1. What off template foods do we enjoy?
2. How do we know we can eat them without returning to the Standard American Diet (SAD)?
I eat a few off- Paleo foods, but not many. I get easily triggered to binge eat so I had to get very, very honest about what I could and couldn't eat. I had to be very truthful and kind to myself and just walk away from "Paleo-fied treats". For me honesty = relief and results.
Binge eating, migraines, inflammation... some of my off plan eating can hit me in unpleasant ways. Here's what works:
1. Chocolate: 85% or higher. Half a serving. No more. Once a day. Sometimes I skip a day or two (once or twice a week). I eliminated chocolate during my Whole30 in Jan 2013 and in the Low Carb Challenge April 2013. I had no issues bringing the chocolate back in, no side effects, no binge eating, no slippery slope eating. There might be 2-4 grams of sugar a serving. With the fat, I can tolerate it. Over 4 grams, I will start to get binge brain. 
2. A teeny canola and vegetable oil. The seaweed snack (see below) has some canola oil. So did the vegetables at a Mexican restaurant (peppers and onions) during a family eat out at a local favorite hangout.A small amount of vegetable oil once and again is unavoidable if I'm eating outside the home. If I'm traveling on a longer vacation, I will start to notice a stomach ache after a while when consistently exposed to vegetable oil. Even more so if it's corn based. Once I switch back to my regular food template, I feel better.
3. Regular ground beef or non-organic meat (vs grass fed). If my budget and/or shopping trip doesn't allow, then I'll buy regular ground beef, or lean cuts of beef at Costco. I do the best I can and I don't worry to much about it.
4. Coffee, I drink it with good effects. I like it.
That's about it. I don't really go off my food template much. Physical and emotional pain. I had 40 years of that. Reversing a lapse is serious business for me (binge eating). It's hard to get stopped and once I start, I can cycle for days, weeks, and months. It's no joke. So I take it pretty seriously, with a good outcome. I like being off the "to binge or not to binge cycle". My eating, health, thoughts, nerves are much more even an very few urges to binge eat. It's worth it, to me, to stay on track.
What didn't work in the past:
1. Eating high sugar chocolate ( counting WW points for truffles had me eating/binge eating LOTS)
2. I used to think canola oil was "heart healthy". That olive oil would cost too many WW points (hangs head... )
3. I bought the cheapest, leanest cuts of meat... and they were dry and tasted terrible...., but I loaded up with lots of baked chip toppings, corn tortillas, and low point "stuff" to "lose more weight faster!" It didn't work so well.
4. I've always had coffee, except for my first trimester of pregnancy. But I loaded the coffee up with blue packets and skim milk or all kinds of flavored coffee creamer- sigh...
Okay, go check out my No Grains, No Gains bloggy friends. It's fun to see what works for different people.
Gwen at The Sunny Coconut
Jeanette at For Life:http://wolfforlife.blogspot.com/
Leigh at Poonapalooza http://poonapalooza.blogspot.com/
always the voice of reason, self-knowledge and discipline -- bravissima, Karen!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tess! I find when I set up my own template, live it for a while, it's far, far from the "deprivation" that people talk about commonly. Not sure if it's the way my brain works, environment, stuff I tell myself, or the many obesity genes I know I have combined with the FTO gene. I'll have to blog about this sometime. I'm just glad I don't BS myself about being able to eat Paleo Cookies. ;)
DeleteI'll be working on lab result blog posts soon.. .. who cares about cookie parties... I've got my small ion mobility panel results.....
I definitely indulge in chocolate, too, I should have included it in my post!! I guess the month without it really made me stop thinking about it (I am in no rush to get it back into my diet-- I was going crazy with it, haha, guess it is my weakness!)
ReplyDeleteI think that is a good sign, Jeanette, that you stopped thinking about it. Percentage ( 85% or higher) really keeps me from binge eating and lighting up my brain. That's how I knew I could still have it without "using" it to numb out.
DeleteExcellent, Karen! Such a great role model and mentor you are! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post Karen .........
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Jan and Gwen, thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Isabel , Yes,
ReplyDeleteBreakfast: 2 eggs, 1 -2egg whites fried in coconut oil. Avocado (slices or mini container of wholly guacamole)
Lunch: 4-5 oz protein (bison, chicken), sauteed kale or kale mix (used like noodles), marinara sauce or curry based sauce, and either spoon of avocado oil, olive oil, or avocado slices.
Dinner : Grass fed beef 4-5 oz (or chicken or lamb, occasionally shell fish), maybe a homemade sauce like BBQ or coconut curry, as many non-starchy veggies as I feel like, sometimes I make a big salad out of it, or sautee lots of veggies. Maybe fruit (berries) 1-2 x per week. or a very small slice of an orange or apple. Most nights a few ounces of 85% chocolate.
If I have a 4th meal at any point during the day (if I hike more than 4 miles at one time OR if I've hit 5+ miles before 1-2pm) then I'll go with a PFC small meal- hardboiled egg, P, Fat (F) like avocado or oil, and Carbs from veggies. Bell pepper strips with guacamole, hard boiled egg mixed with avocado is a favorite PFC snack.
Random weird stuff, but delish: half a can of smoked oysters, half a serving of chicken livers sauteed with garlic and onions.
I don't worry about calories, but I will start to re-gain if I shift my carbs higher than 50 consistently over a week's time. I will also start to not sleep well and have hot flashes. I feel full and have almost no binge urges and have a ton of energy. Most times there's no way I could binge... I feel so full and the food is so flavorful .
Oh, and I forgot chicken broth- a cup or two a day with a meal. I drink water between meals, but rarely with a meal. When I eat, I eat- I don't want water messing with my fueling time. If I'm thirsty, I drink. Water or coffee. That's it.
ReplyDeleteKaren, thank you for posting a day's worth of eating here. I know you have posted elsewhere on your post, but I like that this is in one spot. I have questions. Do you always get your bison at Costco or do you ever get it online? I got bison online at the place I buy my coconut oil (it was bison burgers), and I thought they tasted too lean. How do you cook yours? Also with the marinara, what kind do you use? I remember you posted a brand a while back that was fairly healthy, but I don't know if it is still available online because did buy it from amazon. And I ask because I know you area cautious about added sodium.
ReplyDeletePS also at some point if you could post ideas to make your homemade sauces that would be great, but I know you are busy now and posting less frequently.
ReplyDeleteI too am interested in sauce recipes. If you have posted in past, link would be enough/great.
DeleteAlllll right Vickie and Ali... I'll try to work on a sauce post later this week.. :) Typically it's my home made spices combined with the left over grass-fed beef fat or some added fat to the cooking pan.... and I stopped measuring (spices), too. Give me 1-2 weeks and I'll type a few things up, with photos. And measurements...
DeleteYou should see the stash of Lindt 90% chocolate in my husband's closet. He eats 1 square a day. I only eat it if I have a bad headache that won't go away, and then only 1 square. He buys it when it is on sale and really stocks up, which is why it lives on top shelf in his closet vs somewhere I will see it.
ReplyDeleteYeah! I eat 90% sometimes, Lindt. Strong, but in a good way. I put my bars up on a shelf and ask myself, am I having this to have it or to "use/abuse" it. One of the only foods with processed sugar that I can have 1-2 squares a day.
DeleteThanks, Karen!
ReplyDeleteThank you Karen! Very helpful.
ReplyDelete