For fun, I decided to change up my eating habits. I enjoy trying new things in the name of experimentation, and diet happens to be among the most interesting to vary.
My new dietary lifestyle is influenced by the "paleo diet". The idea is pretty simple; it is an attempt to eat a diet similar to what our ancestors consumed. The logic works for me. We evolved to eat a specific diet. Logic would hold that our body would be optimized to this diet. The trick is to extrapolate a "caveman diet" from our current offerings.
My take on the diet is very simplistic. I am eating the following general categories of foods:
- Fruits
- Vegetables, excluding potatoes
- Non-processed meats (no bacon, lunch meat, or Spam)
- Nuts
- Beer and wine
- Coffee
- Diet soda (I like to imagine our ancestors had access to Coke Zero, Killian's, and Starbucks)
- Olive oil
What I'm actively avoiding:
- Wheat-based products
- Soy-based products
- Refined sugar-based products
- Rice and rice-based products
- Legumes
- Dairy [thanks for reminding me, Jeff!]
- All other oils
About once or twice a week, I will consume something from the "avoiding" list. this mostly occurs when Shelly and I are dining out.
So far, I have been impressed. I'm generally a very skeptical person, but I find my mood to be very stable on the new diet. I no longer have euphoria/depression mood swings. Aside from that, I have not experienced a significant change in sleeping patterns, energy levels, or weight. However, I do seem to be building muscle mass and shedding body fat faster than I did with my processed carb-based diet.
It is interesting... more or less anyone that has heard of my new diet has commented. Some support it, some do not. Both sides can cite "evidence" that will support their perspective. Most people fail to understand the "experiment of one" idea, which is my ultimate goal. I am trying to find a group of foods that suit me well. What's good for the goose is rarely good for the gander. Still, knowing what the gander is doing gives up plenty of ideas for our own experimentation.
