August Whole 30 Paleo Challenge

[Defren]

Why permanently? Will it benefit your diabetes, your fitness or both? If there is no real benefit to doing it for ever more, will you not miss the squirty stuff and buckle :lol: Aubergine lasagne sounds wonderful, I say "in the name of science" have an extra large serving :lol: I'm sure Mrs Stephen will be delighted to see her cooking enjoyed that much (I know I do)

Well I think that it's a healthy way of eating. The only difference between Whole30 and my regular diet is no dairy and no sweetners. It's good at highlighting your food dependencies (cream and diet coke in my case).

It probably isn't as good for my diabetes as ketosis in the short term. But losing more weight quicker will probably have long term benefits. I'm also in the late stages of half-marathon training, so I can get by with a few more carbs than before.

When I've done the first half-marathon in 2 weeks, I'm probably going to try and go back into ketosis, in time for my second half-marathon at the end of October. But I'll try and do it without cream this time.

No cream makes life not worth living. I am fasting today and sulking because I can't have any cream. The rest of the day is fine, just not a forced removal of my cream. :evil:

 

[phil.short]

First of all, good luck to anyone embarking on this. I'd like to share my story. I developed diabetes a year after being diagnosed with Sarcoidosis and being placed on a long term steroid program to control it. I started off on insulin after being hospitalised following a being tested at 33 mmol, but after a few months my sugars were well controlled and I was feeding the insulin so I came off insulin and onto Metformin. This was fine until about 18 months later when my steroid dose was ramped up and my sugars climbed out of control again. I have been on insulin again for the last year or so.
Or had been. In February I heard Joe Cross and his story on Radio 2. His plight with an autoimmune condition, steriod treatment, weight gain, onset of diabetes and growing dependency on a multitude of prescription drugs hit home like a sledgehammer - this was me. Inspired, on March 1 I started on a 30 day juice fast - which is slightly more extreme than a Paleo diet, but shares many principles. The initial detox period was challenging, but I stuck with it, got past the headaches and nausea, and after a few days had lost several pounds and suddenly felt much healthier, and my blood sugars were testing in the 4-6 range. I stopped injecting insulin, there was no need. Over the next month I also reduced all my other medication to zero; I was already weaning off the steroids under my consultants direction, but I was taking a different immune suppressant medication instead, which I also now tapered off.
My blood sugar readings graph is amazing; up to 1 March the readings covered a range from under 3 to over 20 and all points between. From 1 March the range was suddenly 4-6, no exceptions. Flat, steady, and in the healthy normal non-diabetic range. It looks like a seismology graph of an earthquake followed by normality, very striking.
I did the 30 days juice only, then introduced a more Paleo-like diet. I do eat grains and pulses, but avoid wheat and gluten, all processed foods, diary, and red meat, alcohol, coffee, tea. I have fish and chicken occasionally, but mostly my diet is now fruit and veg (including at least one juice a day). By avoid I mean I don't eat them regularly, but I don't point blank refuse to eat them, I just try to have healthier alternatives where possible. I will have yoghurt in a smoothie for example, and milk in porridge because I'm not Scottish - no offence! - but I don't have either of these on a daily basis.
I have lost two and a half stones in as many months, and people do a double take if they haven't seen me for a while. Someone said I look 20 years younger - I certainly feel it!

 

[Jilln]

Were

Last supper - Whole30 starts tomorrow

I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but I just noticed that August is the official "Whole 30 challenge" month, so I'm going to give it a crack.

The Whole 30 Challenge is a 30 day programme which aims to "cut out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days."

It's basically strict Paleo for 30 days with the following rules:

http://whole9life.com/2012/01/whole-30-v2012/

Now I'd consider myself pretty strict Paleo, so most of this won't be much different for me, but I intend to dump my remaining vices:

1. I'm kinda addicted to diet Coke
2. I eat a lot of cream, some cheese, and a little milk in my tea
3. I love sugar free jelly

I'm also starting my 12 week Half Marathon training plan, and I'd like to lose about a pound a week to help me get up the 150ft hill that is halfway around the course.

Wish me luck, I might be even grumpier than normal over the next few days.

Were cavemen renowned for living long. healthy lives?

 

[martincoult]

Interesting. A month ago my diabetic nurse told me that because my blood sugar levels were never below 10-11, that I would have to probably go onto insulin injections. I asked for a stay of execution of one month and went on the Montignac diet, which is similar (but not) to the principles of Paleo just a bit friendlier IMHO.
So since 3rd May I started really checking my blood glucose in a way I never did before, and cut out all bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and became a monitorer of Glycemic index levels to nerd proportions.
On a positive note, bacon eggs black pudding and mushrooms is an epic start to the day. Kippers a close second, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon in third
I really miss spuds and all things naughty, but my blood levels have dropped incredibly in 3 weeks, from 11.3 down to 5.9 at the lowest - mostly averaging between 6 and 7. I'm sticking with it and need to lose a shocking 35kg.
My wife has lost about 7kg and me only 3kg in the same period, so the weight loss is a bit slower then I hoped for, but I'm optimistic...
Fruit or Sugar Free Jelly with cream has replaced the naughty puddings, so I think I prefer this to the tougher Paleo approach.
Anyone else pro Montignac?
Regards
Martin

 

[Brunneria]

Interesting. A month ago my diabetic nurse told me that because my blood sugar levels were never below 10-11, that I would have to probably go onto insulin injections. I asked for a stay of execution of one month and went on the Montignac diet, which is similar (but not) to the principles of Paleo just a bit friendlier IMHO.
So since 3rd May I started really checking my blood glucose in a way I never did before, and cut out all bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and became a monitorer of Glycemic index levels to nerd proportions.
On a positive note, bacon eggs black pudding and mushrooms is an epic start to the day. Kippers a close second, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon in third
I really miss spuds and all things naughty, but my blood levels have dropped incredibly in 3 weeks, from 11.3 down to 5.9 at the lowest - mostly averaging between 6 and 7. I'm sticking with it and need to lose a shocking 35kg.
My wife has lost about 7kg and me only 3kg in the same period, so the weight loss is a bit slower then I hoped for, but I'm optimistic...
Fruit or Sugar Free Jelly with cream has replaced the naughty puddings, so I think I prefer this to the tougher Paleo approach.
Anyone else pro Montignac?
Regards
Martin

I use a lot of Montignac's ideas, but draw from Ducan, South Beach, Atkins and Holford. With a bit of green smoothieism and Raw and Paleo, when it whets the appetite... I'm a bit of a low carb ****, really.

 

[craig81]

Were cavemen renowned for living long. healthy lives?

No, the average paleolithic person did not live long lives by today's disease riddled standards. But, remember that an average age can be misleading. When the 'caveman' didn't die in childbirth, when s/he wasn't eaten by a predator, when s/he was not killed in war or in a hunting incident, or when s/he was not killed from infection early in life, then yes, it can be persuasively argued that they were healthier than the average modern human. And if they managed to avoid all of the dangers of daily life then they could live to a good age without having to drown themselves in medication.

So equating a paleo template diet with a low average lifespan, as if correlation somehow equals causation, is wrong. The single biggest increase in longevity of humans occurred not when we moved to an agrarian society (where lifespan and health deteriorated), not when we invented antibiotics, but when sanitation systems were introduced that helped to reduce infection and deaths resulting from nasty infection in heavily populated areas. Up until then the average lifespan of a caveman was not so different from our ancestors in the 19th century (no references at hand).

Anyway, @borofergie, how did you get on with the training and the race? How did eating slightly more starch compared with being ketogenic work out for you in terms of performance? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Cheers

 

[laylakikido]

doesnt everybody know an average stoneage guy only lived to be about 25 to 30 years old keep on the beer i have and i will be 60 next week

 

[borofergie]

doesnt everybody know an average stoneage guy only lived to be about 25 to 30 years old keep on the beer i have and i will be 60 next week

Read the post above "average" is misleading, because the numbers are dominated by large infant mortality. Until the discovery of antibiotics, there was also a much higher chance of dying from infection. There isn't much evidence that these guys were dying from diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer though.

 

[borofergie]

Anyway, @borofergie, how did you get on with the training and the race? How did eating slightly more starch compared with being ketogenic work out for you in terms of performance? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

The Whole30 was great. I think I lost something like 14lbs in a month, and started the Great North Run at the lowest weight that I'd been since diagnosis (something like 70 lbs down in total). That's despite eating lots more fruit and sweet potato than I normally would. I think it works because (like low carb) it restricts your food choices so much, that it really compromises your ability to snack. It is also very enlightening to understand exactly how much processed **** is in even some low-carb staples like the packets of sliced meat from the supermarket.

The GNR was also fine. I drunk some sports drink on the way round and ran 2:23.

However, my views on sports nutrition have moved on since then, and I now realise that you don't need carbohydrates for endurance sports. I'm currently training for the Berlin Marathon in September on an almost zero-carb keto diet. I'm not weighing myself at the moment (because we're moving house and the scales are packed), but I look and feel slimmer. Every pound I lose between now and September will be a minute off my marathon time.

I really enjoyed the challenge of Whole30, and would like to try it again. However it's not really compatible with ketosis, because it doesn't let you eat any dairy. When I'm eating <<20g of carb a day and moderate protein, I need to get my energy from somewhere, and cheese and cream fit the bill quite nicely. I'd struggle for food choices without dairy in my diet.

I do thoroughly recommend Whole30 though.