I’ve been conducting a dietary experiment. First, my physical condition: Acceptable, but not entirely. I’m 5’9″, and at the beginning of this experiment, I weighed in at 229.6 pounds. That’s a bit much, but not very excessive, because I’m muscular. That’s not me being cocky, but rather a statement of fact. I like to lift, and I put muscle on pretty easily. I also have been storing fat the last few years.
I haven’t really had any health problems related to my diet, but there have been some minor inconveniences. For example, if I don’t eat all the time, I get hungry. And when I get hungry, things don’t turn out so good. My blood sugar drops out, my hands shake, and I get irritable. Four of five hours without food would cause a problem. I also had a substantial gut — people would sometimes joke about me about to be giving birth to a large baby — and my triglycerides were a bit high.
I used to be quite fit, so naturally I wanted to recapture that. I know all the things I would have to do physically, but my body was being quite slow and lazy about it. Then, my younger brother tells me he’s doing the paleo diet and tells me I should do it. I had heard of the diet before, but didn’t know much about it. He was getting great results, so I looked into it and decided to go with a 14 day experiment.
The Experiment
I would follow this paleo dietary lifestyle for two solid weeks, track my weight by paper, and note any other changes as well. The experiment ran from 1.7.2012 – 1.20.2012 — 14 days. The results have been quite interesting.
Starting Weight: 229.6, and looking pregnant
Ending Weight: 220.4, with a leaner mid-section
Weight Right Now: 218.4
OK, so I lost 9.2 pounds in 14 days…no big deal. Many people can do that. I once lost 13 pounds in a day as a teenager (though that was due to some nasty stomach bug that had me puking every half hour…so I suppose it’s not a fair comparison — like comparing apples to vomit).
What’s interesting about this weight loss is that I did it while never being hungry and while eating foods that are just so gosh darn tasty. Bacon. Eggs. Steak. Pulled pork. Roast beef. Real butter. Oh, it was good.
I know, I know…we’ve been force-fed — all our lives, pretty much — that those foods are pretty bad for us. What my research is pointing me to is that those assumptions — and the science behind them — might be inaccurate. I’m not going to make any claims here, but I will say that everything we hear might not be the truth, and I’m still doing more research. I’ll post a couple of links at the bottom, though, in case you want to learn more yourself.
The fat loss (not just weight loss) is nice, especially since I wasn’t hungry. The biggest change in my diet, besides eating awesome stuff, was to completely eliminate all grains. I ate no grains of any kind, because they are apparently toxic to us humans. I know…sounds crazy. But I’ve been looking into this and there’s some science that backs it up.
Before we get to that, I should also note that there were two unexpected side effects during these 14 days. After about three days, I noticed that I was sleeping better. I’ve been dealing with chronic insomnia since 2005, so sleeping well is a real big deal to me. I noticed after a few days and then started paying careful attention to my sleep. What I noticed is that I was falling asleep easier, and the sleep I got was more restful. Even if I didn’t get as much sleep as normal, I still felt more refreshed than any time in recent history. It wasn’t a fluke, either. The more restful sleep is ongoing. This alone is significant.
The other unexpected result was my sudden ability to go hours without eating and still feel totally fine. This was weird to me. Normally, I would know it was time to find some food because my hands would start shaking, or my stomach would feel funny and I would get mad at everything. Then one day, during this experiment, it occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten for hours, and I still felt normal. After years of not feeling normal unless I ate every three or so hours, this was pretty cool. It was nice to actually feel hungry again, but not have any stomach pain, irritability, or the inability to hold a pen in my hands and write legibly.
Those might not seem like a big deal to you, but those two things alone — especially with them happening in less than two weeks — are enough of a change to make me look seriously at this “diet”. So I started to do more research.
The Paleo Dietary Lifestyle
In a nutshell (pun intended), the paleo diet is all about eating natural foods the way we would have in the paleolithic era, before agriculture and grains happened. The lifestyle (could be called a movement at this point) calls for eliminating grains, eating plenty of natural foods like meats, root vegetables, and fats, and living a more relaxed life.
The idea is that we evolved to get nutrients and energy primarily from game animals (hunting), supplemented by what we dig up and harvest from trees and plants (gathering). Eating naturally makes a lot of sense to me, and the arguments for going paleo are quite logical. This logic is further bolstered by science that shows us how eating this way can help us, and how eating other ways might hurt us.
I’ve always dealt really well with animal products — meats and fats, so I was really down with eating like this. The challenge for me is to make sure I have enough saturated fat, as many cuts of meat you buy are lean. Bacon, butter, and coconut oil have been helping me out.
Any Problems?
About not eating grains… There’s an adjustment period. Going paleo is more than just ditching grains, but it’s a really big part of it. Most of us eat some type of grain or grain product at every single meal. Taking that out of your diet can be rough. I had two actual problems taking grains out (and a few cravings, but they weren’t bad).
My first problem was energy. My body, which is exercised regularly, is used to getting readily-available energy from carbohydrates that I ate in abundance. Forcing my body to take the harder route — burning stored fat for energy instead of consuming copious amounts of grain carbs — was hard. The first week, I only exercised once. I felt draggy the first couple of days, and then fine, so I went to lift. My body wasn’t ready for that. My energy dropped down fast, and I became exhausted. When I got home, I took my supplements and ate and vegged out. I didn’t try to work out any more that week. The second week, I was totally fine. I lifted each planned day, did some cardio, and felt fine. I guess my body adapted quickly.
The second problem I had was gluten withdrawal. Apparently, gluten acts similar to opiates, and pulling it from my body made my body angry with me. On 1.18.2012, I made a note of something because I was on my second occurrence. I woke up with a terrible headache for the second day in a row. I once tried to get off caffeine completely, and I got terrible headaches on the top of my head. That’s what this felt like — almost exactly the same. The first day, I had a headache the first half of the day, then in went away. The second day, when I made a note of it in my experiment journal, the headache was worse, and I also felt a bit lethargic. I researched wheat withdrawals and paleo diet side effects, and similar phrasings. What I found was that many people (one study showed 70%) who cut gluten from their diet experience headaches or other physical side effects. Fortunately, my headaches were short-lived. The next day, 1.19.2012, I woke up feeling fine — no headache or general lethargy. Booyah.
More Info
Personally, I think you (yes, you, the reader) should conduct your own paleo experiment and see what it does for you. I’ve had great results, feel great, and eat hearty meals all the time. I have a giant crock pot of Hungarian goulash cooking right this second. It’ll be ready about an hour from now. I never thought that losing excess fat and feeling strong and healthy could be this awesome.
I encourage you to give this a shot. I did a 14 day experiment, but I haven’t “fallen off the wagon” yet. The results I got in such a short time, and how I feel day to day (honestly, I feel powerful), are enough of a reason for me to kick grains to the curb and eat a natural diet of flora and fauna.
I know some people (some quite prominent) have spoken out against this dietary lifestyle, but I think you should figure it out for yourself. Who knows…it might work great for you.
Paleo Diet Lifestyle – This is the site I used as a jumping off point. It’s written in layman’s terms, with a simple and straightforward style. In the articles section, you get some science, but aren’t bogged down with it all. It’s just enough to go on and to search out other sources of information and scientific studies. Lots of articles, recipes, and a handy paleo 101 page to get you started.
Paleo Diet Solution – This is an article on Tim Ferriss’ site about the paleo diet, and it has an entertaining title. The article has an introduction by Tim Ferriss, and then a long excerpt from The Paleo Solution, by Robb Wolf. That excerpt has a lot of science to it, but presented in an easy to understand format. It basically outlines what grains can do to you, and why we should avoid them as a species.
Do your own research and experiment. I did an experiment — I suppose it’s ongoing at this point — and I’m still doing more and more research about saturated fats, dietary cholesterol, healthy sources of meat, and so on. So far, this dietary change really fits well with my ideal lifestyle.
I think it’s worth your time to check out and test for a couple weeks or a month. I’m feeling great and getting my youthful figure back. With bacon.
Image Credit: Flickr user ghinson
