Whole 30 / Perfect Health Diet

Well, after much debate and trialing several supposedly "safe" starches, it looks like I'm going back to what works for me, and that's the Whole 30. I have to say that I'm much more open to the idea of starches now due to the Perfect Health Diet. And while the Jaminet's diet does include yams & sweet potatoes as safe starches, which work for me, some of their other starch recommendations, rice and potatoes, don't. Or at least right now, they don't. Also, I'm getting a little OCD on the measuring. I've also been consuming unregulated amounts of dairy (not Perfect Health compliant), which I already knew I shouldn't. I have terrible acne at the moment.

I still believe that there is a lot that both Paleo and low carbers can take from the Jaminet's diet. Here are several things I'm taking away from trialing the Perfect Health Diet.

1) I don't really need as much protein as I'd always assumed, as long as my carbs from starch is comparable. For example, keeping my fat constant at 100 grams, if I consume 65 grams of protein and 65 grams of starch, I'm just as full as if I had consumed 120 grams of protein. And that's 65 grams of starch, not just any carbs. Caveat - this did take a few days of adjustment with the higher carb/lower protein in regards to hunger. I just ate more starch if I was hungry for a few days, then it regulated itself.

2) With the additional amounts of starch carbs, not including what I'm getting from veggie carbs, I find that I also don't need as much fat to be satiated. Back when I was doing vlc/no carb, I could consume upwards of 200 grams of fat and not be satiated.

3) I can handle higher starch carbs than I had previously assumed, as long as it's from yams or sweet potatoes. Trialing some of their other "safe" starches produced some crazy high postprandial #'s, along with ravenous hunger after a couple hours. In fact, their weight loss ratio is 600 calories from protein/carbs and the remaining calories from fat (up to 12-1500 calories). I actually have trouble consuming their recommended 100 grams of starch plus 50 grams of protein and 100 grams of fat to get to 1500 calories.

4) With the more lenient carb/starch intake and more moderate protein and fat intake (at least in relation to the average low carb diet, not SAD), my meals are looking more "normal". Looking at some of the meals using a low/moderate protein, some starch, some veggies & moderate fats, gave me some surprisingly delicious and decadent meals.

And finally, I, and my bowels, really do not enjoy eating excessive amounts of fibrous veggies (i.e. more than about 30 grams of veggies). <Yikes!> And I can honestly say that getting over 50 grams of starch carbs really limits my desire for any additional veggie carbs.

But what it boils down to is that I really don't want to measure my food anymore. I have a tendency towards OCD if I do. And then I start manipulating what I'm eating to get to the "correct" ratios, instead of eating what's appealing. Or start franken-baking so I can have "treat". And the majority of the time, I find that when I just eat real food, and then log - what I like is close to the ratios anyways. But only when it's real food. When it's frankenfood or SAD, forget about it. I've also found that I have trouble eating more than about 80 grams of starch carbs from yams/sweet potatoes in a day, I just get too full. Which still works out just fine, because the food is so filling, my calories are still under control.

Allergies

For those of you who were waiting on baited breath for my next allergist appointment ........the results are in.

Allergies - Known:

• Mango
• Latex
• Shellfish

Allergies - Unknown

• Chicken

Where to go from here? And a recipe.

It's been nice the last few days not to feel obligated to put up a blog post. I've been debating on whether to continue blogging and what subjects I thought would be of interest. There are so many paleo blogs out there now, some focus on recipes, workouts, nutrition, science, etc.

It made me think that one more blog focusing on what other people would be interested in would just be so much white noise. So, I decided that if I'm going to continue to post, it will just be about me. What I'm thinking, what I'm cooking, what new n=1 food experiment I'm going to test out.

I guess what I'm saying is, if you're reading this thinking that I'm going to only do the Whole 30, or just paleo (with whatever your definition of paleo is), then this isn't the blog for you. All you're going to get here is someone who is still trying to figure "it" out. I'm all for "paleo" in that I plan on eating real food, mostly unprocessed, while continuing to try out real food that may fall outside the traditional "paleo" food world.

And now a recipe.

 

I'm all about ease of cooking. And while I love using fresh vegetables, in my busy life, this is not always feasible. I knew that last night would be a throw everything together kind of dinner.

I started heating the skillet with a dollop of leftover bacon grease. I then added a package (10 oz) of frozen onions & peppers. This is one of the greatest inventions ever.

Once the onions and peppers thawed, I added what was left of the baby spinach I had in the fridge, about 1 lb. I only allowed the spinach to just get soft.

Cooking it any further than that would have given me over-cooked spinach by the end of the dish. Then I added some diced leftover pork shoulder.

Once I mixed that in, I added some seasonings. Last night I decided on Cajun seasoning and a spice mix that I had blended together. At this point, the recipe would be Whole 30 compliant. I don't know what you would call it, other than a stir-fry.

For dinner last night, I added some steamed white rice. That would make the recipe Perfect Health Diet compliant.