So yesterday I said that I was "OK" with the pain that seems quite strongly correlated with my consumption of the "agrarian" stuff like grains and legumes. Turns out that is not true. I'm not OK with unnecessary pain! When I got up this morning my joints were screaming at me, my left elbow was hurting so bad I could not lift a cup of coffee to my lips and write at the same time as I usually like to do. My knees and shoulders are aching like mad. I swallowed a couple of Naproxen (Aleve) and after a few hours the pain receded to a dull ache instead of blazing pain. This is just not a good way to live.
Perhaps I should address the unsubstantiated assertion I made about the Paleo diet being much more expensive than the standard American diet. What makes me think this is the case? Did I carefully prepare a weeks menu of Paleo foods and then a weeks menu of "regular food" and compare the costs? Nope. :-) What did I do? I made a wild totally unscientific assertion is what I did.
As I was thinking about this wild accusation against Paleo this morning I realized what caused me to make the claim. It was the, perfectly reasonable, emphasis on grass fed meats, wild caught fish and organically grown local produce. These are all wonderful and good things and all very expensive. When we compare that sort of paleo diet with the Dollar Tree food we can get, and that from Target or Safeway or Grocery Outlet, well it seems a lot more expensive doesn't it? But as Mark Sisson has said "Don't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good!"
I packed a Paleo Bruncher (Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner) for work today. Nothing in it was organic or expensive. For breakfast I had some sliced ham and cheddar cheese and a banana. For lunch I had a box of raisins and a can of sardines, yum :-) As a snack I have trail mix from Trader Joe's, I spent $10 for that and with all of us at home pounding it down it will last over a week. That's cheap! At dinner I am eating head lettuce salad with mushrooms and canned tuna and vinegar and oil dressing.
None of that is expensive! The carb count is low and I got some good Omega 3 fatty acids from my sardines.
The biggest difference during the day with this diet is the feeling of satiety. On the high carb diet I am always hungry. I can eat a plate of spaghetti some bread and butter and then a big bowl of ice cream for desert and I'm still not satisfied. On the low carb diets I actually get full rather quickly. I had three little slices of ham, that's thin sliced packaged stuff not a big chunk I sawed off myself, for breakfast and about an ounce of cheese and wasn't hungry when I decided to eat my banana mid morning :-) Feeling full is a very good thing. On the high carb diets I eat and eat and eat and even though my belly is full of food I just don't feel full.
On the high carb and high fiber diet I poop and poop and poop and fart and fart and fart. I spend much more time sitting on the crapper than when I'm doing Paleo. On the Paleo diet I go once a day, with no problem, and I don't fart all day long! Heck, not feeling bloated and crapping five times a day and not farting so much alone is reason to go with this diet.
So, the conclusion I have come to is I need to make sure I "Don't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good!" and go ahead and do the best I can with the cheap eats that I know are out there, real food, even if it's not the absolute best available, just get the best I can afford. Pasta ain't cheap if if makes me hurt and fart both ;-)
Perhaps I should address the unsubstantiated assertion I made about the Paleo diet being much more expensive than the standard American diet. What makes me think this is the case? Did I carefully prepare a weeks menu of Paleo foods and then a weeks menu of "regular food" and compare the costs? Nope. :-) What did I do? I made a wild totally unscientific assertion is what I did.
As I was thinking about this wild accusation against Paleo this morning I realized what caused me to make the claim. It was the, perfectly reasonable, emphasis on grass fed meats, wild caught fish and organically grown local produce. These are all wonderful and good things and all very expensive. When we compare that sort of paleo diet with the Dollar Tree food we can get, and that from Target or Safeway or Grocery Outlet, well it seems a lot more expensive doesn't it? But as Mark Sisson has said "Don't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good!"
I packed a Paleo Bruncher (Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner) for work today. Nothing in it was organic or expensive. For breakfast I had some sliced ham and cheddar cheese and a banana. For lunch I had a box of raisins and a can of sardines, yum :-) As a snack I have trail mix from Trader Joe's, I spent $10 for that and with all of us at home pounding it down it will last over a week. That's cheap! At dinner I am eating head lettuce salad with mushrooms and canned tuna and vinegar and oil dressing.
None of that is expensive! The carb count is low and I got some good Omega 3 fatty acids from my sardines.
The biggest difference during the day with this diet is the feeling of satiety. On the high carb diet I am always hungry. I can eat a plate of spaghetti some bread and butter and then a big bowl of ice cream for desert and I'm still not satisfied. On the low carb diets I actually get full rather quickly. I had three little slices of ham, that's thin sliced packaged stuff not a big chunk I sawed off myself, for breakfast and about an ounce of cheese and wasn't hungry when I decided to eat my banana mid morning :-) Feeling full is a very good thing. On the high carb diets I eat and eat and eat and even though my belly is full of food I just don't feel full.
On the high carb and high fiber diet I poop and poop and poop and fart and fart and fart. I spend much more time sitting on the crapper than when I'm doing Paleo. On the Paleo diet I go once a day, with no problem, and I don't fart all day long! Heck, not feeling bloated and crapping five times a day and not farting so much alone is reason to go with this diet.
So, the conclusion I have come to is I need to make sure I "Don't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good!" and go ahead and do the best I can with the cheap eats that I know are out there, real food, even if it's not the absolute best available, just get the best I can afford. Pasta ain't cheap if if makes me hurt and fart both ;-)
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