Paleoista by Nell Stephenson

Author:Nell Stephenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchstone

My initial exposure to the Paleo diet was in 2008, via the local CrossFit affiliate. The gym offered a seminar that outlined the Paleo basics and highlighted the importance of fueling the body properly for maximum athletic output. Always looking to maximize my fitness, I figured there would be no harm in giving it a try.

Over a period of the next few months I gradually omitted foods from my diet that did not meet the Paleo criteria, including breads, grains, legumes, dairy, and refined sugars.

After embarking on the Paleo way, I immediately noticed a positive effect on my energy level. I felt lighter, stronger, and experienced higher output during training and faster recovery times, post workout.

At that point in time, I was consistently executing CrossFit WODs (Workout of the Day) and racing sprint-distance triathlon.

One thing I found quite unusual, though, was that some of the people at the gym I was training at really took the idea of cheat meals to the hilt! I’d read about an 85 percent rule in The Paleo Diet, but it didn’t really make sense to me; if grains, dairy, and legumes were not good for you, why would you want to eat them 15 percent of the time?

I, for one, did not!

Strangely, though, the guys at the gym who did, really did so in a large degree. They’d have one day each weekend when they’d eat whole pizzas, cakes, and tubs of ice cream . each! I’d never seen anything like it; it was akin to a group binge-eating outing. They tried to justify it by comparing what they were doing then to what they used to do, which was to eat poorly every day, but still, it seemed really odd and made me unsure if I’d even want to be associated with Paleo, if that’s what it was.

Regardless, I kept at it (without the weird, non-Paleo bingeing part) and felt better than I’d felt before, until I made the decision to train for and race longer-distance triathlon (Olympic and half-Ironman distance).

I veered away from Paleo then, because I did not believe I could fuel my body properly for endurance sports. All the literature that is thrown at endurance athletes seems to advise that Paleo may support either a sedentary lifestyle, or that of a CrossFitter, as the latter would mimic how Paleolithic Man “exercised,” but for those going the long haul, grains are pretty much a must do, otherwise the athlete won’t get enough starch in their diets.

Essentially, I returned to consuming breads, cereals, and rice because I didn’t see how I could pile on my training volume and get enough calories from fruits, veg, and proteins.

The (huge) downside is that in doing so, I went back to the vicious cycle of spiking my insulin levels, then crashing. In addition, the constant stomach aches I knew I could expect after eating any of the “sports nutrition” products on the market made trying to execute a race plan quite difficult. It got to the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.