Kristie does 30 Days in "Paleo Lockdown"

[Kristie Willhoit]

Ok, new challenge, new log!!

I did my stint in The Zone, with pretty decent success. But I found it a bit restrictive and time-consuming (OK, I got a bit OCD about it), not to mention I think my husband thought I was a little neurotic at times, lol!

So it was suggested that perhaps Paleo would be a better way to go (Thanks, Laura Kurth!), and so here begins my attempt. I started today.

"The Rules"

1. This is NOT strict Paleo, but rather "loose Paleo" - interpretation up to...me! And determined by research on the CrossFit message boards. I will occassionally pose a question to anyone reading this thread what they think about the Paleo-ness of a certain item (probably after I've already consumed it, lol). I will probably also employ a version of Melissa Byers' "Healthy/F-off" scale (http://byersCrossFit.blogspot.com/ ... Not necessarily WFS). Like when it comes to Starbucks - is it really that bad, in the grand scheme of things, to have a double decaf soy cinnamon dolce latte with the sugar-free syrup and no whip cream? I know soy sucks. I know sugar alternatives suck. But I like sucking one down when I have to sit at the allergist for 30 minutes waiting to have needles stuck in my arm, then waiting to make sure I don't go into anaphylaxis.

2. "Loose Paleo" as we all have seen before = "eat meat/veggies, nuts/seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar". My purpose with this is not necessarily weight loss, but to determine foods that seem to trigger allergies/adverse physical effects that are ruining my WODs and sleep patterns and as such I intend to eliminate them for the full 30 days - no cheats - and then introduce them one-by-one and monitor their effects. So! NO, NONE, ZIP, ZERO grains, dairy, corn, potatoes, beans, or peanuts. ( Those who followed my Zone Challenge know that by the end I was savoring 2 tablespoons of peanut butter every night before bed. Time to splurge on some almond butter!) Sugar not allowed either, but it is the one item I will allow "cheats" on. That and red wine.

3. Cheats. Allowed once a week on Saturdays (because I don't do WODs on Sundays) and limited to either a "real food" dessert (no artificial colors/flavors/etc) OR red wine. Not both. I'm not trying to lean out here, so I'm not worried about caloric intake, but food quality more than anything.

4. I will log my food intake on SparkPeople and post a link to it here each day, and also my post WODs here and on the main page, along with any commentary about hunger/mood/adverse or beneficial effects of certain foods, etc.

5. I will NOT focus my attention on the number of calories I am consuming but rather focus on how I feel - am I hungry, how are my workouts going, am I cranky/lethargic/listless? I will NOT weigh myself. At all. It's not about weight. It's about physical well-being and performance.

Day 1 log (today)....coming up!

[Kristie Willhoit]

7am wake up, take 1stmed1 with 8 oz water (med1 = medicine I'm taking up to 3 times a day to try to control severe and frequent headaches. It's my hope that by eliminating trigger foods I can get off the meds.)

715am 8 oz water

730am 6 oz water

745am 6 oz water

745am-8am "Breakfast"
Food log posted on Sparkpeople (WFS):
http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_tr...=4%2F20%2F2009

9am 6 oz water

10am 6 oz water
Extremely irritable. I don't know if it's the meds, impatience with one of my one-on-one clients (I work at a GloboGym and a couple of my clients are ridiculously resistant to CrossFit principles), or fatigue from getting less than ideal amounts of sleep for 6-8 weeks due to the headaches.

11am 1 tablespoon Intramax with 8 oz water (Intramax is an organic liquid multi-mineral/multi-vitamin that I take twice daily - when I remember. It's difficult because it can't be taken within 30 minutes of food, or within 2 hours of any pharmaceuticals, i.e. med1)

12pm 6 oz water
Still extremely irritable!!

12:15pm-12:22pm "Snack"
This was supposed to be a preworkout snack, but I ended up working until I needed to eat again.

2pm 2nd med1 with 8 oz water

230pm-3pm "Lunch", 6 oz water

4pm "Afternoon snack", 6 oz water
Once again, I kept working instead of getting my WOD in. Now I won't have time because I won't be done til 7 pm and I need to be in bed by 9.

430pm My 6:00pm client cancelled, I'll have time to do my WOD after all!

6pm "Preworkout Snack", 6 oz water and headed home for a late date with "Helen" (I'm behind on the main page WODs).

620pm-ish WOD
"Helen" sucked! Time: 13:10 with 40# PowerBlock (last time 12:48 with 35# kb)
Hamstring still giving me problems whenever I run even a single step. Thankfully I have an appointment with my chiropractor to get ultrasound treatment and massage on it.
Swings unbroken 1st round, 2nd round 14+7, 3rd round 11+10.
Pull-ups were terrible. Forearms were shot from having to grip the PowerBlock. Very awkward! I'm going to repeat this one at the end of the 30-Day Lockdown as an indicator of progress.

8:30pm "Dinner"

9:30pm Med2 with a little water (I don't like to drink a lot of water at night because I have a hard enough time getting to/staying asleep; I don't need to add trips to the bathroom to my nighttime routines )! Med2 is another headache med (Med1 = abortive/pain reliever; Med2 = preventive)

10:18pm So much for getting to bed by 9...This is something else I need to work on for this 30 days. Getting to bed by 9 every night!

Commentary on the day:
No hunger! I ate a lot of food, yet not a lot of calories (Doh! I will not focus on calories. I will not focus on calories.)
Mild headache throughout the day, worsened after WOD, still lingering.
Asthma triggered by WOD, still lingering even after 2 doses of inhaler.
Hamstring aching, changing from seated to standing/walking results in a limp, resolves after 4-5 steps.
Time for sleep! Gotta be up in...7 hours. Not bad I guess, if I can fall asleep (usually takes a few hours ).

[Kristie Willhoit]

Today sucked, even though food intake was all paleo (except maybe canned pumpkin?).

I've felt depressed all day. I think it's the headache meds I've been taking. It has a stimulant in it and I think it has a rebound crash effect that makes me listless and lethargic. Which is probably why I end up taking 3 a day, to get pepped back up again. Just what I need, dependency on a stimulant. For all the side effects this med causes, I should just go back to espresso.

Exacerbating the down-in-the-dumps attitude is an all-day moderate-grade headache (probably because I only took one dose of meds instead of my usual 3), intense pain in my right hamstring attachment radiating to a deep ache all the way down to the back of my knee and down the IT band, asthma symptoms, and not doing the WOD.

6am got up, took 1st med1 with 8 oz water
615am 8 oz water
630am 6 oz water
645am 6 oz water
645am-7am "Breakfast"

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_tr...=4%2F21%2F2009 WFS

730am stomach issues from meds. So sick of side effects.
8am 6 oz water
9am 6 oz water
940am impatient, irritable. I need to get more sleep so I can determine whether this irritability is fatigue-, med-, or stress-related.
949am hungry, lethargic
1004am hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry!! Breakfast not enough carbs? Didn't add fat blocks. Duh!
"Snack"

10:45am "Snack2"
Not really hungry, but won't be able to eat for more than an hour.

1:15pm "Lunch"
Lunch was too filling, had a hard time getting it all down. Need to find some less bulky carbs that give enough carb load but aren't fruit.

4:45pm "Snack3"
Had to grab a quick snack before heading to grocery store so I don't impulse shop!

6:15pm "Snack4"
They finally fixed the fresh almond butter grinding machine, woo hoo! Ate about 2 tablespoons in the car on the way home. Impulse buy: Endangered Species 72% dark chocolate/raspberry bar for Saturday night cheat. Is "cocoa butter" dairy? I also bought some unsweetened coconut flakes. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I'm excited about having it!

7:15pm "Snack5"
Almond butter isn't nearly as satisfying as peanut butter. Must be the salt because after eating a couple handfuls of roasted/salted nuts, that took care of my lack of satiety.

7:45pm "Dinner"
Pretty much had to force down what little I ate, then wondered why I was forcing myself to eat when I wasn't hungry. So I stopped eating.

9:48pm Getting to bed late again. Have to be up at 5/530. Hmpf.

Commentary on the day:
I'm feeling a little lost without the guidance of the Zone proportioning. I get that Paleo is supposed to be less strict - if you're hungry, eat! But I'm finding it difficult to just throw down some nuts or fruit without thinking I need to make it a Zone snack, which is difficult to do when I'm not planning my meals in advance to be in Zone portions. It may just make it easier on me to go ahead and plan to do Paleo Zone when I'm packing my cooler for the day, and just do the eyeball/eat as much as I want method when I'm having dinner with my husband/eating out. But pack some extra blocks if I get hungry.

So far no cravings for non Paleo items. I think an entire week and a half of eating crap cured me of it for the time being. Even the chocolate bars sitting on my kitchen table isn't overly enticing. Probably because (1) I know I can have it Saturday, and (2) I'm stuffed on nuts and eggplant. And (3) I'm having a "fat day" because I didn't work out. Bleah. Although, I do kind of miss my oats already, but that's more because I'm having a hard time figuring what kind of carbs to eat with breakfast besides fruit.

And I vowed to make this log less whiny and more positive. Ha.

Boo, depressive state.

[Kristie Willhoit]

530am med1 with 8 oz water

534am
Headache, 6/10. Prob due to not getting enough sleep (went to bed at 11). I don't think these meds are working, and I think they're messing up my sleep patterns. I haven't gotten to bed by 9 in almost 2 months (since I started taking it).

546am 8 oz water

604am 6 oz water

620am 6 oz water

615am-630am "Breakfast"

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_tr...=4%2F22%2F2009 (WFS)

7am 6 oz water

805am Intramax with 8 oz water

940am 6 oz water

10/1015am stomach growling a little, but went away quickly (couldn't eat; I was working with a client)

1045am med1 with 8 oz water.

1145am "Snack"

1154am 6 oz water

1255pm 6 oz water

205pm Intramax with 8 oz water
Hungry! But at doctor's office, I have about 30 minutes 'til I can eat...

313pm 6 oz water

315-415pm "Lunch"

410pm med1 with 8 oz water
Oh my God my belly is SO full! I felt full after just eating the fish and eggplant!

540pm 6 oz water

645pm 6 oz water

750pm 6 oz water

830-9pm "Dinner"

854pm med2 with 6 oz water

Commentary on the day...
After taking meds this morning, headache subsided to ignorable, so I guess the meds are working after all!

No WOD today; Wednesday is my off day because my schedule doesn't allow me time to workout. I've been reviewing my schedule to see if I can change it to fix that. Since I seem to have so many days lately where I don't get a WOD in because of headache, pain, illness, work, etc., I want to free up as many days as possible so when I DO want to - I wanted to knock out Angie minus squats (jacked up hamstring = no squats, even air squats ) today - I have the time.

Foods kept me full and satisfied all day. The only hunger I felt was when I had to wait at the doctor's office and I couldn't eat lunch. But the amount of time from eating my snack and becoming hungry was reasonable.

I've gone back to proportioning my meals in Zone ratios; I just prefer it for packing my cooler for being away from home all day instead of just throwing a bunch of protein and vegetables in to munch on at will.

Once again, almond butter is NOT as satisfying as peanut butter! I may try adding some salt to it to see if that's the problem...

[Brittany Warren]

Just checking in so I can follow your progress.

I noticed that you seem to have a different reaction to carbs than me. I've taken carbs out of my breakfast because they make me too hungry! If I eat fruit with breakfast, I'm tearing people's arms off by lunch. Funny, because until I started eating paleo-ish, I thought I tolerated carbs well. Vegetables don't provoke the same reaction, so maybe it's the sugar. Meh.

I miss oats too. I noticed you're eating canned pumpkin -- how do you normally prepare that? I love pumpkin.

Good luck with the rest of the month! I'm really impressed with what you're doing here. Keep up the good work!

[Laura Kurth]

Hey Kristie - looks like your new challenge is going well so far!

You don't really need to eat carbs with breakfast if you don't want to, you could just have an omelet/crustless quiche with veggies in it. If you have enough protein & fat, it shouldn't be a problem having lower carbs.

So you are used to peanut butter with salt? I prefer my PB with no salt anyway but there is certainly a big difference between peanut and almond butters. I find the almond butter more 'sticky'? but I like both. I eat peanut butter more often because I stir it into my oatmeal and almond butter just isn't as good like that.

For the coconut flakes, you could maybe venture into doing some paleo baking, there are some good recipes out there using coconut flour, and you could sprinkle the flakes into the batter. Another option would be perhaps to make your own ice cream from coconut milk. Or, sorbet - blend a bag of frozen mangoes with a can of coconut milk, you could put the flakes in with this concoction.

Or, for another treat you could melt some extra dark chocolate with a little coconut oil, coconut flakes etc. and then freeze it to firm it up.

[Kristie Willhoit]

Originally Posted by Brittany Warren

Just checking in so I can follow your progress.

Thanks for checking in, Brittany! It's always awesome to have some feedback on the boards. =D

I checked out your log and I'll be checking in with your progress as well! Good luck with the no-carb attempt. It was tough the first time I did it - I think the first few days were OK, then Days 4-8/9 were really hard, but after that, no problem. Just keep perservering, because if ever you give in to the craving, that time frame starts over!

Originally Posted by Brittany Warren

I noticed that you seem to have a different reaction to carbs than me. I've taken carbs out of my breakfast because they make me too hungry! If I eat fruit with breakfast, I'm tearing people's arms off by lunch. Funny, because until I started eating paleo-ish, I thought I tolerated carbs well. Vegetables don't provoke the same reaction, so maybe it's the sugar. Meh.

It depends on the carbs I eat...if I have fruit, I have to limit it to only 1 Zone block. I could only eat oats as my carbs and that would keep me full as long as I increase my fat blocks. But no oats allowed.... Vegetables...I'm having a really hard time getting 3 blocks of vegetables down in the morning so I usually undereat them and then get hungry! I'm trying not to be neurotic about it and just eat some nuts if I do get hungry, and I'm sure I'll adapt from Zone-freak to Paleo after a few days... Lol.

Originally Posted by Brittany Warren

I miss oats too. I noticed you're eating canned pumpkin -- how do you normally prepare that? I love pumpkin.

The canned pumpkin is easy - I just spoon about half the can in a bowl and pop it in the microwave to warm it, then stir in some cinnamon and some nuts or seeds (sunflower, pistachio, sliced almonds - so far my fave is pistachios). It's like dessert!

Originally Posted by Brittany Warren

Good luck with the rest of the month! I'm really impressed with what you're doing here. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, you too, Brittany! I subscribed to your thread, so keep posting and give me something fun to read. (by the way, yes you can count your max DL as a bodyweight lift. )

[Kristie Willhoit]

Originally Posted by Laura Kurth

Hey Kristie - looks like your new challenge is going well so far!

So far, so good; no cravings even! (but it is only Day 4...)

Wow! You look quite different out of snowbarding gear!

Originally Posted by Laura Kurth

You don't really need to eat carbs with breakfast if you don't want to, you could just have an omelet/crustless quiche with veggies in it. If you have enough protein & fat, it shouldn't be a problem having lower carbs.

I'm trying to become less of a Zone freak, lol! I've run out of veggies to sautee and eggs, so I may just try eating turkey sausage for breakfast tomorrow and a piece of fruit and see how that does...

Originally Posted by Laura Kurth

So you are used to peanut butter with salt? I prefer my PB with no salt anyway but there is certainly a big difference between peanut and almond butters. I find the almond butter more 'sticky'? but I like both. I eat peanut butter more often because I stir it into my oatmeal and almond butter just isn't as good like that.

I am used to salted peanut butter. I was just buying the Smuckers natural stuff in a jar, and it has salt, have yet to try the grind-it-yourself stuff at the natural food store. Bad memories of having to force it down in childhood, lol. I get what you mean about the almond butter; it's not as smooth/ stirrable as peanut butter. I tried adding it to my oatmeal once, and just ended up with chunks of almond butter.

Originally Posted by Laura Kurth

For the coconut flakes, you could maybe venture into doing some paleo baking, there are some good recipes out there using coconut flour, and you could sprinkle the flakes into the batter. Another option would be perhaps to make your own ice cream from coconut milk. Or, sorbet - blend a bag of frozen mangoes with a can of coconut milk, you could put the flakes in with this concoction.

Or, for another treat you could melt some extra dark chocolate with a little coconut oil, coconut flakes etc. and then freeze it to firm it up.

Paleo ice cream?? I must investigate! I tossed some coconut flakes with some slightly thawed cherries as one of my carb blocks for dinner last night - quite tasty! But ice cream and sorbet sound waaay better. I will definitely add coconut milk to my grocery list. Thanks!

[Brittany Warren]

Originally Posted by Kristie Willhoit

Thanks for checking in, Brittany! It's always awesome to have some feedback on the boards. =D

<snip>

The canned pumpkin is easy - I just spoon about half the can in a bowl and pop it in the microwave to warm it, then stir in some cinnamon and some nuts or seeds (sunflower, pistachio, sliced almonds - so far my fave is pistachios). It's like dessert!

That. sounds. friggin. AWESOME! I am totally adding canned pumpkin (and coconut milk) to my grocery list. Mmmm.

So what's the deal with almond butter? It has more calories per tablespoon than PB, approximate fat...I wonder why PB is more satisfying. I need to expand my nut butter experience -- I've never had anything but PB. I feel a trip to the Whole Foods is in my future.

[Kristie Willhoit]

Originally Posted by Brittany Warren

That. sounds. friggin. AWESOME! I am totally adding canned pumpkin (and coconut milk) to my grocery list. Mmmm.

Yeah, Laura's good for some awesome ideas for recipes!! Now I'm actually kind of torn...eat my dark chocolate this weekend, or make one of her dessert suggestions...

Originally Posted by Brittany Warren

So what's the deal with almond butter? It has more calories per tablespoon than PB, approximate fat...I wonder why PB is more satisfying. I need to expand my nut butter experience -- I've never had anything but PB. I feel a trip to the Whole Foods is in my future.

Peanuts aren't considered a Paleo item so peanut butter is out and the next most commonly available nut butter is almond butter. I'm doing loose Paleo so I could allow it under that definition, but since I'm using this 30 days in Paleo as a form of an elimination diet to determine any food sensitivities, and peanuts are one of the most common food allergens, I cut it out. And right now, I'm missing it!!! I'm certain it's the saltiness that I miss. It's not that almond butter is less filling/satisfying appetite-wise. At least I don't think so!