Day three of my take on the all-protein diet thing has passed, and according to the little strip onto which I peed last night, I have a “small” amount of ketones floating around inside my body. Yes, those are the things generated when the body stops burning carb stores and starts burning fat (it’s more technical than that, but that’s the gist). “Small” doesn’t sound like much, but according to the test package, a normal person should yield a “negative” result, so I am actually getting somewhere with all this, I guess.
I can feel it too. I was much crankier yesterday, had a harder time focusing, and I had a very dull headache most of the day. I screwed up and woke up late, so instead of making solid food for breakfast, I had a protein shake, but I made up for it during lunch, though I kinda blew the “no fat” portion of this process. I actually ate out, and basically ate the contents of a salmon filet wrap without the wrap, so it was just salmon and arugula (plus a little salad). But I forgot to ask for no sauce on it, and while the tomato aioli was tasty as all get out, it was also basically pure fat (being an oil-based sauce). Good fat, sure, but way, way more than the plan allows. The rest of the day I stuck with self-prepared foods. I actually snuck in a Morningstar veggie sausage patty, which surprisingly has less carbs than the asparagus I ate with it! So that expanded my food options, which is good.
Tonight, the lady and I have a little staycation-type date planned, which will include dinner, so I’m curious to see how that goes. I am going to start working back toward a more diversified diet as the weekend approaches, but I don’t want to blow the progress I’ve made just yet. So I’ll be keeping it to lean protein and non-starchy veggies at least through Friday, when my next workout will probably happen. I do have some shenanigans planned over the weekend, and I’d hate to be a carb-deprived zombie for them.
I started trying to go primal (or paleo) when law school started, and I have been pretty successful at sticking with it, with a few exceptions when I eat a bowl of pasta or a sandwich when I am out or at a friend’s house every now and then. Since Thanksgiving, I’ve been pretty religiously sticking to it, and I’ve felt really good and a lot more energized since I’ve been sticking to it so well.
Essentially, primal is all about eating real food– lots of veggies and fruits, as well as good quality meat (organic, or as close to it as I can afford on a student budget for both veggies/fruits and meats). The result is high-protein, no processed food, including no grains. Obviously, I still get carbs from veggies and fruits. As I said, I’ve been feeling even more energetic.
Yeah, I’ve had friends, er, insist primal/paleo was the only way to go, and it makes perfect nutritional sense — except obviously for me, it’s really tough to go full bore given my lack of meat consumption. But that’s basically been my goal since the start of all this lifestyle-changing stuff a few years ago: To get away from processed, chemically treated foods and more to whole, organic food, and get away from the processed grains/starches. It’s always an uphill battle, though, but I need to follow a course of practiced moderation: Keep it real 80 percent of the time so that, like you said, on occasion you can enjoy a meal with a friend or a treat.
The energy aspect is really important. During this diet (same as when I’ve done other diets that eschewed processed food and breads), I never get sleepy. I mean, I can go to sleep just fine, but I don’t feel drained or tired throughout the day, and have a general increased feeling of awareness. As you know, that’s because we’re getting energy straight from the source.
Speaking of which, we should do lunch sometime soon. A grain-free, high-protein lunch, of course. 😉
We should! I am officially on winter break. I am working for a law firm located in the southwest (I’ll tell you about it… you will be interested in them). I don’t know what my hours will be like yet, or if I will have set hours.