then and now

after reading your comments, thinking about my meals and talking with my friend, i figured i should correct myself on my previous post. we are not eating all-out paleo; we're doing primal. the difference between the two (to me) is that i'm not buying 100% organic (though i'm trying to as much as possible) and we are allowing a splash of cream in coffee or the option to have rice, quinoa or even a hamburger bun (of course we're trying to go without 'cheating' with a bun!).

our trainer admitted he sometimes allows himself to have pizza on the weekend or a hamburger on a big, buttery bun (his words) because he knows it's more realistic for him to have those "splurges" than to cut them out all together (hence the "80/20" split of primal -- 80% stick to it, 20% occasional "cheats"). i've learned you get less criticism if you just tell people you're eating whole foods, ha.

my friends considers this a "low carb" diet (as it turns out some of you do too), but i personally do not. half of my calories come from carbs which falls right into the recommended range from the usda.

regardless, i'm still eating clean-er than before. i decided to do a comparison of a typical day's food for me then (before this primal-ish challenge) and now (while eating "primal"/whole foods):

typical day's food "before" (from 22jun12):

breakfast
- coffee with cream and agave or honey
- cereal - almost always rice chex or honey bunches of oats, sometimes kashi heart to heart. at least two "servings" (because who eats just 3/4 cups of cereal??)

lunch
- salad (mixed greens) - maybe some carrots or cucumbers on top; shredded cheese; balsamic dressing
- pretzel crisps - 1 serving (i was always good about counting out the # of pretzels; counting out potato chips on the other hand...)
- animal crackers - addictive

snacks
- banana
- more animal crackers or potato chips (must be honest and admit it wasn't usually 1 serving)

dinner
- potato wedges
- zucchini pizza - zucc slices with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese

(ignore the date, i logged the food into mfp for easy comparison)

as you can see, my former carby self was not eating balanced,

and i can guarantee those fats weren't good fats.

a day of primal/paleo-ish eating (19jul12):

breakfast
- boiled egg
- green smoothie
- 1 scoop whey protein powder

lunch
- spinach salad - bell pepper, carrots, 1 boiled egg white

snacks
- banana
- watermelon - about 3 cups
- pickles
- boiled egg

dinner
- flounder - cooked in oven with evoo, lemon juice, garlic, onion
- french green beans - boiled; then add a little evoo, garlic, salt/pepper

i was short on calories this day but i ate whenever i was hungry. 3 cups of watermelon fills you up! my carbs were low too, but i'm still adjusting and tweaking my foods as i realize what i'm too high/too low on.

anyway, all this to say:

1. if you don't think you should/don't want to eat primal/paleo -- that's totally fine. i'm not judging you because you choose to eat grains or dairy. i love bread and cheese myself. this was just a friendly challenge we conjured up to see if we could do it, and we both knew we needed to/wanted to eat better.
2. i am still getting plenty of nutrients. in fact i believe i'm eating more balanced and getting more nutrients than before.
3. the hardest part of eating clean (to me) is getting un-lazy. you have to prepare snacks and meals instead of grabbing a convenient bag of chips or picking up a pizza on the way home from work. i try to prep a few things on sunday (such as hard boiled eggs and the egg cupcakes) and pre-chopping salad toppings like cucumbers or peppers.