Paleo// Week 1

This past Monday I started eating paleo as a challenge with my friends. Trying Whole 30 or eating paleo has been in the back of my head for awhile, so knowing my friends were doing this challenge was enough to convince me. 

So what does eating paleo mean for me. No grains. No dairy. No legume. No alcohol. No peanut butter. No sweets. No processed food. Lots of meat. Lots of vegetables. Lots of fruit. Lots of healthy fats. 

The challenge is I’m a girl who LOVES her bread. LOVES. Give me some bread and a jar of peanut butter and I would be perfectly content. So the thought of giving up grains has always been scary to me. I eat them daily in the form of oatmeal or a sandwich or all those other grainy things we don’t think of until we have to cut them out. 

Ask me to give up dairy and I can. That’s something I’ve done before and easily did it. Cutting out sugar is something I’ve wanted to try. I have a major sweet tooth. I always like to have something sweet after I eat. 

So mostly I’m doing this challenge to prove to myself that I can survive without bread/grains and cut back on sugar. I want to see how my body responds to paleo in the way it looks and the way I feel. 

On Sunday I pulled up my big girl panties and I went out to get groceries to prepare. Let me warn you now that I know there are even things in my groceries that aren’t necessarily “paleo” and do have sugar in them. 

Almond milk. Apple juice (only apples). Bananas. Eggs. Lemons. Chicken Apple Sausage. Bell Peppers. Pink Lady Apples. Broccoli. Carrots. Sausage. Sweet Potatoes. Green Beans.

This is an idea of what I ate this past week:

Breakfast: 2 Scrambled eggs, sausage, blueberries, coffee with almond milk creamer.

Lunch: Roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, pink lady apple.

Snack: Larabar with almond butter. *I didn’t even notice that I bought peanut butter larabars. Won’t do that this week.

Dinner: Chicken apple sausage with green beans. Banana with almond butter. Progenex shake (CrossFit days).

Protein Shakes:

Since the workouts I’ve been doing are programmed to prepare for the CrossFit Open, I have been keeping my protein shakes. The workouts are very high volume and high intensity. Before this paleo challenge I had noticed drinking a protein shake after my CrossFit workouts really reduces my soreness and feeds my muscles the protein they need. I use Progenex More Muscle (chocolate) and blend it with almond milk. No I will not be cutting this out. I know on things like this you are supposed to cut out protein powders, but I know I wouldn’t be able to feed my body like it needs. And honestly who feels like eating a chunk of sweet potato after a workout. Not me.

Cheats:

I went into this week thinking I wouldn’t cheat until my friend’s birthday in later February. That didn’t last. I’m someone who doesn’t do well with restrictions, so I was happy when one of my coaches at CrossFit recommended to do at least 2 cheats. I ended up doing three, but not all intentionally. I do know I’m in a lot happier mindset with a few cheat treats. 

I had a donut at staff meeting on Friday morning. I knew I would just fight myself the whole time if not. (My relationship with donuts is a story for another time.) So I grabbed a chocolate glazed donut and after that one I was perfectly satisfied. Saturday night I ordered chicken and beef fajitas. I wasn’t planning on eating the tortillas, but they literally did not cook my vegetables. I was still super hungry so I ended up eating the tortillas with the meat. For lunch Sunday I had an almond butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread because I was a little underprepared in the food I had available. 

How was week 1:

I was really worried going into this week that I was going to be a raging monster the entire week. Surprisingly I wasn’t. I actually was just fine without my grains or occasional chocolates or peanut butter. I’ve felt great and am glad I’m doing this. On Thursday I did hit a little wall in the afternoon where I was tired and hungry, but eventually I went to bed. On the other hand, I’m looking forward to week 2!

This is what I’d like to work on for week 2:

I’d like to work on cutting back on sugar. Such as eating a larabar only when I really need to. Not eating as much almond butter. Only drinking coffee with almond milk creamer if I really feel like I need it. Intentionally buying unsweetened almond milk.

So here’s to week 2 of paleo beginning!

Have you done whole 30 or “strict” paleo?

Any tips for me to cut back on sugars or meal ideas I might like?