Paleomantic

Food Frustration Strategies: Keep Calm, Stay Strong

One week into the Paleo Diet.There are hissy fits. There’s boredom and depression.And there’s the conviction that the diet is difficult to follow if you’re not passionate about cooking.These are issues that come up for partecipants in my Paleo Reset 31 program.Changing habits at the best of times isn't easy. When changing the diet, a lot of things start shifting on different levels - physically, emotionally, mentally and unconsciously - and all of them are intertwined.Thankfully, there are strategies that can get us through the heaviest of those food frustration times.Body / Brain : Abstinence and Withdrawal SymptomsAs a one-day sugar and carbohydrate restriction expands into a week, the body/brain suffers acute withdrawal symptoms.Sugar and wheat are addictive. As with other substances which create dependancy, the sweet taste and the gliadine protein in modern wheat stimulate the opoid receptors in the brain. Through continued consumption (from morning to night, day after day, year after year), two things happen.Firstly, the brain becomes so accustomed to the feeling of euphoria produced by the opoids that it thinks this is the normal state. When we remove the substance, the lack of stimulus results in anxiety, depression and sadness. Secondly, tolerance builds, so that what was once sweet is, after time, not sweet enough. Gorgeously mature strawberries and peaches, for example, need to be sprinkled with sugar in order to satisfy the tastebuds.So, after a few days with no added sweeteners and the usual excess of carbs, it’s quite common to want to punch someone, or sit down and cry.Food Frustration Strategies: WithdrawalDon’t punch anyone. Sit down and cry if you need to. If anger is coming up, direct all that energy towards combatting the Sugar Dragon and the Carbohydrate Troll. Visualizzations can be fun here. If it’s depression and sadness, then dig deep into the heart of those emotions. You might be ...

The most common comment I receive about Paleo is, “Isn’t there a lot of protein?”.Why are people afraid of protein? Every cell and every metabolic function needs protein. We need protein to maintain muscle mass. And not just any protein. Our body needs quality protein - that is, we need the complete range of the nine essential amino acids. Without them, we can't be healthy.So, when people say, “A lot of protein”, I wonder what they’re imagining. I mean, we’re not eating a T-Bone at every meal. And “quality protein” doesn’t mean just red meat. It includes eggs, fish, seafood, poultry and game.Vegetable sources, such as legumes and soy, aren’t considered to be “quality” becausethey’re problematic for the digestive systemthey don’t contain the complete range of amino acids andthey come ‘packaged’ with a lot of carbohydrateCompare the protein obtained from beans and chicken:1 cup of beans: 6 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrate1 cup chicken breast: 35 grams protein, 0 carbohydrateSo, in order to receive the same amount of protein from beans, you’d need to eat almost 6 cups of beans, which would also deliver 58 grams of carbohydrate (as well as the digestive problems). But because the amino acid isn’t complete, you’d need to add another plant based protein - which means even more carbohydrate. This is a big problem because we need to keep carbohydrate levels low.Macronutrient calculations should start with protein because it’s so important. Next on the list are healthy fats. Carbohydrate, as a macronutrient, is overrated. We don’t need much, and if we’re adapted to burning fat, we can be perfectly healthy without it. But the essential amino acids and the essential fatty acids are - yes - essential. We need to receive them from the diet.How Much Protein Do We Need?For every kilo/pound of lean muscle mass, we need an average daily intake of between 1.5 and 2.2 grams ( 0.7-1.0 pounds ) of quality, complete ...