Phase One - Day One

Horray! Day one is finally here! I have liftoff!

Woke up this morning jittery and excited! I weighed in to get an accurate starting weight, made some coffee (I'll explain why in a minute), and looked at my planned meals.

I had generated a short (hopefully to be expaned upon) list of appropriate breakfasts, or breakfasts I'd actually eat, in order to make the process a little easier. As things progress, I'll expand. I hope to eventually have a decent sized list to share with you all - breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks.

I picked the easiest breakfast today, because I didn't really feel like making a bigger mess in the kitchen then there already was. It was as follows:

• Three eggs - scrambled, no milk, no salt, just eggs!
• A small handful of chopped fresh spinach - a little too small, should have put in a little more
• About a quarter of a small avacado - literally only 25g of avacado, it was kind of brown, but I still went with it

It was pretty good! I had a large glass of water too. Like I said, it was simple, but I felt pretty good getting that dose of protien and iron to start my day.

Okay, now, why I still drink coffee:
I have two justifications for this. One, I only use a total of three tablespoons of half and half a day - equalling 2 carbs total. Two, I have a major addiction to the caffiene (actually true! I have experienced withdrawl symptoms when I have not had at least two cups of coffee in two days).

Okay okay, I know that half and half isn't natural, wasn't available to our anscestors, kind of defeats the purpose of this, yadda yadda yadda, I get it! BUT in my defense...I don't think it defeats the whole purpose. If three tablespoons of processed dairy product is enough to cause major medical issues, massive weight gain, and for you to not take me seriously...then I say lighten up! It's less than a quarter cup a day, less than four gallons in a year (3.6 to be exact). I'm going to take my chances.

Pre Phase One - Meal Planning

I should have posted this last night, but did it this morning instead.

In order to do things right, I felt like I needed a battle plan. Meals have to be premeditated now. I sat down and thought about what I could possibly eat during this experiment. When my own mind failed me, I turned to the advice of others.

I plugged in "Paleo" to Pinterest and came up with a lot of great stuff! Even a whole board dedicated to Paleo recipes. I was ecstatic and pinned away, created a whole board myself dedicated to recipes of Paleolithic varieties. I tried to keep in mind the practicality of things - I'm allergic to bananas, and a lot of recipes use them - as well as cost - making my own almond flour versus buying it.

The next step was making a meal plan for the next four days - aka Phase One. It's hard to shy away from the typical breakfast foods: pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, biscuits, etc. But I have faith. So far all I've come up with are two concoctions of similar design involving eggs and added veggies - okay, that was my fancy way of saying omelets.
But I did find a recipe for pancakes! I'm going to try and keep it simple for now, just to get the ball rolling, because as soon as I have liftoff, I'll have at least forty breakfasts to account for.

Pre Phase One - Shopping and Cavewoman-afying my pantry

Just got back from shopping. I had my little list ready to go, but found that it was hard to spend so much money on things when I know I can get them cheaper elsewhere. For instance, the store I went to (which shall remain nameless) wanted over four dollars for a small bag of almonds. FOUR DOLLARS! Where at a bulk food store, I could get a large bag of almonds for about the same price.

Also, the store I went to didn't have everything I wanted (mainly almond flour and mint leaves), so I improvised with healthy options I knew of. I didn't buy a single packaged food item (except for bacon for the boyfriend), or dairy product.

Before I went to the store, I made a list of all the veggies and fruits I wanted to eat, nuts, meats, the whole shabang. When I got to the store, I realized, I'm not going to be eating all this over the next few days! I'm starting with just breakfast! So I trimmed the list down as I went, but it was still hard to focus with all the excitment of the experiment in mind.

My suggestion for next time: Make a meal plan for the phase I'm on, and only get the required ingredients. I might save some time, and cash, if I'm not over buying.

I'm still working on the pantry - separating boyfriend's foods from mine, as well as reserving a spot for my cavewoman friendly snacks only. It's going to take some time, I have about seven opened boxes of pasta that may or may not be stale, and may or may not be eaten over the next couple of weeks. But it's all part of the process!

The Introduction - AKA Why the heck would I want to eat like a caveman?

Like most of America, I've been on and off diets most of my adult life. Okay, all of my adult life. I've found the most success with calorie counting and training for certain athletic events. However, as the weather changes so does my motivation, and I end up gaining weight back. What can I say? I have a hard time committing and changing my lifestyle for the long run. I like instant results, quick fixes and little comitment.

What's the caveman diet?
Good question. I've done a little research here and there, mostly reading what's free to me on the internet (which is a lot!), rather than buying four different books that all say the same thing. Meat and fat good, carbs bad. Of course, there's more to it than that. As far as I've seen, and read, and interpreted, the paleoithic diet focuses on a steady intake of lean protiens, healthy fats or natural fats, and lots and lots of nutrients. Less simple carbs, more complex carbs, and no sugar or added salt whatsoever. And when you break it down like that...doesn't that sound like the food pyramid we've all grown up with?
The authentic cave man diet also eliminates all dairy, since our anscestors wouldn't have had access to it in the form it's given to us now. I choose to take this lightly, and limit my diary intake. REALLY limit it.

So why would I chose a diet that's so restrictive?
First, I don't think of it like a diet, I like to think of it as adapting a new lifestyle. Well, new to me of course. Rumor has it that while following these dietary rules and restrictions, one can not only lose weight, but also quicken the mind, revitalize the body, and flush toxins from it regularly. I would love to drop this extra weight, but I'd also like to experience all those other perks. So that's going to be my focus, the benefits that come from eating this way, besides dropping weight. Because what's the point of being on a diet when you drop weight but don't gain anything...like life expectancy, brain effeciency, and lean muscle development?

How do I plan to do it?
The best advice I found online was a gradual integration to caveman eating, rather than trying to do it all at once, and quitting bread cold turkey.
I've broken the experiment into the following four phases:

1. Phase One - Breakfast (Four Days)
• Eat a cave man approved breakfast in the morning, accompanied by at least one large glass (like a pint glass) of water.
2. Phase Two - Lunch (Five Days)
• Eat a cave man approved breakfast in the morning, followed by a caveman approved lunch, and lots of water.
3. Phase Three - Dinner (Four Days)
• Eat three cave man approved meals a day, complimented by some light snacking and lots of water.
4. Phase Four - The Whole Shabang
• Four weeks (minus one cheat day a week) of three or so caveman approved meals - probably will be smaller portions than before, and accompanied by lots of "grazing" or snacking. Oh, and lots of water!

Dr. Cordain suggests eating paleoithic for 80% of the time. This sounds reasonable, as it's almost impossible for some people to go that long without a good chunk of bread or something. This equates to about one day a week that's a non-caveman day, referred to by me as a "cheat day." During the first two phases, non-caveman meals will be eaten as regular, but with a conscious decision to keep them relatively healthy.

Be sure to check out my Stats page to follow along with how the weight loss and physcal ability is going!