Paleo and bread!?

[Jordan T. Nagasako]

Hi I'm going to dive into the paleo diet but the hardest thing I think will be to give up is bread. Almond butter and jelly sandwhich is my go to pre work out and it keeps me full for my work out. Any suggestions?

[Doug Blankenship]

Originally Posted by Jordan T. Nagasako

Hi I'm going to dive into the paleo diet but the hardest thing I think will be to give up is bread. Almond butter and jelly sandwhich is my go to pre work out and it keeps me full for my work out. Any suggestions?

Why do you have to give up the bread? Are you not meeting goals? If you are meeting them then continue eating bread.

[Page Johnson]

Try almond butter on apple slices.

[Graeme Moore]

If you died a year from now, would the benefits of not eating bread outweigh your regret at a year of bread-eating lost?!

Eat all the bread! 'Cos if you don't, I will.

[Luke Seubert]

Contrary to the pro-bread replies in this thread, I would advise sucking it up and going for a somewhat strict Paleo diet for a while. It is hard. I know, I have done it. And I too used to love bread, and all things made from processed grains.

But then, after many months on a fairly strict Paleo Diet, I let it all hang out last Thanksgiving, and ate lots of wheat based foods - dressing, rolls, cake, bread - the works. And I felt like crap for days.

Turns out, I am gluten sensitive, but I never knew it. And the only way to find out if you are gluten sensitive, short of advanced medical tests, is to cut out the glutens for a while and then eat them in abundance.

If you experienced what I experienced in my Workout Log post below, you are probably gluten sensitive. If not, then it is probably OK for you to enjoy some bread once in a while. It is an experiment worth trying. I now stick to a pretty strict Paleo diet and I am doing just fine with it.

• The Peaked Perils In Partaking Of Pro Tempore Non-Paleo Provender (WFS)

[Katherine Derbyshire]

Originally Posted by Luke Seubert

But then, after many months on a fairly strict Paleo Diet, I let it all hang out last Thanksgiving, and ate lots of wheat based foods - dressing, rolls, cake, bread - the works. And I felt like crap for days.

Turns out, I am gluten sensitive, but I never knew it. And the only way to find out if you are gluten sensitive, short of advanced medical tests, is to cut out the glutens for a while and then eat them in abundance.

Actually, such a test proves nothing of the sort. It proves that overconsumption of any food can cause issues, particularly after avoidance of that food. Vegetarians can experience the same thing if they transition back to eating meat to quickly, and plenty of people have digestive issues after overconsumption of foods as diverse as nuts or broccoli. To a large extent, your body adapts to whatever you feed it, and any radical change can upset the system.

Gluten sensitivity is my friend who is literally sick for two weeks if he eats a sandwich or drinks a beer. One, not a Thanksgiving-scale pig-out.

To the OP: why do you want to eat paleo? And you do realize that jelly isn't paleo either, right?

Katherine

[Adam Fisk]

Originally Posted by Katherine Derbyshire

To the OP: why do you want to eat paleo? And you do realize that jelly isn't paleo either, right?

Katherine

I was going to say the same about the jelly.

And I also agree with your point about long period of avoidance and sensitivity. I would like to add that, personally, if I was eating bread consistantly day to day but not an extrordinary amount, I would feel like crap after pigging out on Thanksgiving.

I used to love bread. I have an Italian background and I grew up with it as a main sorce of nutrition in my diet. What worked for me was starting the zone. I was able to limit the amount of carbohydrates in my daily intake (I was consuming bread) until I got to the point where it was easy for me to completely remove it from my diet and transfered to a more paleo lifestyle. Sometimes I will eat bread but I do not enjoy it nearly as much as I used to.

As for a pre-workout snack I would really take into consideration how much earlier you eat than you work out. If you're looking at around an hour then I would keep it small with a handle full of berries and maybe a spoonful of almond butter. If it's a bit longer than perhaps and apple and a little more AB.

But everyone is different and you don't have to take my advice. Just some helpful tips that may get you where you need to go.

[Luke Seubert]

Originally Posted by Katherine Derbyshire

Actually, such a test proves nothing of the sort. It proves that overconsumption of any food can cause issues, particularly after avoidance of that food. Vegetarians can experience the same thing if they transition back to eating meat to quickly, and plenty of people have digestive issues after overconsumption of foods as diverse as nuts or broccoli. To a large extent, your body adapts to whatever you feed it, and any radical change can upset the system.

Katherine, I agree with you about overconsumption of a food causing issues after long-term avoidance of the food. And I would also agree that some of that effect was in play during my Thanksgiving binge. Indeed, if you actually read the details of my post about that incident, I also discussed the Placebo Effect as well.

However, I still hold that I am gluten sensitive, even if only mildly so. I have conducted further experiments since last Thanksgiving, with much smaller quantities of gluten. I experienced all the classic symptoms of gluten sensitivity, though not as strongly nor for as long. Moreover, I have several relatives who have been formally diagnosed with gluten sensitivity, so I likely carry the genetics for it.

By the way, do you know how doctors diagnose gluten sensitivity? They conduct the standard battery of tests for Celiac's disease. Once they rule out Celiac's, they put the patient on a gluten free diet. If the symptoms disappear, and then reappear upon re-introduction of gluten to the diet; the diagnosis is gluten sensitivity. While I have not taken the tests for Celiac's, I have never exhibited the severe symptoms of the disease either. But when I eat glutens, I exhibit the symptoms of gluten sensitivity - happily for me to a modest degree. When I avoid glutens, the symptoms disappear.

Is this a highly informal self-diagnosis? Yes. Is it good enough for me? Yes.

Originally Posted by Katherine Derbyshire

Gluten sensitivity is my friend who is literally sick for two weeks if he eats a sandwich or drinks a beer. One, not a Thanksgiving-scale pig-out.

Actually, symptoms that severe indicate gluten intolerance. That is well beyond the milder symptoms of gluten sensitivity. I'll grant you that while gluten intolerance is an accepted medical diagnosis, gluten sensitivity is still a new and not fully accepted nor understood condition. There is a lot of research ongoing in this area.

[Wayne Riddle]

Spread the almond butter on apple slices as suggested. Keeps the jelly in the natural form this way.

[Jordan T. Nagasako]

thanks for the advice... what about whey protein. That's dairy so no protein power either? What about hemp protein?