of It Starts With Food). Click on that link for a really great overview/ explanation of the program! (I am pretty sure any questions you might have will be answered by that link so click before you ask).

Poached eggs w/ sauteed kale, chard, garlic, and red onion

I'm still skeptical:

1. Meat all day every day?



Pastured lamb chop from the Farmer's Market!

The authors of It Starts With Food, and the research they cite, have done a good job of convincing me that my LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels will not skyrocket, my arteries won't clog, my kidneys won't give out from animal protein overload, and  I won't have a heart attack...but they have not sufficiently convinced me that I won't be constipated. After suffering from consistent constipation from ages 7 to  20 (I'm 24 now), a return to that dark time is a big concern of mine. For some reason I am not convinced that I will get enough fiber from vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. I feel like I need grains and beans to have optimal fiber intake. I did poop like a champ this morning  (after Day 1 of this plan) however, so I'm hopeful things will be OK. I hope that was not TMI. We are all grown ups and can talk about poop right?  If  you're not a grown up, I hope you're not reading my blog . ha. No really, get outta here :/.

2.  Not even whole grains?!

 I have been very waryof gluten (a protein found in wheat, spelt, barely, rye, and sometimes oats) for a while now  (and have made several unsuccesful attempts to give it up long term) but I'm having a hard time believing  that even non-gluten whole grains (like brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, etc) are negatively affecting me. "The research," suggests, however, that all grains can be pro-inflammatory. We will see.

3. No beans? Now you're just making stuff up!

But actually they're not making stuff up. Still I did find that their argument against beans was the weakest of all their arguments against restricted food groups. I am especially skeptical because Dr. Joel Fuhrman ,who I absolutely respect and trust after reading his incredible book Eat to Live, puts beans on a very high nutritious, cancer-fighting pedestal. Again, we will see.

After the 30 days, I will reintroduce some foods to my diet (wheat products, whole grains, and beans) one at a time to see how my body reacts to them. If a particular food group causes a bothersome reaction then I'll know that the foods in that group are a general no-no for me. I am already pretty sure that dairy has a bad effect on me so I don't plan on "reintroducing" it as a regular part of my diet.

What I'm hoping for:

1. No more chronic hives!
2. High energy levels that my body sustains for the entire day. (In a normal day I crash between 12 and 4 and by the time I get home in the evenings I feel completely drained).
3. Higher quality sleep.
4. Clearer skin.
5. No more eczema!
6. The death of my sugar addiction and food cravings.
7. Bye bye nasal allergies, nasal congestion and, persistent nasal drip (yum).
8. Mood stability.
9. No more general body stiffness or random but persistent aches and pains (mainly my knee joints and back pain).
10. Relief from my chronic upper right abdominal pain.

I am not doubtful about the healing power of the right foods. A truly healthy diet reduces systemic inflammation--which is frequently caused by poor diet, stress etc.  Systemic inflammation is a significant root cause of  a ton of common ailments like allergies, eczema, acne and joint pain, as well as of  major diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease etc. I don't know if this is the particular eating plan that will be best for me but I am excited about testing it.

What about being an "aspiring vegan?":

Fruits and Veggies from this morning's trip to the Farmer's Market: 1 huge bunch of Red Kale, 1 head of  purple cabbage, 1 head of green leaf lettuce, 3 parsnips, and 6 pears.

I am OK with taking a break from that goal for a while. My number one reason for attempting to go vegan was for my health. Concern for the environment was a supporting reason. Along the way, I learned just how despicable and cruel factory farming is and my conscience would not let me go back to fully supporting that. The good folks at Whole30 say that I will be healthier with high quality animal protein in my diet and they've given me enough evidence to make me want to test their claim. I also appreciate that they emphasize the importance of eating grass-fed, organic, pastured meat and meat products.
 I don't and won't preach to people about everything wrong with factory farming on a regular basis. I don't want people to be angry at me or down on themselves, and I don't want people to think that I have a superiority complex about meat eating. I don't. This is not an elitist thing. It's a personal cruelty-free, health conscious thing and this is my blog and today I will preach a bit. Factory-farmed meat is just not good for you. The grain and animal by-product diet that factory farmed animals are fed, as well as the antibiotics and hormones they're given makes their meat, especially the fatty parts (toxins are concentrated in fat cells), not.good.for.you. I respect that the authors of It Starts With Food emphasize that their health claims don't hold as strongly, if at all, in the case of eating factory farmed meat. Grass fed beef,  pastured chickens and their eggs, and wild caught seafood ARE expensive, no doubt. I can just barely afford it but the strain is worth it.
The people who make their millions from factory farming DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR HEALTH. They ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR MONEY! Fact, fact, fact. They are unnecessarily and heartbreakingly cruel to animals (and to their factory workers btw), don't give a shit about the environment and I'll do everything I can to NOT support their ugly souls! This is a conclusion you have to come to on your own however. Nothing but doing my own research on this (or any food) issue would have convinced me to go this route.
In short,  doing the Whole30 program doesn't violate any of my beliefs/ morals about eating animals and I plan on being an "aspiring vegan," once again someday

Acorn Squash baked w/ ghee and a bit of sea salt.

Still, in support of Veganism:

A little side note. I am now more than ever convinced that people who say being vegan is more expensive than being omnivorous don't actually know what they are talking about. Beans, brown rice, fruits, and vegetables are cheaper than  meat, fish, eggs and dairy products--even the factory-farmed, non- organic kinds of these products. I challenge anyone to test me on this.

Ok, that is all for now. Stay tuned for my Paleo adventures!