Paleo, Primal or What?

Paleo or Primal, what’s up?

I have been thinking about changing my diet a bit, now is the time to experiment. I don’t have any competitions and if something fails miserably, no worries.

I don't eat a lot of starches, it varies depending on my lifting schedule, but on the days I lift with Roy after work, I am eating starch at two meals a day. On the days I do not lift with Roy, I eat starch at one meal.  That’s not much is it?

There are many varying reasons why people may want to do this and many thoughts on how your body will react and exactly what foods should and should not be eaten. We are not machines; we are all very unique (thank goodness) so we will all react differently.

Some who eat “Paleo” say you should not eat potatoes, some say its OK. I really don’t give a damn what “the list” says, I want to try to eat what will allow my body to function at its best and look its best.

Right now it wouldn’t be difficult at all for me to eliminate my brown rice; heck I only eat it once a day! I can replace it with more vegetables.

I am not sure if I will be as strict as many people are - no beets, no peas, no wine….I really am not certain at all about what I shall do, but I will first try to eliminate grains and potatoes and see how that goes. It means I need to start recording my food again. I used to do this for years, and I stopped as I no longer needed to, I had the diet down like clockwork. But If I choose to embark on this, I will want to see how my body reacts to various foods, especially when I veer from the norm.

I do not plan to be a food Nazi, I am reporting only to me (but I am a tough boss, believe me!), and any deviation will be up to me entirely.

My blood work is already excellent, my body fat low, I have a healthy weight and my muscles look full (a little too full actually) so I don’t think that eliminating the starches will make me “deflate” all of a sudden, but I’m not sure exactly what will happen.

I am sure you have heard that right? “Eliminate starch and you lose all your muscle!!!” Well I know some people who don’t eat starch and they look like crap (no muscle) but I also know some who look great. I think it all depends on the rest of the food you eat and your general health and lifestyle.

I suppose my biggest question will be is it grains I am eliminating or starch???

I may not even feel differently or look different, as I said I eat so little starch as it is, it may not make a dramatic difference as it may in a person who was struggling with their metabolism.  

Will I drink wine? You are not supposed to if you are adhering to a Paleo diet, but I am not doing this so I can say “I Eat Paleo” I am doing this to see how I can optimize nutrition for my body, so yes, once in a while I shall drink wine!

Will I give up my beloved peanut butter? Not sure, peanuts are not nuts they are legumes, and almond butter is good but not the same….

So I really am not quite sure how I shall structure all of this, I suppose I am taking it slow, one foot in front of the other. I think I need some help for you all! Once I hear back, I can start giving this more thought....

I would love advise from anyone who has done something like this - Should I try it? Have you eliminated all starches or just grains? Did you have to for health reasons or just because you wanted to? What were your struggles? Did you enjoy it? And were you actually able to see changes, positive changes in your body? Tell me about it!

Diet Worries

Friday- I met Roy for shoulder training. The usual chit chat and then I told him I had to start a diet soon, for my next competition and I was a bit concerned. "Why" he asked "Are you afraid of losing muscle?"


And, I hope you can see, I have gained quite a bit training with him, quite a bit! Take a look at these shoulders!

The legs? Looking good too! I actually weigh more than I have in ages. I was at 131 pounds this morning, although I was at 133 earlier in the week, it was due to the carbs I ate- I had a blast on Saturday and ate all sorts of goodies as I tasted wine with David. As you know, your body holds onto water when you consume starchy carbs, so the more pizza I ate, the more I would end up weighing a few days down the road.


But back to my conversation with Roy. I explain : "I am not worried about losing all my new muscle, I am wondering how I will be able to diet. I have cut out so much starch already, I am not sure what to cut out now!"


This was necessary to gain all this weight and keep the body fat low. I weigh 13 pounds more than my last competition weight, but it's really not a great deal of fat. I did a good job in the "off season" I think.


His response?


"Yeah, but you have been going out with your family right?"


Bingo!


That's the kind of stuff that gets you into trouble, but the great thing is, it's also the easiest to remedy! Going out and having wine and food at a restaurant is big calories, I mean BIG! And the reason why it tastes so good is all the butter, oil, salt and fat they add to the food. 


Then I admitted I still have a problem with Peanut Butter- I should join PBLA (Peanut Butter Lover's Anonymous), but I am not ready to let go of my addiction.


Luckily, the diet won't start until after my week in Mexico, which is coming up soon, and I shall enjoy it and not worry- the diet will be ready and waiting for me when I get home!

Almost There

I had a burger last night. I was feeling too thin and looking stringy. I can get away with that, lots of people cannot so don't think it's "the approved diet" of Figure competitors. I can eat starchy carbs, I am insulin sensitive, I don't bloat up and have problems digesting them. My blood sugar doesn't spike wildly and then plummet.  Now, I rarely (RARELY) eat any white carbs anyway. Hardly ever eat bread of any kind, pasta is an occasional treat, don't eat many potatoes, so the whole deal may be that I don't eat an excess of that stuff on a normal day anyway.


But, I did last night (I had a bun). I only have a little fat left to lose, and I am getting close to losing it too fast (I always do this), so now I can "eat up" once in a while to make sure I don't get too thin. My burger was lean grass fed beef, the good stuff that you can eat raw if you like!


I went to the gym in the morning looking and feeling great! My muscles were happy and full, skin tight across them. 


I was standing at the box, getting my things together and Wendy came up, a big smile on her face. "You must have a show coming up, you look fabulous! I mean, don't get me wrong, you always do, but I can really see it now, super lean and muscular".


We talked about my diet for a while, she wanted to know what I was eating, I explained mainly lean protein, lots of vegetables and small amount of brown rice, lentils or sweet potatoes.


Monique, a trainer who is also a competitor stopped by. "Doing the SF Show?" she asked. "You look lean". I explained I had a burger the night before, I was getting too lean too fast now. "Be careful, don't be ready too early" she advised.


What is interesting, although none of us are experts at "peaking" at just the right moment, many of us can control it very closely to ensure we gain, lose or remain somewhat stable. It is a very fine balancing act. Something as small as a few additional fish tabs can slow the fat loss! I have used this technique before. 


It is also just as easy to backfire on us too. It does become a bit stressful trying to balance it all.


I was done lifting, and in the back free weight room I was joking with Mike, Anthony and Bobbie, we were talking about the different gyms in Los Gatos, they are thinking of changing. 


I gave my opinion on all. "I have just been to every single club in this area, I know all about every one of them!" I told them.


Bobbie replies "Of course 'Miss trains three times a day' does!"


I replied "I am only on three a days for 28 more days, then it's back to two a days! At my age you gotta slow down a little." (chuckle chuckle)


Bobbie laughed and said "I'm not so sure about that. You look pretty freaking sculpted these days. Lately you walk in the room and it looks like you got two sets of shoulders on you!"


I thanked him laughed and started to leave. I told him my shoulders only look so good because I have a trainer who knows what he's doing!


I was on a cloud the rest of the day!

My Diet

I have mentioned several times how I have changed my diet. I thought I would explain a bit of what I have done.

I weigh my food year round, at least the protein and the starches. I don't weigh vegetables as you can eat as many of those as you like, provided you don't mistake one of the starchy vegetables which for diet purposes are considered "starches" for a "vegetable" (that would be things such as peas, corn, winter squashes).

So, I am always adhering to some "diet" although I relax it quite a bit when I am not in the cutting phase. I believe that this makes me more successful when I do need to drop the body fat as I never let myself get overweight, and I don't pig out for months at a time.

I have been reading some books that have inspired me to make a few changes, very slight ones and that is all I need as my diet is fairly dialed in year round anyway. I don't pack on 20 extra pounds in the winter just to have to lose it in the spring, I don't believe in that, and not many people do any longer, research has proven it is not necessary to gain a great deal of excess fat just to gain lean mass. If you eat properly, you will gain properly.

Here is an example of my lunch (meal #3) on Sunday:  3 ounces black beans, 1 cup mushrooms, one cup oven roasted cauliflower (with paprika), 1/2 cup Brussels sprouts and 4 ounces thin chicken breast with Mrs. Dash and some lemon. Very satisfying and filling! I eat a lot!

So what I have done is simple, following my past successes I have reduced my starches on meal 3 and 4 each by one ounce, and on meal 5 all together. 

I have replaced the starches in meal 5 with kabocha squash, or one extra cup of vegetables. I like kabocha squash as it is satisfying like a yam or potato, but without the carbs!

1 cup has 30 calories and 7 grams carbs, whereas if you had butternut squash you would be eating 82 calories and 22 grams of carbs!

I have also increased my overall vegetable intake by about 1/2 to 1 cup more at each meal, which means I am eating 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups of vegetables at a time. So - decreased starchy carbs, increased fiberous carbs.

I am not so hungry, I am getting carbs through vegetables but not the starchy variety that tends to be stored as fat.

I have also stopped eating brown rice, replacing it with beans or lentils. I have eaten rice on occasion, but not everyday as in the past.

In addition, I am eating 3 to 5 raw nuts (almond, cashew or macadamia) or 2 tsp oil (olive, flax, Udo's, CLA) prior to or with each each meal containing starch.

I am eating the nuts/oil just prior to each meal to reduce the insulin response for the meal. Eating the nuts or oils will help control the rate of entry of glucose into the bloodstream. So slower entry, less insulin is produced.

The reason why you do not want a rapid rise of insulin is it will cause too much glucose to be taken up by the cells, which results in low blood sugar, which in turn stimulates the appetite for more food!

I have also continued having a post training carb and protein drink, although it isn't a huge one like I might have when not cutting fat. I think this has helped me to hold onto the muscle and still look full and round, while losing the overall bodyfat. I don't have much more to lose, maybe 3 or 4 pounds at the most. It's hard to tell until I see it, but I will stick to the diet, and I won't be doing an insane amount of cardio, as I don't need to, I don't have a lot of fat to try to lose.

My post training drink has 26 grams carbs in it, I will probably stop that about 4 weeks out, and right there I should start to lose and tighten up more.

Training For Size

I look better with more meat on my bones as you can see here. Just a few pounds adds some curves that seem to disappear when I am at competition time.

That's why my goal is to pack on as much lean muscle mass as I possibly can, so that when I do have to drop my body fat extremely low for a competition next year, I will keep those beautiful curves  you see silhouetted by the Bay Bridge on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

So what's the plan? For three weeks I will pretty much eat whatever I want, I have one week left!

Then it's back to the same diet, but I will incorporate some fruit, some other meats such as pork, other beef, lamb and occasional wine or treats. I'll have pasta occasionally!

Meals 3 and 4 will have a slightly smaller amount of starch to make up for added calories at other meals.

My training will be fewer exercises, but as heavy as I can manage. I am sticking with the basics, whole body movements that work everything. Dumbbell curls will not be in my repertoire. I will need to really push to get my body to grow.

Cardio will be intervals at the track, running stadium stairs or plyos on the football field. No more than 3 times a week. That will be in addition to my morning weight training.

Sleep, I will need lot's of sleep. That's when my body produces growth hormone. I like to get it naturally...

I have to be careful, to grow I need to consume more calories than I am expending, that's also how I get fat.  

Oh I love change, I am excited!

13.5 Meals

  

I frequently talk about how important it is to set yourself up to be successful, you just cannot leave things to chance.  I am working a lot right now, August is a very busy time for my entire family, David is an elementary school principal, I work in on-campus housing at a university and my son, Cooper starts back at school.
Because I am working weekends too, I need to do a bit more prep ahead of time, more than I usually might.

Above you see 6.75 pounds of cooked chicken breast, that is 108 ounces. I got home from work and had to start, there was no time to do this on the weekend as usual. I flavored two cookies sheets full of boneless, skinless chicken breast with smokey paprika, red pepper flakes and black pepper and baked them until just cooked through.

I then started cubing...and cubing.

I then got out all my little zip lock baggies and started weighing them out, 4 ounces in each bag, and into the pile the full bags went. 27 of them. I then put the small bags into bigger freezer bags and into the freezer it all went.

I eat 6 times a day, two of those meals (meals #3 and 4) are cubed chicken, vegetable and starch. The chicken here will make 13.5 meals, so 6.75 pounds (cooked weight mind you) will only feed me 2 of my 6 daily meals, for just under 2 weeks.

It takes a lot of food to create a magnificent body. And if I didn't prepare ahead, who knows what I might end up eating?

Good Carbs Bad Carbs

What exactly are carbohydrates? There are many kinds, but when I say "carbs" I am referring to starchy carbs, things such as:

Beans, oats, brown rice, barley, black eyed peas, corn, corn tortillas, cream of wheat/rye/rice, kashi, lentils, peas, potatoes, yams, quinoa, rice cakes.

These are all good for you and they are the "carbs" that need to be weighed or measured. You should have one serving of these at every meal (except your last meal if you eat just before bed). Although when I am intentionally eating to gain weight, I will eat carbs at my last meal. In fact, I will increase all of my starchy carbs at each meal by 2 ounces and that does the trick! So you can see why you do not want to over eat carbs if you are trying to loose weight.

Vegetables and fruits are also "carbs" but they are not starchy carbs, they are packed with nutrients and fiber and have very little calories. You can eat these with abandon, eat as much as you like. So nutritionists do not generally refer to fruits and vegetables as "carbs", they will refer to them as "fruits" and "vegetables".

Two caveats:

Fruit is high in sugar, so if you are attempting to really lower body fat, these should be limited to a couple servings a day, and pre-competition, eliminated all together.

Some vegetables are classified as "starchy" carbs, you may have noticed them in the list above. Peas and corn. If you are eating these two, they count as your starch, not your vegetable so weigh or measure them.

All of the above complex carbohydrates (good carbs) are high fiber foods, which improve your digestion, they help stabilize the blood sugar, keep your energy at an even level, and help you feel satisfied longer after your meal.

A mistake I see occur quite frequently is someone thinks they are eating healthy, so they load up their plate with a big plain baked potato and an ear of corn...no, no, no! You can only choose one of those as they are both "carbs", you need a vegetable in place of one.

Now we have the simple (bad) carbohydrates, the ones that you need to limit or avoid all together. Which you chose depends on your goals. If you are competing, you won't eat anything on the list below for a few months before your competition. If you are not, then some of this is OK, in moderation.

Pasta, refined breads , crackers, cereals, chips, candy, anything made with flour, flour tortillas, fruit juice, sugar, corn syrup, any packaged food. Sugar and other simple carbohydrates can alter your mood, lead to cravings and compulsive eating, cause wide swings in your blood-sugar levels, and cause weight gain in most people. These foods also tend to be very high in calories.

I eat 6 times a day. My first meal is a shake (with 20 grams of carbs) and my last meal is egg whites and spinach, so "technically" it has no carbs.

The other 4 meals all contain one of the above starchy carbs. I eat a great deal of brown rice, quinoa, yams and beans at lunches and dinner. Breakfast usually contains oats or cream of rice.

I eat bread on occasion, but it is usually one of those dense, really dark, heavy rye or spelt breads and I toast it and put low sugar jam and/or peanut butter on it.

Remember the good carbs are the "fuel" that keeps you going, keeps your brain functioning, your muscles round and full looking. These are also the really tasty ones, like the big baked potato, so it is easy to over eat- hence the need to weigh them.

Remember, packaged food is the enemy! The more that a food has been altered from its natural state, the less nutrients it has and just becomes a lot of useless calories.