Brand new to Paleo: Day 1....here we go

[Juice06870]

I may be unique in this forum in that I only heard of the paleo way of eating only about 3 weeks ago, and I stumbled on it completely by accident on Instagram after I created an account on there and was browsing random photos. It really struck me because of the fact that the food everyone was eating looked REALLY good, and usually fairly easy to put together. (And not just the usual boring chicken breast or whatever) At the same time, I noticed references to the Whole30 and did some reading up on that. I could tell right away that this was something I wanted to try, I bought the book and have read it twice.

About me: 36 years old. Male, married with BUSY 2 year old son. 6' 3" 205 lbs. I have a low thyroid which I take a daily pill for. I work out about 5 days a week, a mixture of weight training and cardio (running, jump rope, elliptical etc). I come from the school of thought that you need to eat 5-6 smaller meals a day rather than 3 large ones. I have always had a very hard time putting any muscle mass on, so whatever I do have, I hope to be able to keep if I am eating like this.

I am normally a fairly clean eater overall, but I have my weaknesses (booze, General Tso's chicken, peanut butter) Not much into sweets, will nibble here and there when something good is around, but I never order dessert or have cookies or ice cream laying around the house. Also, I would say that I am a mostly clean eater for about 9 months a year, and then just around mid-December I start to fall apart and my poor food decisions become more frequent (being it's cold and dark out, I'm not so worried about my growing belly) Then around March or so, I'll wake up one day and be annoyed with myself for throwing 9 months of work out the window over the course of a couple of months (which then takes another 3-5 months to work back off). This has basically been the same story for a number of years.

I have learned a couple of things:

1. It's getting harder and harder to recover after having a few drinks at night, and it's really just not worth it.

2. It's harder to work off the bad food choices I make, when I make too many of them.

3. I have been following the advice from all of the fitness magazines and websites for years regarding eating, and I really haven't achieved my goals with respect to my physique.

4. I HATE that bloated, uncomfortable feeling I sometimes get after eating certain foods.

5. Eating as much 'real' food as possible just makes sense.

Anyway, this was how my first day went:

Breakfast

- 3 organic free range eggs w/ chopped red and yellow peppers

- 1 beef sausage (from US Wellness Meats

- sauteed organic spinach

- half an avocado

- 1 cup black coffee

Lunch (was busy and out and about so threw this together in some tupperware to bring with me)

-1 can wild pink salmon

- Half avocado

- organic dijon mustard

- salt, pepper, garlic powder

(all of above was mashed and mixed together)

- half of a baked yam (no topping other than the coconut oil I brushed on the outside before baking)

- Kombutcha beverage from Whole Foods

Dinner

- Pastured, grass fed (with some organic feed) ground beef mixed with sautéed onions

- half avocado

- sauteed mushrooms (sauteed in Ghee)

- sauteed zucchinni (sauteed in Ghee and then balsamic vinegar)

Drank a lot of water all day. Was not hungry between meals, so didn't feel the need to snack.

So far so good I hope. I had been tinkering with the paleo diet for the past 2 weeks, just to see if it was really feasible. I am really looking forward to doing it for real now, with no cheats and seeing how my body reacts and how I feel after a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks etc.

The trick will be not getting frustrated or annoyed with having to actually cook every meal.

[Tom Denham]

Your food looks really good. Two thoughts. You might need more carbs to maintain energy levels, especially on days when you train. I am 6'2" and rarely eat one-half of anything, so you might want to eat a whole yam per day. About baking the yam: you might not need to brush it with oil first. When I bake sweet potatoes, I rinse them good, place them on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven and let them bake for 90 minutes without doing anything to them. I bake 6 at a time and keep them in the refrigerator because I like my sweet potatoes cold and they taste very sweet after 90 minutes at 350 degrees.

[Juice06870]

Thanks Tom. Agree on your point on the carbs. My intention was to eat the other half of the yam with dinner, but I filled up on the ground beef and other stuff. I'll be moving to sweet potatoes once these yams are used up this week and I thank you for the suggestion on baking them without the oil on them. Will baked sweet potatoes last all week in the fridge?

[Juice06870]

One correction:

I'm turning 35 in June (not 36) Can't get too far ahead of my self here.

[AuntB]

Your food sounds yummy! Congrats on taking the challenge!

[KJT]

I bake sweet potatoes every Sunday evening and keep them in a zipper bag in the refrigerator to eat throughout the week. I've never had a problem with them not lasting to the end of the week.

You look like you're off to a great start. Good luck!