Category: Grub

My wife swears by having snacks. She typically has some nuts in the afternoons to hold her over between lunch and dinner. As for me, I have adopted a no snack policy unless I’m really, really hungry. This is a hold-over from my early dieting days when I believed that the hungry feeling was a good thing, and that if my body was hungry, I was “Burning fat.” Of course, this is false, and is actually bad for us. Intermittent fasting is one thing: starving between meals is another.

What ends up happening when I get too hungry between meals is that when I do finally get a chance to eat, I tend to eat more than I otherwise would have. It takes longer for me to get that full stomach feeling, so I eat until that feeling comes and by then, I find I’ve eaten too much. Then comes the pain of having eaten too much food. My stomach doesn’t quite hold as much as it used to.

Does that mean I will stick to this no-snack policy? I don’t think so. I’m going to likely start bringing some nuts with me to have between lunch and dinner to try to reduce the hungry feeling I get. So far, I’ve increased the volume of the food I eat at lunch which has helped me stay sated until at least 4:30-5:00 p.m., and I can typically deal with an hour of slight hunger. It’s not uncomfortable, and when I run in the afternoons, I prefer to run on an empty stomach. Besides, if I am hungry when I start a run, that feeling quickly goes away as my heart rate goes up.

What about you. Do you snack in the afternoons? Late morning before lunch?

So, you’re either contemplating a new, healthy lifestyle or you are already trying to eat better but you’re finding your options lacking variety and flavor. This is a common problem for people new to Paleo, and especially for those who are either in or coming from a Whole30. A friend of mine was once on a rather restrictive diet that left him eating salad and chicken breast for nearly every meal. He said there were other options available to him, but they were either too complicated or difficult to make in a reasonable amount of time which led him to the excessively bland and repetitive diet. Eventually, he quit eating that way and went back to his old eating habits and gaining back the weight he lost.

This is more common than you would think, and was the primary concern of my wife Sherry when we first discussed changing our eating habits to be healthy. She did a lot of research before we started, and yet we still found our food to be a little on the bland side compared to what we were used to eating. This was due to a few reasons.

1. We were going from a diet that was heavy in sugar and other fillers. These are full of flavor and, while not good for us, are quite delicious. Do you ever wonder why there’s sugar in savory foods? It’s because we love it!
2. Our bodies hadn’t adjusted to the reduced sugar in the food which made them taste more bland than they really were.
3. We were used to foods with lots of spices. Many recipes go easy on spices.

The first month or so of cooking when adhering to our first Whole30 was a rather bland, although not entirely unpleasant experience. As Sherry learned the flavors and our mouths were freed from the sugar influence and addiction, we were rewarded with being able to taste more subtle flavors we had never noticed before. Foods we used to eat and were not impressed with before our Whole30 took on new favor. I used to tolerate sweet potatoes. After starting my Whole30, I began to really appreciate them. Now, I love them!

Another thing that happened is Sherry began to learn how to use the new ingredients properly, the ratios and amounts to use, and this applied to the spices as well. While using the same spices, using them in conjunction with new ingredients came with a learning curve. Fortunately for us, she’s overcome that curve, and I can say honestly that the foods she makes for us now are flavor-filled and delicious! We are not wanting for more flavorful foods.

Of course, it’s been fifteen months of clean eating that have led us to where we are today. Foods that taste sweet to Sherry and I are still probably semi-sweet to those who still eat sugar-added or pre-processed foods regularly. I cannot drink a soda anymore: it is literally so sweet as to make me nauseous. No, this is not a bad thing. It keeps me from ever wanting another Coke again, and I see that as a good thing for my health and longevity.

As for meals, I look forward to them not only because they fuel my body, but because they are delicious. A large part of the human experience lies in the food we eat, and most people feel that it’s not worth living if the food is bland and terrible and I agree! That’s why I’m so happy Sherry has found such amazing recipes and has learned to cook so well with them.

To find success in adopting a healthy lifestyle, you have to find success in the kitchen. Fortunately, we have the Internet and sites like my wife’s that has many great recipes to choose from. Don’t shy away from experimentation with spices, too. It’s amazing how much a little bit of spice can transform an otherwise bland dish.

This is one of the most requested posts on my blog: what I eat in a day. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast

• Egg and sausage casserole (prepared on Sunday by my wife)
• Slice of Paleo banana bread
• Coffee

Lunch

• Paleo Beef and Chorizo Meat Loaf with Chipotle and bacon (prepared on Sunday)
• Brussels sprouts

Dinner

• Smoked ribs (prepared on Sunday)
• One half of a baked sweet potato
• Slice of Paleo banana bread
• Iced Tea

Recipes for most of these are on my wife’s website.

I want to preface this post by saying that many of the foods here have Paleo alternatives that are very good. In many cases, they taste as good, or even in some cases, better than the original. However, there’s just something about the foods on my list below that I miss. I know it’s the sugar or the grains… either way, while I love my Paleo food, there are only a few foods that I no longer eat that I used to enjoy immensely. Fortunately, it’s a short list.

Chicago Style Hot Dogs. There are no alternatives, and nothing to replace this gaping hole in my culinary heart. This has been the hardest pill for me to swallow since going Paleo.

Real Pasta Spaghetti. This is one of the big ones for me. I love pasta. LOVE it. I am part Italian, and this part of me must be manifested by my love of pasta. I used to eat it at least once or twice a week. At one point in my life, I ate spaghetti as much as five times a week. This was back when I was in the Marines and running daily, so with that coupled with youth, I didn’t gain the weight. Now? My body is very efficient and storing everything from the spaghetti and making me fat. So, I avoid it. I haven’t had spaghetti in over a year. Sherry makes a really great spiralized zucchini that’s very close (or even spaghetti squash), but it’s not pasta.

Sushi. We can eat the fish, but not the rice. We have made sushi using caulirice, and it’s  a really good approximation and very close, but it’s just not the same. I miss you, sushi rice in all your sticky goodness.

Fast food hamburgers. We eat burgers from time to time with either a Paleo bun or with a lettuce wrap, but there’s nothing like an In-n-Out hamburger. Nothing. I love these, and I miss them. Living in Houston has helped me keep from giving into the temptation of eating In-n-Out, but visits to Austin and Dallas have really tested my resolve. So far, I’ve won, but why do I feel like ultimately I’ve lost?

Pizza. I’ve had some Paleo pizzas that are really good, but nothing compares to a real pizza. I’m an equal opportunity pizza lover: thin crust, thick crust, Chicago style, New York style, or even Dominoes style. I just love pizza. I miss the real stuff, but at least there are Paleo versions that come close. Close.

Bread. There are some Paleo breads that are very good (the soda bread Sherry makes is, in my opinion, even tastier and better than the real deal!), but I love French bread. I love the fluffiness of the inside and the crunchiness of the crust. Paleo bread, while delicious, just doesn’t get all the way to perfection the way French bread does. Don’t even get me started on a bread that you cannot make in Paleo at all: Croissants.

Breakfast cereals/oatmeal/cream of wheat (farina). I’ve had some Paleo versions of these, but they have all been a bit of a disappointment. I am one of the rare people who loves oatmeal and absolutely adores cream of wheat, but Paleo versions, for me, don’t even come close. I have had to come to terms with never having these again.

BLT’s (and other sandwiches). I love a good BLT, especially on rye. Now, I can only dream of sandwiches, for the most part. At least I can have bacon. And lettuce. And tomatoes. Just not in a sandwich.

For every other type of food, there’s a very close analogue. So close, in fact, that it’s either hard to tell the difference, or Sherry and I have found the Paleo versions to be superior in flavor.

In the end, it’s about decisions that effect our health. I prefer to make decisions that are based on a long-term view. With the exception of the occasional holiday or special event, I eat only Paleo food, and I feel much better about it. Also, having lost over 110 lbs eating Paleo is a pretty good feeling, too.