“I am being strict with the diet. I am getting serious headaches and my energy is super low. I had to leave work today. I feel really burned out. I would love some pointers. Should I keep doing what I’m doing or do something a little differently.
On a positive note I have lost weight and I can even see inches melting away, but I can tell that my workouts are suffering.” -Ernie
This is the rough part. Ernie is/was a serious soda drinker. Some of you were with us when he talked about losing several pounds in just a few days from cutting out soda. Soda, diet and otherwise, although diet is actually perhaps worse, is incredibly addictive. Ernie has a schedule that makes it extremely difficult for him to eat enough food at the right intervals throughout the day. OK-what should he do? He should eat more fat. Ernie, add a significant quantity of butter, olive oil, avocado, and nut butters to your meals and snack. Everything you are describing is normal, rest as much as you can and eat more of the fats I listed. When Carl gave up his bad habits it was a rough week for him. Barely dragging himself through the day, bad headaches and not very fun to be around either.
When our bodies are so conditioned to run on glucose (blood sugar) for energy they become less adept at utilizing and metabolizing fat for energy. Estimates are that it takes 2-3wks to retrain the mitochondria in your cells to use fat for energy instead of sugar. Training at high intensity also increases the enzymes that are used to transport fat into the cells for use as energy. If CrossFit is relatively new to you, this process is still ongoing. Be patient. Let your workouts suffer. Read what Matt from CrossFit Verve says about his performance (by the way, Matt is a favorite at CO Regional Qualifiers)
And, what to put on those vegetables? Here are a couple I like. If you use a lot of them you can count it as a carb block.
Tomato Caper
2 ripe tomatoes, 2-3T red onion, 2T capers, 1/4c red wine vinegar, 2t fresh thyme, 2T fresh basil, salt and pepper. Put everything in the blender.
Then I add the olive oil separately so I can measure it more precisely.
Raspberry
1pint fresh or frozen raspberries, 1/2c freshly squeezed orange juice, 2T apple cider vinegar, 1T balsamic vinegar, 1T white miso, 4T minced fresh parsley, 1t thyme, sea salt
Roasted Garlic-Mustard
Roast a head of garlic, blend it with a little dijon mustard, salt and pepper and apple cider vinegar.
One vegetable dish I love a lot is a little more autumnal, but I’ll describe it anyway: slice up brussel sprouts and raddichio very finely. Then in a small frying pan, measure in your oil and saute a clove of garlic. While the garlic sautees, add in 1t of caraway seeds. Stir in 1T honey, 1t dijon and 4T apple cider vinegar, add plenty of salt and pepper. While the mixture is sizzling hot pour it over the vegetables so that they wilt slightly, then put them on a bed of baby spinach. If you used the whole portion yourself you might count the dressing as a carb block (plus however much olive oil you added for your fat).
On the other hand, Briar, last night I ate a piece of grilled salmon and a pile of baby lettuces with 1t olive oil. I guess technically that is 3 ingredients, but pretty close to 2!
Thats about as complex as I can handle. Salmon with lemon and serrano chilis have become my friends! thanks jen
Thanks Jen, for those dressing ideas. They look delicious. Days 1-3 were also filled with super low energy and headaches all day, but today it’s not so bad. Yes, I do feel slightly hungry for most of the day, but it’s do-able. But, I do really want a croissant! or a margarita.
I was happy to find that I could get a meal at Chopped that came very close to meeting my zone demands. Had enough carbs, but was a little short on protein and a little high on fat. Next time I’ll get dressing on the side, and continue to wish for just one acceptable protein source that is both real food and not meat.
Anyone have any other ideas where I can go out if for one reason or another I don’t have time to cook a meal?
“Anyone have any other ideas where I can go out if for one reason or another I don’t have time to cook a meal?”
Back when I was working out in the field, I would go to Quizno’s and get the Black and Bleu salad, minus the bleu cheese and flatbread and add mushrooms. Not sure how good the balsamic dressing is for you, but it was WAAY better for me than a hamburger and french fries.
As for the soda, try switching to coffee if you like it. Getting some caffeine will squash those withdrawals.
Jen, THANK YOU for the dressing ideas. I can’t wait to try them. The tomato caper one sounds awesome.
My update: I’ve actually had sky high energy this week. It’s making me restless at work. No cravings for carbs either, no headaches, but the diet coke is calling my name (screaming it actually). That’s my hardest challenge so far.
Here is another recipe. It is a horseradish salsa or a cocktail sauce.
1T horeradish (I prefer the root but you can use prepared as well)
1 scaliion chooped
1 T red onion
2 small roma tomatoes ( I doubled the recipe and used a small can of organic diced tomatoes)
1/2t ginger
1.5 t rice vinegar
1T tamari
.5 t lemon juice
blend in blender or food processor, I add alloted blocks of olive oil to each serving
you would need to use 1/3 c or more to count as a carb block. I had it over broiled salmon and steamed veggies today, yum. I have aslo had with shrimp and scallops and eggs. I add extra horseradish because I like it spicy. Happy eating.
Ryan,
We ate at chopped last night too and I have no idea how good it was, I tried some meat (think it was turkey) to get protein but there really was very little of it. And got the balsamic vinagrette for dressing but I could tell there was too much of that to be my 3 blocks of fat. What did you get in your salad?
That has been my struggle, our family eats out a lot and I am pretty good with breakfast but lunch and dinner are approximate at best. Would like anyone elses ideas.
I don’t eat out all that much but I do really like it as a treat. I just resigned myself to not eating out at all during these two weeks. My energy has been bad the last two days. Day three was great nad I thought (hoped) I was home free but it was a total crash on day 4 and 5. I am a little disappointed that I haven’t really noticed the inches “mellting” away as I’ve heard tell about. I am not sure what to make of this at this point. I am really glad I am doing this cuz it is a really good learning tool. I thought I was a pretty good eater. One of my big dinner problems is that I am so hungry and I really don’t have the energy and forethought for dinner. The idea of spending so much time with prep and cooking is exhausting.
I am sorry that I don’t have any ideas for the eating out. Except that I might try some less traditional american places such as Mis Saigon or a greek place since they aren’t quite as corrupt with food yet as we are.
Good luck.
Keep your chin up Ellie, you can do this and you will notice a differnce inm any ways by the end of the 2 weeks. I have found it extremely hard to eat out and do paleo-zone, chopped is really the only option, most of the proteins are 3oz and add a little egg to that it works out pretty ok. I save eating out for my weekly “cheat” meal (which is on hold til after the 2 weeks). Still feeling pretty darn good. I think I may actaully be on the upswing of this long road of not feeling well!
I agree it would be hard to eat out and do paleo-zone. When paleo-zone was presented to me I thought to myself, how in the world am I going to eat?? Being a full time student, working, and unoriented to grocery shopping/cooking is the challenge. It’s so easy to go and order something to eat from a restaurant but my challange is going to the grocery store, planning, preparing food and not to mention the mess and the dishes!! I have gone to the grocery store twice this week and I have not eaten out which is amazing (a record breaker for me). I actually feel better and believe it or not I’ve almost got the list memorized!! It seems to get easier by the day eventhough I still get stuck (what am I going to make for breakfast/lunch/dinner).
Hang in there everyone!
~Brenda
Ellie, when you start to eat clean like we do with paleo, it takes a little bit for your body to adjust as it detoxes from the crap that we had been eating before. Just keep in mind that eating paleo is more about a lifstyle change, one that will give you the results you are looking for, but you have to give it a little time. Hence the TWO WEEK challenge. You will start to feel better and more energized as your body adjusts.
Eating out on Paleo is not as hard as you might think. All you have to do is ask a few simple questions. For Example, ask the waitress how many ounces of meat comes with a particular meal, they usually can find the answer for you. Most places will substitute fruit or extra vegetables for the poorer choice carbs. Skip out on the bread and order everything dry (all of the toppings, dressings, etc on the side). I usually take almonds with me and order my food dry so that I know that I get all of my fat blocks and it makes it easier than trying to calculate how much fat they use to cook my food. I also order a second serving of vegetables to get myself close to my blocks. It’s not a perfect measurement but by now you should be able to eyeball what a block looks like and get yourself fairly close while enjoying the fact that someone else is cooking for once.
Ellie-about 8:30 at the track.
I get email from the zone people. This recipe cam e today ( most of them are not paleo, but luckily this one is). It sounds good and for us 3 blockers per meal just cut in half
.
6 Block Meal
Ingredients:
6 ounces grilled chicken
11 cups arugula
1 ruby grapefruit – sections
1 cup carrots
2 cups cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons raisins
2 teaspoons Zone Extra Virgin Olive Oil
lettuce
lemon juice
salt
Instructions:
Coarsely chop the arugula. Peel and section grapefruit. Grate the carrots. Cut cherry tomatoes into halves and the chicken into strips. Soak raisins in cold water to soften. Mix all ingredients in a salad bowl and dress with an emulsion of olive oil, salt and lemon juice.
ok one more comment and recipe. I am so so lovingmy used vitamix from ebay, it couldbe as old as I am but ti still works great! My favorite 3C and 3F smoothie of the week. 1 block of raw spinach, several thin slices of fresh ginger and lemon (skin and all), 3T avocado, dash of stevia and 2c of mixed berries and water to taste. So so yummy. I prefer to eat my protein blocks seperate from the smoothie, this morning I had some turkey lunch meat, I ifnd that more satisfying than adding protien powder. I am wondering how everyone is feeling? East anything interesting in the past few days?