[aivi]

Back in Brussels, glad to see my parents again, although London is not far from my mind.
My parents were surprisingly open to my ramblings about my diet, and might even join me in cutting back out refined sugar. We went out to eat, and I had as steak (that was too well cooked, I like mine medium-rare...but the staff were insanely busy, so I didn't have the heart to start bitching) with some salad, ditching fries and drinking water instead of wine or soda. I'm excited to start cooking again as well, especially since we have a new oven and stove. I'll post my full food diary at the end of the week though.

And I finally googled farmers' markets in London, thinking that with some time, I would be able to find some place near me... turns out they have an association and a proper website all the poultry sold is free range and/or organic, eggs as well, there's wild game etc. Can't wait to get back to London to go shopping there! Hopefully the prices won't be too bad, but then again I can't imagine them being that much worse that the organic stuff you get from high-end chain supermarkets.
Did I mention, that I enjoy shopping for food more than clothes or shoes?

Oh, and turns out that my dad joined the gym again (a fancy one near his work, that I used to go to as well), and I'll probably get a 10-day guest pass I don't think they have a squat rack, but it's better than nothing.

[Becca]

(Original post by aivi)
Back in Brussels, glad to see my parents again, although London is not far from my mind.
My parents were surprisingly open to my ramblings about my diet, and might even join me in cutting back out refined sugar. We went out to eat, and I had as steak (that was too well cooked, I like mine medium-rare...but the staff were insanely busy, so I didn't have the heart to start bitching) with some salad, ditching fries and drinking water instead of wine or soda. I'm excited to start cooking again as well, especially since we have a new oven and stove. I'll post my full food diary at the end of the week though.

And I finally googled farmers' markets in London, thinking that with some time, I would be able to find some place near me... turns out they have an association and a proper website all the poultry sold is free range and/or organic, eggs as well, there's wild game etc. Can't wait to get back to London to go shopping there! Hopefully the prices won't be too bad, but then again I can't imagine them being that much worse that the organic stuff you get from high-end chain supermarkets.
Did I mention, that I enjoy shopping for food more than clothes or shoes?

Oh, and turns out that my dad joined the gym again (a fancy one near his work, that I used to go to as well), and I'll probably get a 10-day guest pass I don't think they have a squat rack, but it's better than nothing.

Would have sent the steak back tbh. I like very rare
I also enjoy food shopping more than clothes...went to the Good Food Show two years running, would love to go again if I were living in England!
If they gym has a barbell you can practice oly lifts!!

[aivi]

04.07.2011 Monday
2 apples
400g of chicken with lemon, honey and chili powder
small bottle of Tropicana rasberry-orange juice
1l tropical tropicana, 3 bananas, few olives

05.07.2011 Tuesday
1 banana, 0.5l tropical Tropicana juice
250g cherry tomatoes, grande rasberry-blackcurrant drink at Starbucks, 2x420ml This Water (train journey)
steak with green pepper sauce (a bit of a cheat, since the sauce is creamy), with some onion, tomato, lettuce salad...left the usual accompaning fries/pasta out, and drank water instead of soda/wine
little dark chocolate gateau for dessert. Nothing paleo about it :/

06.07.2011 Wednesday
200g steak with chopped bell pepper and onion, with ev olive oil, black pepper, salt, herb mix
2 kiwi, cup of green tea with honey and lemon
a cup of frozen blueberries (picked from our forest in Finland

07.07.2011 Thursday
big apple
a box of strawberries, a handful of cashews and another of (salted) pistachios, 150g tomatoes, and 1l of Innocent mango-passion smoothie
thick slice of turkey, 150g of cherry tomatoes
a cup of tea, another apple

08.07.2011 Friday
cup of green tea
big chicken breast and chopped bell pepper with white pepper, basil, herbsalt and ev olive oil
glass of tropical juice (from concentrate, no added sugar though)
2 kiwi, another cup of tea
small slice of turkey, cup of tea and a cup of frozen rasberries (self-picked) with lemon juice

09.07.2011
cup of green tea
250g of cherry tomatoes
2 slices of bread with proper butter
a banana, some tropical juice (concentrate)
big salad with crayfish, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, 1/4 avocado... vinaigrette and garlic powder
another banana, slice of bread with iceberg lettuce and thin smoked pork
2 kiwi

10.07.2011
glass of tropical juice (from concentrate)
1 banana, two rolls with smoked pork and cucumber
250g steak, onions, mushrooms and bell peppers with salt, ev olive oil, pepper
2 kiwi, 1 banana


First full week of Paleo is over. To be honest, I'm leaning more and more towards not caring about doing it as a 30-day challenge, but taking this as the start of a better diet for the rest of my life. Even during this one week, I cheated a few times, was tempted a few more, but mostly I believe it's something that I can work on for a long time. As long as i don't give up, things should be okay... that's not to say that this week's cheats were fine.
During the whole week I've just been lazying around (zero motivation to work out, more on that later), so I haven't really spent much energy, but I can still say that I haven't felt hungry much. The only times that I've felt the overwhelming need to go have some more food has been after I ate bread.
Out of sight, out of mind is sounding truer than ever after this first week. When I see bread, I start wanting it. Thankfully we don't have any junk food in our cupboards.

One problem that I feel I have is the fact that I don't have proper meal times. I don't mean meals planned for certain hours, but the fact that I get up so late on most days, spend at least few hours before wanting to eat anything, means that I end up eating one big meal and a lot of small snacks. This wouldn't be so bad if I was crunching away at carrots or something (will try that tomorrow though, my mom said that the ones we have atm are really good ones), but it mostly ends up being fruit (or worse: bread). Fruit is good, but I have to make sure that I don't overdo it, it's still fruit sugar. Also actually having something proper to do (well I have some video games I wanted to play this summer, a resit to study for etc. but all that is just sitting around) would probably help prevent too much snacking.
Also need to eat more veggies.

So to summarise: This diet seems like something that I can do for a long time. If the sweet cravings get too tough, I'll seriously look into paleo baking (already checked some stuff out, looks yummy) But in general, the only calls for grains, dairy or sugar have been from my mind, not from my body. My body is just fine with the steaks and veggies...Also I have noticed that my skin seems quite good, although it's never really been that bad. My coach (who's doing the challenge this month) reported the same, as he usually gets outbreaks from time to time. This has been echoed by quite many people who have turned paleo. Haven't noticed any difference in weight yet, which is not surprising, especially since I haven't been doing any training for over a week.

I have zero motivation to train at this moment. Or I'm stuck in the limbo, where I'm getting anxious about not having trained for over a week, and want to do something, but also am just a lazy bastard, who can't get anything done. I could go running, but I'm afraid of how bad it's gonna be (last run was several months ago), I could do lifting at home, but I hate dumbbells and I don't have proper space for the barbell (wood floor in my room doesn't go with the weights, and the garage is stuffed full of all kinds of stuff). I've never been the type to spontaneously start doing push ups on the floor while waiting for the food to cook or **** like that. For me having a separate space or place for training and the routine of putting on my gear and getting there all helps me to get into the right mindset. Tomorrow I'm going to do something. I don't care if it's dumbbell presses or sit ups or whatever, I have to start somewhere

[aivi]

Also, getting kinda jealous that my place in London doesn't have a balcony, terrace or garden where to grow stuff. Here at home we've got a giant cherry tree (missed the picking, but they left some in the fridge for me), blueberry bushes, cherry tomatoes, all kinds of herbs and some strawberries. At our place in Finland we can pick blueberries and black- and redcurrants, and have a vegetable garden as well. Both of my parents spent their childhoods living at the countryside, so that's why they're so used to doing stuff like this. I'm a city girl through and through, but I wouldn't mind a nice garden, where I could grow stuff

[aivi]

6x6 complex with just the barbell ~15kg (dl, romanian dl, high pull, front squat, strict press, good morning)
6x6 50lbs lat pulls
Nothing too much, but its a start. I miss the gym :C

[aivi]

A random observation: The bags under my eyes have essentially disappeared! I was going to put on some cream on them to help with the puffiness, when I noticed I had no need. Of course the fact that I've been sleeping 10-13h every night has something to do with this, but I know that before this sleeping a lot during the weekends or holidays didn't really seem to have much of an affect on the bags (or general puffiness of the face in the morning).
Another point for paleo!

p.s. roast beef and salad for dinner today, probably followed by berries and tea. Yum.

[Rubberband]

Just read through everything I missed - gosh your diet puts me to absolute shame! You've inspired me to start researching paleo diets for next week. And excellent work on the lifting

[aivi]

(Original post by Rubberband)
Just read through everything I missed - gosh your diet puts me to absolute shame! You've inspired me to start researching paleo diets for next week. And excellent work on the lifting

Cheers. My diet hasn't been perfect though, went out for a couple of drinks with some friends on Wednesday, and the slip-up ended lasting to the next day when I ate ice-cream. And while it tasted pretty nice, my stomach protested a bit . But now I'm more determined to keep my diet on the right tracks,especially since I haven't been doing almost any training (now about to do some though, followed by a big fat steak and salad for dinner ).

[Becca]

Talked to my bf about going paleo eventually. He was up for it, apart from price-wise. He (probably legitimately) is worried that he won't get enough calories as meat is very expensive here! How do you think you'll manage to eat mainly paleo on a student budget?

[aivi]

(Original post by Becca)
Talked to my bf about going paleo eventually. He was up for it, apart from price-wise. He (probably legitimately) is worried that he won't get enough calories as meat is very expensive here! How do you think you'll manage to eat mainly paleo on a student budget?

It's going to be expensive, but I think I'll manage. Besides rent and travel card, I only spend money on some clothes (I'll be cutting out that completely), gym/training, very few nights out, and the rest goes towards food.
1.) I'll save money by packing lunch, no café lunches, sugary treats or coffee etc.
2.) Also I'll be living with two girls from my course instead of a hall full of students, so that means more space in the fridge and freezer. I can buy and make stuff in bigger quantities.
3.) I've been looking into different ways to prepare meat, ways to make the most of cheaper cuts etc. I don't like the taste of liver and other organs like that freak me out a bit still, but I saw one recipe using a cow's heart, and thought it actually looked kinda tasty. Plus, hearts are so cool.
4.) When I get back to London, I'll be going through the local farmers' markets and other shops properly to find out the cheapest places to get stuff, especially meat.
London being London, some markets are bound to be tourist traps with inflated prices, but hopefully I'll find good quality stuff at a good price. Also (especially if you're a bigger household), it might be easier to strike a deal with a single farmer to get a deal on f.e. weekly/monthly order of eggs, dairy products, meat or actually anything that is a staple of your diet.
5.) For your boyfriend, eggs could probably make a good part of his diet; while they aren't exactly calorie bombs, they've got plenty of protein and other good nutrients, and are relatively cheap.
6.) Dairy is another option. While it's not paleo, dairy products like milk, yoghurt, cream and cheese work for some people. It's up to individual experimentation. I never thought I had any problems with dairy or grains, but just a few weeks of not eating them and then introducing them back can show you immediately the differences in your body's responses. Also the different products have to be treated as different cases; yoghurt can work for some people better than milk, since the healthy bacteria actually use lactose (the sugar in milk that most people are allergic to) as food and break it down to glucose and galactose. Also some people can drink goat's milk, but not cow's, fresh unpasteurised, but not store-bought stuff etc.
7.) Also the paleo diet is fat-friendly, so animal fat and vegetable/nut/seed oils can be used liberally (not all oils are "allowed", I use mainly olive oil, but will experiment with macadamia and coconut oil once I get my hands on them).
Also that reminds me, coconut milk/cream is also good, the canned stuff isn't very expensive imo. While using entirely fresh produce is all well and good, I'm certainly not going to start buying fresh tomatoes to make puree for a sauce, when I can get it cheaper in a can (and just checking the label clears up any worries about it having any additives).

[aivi]

Did the same workout as yesterday:
4x25 OH Squats with ~15kg bar
6x6 complex with ~15kg bar (dl, romanian dl, high pull, front squat, strict press, good morning)
Even though the bar is really light (think it actually might be a bit lighter than 15kg), the OH squats are absolute killer. Since I can't squat heavy, I'm just working on my technique and keeping flexible, until I get back to the gym.
Was going to go running in the morning, but really didn't feel like it (****ing stupid ovaries).

Past week's food diary coming up tomorrow.

[aivi]

11.07.2011 Monday
1 bowl of creamed courgette-carrot-avocado soup with lemon, salt, chili powder and coconut milk
2 kiwi, 1 red plum
1 banana, glass of tropical juice

12.07.2011 Tuesday
1 kiwi, iced tea (home-made; green tea, lemon and honey)
3 slices of roast beef and onions, mushrooms and courgette
4 slices of roast beef, iced tea

13.07.2011 Wednesday
400g of strawberries
sliced chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, cucumber with ev olive oil, curry powder, pepper, salt
alcohol (thinking about really adopting a zero tolerance): two strong beers (Delirium Tremens, Monchshof Schwarzbier), rum, 2 cokes, some Guinness
4 gyoza (Japanese dumplings)

14.07.2011 Thursday
a banana, tropical juice
salad with chicken, parmesan, cherry tomatoes, dairy-free salad dressing, mint&lemonade drink, fresh pear-apple-rasberry juice
big pile of lettuce, a few slices of cheese and smoked pork
huge bowl of vanilla ice-cream with sliced banana and hazel butter (tasted good, stomach didn't agree)

15.07.2011 Friday
cup of tea, a banana
350g steak with the normal seasonings, big bowl of salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomato and lemon olive oil) that I couldn't fit on the plate :P
2 kiwi, big glass of tropical juice
bowl of frozen blueberries

16.07.2011 Saturday
350g steak, mushroom sauce and lettuce
2 glasses of tropical juice
“paleo” pancakes: almond flour, eggs, a bit of honey, proper cacao powder, a banana...they were okay, but not worth the trouble (an the calories from the almond flour!)
2 kiwi, cup of tea

17.07.2011 Sunday
cup of tea
salmon, spinach and broccoli
a salty rice-pastries (stomach reacter almost immediately)
2 kiwi, a cup of tea

10x10 incline/decline/normal pushups along with some stretching and closed stance ATG squats. I need to get back into yoga, want to be freakishly stretchy again.

[The Blind Monk]

I think Paleo is a lot more affordable/practical for most women than most men since the vast majority of women are not aiming to be any heavier and they require less food than men to run normally.

[aivi]

(Original post by The Blind Monk)
I think Paleo is a lot more affordable/practical for most women than most men since the vast majority of women are not aiming to be any heavier and they require less food than men to run normally.

Agreed. It's popular with crossfitters and I've come across some fighters, who find it to be ideal for managing their weight&keeping lean mass, but they fought at lower weight categories.

[Becca]

(Original post by The Blind Monk)
I think Paleo is a lot more affordable/practical for most women than most men since the vast majority of women are not aiming to be any heavier and they require less food than men to run normally.

Yeah that's the problem when you're a boy and a girl living together on a food budget in a country where food is expensive. It might just be that I go full paleo and he tops up with protein shakes, we haven't decided yet, need to read more.

Aivi, it doesn't seem like you eat very often, I assume your portion size is massive? What's your calorie aim?

[aivi]

(Original post by Becca)
Yeah that's the problem when you're a boy and a girl living together on a food budget in a country where food is expensive. It might just be that I go full paleo and he tops up with protein shakes, we haven't decided yet, need to read more.

Aivi, it doesn't seem like you eat very often, I assume your portion size is massive? What's your calorie aim?

Well I've written down the approx weight of things like meat to give some idea... I know I don't eat very often or very much, because atm I spend most of my time sitting at home on the computer or reading, the rest of my time is spent sleeping, eating etc. so I don't exactly need much energy.
My weight is around 67kg atm, rose to that after I stopped lifting regularly.
And atm I'm not keeping a track of my calories at all, too lazy. I think I should start doing it, it might help curb in the few carb-cravings I have, when I see the needless extra calories in black and white.
I'm trying to motivate myself to do conditioning training (if only I had access to a proper gym, I'd be lifting everyday ), so hopefully when I'm fully active again, I'll be able to eat more. Atm my aim is to do some exercise everyday, even if its just something like pushups.

[Becca]

(Original post by aivi)
Well I've written down the approx weight of things like meat to give some idea... I know I don't eat very often or very much, because atm I spend most of my time sitting at home on the computer or reading, the rest of my time is spent sleeping, eating etc. so I don't exactly need much energy.
My weight is around 67kg atm, rose to that after I stopped lifting regularly.
And atm I'm not keeping a track of my calories at all, too lazy. I think I should start doing it, it might help curb in the few carb-cravings I have, when I see the needless extra calories in black and white.
I'm trying to motivate myself to do conditioning training (if only I had access to a proper gym, I'd be lifting everyday ), so hopefully when I'm fully active again, I'll be able to eat more. Atm my aim is to do some exercise everyday, even if its just something like pushups.

Ah yeah I'd forgotten you weren't lifting atm. Makes sense now. I need to get back on with recording what I eat. Fell off the bandwagon when away and I know it will help me keep focused! I'm not really doing much atm either so I need to make sure I'm not snacking

[aivi]

(Original post by Becca)
Ah yeah I'd forgotten you weren't lifting atm. Makes sense now. I need to get back on with recording what I eat. Fell off the bandwagon when away and I know it will help me keep focused! I'm not really doing much atm either so I need to make sure I'm not snacking

And the problem of not having much to keep me occupied is that I tend to snack more

[Becca]

(Original post by aivi)
And the problem of not having much to keep me occupied is that I tend to snack more

Same! Need to drink lots of tea!

[aivi]

(Original post by Becca)
Same! Need to drink lots of tea!

Exactly! I've just recently gotten used to drinking more tea, usually green tea with some honey and lemon. Plus green tea is supposedly healthy, aids with fat burning, help keep hunger at bay etc.