2 Thursday Test Drives on a Friday

Thank you all for your sweet comments about the woman asking me if I was pregnant.  It made me feel better.  Of course, it helped even more when pants I put on 2 weeks ago and were tight fit much better today.  And the shorts that I had on yesterday were baggy and I only bought them about 2 weeks ago. Who knows what this body of mine is doing?

Thursday Test Drive #1: The Paleo Diet

Yesterday afternoon the lovely UPS man brought me The Paleo Diet and  The Paleo Diet for Athletes.  The girls were deeply entrenched in "The Princess and the Swan" so I got to read both books cover to cover.  Okay, so I skipped the receipes and the bibliographies and in The Paleo Diet for Athletes, I skipped some of the repeat information from The Paleo Diet.  I like that they tell you point blank that this isn't intended to be a diet but a healthy way of eating for life and that there's a lot of studies and science behind it (even if in The Paleo Diet for Athletes that was part of the really boring stuff - and I like science - because they went into it way more than in the other book).  And the irony is that it makes a ton of sense to me.  I've always thought of human beings as animals with a more developed cerebral cortex... which is why we have to train children and sometimes adults how to manage "civilized behavior."

Anyway.  The ideas are pretty simple, straightforward and make sense.  Although I'm not 100% sure about completely eliminating dairy all together from your diet.  I understand their scientific basis is that a cup of skim milk can make your blood sugar spike in the same way a piece of white bread does, but there are other health benefits to dairy.  The kids will definitely continue with the dairy (we use all skim or for cheese at least 2% or less fat), and I'll still have a glass of glorious milk (I LOVE milk) from time to time.  The version for Athletes is a little different because they talk about how the modern person does not have the activity level of the cave man and those who are athletes (whether weekend warrior, amateur, or professional) have slightly different needs than our paleolithic brethren.  So it combines the "best of both worlds."

I can't do my standard review on The Paleo Diet because I've only just started it today.  But I figured I could give you the synopsis of what I took away from the two books.

There are a few main ideas:
1. Eat all the LEAN meat, fish and seafood you can.
2. Eat all the fruit (not dried) and non-starchy vegetables you can.  For athletes, during 1st the 30 minutes after a workout and during the 60-90 minutes after a workout, you can have starchy vegetables (sweet potatoes, potatoes) and rice, dried fruit; you can have a bagel or cereal but it's not as good as the vegetable option; and you need to keep a 4 carb to 1 protein ratio during these times. (I instantly thought: recoverite! accelerade!)
3. NO cereal or grains (except during those 2 recovery periods I mentioned a moment ago, or during exercise), including legumes.
4. NO dairy.
5. NO processed foods.

You can have eggs that are enriched with Omega 3, but you need to limit them to 6 per week. (I can't imagine eating 6 eggs in a week personally, but maybe I'm not as big of an egg fan as I thought I was.)  NO peas, green beans or peanuts because they are legumes that act like grains.

For weight loss, it's suggested to limit nuts and seed to 4 oz. per day (which is more than I typically eat but then I tend to eat a good bit of dairy).  They say to only use flaxseed oil or canola or olive oil mixed with one of these, but to limit it to 4 Tablespoons a day (again much more oil than I use).

Strictly limit salt intake during non-recovery or exercise periods. Limit diet soda, coffee, tea, and alcohol.  But for snacks, you can have fruit, homemade jerky without salt, raw veggies, chicken or beef, nuts, and hard boiled eggs.

AVOID: dairy, cereal grains (including oat, rice, rye, wheat, quinoa) unless during the recovery or exercise periods; legumes (all beans, any food that has "pea" as part of the word... i.e., chickpea, all soybeans or soy products); starchy veggies (except potatoes, yams or sweet potatoes during recovery); salty foods; fatty meats; soft drinks; juices (except during recovery from exercise); candy, honey and sugar; and yeast; and anything processed (including deli meat).

LOOK FOR: range fed, grass fed, or free range meat because it's leaner and higher in protein content; small, non predatory fish that are fresh and not farmed.

For Athletes they break your eating day into stages... Note that during Stages II-IV, they say you should eat the number of calories burned during your workout.

Stage I: Pre-workout or race
Unless your workout or race will last more than 4 hours, stick to the paleo diet food selections and try to eat 2 hours beforehand if possible.

Stage II: During workout or Race
Try to Stick to 4:1 carb to protein ratio the best you can.  They give suggestions of gels and water, fruit, juice, turkey sandwiches, or a sport bar with protein.

Stage III: 1st 30 minutes after workout or race
Try to keep things liquid.  Recovery drink, juice, smoothies from fruit that have a protein powder (either whey or egg protein is preferred), a glucose and water.  Again, trying to keep to a 4:1 carb to protein ratio.

Stage IV: 60-90 minutes after a workout or race
Move to solid food, still following the 4:1 ratio.  You can eat potatoes, yams, and sweet potatoes or dried fruits in this period.  A "2nd best" option would be bagels, rice or cereal.  For protein, they say that egg whites, turkey breast or fish make especially good proteins during this stage.

Stage V: the rest of the day
Stick to the paleo diet without the additions in Stages II - IV of starches or grains.  They suggest that overall 55% of your food for the entire day (Stages I-V) come from carbohydrate, but that for Stage V, 35% to 45% come from vegetable and fruit carbs, and to split the rest between protein and fat.  (Which sounds a bit like the Zone to me, but those books have not yet arrived.  I anxiously await the UPS delivery!)  The other thing they say is to make sure that during Stage V, you need to take at least 1/2 of the calories burned during your workout in as carbohydrate.

The fats that they refer to are good fats: from nuts (other than peanuts), lean proteins, avocado, or good oils.

They also say that it's okay if 1 or 2 meals PER WEEK are not fully paleo diet as long as the rest are and as long as you're not gorging yourself in those other meals.

The Bottom Line appears to be to keep food simple, fresh and as minimally processed as possible, and free from grains, dairy, salt, sugars, legumes and yeast.  And they suggest making extra meat at dinner one or two nights so you can have the left over meat for your other meals without having to cook it again to make life easier.

Other than the dairy and the grains/cereal, which is a big difference, this isn't all that much different.  I figure I'll give it a try... at least until I read the zone diet and see what I want to incorporate from that. : )  I'll have to let you know how it goes.  I figure if Joe Friel and  the PhD guy say it's great, it can't be all that terrible.

Thursday Test Drive #2: Cheribundi!
Okay, so Cheribundi contacted me and provided me with these free smaples of their Tru Cherry, Skinny Cherry, and Whey Cherry.  They did not pay me to review them, unless you count the free sample as the payment.

First, I have to say that I normally like cherries.  Of pie choices, cherry pie ranks 2nd with Key Lime being the only thing above it.  If I buy cherries in the store, I have to pace myself or I'll eat the whole bag in a day and spend the next day wishing for more cherries.  So when they said would you like some, I jumped on it.

Here's what they say:
Tru Cherry: Our original juice is packed with 50 cherries.  Drink it daily to get 2 servings of fruit and powerful benefits that no other fruit has.  You'll feel better and live life to the fullest.

Skinny Cherry: Choose this juice to drink daily if you're looking to limit your calories and sugar without sacrificing all those cherry nutrients and benefits.  It's sweetened with all-natural Stevia, giving you the same great cherry pie tast as Tru Cherry.

Whey Cherry: We've packed protein into this version of our cherry juice to speed recovery and make you feel better.  It has all the powerful nutrients and benefits of our original juice but with the extra advantage of protien for those who want to stay competitive.

The Tri-Mommy Truth:
Tru Cherry: Tart and delicious!  I drank it room temperature once and liked it better than drinking the cold sample.  The cold one made it seem a little more tart to me.  Like cherry pie without the sugar, mess or a fork.  Awesome!  You could even use this as part of the Paleo Diet for Athletes in recovery.

Skinny Cherry:  I liked it but not nearly as much as the Tru Cherry.  I guess where they take out the cherries (only 40 in this bottle), they replace it with water... at least that's what it tasted like to me.  I still liked it though.  Not as much punch as the tart Tru Cherry.

Whey Cherry:
I waited to drink this one until after I had a little bit of a longer workout... a 20 mile bike ride.  I was hot and sweaty, and I drank it and seemed to recover pretty well.  It definitely was better tasting than my usual Recoverite, which I love, but this was like cherry juice.  Yum.  And it comes pretty close to a 4:1 ratio of carb to protein... 30 g carb to 8 g protein.  Of course, you have 27 g coming from sugars because it's juice.  But definitely yum!

There really was no Good or Bad other than what I've said above.  If you don't like things that are tangy and tart, these products might not be for you.  But if you like cherries and/or tart things.  It's great!

In other News...
I did not work out this morning as I had solo Mommy duty and it's not looking likely because I forgot I have lunch on the calendar with a friend.  BUT there's always this weekend!  Tomorrow I definitely plan to do Day 3 of Week 2 of the Push Up Challenge and to hit the closed loop for a lovely 20 mile bike ride in the morning. : )

Annie seemed to be responding well to the medicine yesterday.  She even tried to play with us for a little bit after stealing one of the girls' socks.  But after about 3 minutes, she had decided it was too much and stopped.  Unfortunately this morning she started off seeming to be feeling good - even trotted around the yard some but afterwards she started slumping her head and such and looking painful... despite having had the tylenol with codeine, valium, and prednisone about 1/2 an hour earlier.  At the moment she is asleep on my office floor, but I have to say I am worried.  I've gotten some people on Facebook who recommended that I try accupuncture, so we may give it a whirl if the medicine isn't working.