Andi's Day 3: still adjusting

How's it going, Mitch?

Today I found out that I need to cook just about EVERYTHING I eat or else food is just too hard for me to digest. This takes time and makes things more difficult. But...

When I posed the question: are legumes really that bad for you? I was sent this article. It helped renew my resolve to Go Paleo! today. Thanks, Dallas.

Also, saw this fun, inspiring poster on Mark's Daily Apple which I just ordered! (click on it and it will take you to Mark's store where you can order it too!)


Planning to hang this in a prominent place so I can be re-inspired each day.

Unfortunately I had to use another "open meal" today - for a work breakfast meeting - so I guess I am having trouble doing the "Level III Paleo" (only one open meal/week). I've decided my first week on the diet needs to be "Level I" (three open meals/week) if I want to make this sustainable.

(non-Paleo) Breakfast: egg wrap (whole wheat tortilla, eggs, cheese, salsa), coffee, 2 pieces of pineapple and 1 strawberry --> I paid for this - my blood sugar rose to 180 before lunch!
Lunch: apple sauce, extra lean beef, steamed carrots and radishes, avocado
Dinner: Spicy Stuffed Squash, extra lean beef, flax seeds

Feelin' pretty good. Good night to all!

- Andi

Andi's Day 2: Cold Turkey or Ease Into?

Day 2 was hard!!

Here is what I found to eat:

Breakfast: banana/mango/strawberry smoothie (with a little almond milk and apple juice mixed in) - my own recipe and actually very delicious!
Lunch: tuna (with pimentos and homemade mayo), leftover baked apple (with walnuts and raisins), hard boiled egg
Dinner: (grilled out!) 1 chicken sausage, a little piece of extra lean beef, grilled peppers and onions, 1/2 mango, 1/2 cup almond milk

An especially hard part for me is that we have these delicious walnut brownies I made as a last hoorah on Sunday - and ate two as my dinner on Sunday night - sitting on our kitchen counter and Emily and Kelli won't finish them!

Also, had a discussion with Jacob and Emily tonight about what is better (?):

1. To go 100% Paleo, "cold turkey" as they say -or-
2. Ease into the diet

What do you think?????

Emily says that in her job in tobacco cessation they always recommend "cold turkey." I think this is based on lots of research, or maybe just the fact that doctors can't really "recommend" that one of their patients smokes cigarettes at all.

Jacob made the point that there are plenty of things, such as training for a marathon, that you need to build up to and ease into. Especially if you want to make a long term change to something as big as your diet.

Then again, do you get the benefits of the Paleo Diet if you don't go super hard core about it all at once? The book I read seems to advocate a wholehearted approach... I guess you need to get your metabolism to switch over to a fat-for-energy rather than carbs-for-energy model, right?

First Impressions

Hey sis, glad to hear things are going well! That's exciting news about your lack of insulin use, I'm sure it will only continue to get better and better. No lactose, artificial sweeteners, or gluten should indeed keep those sugars stable, so keep it up!

Day 1 for me was surprisingly good. I felt great all day, didn't really notice any lack of energy (like I was expecting), and even got a good workout in! I'm not too sore today either from my workout, which is another bonus. I was worried about muscle regeneration because I've cut out 50-75g of protein that I normally get from milk, cheese, and protein powder. However, that worry seems to have all but dissipated!

Day 2 (today) has been a little bit more difficult. I've been really busy today and haven't had a good chance to plan out my meals. Because of this (and the Paleo's diet lack of "quick" foods) I've really only been able to eat an apple and some nuts today. However, I'm gonna go home and make a fresh egg and veggie omelet later, so that should help!

Andi's Day 1

Things started out great...

Breakfast: banana, almond butter, almond milk
Snack: 2 squares of organic dark chocolate (only 10 carbs)
Lunch: applesauce, tuna (with homemade mayo!) on lettuce, hard boiled egg

Then...

12:30pm rolled around and we had a "March Birthdays Party" at our office (and my bday is March 1) which involved this...


Dang it! I had to eat it - all 45 carbs worth. So there went my 1 "open meal" for the week on Day 1!!! At least it was a very delicious (and semi-healthy) dessert: "Spring Fling" zucchini cake from The Market.

I will tell you that up until this point in the day my blood sugars have been phenomenal. Before lunch I was 62 so I didn't even have to take any insulin (bolus) to cover the lunch I ate!

Dinner: sea scallops, asparagus, baked apples

No major blood sugar spikes! My body is lovin' this diet.

- Andi

Week 1

Looks great sis! Love all the veggies you were able to get! I've kind of run into the same problem you did when you were shopping. It is indeed quite expensive to buy all fresh AND organic ingredients. I got what I could (probably about 70%), but had to sacrifice on a few other items.

Lucky for me, Meijer actually has quite a good selection of lower-cost organics. I was actually able to get all natural free range lamb, all natural chicken breast, and grass fed cow meat for under $20 total. I also have recently become a HUGE believer in olive oil as a means to make all meals more tasty without sacrificing your health (hence the huge jar of good olive oil).

Anyways, week one starts today sis, so best of luck to you and your roommates! Talk to you soon.

Andi's groceries

Here are my groceries for the week!

Granted, these are for 3 people - Emily and Kelli (my two roommates) have agreed to give this diet a try for a week with me as long as they can get bread, yogurt, and a few soy things for themselves.

The biggest struggle for me is that we have decided to buy mostly NON-organic. My big 2010 New Year's Resolution was to go ALL organic, but Paleo has trumped this resolution right now. Otherwise my roommates have told me that this diet would just be too cost prohibitive.

Emily convinced me that buying organic is less important than buying local after reading the book "Omnivore's Dilemma." I'm only 1/4 of the way through this book right now so I have taken her word for it.

Even though we are not buying organic produce (except for spinach and broccoli), we ARE buying grain fed meats and eggs. This is important because I strongly disagree with feeding our animals unnatural corn - it is simply unhealthy (i.e. much lower Omega-3s in your food) and bad for the environment.

Week one, here we come!

- Andi

Groceries

So I went to the store for the first time today... Quite demoralizing to be honest. I think it was about the 8th aisle with an empty cart that I realized that this diet might be difficult. In all honesty, it feels like there is nothing you can eat. You want a side with your meal? Bread, rice, or potatoes? No, no. You want beans? Nope, sorry, those are off limits too. Well either way, as you can see from the photo, I took the plunge, and am on my way to eating like a caveman. May the Lord be with us all...

The Ground Rules

Countdown: 2 days til start...


In case you are unfamiliar with this diet, here are the 6 simple ground rules to the Paleo (a.k.a. CAVEMAN, hunter-gatherer) Diet:

1. All the lean meats, fish, and seafood you can eat
2. All the fruits and nonstarchy vegetables you can eat
3. No cereals
4. No legumes
5. No dairy products
6. No processed foods

Some of my friends say, "that's just Atkins!"

But no - the Paleo Diet is not a low-carb, fat-free diet: it's a low-carb, highly nutritious, "bad fat"-free diet! That is one of the big differences between this diet and something like the Atkins diet.

Salt and refined sugar are also supposed to be kept to a minimum. Gotta keep those glycemic indexes low so I can have a better A1c!!!

- Andi

Two Reasons

Hi guys, my name is Mitch. I'm 23 years old, and a bit of a health information junkie. My health and overall fitness have not always reflected this, but I've always been interested in fitness, nutrition, and the mixture of the two. So, when my sister called and told me that she was interested in trying the Paleo diet, I was immediately intrigued.

I tried the paleo diet for a short time a year before, and noticed some encouraging results in the time I did it. However, due to budget and time constraints (as well as a weak will), I quit the diet about 4 weeks after starting. Despite this fact, I have always had a special place in my heart for this simple, yet infinitely complex diet. I'm excited to be able to go on this journey with my sister, and hope to be able to post some encouraging results within a few weeks time!

One of the reasons I'm most excited for this challenge is because anyone who reads this blog is going to get to see 2 different people (with very different health backgrounds), in 2 different places, trying the same diet, for 2 different reasons.

My sister, like she said in her introduction, is trying this diet for health and diabetes related reasons. She hopes to lower her A1C levels, and to lessen her dependence on insulin. I on the other hand, have been blessed to have no major health issues that I am aware of, and thus, am doing this diet for athletic and vanity related reasons. I hope to notice improvement in my overall strength and recovery time (as noticed by many "Paleo" athletes) when lifting weights, as well as get my body fat below 10% for the first time since high school.

Thanks for following us on this journey!

Getting ready...

I know we haven't technically started this diet yet but I couldn't resist sharing this scrumptious picture of my lunch today:

Baked sweet potato fries, boiled broccoli, and skinless chicken! Yum!

I guess the plan is to officially "Go Paleo" starting this coming Monday, March 29, 2010. Right, Mitch?

So, in preparation for the big transition I have started compiling a grocery list. This list was made by going through all of the meals suggested in the Level III of "The Paleo Diet" book for week 1. My roommates (Emily and Kelli) have agreed to join me for one week as we figure out the costs and how much they want to join me on this diet.

Here's the grocery list for week 1. I plan to shop at Sunflower Market and Vitamin Cottage to get all of these foods, and mostly pick up the things that are on sale each week. Otherwise I fear that this diet would get prohibitively expensive.


- Andi

A little background

Hi! My name is Andi, sister to Mitch, and I am 27 years old. Here is a picture of us from this past July.

This is primarily our blog about nutrition and health (giving The Paleo Diet a try), so let me give you a little background on my health situation.

I have had type 1 (juvenile) diabetes since I was 10 years old. I've always taken fairly good care of my health, exercising regularly (I play/have played on hockey, soccer, and lacrosse teams), eating well (I thought...), and checking my blood sugars multiple times per day. I've managed to keep my A1c around 7 for most of my life, so I thought I was at a pretty low risk for complications. But about a year ago I was diagnosed with a diabetes complication called "gastroparesis" which rocked my world. I couldn't eat much solid food and consequently lost 30 pounds in 3 months! I tried EVERYTHING to get better - i.e. Reglan, Ethromyacin, a low fiber gastroparesis diet, better control of my blood sugars, etc. - and nothing seemed to help. That is, until I found Eastern Medicine. The combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbs helped get my digestive system working again. I slowly got off of my all-liquid diet and can now eat most things, especially if they are cooked. I also switched over to an insulin pump, which allows me more control and flexibility over my life with diabetes.

Despite all of this moving forward, I went to the doctor this past month and found that my A1c has risen to 7.7! People in normal health tend to have an A1c of 4.0-6.0. Upon receiving this info, my primary care doc recommended a book by Richard K. Bernstein, MD, called "Diabetes Solution." I have not read it yet but have heard it is very similar to the book I just finished called "The Paleo Diet" by Loren Cordain, PhD. I picked this book up at Vitamin Cottage recently after hearing my acupuncturist talk about what a great thing the Paleo diet is. And what I've learned is that the Paleo diet can get your A1c down to the 4-5ish range or even CURE some newly diagnosed type 1 diabetics!

That's right, the Paleo diet can cure some newly diagnosed type 1 diabetics!

I never ever thought I would put the words "cure" and "type 1 diabetics" in a sentence like that. But check out Michelle's blog about it to see an example of what I mean: http://michellestype1diabetes.blogspot.com/

That's a pretty powerful story. And that is why I have decided to give this Paleo diet thing a try.

-Andi