so so i just started doing this paleo diet thing - feels like it should be bullshit. is it?

apparently after a Thanksgiving bounce, I've dropped 10 lbs total since starting my fake paleo diet (ie, I bought the cookbook jjj referenced, flipped through it to see the types of meals they were advocating, then adjusted my eating habits so I was eating stuff 75% similar to the recipes in the book)

this is despite Thanksgiving and living with two enormous bags of Halloween candy over the past 6 weeks

wow, 17 lbs is substantial for sure! you can feel that kind of weight loss. and if you are eating lots of veggies and fruit you know you are losing weight healthily.

my tooth extractions have screwed my whole food thing up. still can't really eat comfortably without getting sore so lots of soups and smoothies. turns out i could probably live on soup though. and my oral surgeon was right about a possible infection. i wanted him to be wrong because i hate taking antiobiotics. but went and got them and pain pills today after all this time.

also, since the teeth have been taken out i have craved dairy like crazy. had a little frozen yogurt and a little ice cream on two occasions. made my mouth feel better anyway. maybe my brain knew i needed a lot of calcium or something. weird.

Of course today is the day when some people at work decide to bring in a giagantic tray of leftover Halloween candy (IN DECEMBER) and some other people bring some trader joes cookies and then there's some party with cake. THANKS A LOT ASSHOLES. On the other hand this avocado is really go so.

people bringing food in to work to share is the biggest killer for me whenever i try to do this - it's perfectly easy/natural for me to go to the grocery store and only buy meat and vegetables and not get tempted by anything else on the shelves but when the food is free and being offered to me i crack

Oh man, I feel for you ENBB - this is my first day back in the office since before Thanksgiving and I am so glad there are no treats just laying around in the coffee areas. Tried to anticipate bringing enough stuff in to keep me from being tempted: ham, avocado, snap peas, grapefruit, caramelized coconut chips.

I am not really tempted my candy. Most of it is gross. However, if someone brought in a delicious pain au chocolat from like a specialty bakery I would really have a moment of sadness. I did tell my sister I feel a bit left out not being able to partake of sweets this Holiday season. We're going to have berries and double cream on Christmas to soothe the pain (with the possibility of 70% dark chocolate drizzled on top).

Jaq, please tell me more about the caramelized coconut chips...

x-post - Oh, I'm totally eating whatever the hell I want on actual Christmas - that's a free day imo. I didn't take anything and I only really wanted to try the TJ cookies because mint chocolate is my favorite but, yeah, people bring stuff in here is hard.

And, yes, I would also like to know more about the toasted coconut chips please.

They are simple! Get some unsweetened flaked coconut (I got Bob's Red Mill), heat up a skillet over medium, put in a tiny bit of coconut oil and a handful of flaked coconut. Stir gently and watch it brown - just takes a few minutes. I did a whole bag a handful at a time, then tossed with some salt while it was warm - it's like popcorn. It would work with shreds too. The little bit of oil helps the tiny crumbs cling together once out of the pan.

oooooh. I think that's my plane snack for Thursday.

holy um yes I am so trying that

These are from The Clothes Make the Girl btw: http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/06/13/carmelized-coconut-chips/

I skipped the cinnamon but will add it next time I think.

The thing I find hardest about people brining stuff in is not that I desperately want it, more that I hate having to say 'oh I'm doing a sort of paleo thing...' and get into the negotiations and the 'go on, go on, go on.... '. And I don't want everyone to know that I'm trying to eat a certain way, and therefore have them be aware of whether or not I'm holding myself to my own standards. So I tend to be super-enthusiastic about the food that's been brought, in the hope that no-one notices I haven't eaten any, or I 'take some for later' and then give it to housemates. Or even bin it, which is terrible (I only do that if it wasn't a labour of love).

Anyway, I'm kind of inclined to try the Whole30 after Xmas, because eating paleo-ish is doing nothing for me. It might also help if I took even the tiniest amount of exercise.

I have a dumb question that may have already been addressed itt

What happens AFTER the 30 day period if you do the Whole30. Do you start adding stuff back in?

alllllmost to 30 lbs lost thru (mostly) paleo eating, hit a bit of a plateau late but I'm still inching downard

Yep VG - you try one group, like dairy, one day, go back to the restriction for a few days, try the next thing, etc etc. You can also stay on the stricter template for as long as you want.

interesting.

aside from a bit of dairy and a lot of legumes (and the occasional junk splurge), I already eat a lot of this stuff. Maybe I'll give it a whirl in the new year.

the key for me is totally avoiding sugar, bread and rice. period.

i could do better with avoiding sugar. i had a pink lemonade today. i've been doing GREAT with avoiding bread, potatoes, rice, and pasta tho -- although i let myself have some sweet potatoes recently.

yeah I've been kicking ass at avoiding potatoes and pasta. rice I have a harder time avoiding but I'm down to once a week. and bread maybe twice a week. no white flour anymore, no white rice. I dunno, I feel pretty proud of myself, lol

Mr Veg has vicariously lost a bit of weight too, just by the changes I've made in our meals.

i lied, i have a loaf of gluten-free raisin/pecan bread that i've been having half-slices of occasionally, with some kerrygold butter. i don't particularly like it, but i don't want to throw it out either.

I thought I'd miss cheese the most, but what's getting me more is not having our normal dressings/sauces - no vegetable oils, and they are everywhere. Also, sriracha has sugar ;_;

oh damn that could be a dealbreaker

no sriracha D:

rock climbing is the most fun exercise I've ever done, ljub - I know people who aren't into sports or gym-going often like it too. Challenging for body and brain. And super full-body muscle-building. http://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2011/04/toronto_rock_climbing_gyms/

make your own!

(sriracha)

tell me how to live, homo

(ie YES! I would like to make my own pls show me)

"tell me how to live, homo"

my fave belle & sebastian single, by the way.

xp rrrobyn - I am poorly coordinated but I will think about the climbing. The only thing is, I'm not sure how I would feel about it, because a friend lost her boyfriend in a climbing accident. She was working with me at the time, and I got very involved with the aftermath. But a climbing gym is just a climbing gym so I should consider it!

this is the same thing practically without sugar

http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/garlic.htm

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/04/homemade-scriracha-sauce-recipe.html

even simpler than making your own sriracha is keeping around jars of prik nam pla (2 parts fish sauce, 1 part chopped birds eye chilis) and prik nam som (same thing, but with white vinegar instead of fish sauce.)

http://www.enjoythaifood.com/condiments.php

had the most delicious duck salad at the thai restaurant tonight. it was just roast duck, cashews, lettuce, cilantro, red onions, and a lemony (lemongrass?) dressing. not spicy. perfect for paleos/low-carbers.

thai is the way to go.

anyone notice you're in a good mood all the time?

I think the constant ups and downs of glucose with high carb consumption makes people cranky and they don't even know it.

I notice it if I have a cup of coffee late in the day, all of a sudden I'm raaaaaaaaaaagh hulk smash for no reason. but yeah the sugar/carb thing definitely adds or added to that, there's no doubt

yeah i talked about the good mood/cranky thing upthread. its remarkable.

I have a friend who pretty much lives on sugar. Like, she has a bagel for breakfast, candy for lunch... and like, YEAH, CANDY FOR 2 OUT OF 3 MEALS. And I am really starting to notice her insane mood swings.

i have too much energy now -- i already have anxiety issues so the extra energy just turns it into hyperactivity.

take some st. john's wort. or some calms forte. or something similar. might help.

anyone notice you're in a good mood all the time?

― homosexual II, Tuesday, December 11, 2012 6:05 PM (1 hour ago)

yeah this is a really nice side effect. makes maintaining eating this way really easy and self-motivated as well.

like im at a weight loss point where i could prob get pretty sloppy with this at this point, but i have no reason or desire to. might switch to the athletic performance meal plan from this book because more butternut squash soup, thats why.

Yeah i went the first three months very low carb and no dairy at all. But im lifting weights a lot now so i eat more sweet potatoes, squash and a little whole milk. I've put on a good amount of muscle.

Paleo chocolate chili with garlic mashed cauliflower for dinner from Well Fed. Really tasty.

Has anyone looked into intermittent fasting? I'm going to try it.

The intermittent fast pattern I use is 8pm-noon 2x/wk, so you're basically skipping breakfast Tues and Sat, which works around my Mon/Wed/Fr workout schedule. It's totally doable except that I keep ... forgetting ... to do it. Big note going to be left on the fridge Fri night so I'm not tempted to skip. The pattern I adopted from Lean Gains.

Tried this today - was easier than I expected, maybe due to eating such a hearty dinner.

Coworker handed out caramel corn as a holiday treat this morning. I have a no-go snack food file drawer now.