Going Paleo

I've been intrigued with the Paleo Diet concept since I read The Paleo Diet for Athletes last summer, but never really worked up the courage to put it in motion.

The time has come.

Although reasonably happy with my pre-injury weight at the end summer, I could never get past a certain point even though I was eating clean and still training six days a week. I was still carrying around a higher percentage of body fat than I really wanted. Perhaps it was the diet fairly high in lowfat dairy (cottage cheese, greek yogurt, 1% milk) and grains (oatmeal, brown rice, kashi cereal) - mainstays of the athlete's diet, or so I thought.

Now that I am post-injury and back on a regular training schedule (12-week Oly plan starts in two weeks), I thought I would have lost some of the injury/holiday weight I put on (about 8 lbs), but the regular plan is not working and my body is stubbornly clinging to the fat. Keep in mind that I wasn't looking for miracles either; one to two pounds a week would have suited me just fine. Grrr.

Just around Christmastime I received my copy of The Paleo Diet Cookbook. It was languishing on my nightstand as I pursued the tried-and-true (or so I thought) eating plan these past few weeks. What was the push? I just came out of a two-day migraine bender, usually triggered by food. I picked up the book, read through it, and decided it was time to try something different.

I'm starting a two-week test period on Saturday and trying to go cold-turkey. I don't know how my family is going to react, since all dinners will be Paleo dinners, but I am confident that I will be able to make something everyone is going to like. I "test-drove" the recipe pictured above, Chili Lime Shrimp, which everyone liked.

I'll talk about the process here. The recipes, preparation, ups and downs, and the "how am I going to possibly do without oatmeal, bread, cereal, milk, cheese, yogurt" dilemmas I face along the way.

Oh, and I'm leaving for a business/family visit trip to the mainland after the first two weeks, so I'll talk about how THAT is going to work with this new plan too.

I'm excited!