I’ve broken this post down into several categories that I hope will help you if you’re making the decision to take this diet on.
I think eat section is as important because they all advice you on the process of the diet. So, the categories are;
- How I felt during the week, where I speak about my bodies changed and my cravings.
- Video post: Explaining in brief all of the diet.
- What I ate during the week, where I speak about the food choices I made. What I cut out and my overall view of it after the first week.
How I felt:
After the first day I felt a bit lost, I had no food to eat in the house, so I did a little research about where I can find whole foods and found about white rice being ok and that there are plenty of recipes I can do without eggs (on paleo it feels like all you eat is eggs at the start). I really wanted chips and popcorn (it was night).
Day two I woke up starving where as I’d normally go for a protein breakfast and a coffee I was perfectly fine with a bag of mixed fruit, after two days!! I’m not hyping paleo up because they’re sponsoring me (they’re not) I just genuinely felt great. Mid-day day two I hadn’t done a workout and felt really hungry, so grabbed some Paleo-friendly sushi and a banana, it surprisingly filled me up!
At mid-day three, I’ve had 3 bananas and a black coffee, and..I feel fine. I think my body is already adjusted to non-processed carbs and it’s keeping my energy levels still throughout the day, I’m not craving toast or biscuits AT ALL. I’ve sorted out rice and chilli for my lunch.
At day five my appetite is so limited I’m having to remind myself to eat, I’m eating smaller amounts too and not wanting carbs to the point of I can cook them and still not need any! I’ve been eating around 1300 calories recently so I’ll have to be careful not to under eat! ( I did an hour and a half workout too!)
My thoughts of carbs came back today (day 7) not because I wanted them but because I can’t find anything else in the house, I went to asda last night and bought everything I could think of I still can’t find things to eat. I’m going to have to batch-cook for next week
What I ate this week:
Eggs (a lot of them)
Bananas (a TONNE) Apples and grapes
White rice * x 2 Potatoes; Baked x 2 (I’ve since read that they’re no longer allowed)
Minced beef, Pastrami selections, Ham
Fish; Sea bass,cod, and Sushi
I started at night so my first dinner was random. Sorry.
D: Chilli con Carne with rice
Day one:B: Scrambled eggs for breakfast with a piece of fruitL: Sushi and a bag of mixed fruitD:Cod in parsley sauce(paleo) with mixed vegetables and Potatoes
Day two:
B: Paleo Pancakes* Recipe to be posted soon!
L: Salad and ham wraps (wraps are made from egg)
D: Chilli con Carne with rice
Day three:
B: Banana smoothie
L: Chilli con Carne with rice
D: Cod with potatoes ( this is when I found out they were a no-no)
Day four:
B: Banana Smoothie
L: Turkey and cauliflower spiced salad.(cold)
D: Spiced Chicken salad and vegetables
Day Five: Wednesday.
B: Scrambled Eggs and fruit
L: Mixed meat selections and soup
D: Beef curry with Cauliflower rice
Day Six:
B:Scrambled Eggs and Peppers.
L:Tasty Tuna salad; peppers, celery, carrot, red onion.
D: Steak and egg with toasted broccoli, grilled onion and peas!
Day Seven:
B:Faux-granola and soy milk (I really wanted cereal)
L: Spicy beef wraps.
D: Salmon and Vegetables.
Bananas (a TONNE) Apples and grapes
White rice * x 2 Potatoes; Baked x 2 (I’ve since read that they’re no longer allowed)
I started at night so my first dinner was random. Sorry.
D: Chilli con Carne with rice
Day one:B: Scrambled eggs for breakfast with a piece of fruitL: Sushi and a bag of mixed fruitD:Cod in parsley sauce(paleo) with mixed vegetables and Potatoes
Day two:
B: Paleo Pancakes* Recipe to be posted soon!
L: Salad and ham wraps (wraps are made from egg)
D: Chilli con Carne with rice
Day three:
B: Banana smoothie
L: Chilli con Carne with rice
D: Cod with potatoes ( this is when I found out they were a no-no)
Day four:
B: Banana Smoothie
L: Turkey and cauliflower spiced salad.(cold)
D: Spiced Chicken salad and vegetables
Day Five: Wednesday.
B: Scrambled Eggs and fruit
L: Mixed meat selections and soup
D: Beef curry with Cauliflower rice
Day Six:
B:Scrambled Eggs and Peppers.
L:Tasty Tuna salad; peppers, celery, carrot, red onion.
D: Steak and egg with toasted broccoli, grilled onion and peas!
Day Seven:
B:Faux-granola and soy milk (I really wanted cereal)
L: Spicy beef wraps.
D: Salmon and Vegetables.
What I cut out:
Saturated Products: (fried) I rarely eat high saturated products anyway so they were fine to cut out, I just miss my occasional chips (they were done in a tefal cooker).
Dairy products: I am unable to consume lactose in larger doses so I rarely have it in my diet anyway, but since starting Paleo I’ve reduced it to a small amount in my meals.*They’re a bit of a grey area on the paleo diet, as we rarely consumed dairy unless we were infants, however the benefits of the food group out-weighs the ‘rules’ in paleo. So by all means people are allowed to ingest naturally made dairy products, (nothing shop bought)
Pasta/Bread (carbohydrates): Now, this one is a biggie for me, as I used to eat scrambled eggs on toast, fajita wraps, spaghetti bolognese, Cous cous, Stirfry. Literally every meal I ate had a form of processed carbohydrate. I’m surprised at how easy this was to kick though, after two days I didn’t want them and after 5 I really didn’t even think about them!
*White rice is now ok on paleo as it has a low GI and carries no anti-nutrients, it is not a good food but it is neutral.
Sugar: Refined sugar is all we had in the cupboards! I’ve had to cut down my coffee intake purely because it takes awful with honey!
Overall view on the paleo diet:
I started the diet with no idea of how it would go and no expectations to be honest, I’ve never been one for sticking with diets as I’m more of an exercise girl, I’d rather eat a big mac and workout all day then eat a salad and sit down for the majority of it. That being said on this diet you have the choice of sitting down if you want to, there’s no feeling of guilt if you’re sedentary.
My view is that, if you want to feel healthier and do it easily, this is the diet for you, It can help you lose weight (of course) but don’t come into this thinking about the weight, you’re putting the wrong message in place.
It’s a great diet because it doesn’t ‘ban’ whole food groups, it explains why you shouldn’t be eating them and the benefits of eating a replacement for that group (grains for veggies)
Anyway, From the second day in I knew It would be the easiest diet I’ve done, I’m not cutting much out of my diet as I already ate relatively healthy anyway, the first week went by with no problems or cravings of processed food and I’m happy to stay with this diet until the near future…or until it bankrupts me. Yes, it can get pricey when you’re buying unsweetened flaked coconut in 1KG bags..but you don’t have do go crazy with it.You could stick to steak and salad and save a fortune, and eat like a king for that matter.
The thing is I’m not being strict with it, I have a ‘celebrations’ chocolate when I want and don’t feel guilty, because I rarely want them.
If you liked my post leave a comment below! 🙂
