The Warrior-Paleo-Primal Diets

I have been learning to eat well! I have been a junk food eater my entire life. I ran so I could eat and I thought I could eat whatever I liked. Ice cream, cookies, cereals, and anything else I liked I dumped in my mouth. I counted on running it all off. I realized a few years back that this was not going to work as I got older. I tried a few types of diets, had some success a few years back, but kept returning to the junk food. I learned a few healthy things along the way, but nothing really stuck. During the winter I read The Warrior Diet and had some success eating less throughout the day and more at night and following the health guidelines, but I soon returned to my bad habits. Then I started reading more about the The Paleo Diet which is also similar to The Primal Blueprint . I am still learning how to eat correctly and am enjoying healthy foods in new ways.

Basically I am eating fruits, nuts, and vegetables during the day. I am also learning to make awesome salads. For dinner I am learning to eat good meats and salmon along with another big salad full of all sorts of fruits and veggies. I am steering clear of processed foods, dairy, and grains (as well as breads). For the past three weeks I have noticed the lack of desire to eat junk foods. I have indulged a little here or there but it does not satisfy me as it did before. I do not feel hungry during the day (cravings are gone) and I feel ready to run at a moments notice. I don't get that heavy sleepy feeling after eating.

I have also noticed that I am losing weight. I have lost about 10 pounds in about three weeks. Today I weighed in a at just a few pounds more then I was a couple of years ago (my lightest weight in years) when I started to have some good races.

I have a lot to learn still about good nutrition and what works best for me, but I feel real good about the type of eating I am doing now. I will still like ice cream and cookies, but a bowl a week and a cookie or two a week is so much less that what I used to eat in one day alone!

I don't seem to be at a loss of energy for running either. I ran 8 miles on Wednesday (fastest time since last fall), and on the same loop the next day ran less than a minute slower. Today I went out in the heat and did 11 miles. I am putting the Feldenkrais lessons to work and feeling looser and stronger as I run. I can't get that full body balance for more that a few strides, but I think it will take a long time to undue the multiple imbalances that are so ingrained in my muscle memories.

I have a lot of work to do, but things are going in the right direction for a change.

And then I was looking at the Cigna 5K results and fellow 50 year old Mike Merra pops an 18:05 time and Cathy Merra blasts an 18:49. That's two people in the same family and the same age as me that are way ahead of where I am. Those are great results. Heck, I am no longer even the fastest person on my street, Karen Long ran an 18:55 at the same race. There were quite a few other fast times from teammates and friends. It is good to see people running so well.

My ribs are still sore when turning and getting up or lying down, however I stopped taking pain medicine and I only get an occasional jolt in the rib when running and that is a lot better than what I was told would happen just last week.

Cracking the Paleo Diet

Here are some photos of the newest piece of art(?) installed in Nashua. The sculptor calls it "The Birth of Venus 2". I asked two kids walking down the road what it was a sculpture of and they said it was a butt. Actually it looks like 4 butts stuck together. You can find the statue (worth a chuckle) off Locke Street in Nashua next to the John G. Foster statue in the French Hill section of the city. This sculpture cracks me up and I am sure the neighborhood will have some fun with this!

Yesterday I ran and my calf stiffened up again. It was back to mountain biking today, but I really enjoy doing that anyhow. I think the calf stiffness comes from the way my foot is hitting the ground. I just got back to running after a week off partly due to the fact that I had found a tight spot near my ankle and released it through some pressure and mobility work. When I started running yesterday, the muscles over the shin were real tight. Instead of stopping and dealing with it, I ran on and the calf stiffened. I forgot about that front of the foot stiffness until this afternoon and worked on the area a bit and the whole ankle and foot started working better and the calf did not feel as stiff. It is sort of frustrating losing another day of running, but on the other hand, I believe my balance and form is straightening "slowly" and as it keeps unwinding from all the tightnesses and misalignments new areas keep popping up that need some attention. I guess that is a good thing!

I have been reading two books this week on the Paleo Diet. I find them interesting and while I don't know if it is a diet I would follow religiously, I find the reading about nutrition and healthy eating is helping me become a better eater. I finished reading "The Paleo Diet for Athletes" by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel. I really enjoyed hearing about the history of how humans (hunters and gatherers) ate 10,000 years ago. I would like to read "Born to Run" again because some of that book dealt with this.

The other book I started reading is called the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. I recall when the author was a 2:19 marathoner and triathlete (finished fourth in the Hawaii Ironman). He advocates a different lifestyle today. It is based on the Primal Diet (similar to Paleo) but also the Primal healthy lifestyle. He is probably correct in one thing: the constant stress of marathon and endurance training is not healthy. I don't want to deal with that thought just yet. I certainly can apply some of the ideas in both books as being "fit" is not the same thing as being "healthy".

A few years ago, my daily summer diet looked something like this:

Breakfast: large orange juice (fruit for the day) and 2 or 3 bowls of cereal (if I was feeling healthy, I would eat Honey Nut Cheerios. If not (and it was in the house) I would eat a sugary cereal (favorites: Honeycomb, Captain Crunch, or Sugar Puffs). I figured that I run so I could eat what I wanted.

Snack: (cookies or anything else quick to eat that was lying around)

Lunch: Sandwich, soda, cookies, maybe even some ice cream

Snack: cookies or other sugary processed food

Dinner: whatever was provided (spaghetti, hamburgers, etc.) soda, desert,

Late night: cookies or ice cream

I have been using principles from "The Warrior Diet" off and on since the winter, but have got off it here and there. Anyhow today's diet based on some of the ideas in my new readings:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with peppers and onions mixed in

Snack: a small bit of pistachio nuts and some cherries

Lunch: a few small pieces of chicken and a salad I made with spinach, onions, peppers, green beans, broccoli, asparagus, and sunflower seeds

snack: an apple

Dinner: Salmon, peas, rice (not on the paleo diet)

Snack: well after taking my family to see the butt statue we did stop at Dairy Queen and I had a chocolate ice cream cone (can't be perfect!)

As you can see I have been learning to change my diet dramatically. I do miss the days when I could eat whatever I wanted!