So what should I eat then??

First and foremost. People love to belong.

We love to fit in.

To have a common ground or same beliefs as others in a collective.

So we then end up with these different food eating “groups”

For example:

Vegetarian, vegan, paleo, raw, IFFYM etc.

You then have different ways of eating within these.

More groups:

1. Atkins Diet
2. The Zone Diet
3. Vegetarian Diet
4. Vegan Diet
5. Weight Watchers Diet
6. South Beach Diet
7. Raw Food Diet
8. Mediterranean Diet

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Now depending who you talk to,

they will tell you theirs is “the best” and is the one “you should be on”.

Go figure.

The fact is, they are not wrong.

Each one is the “best”.

But it is only the best one for them.

Don’t buy into the hype.

“You should go vegan, you will feel soooo amazing”

But I LOVE meat.. WTF?

If you don’t eat meat, cool. That’s your business.

It ain’t mine. So don’t force it on me.

Likewise, if you don’t eat meat, cool.

I ain’t gonna force it on you.

Pinky swear.

(Michelle, I am going to keep at you with the fish thing though) 

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Also…

The word “diet” has a negative association.

You hear it and already cringe.

It’s associated with abstinence, sacrifice and boring food.

This is BULLSHIT simply not the case.

Whatever eating patterns/habits you have on a continual basis… That is your diet.

It is not some temporary “x number of weeks” thing you do or go through

in the lead up to some event you are going to be photographed at.

Eg. Holidays/Christmas/wedding

These “6 week bikini body” diets do drop weight, but in an unsustainable manner.

People tend to yoyo out of these as they are too caloric restrictive and your body freaks out.

It also plateau’s as the body thinks there is a famine/food shortage and goes into fat storage mode.

Clever little thing, our body..

So if someone asks you what “diet” you are on,

simple tell them you eat real food…

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So back to the question,

What should I eat?

Any kind of real food.

The Paleo/Primal diet is possibly the best template to base your diet on.

Don't be that guy

*Disclaimer: If you that person who is heard quoting at someones lunch, “That’s not Paleo” take your Reebok Nanos, move to a cave, hunt your own food, and wash in a lake and do your business in a hole in the ground..

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An infographic of the Paleo diet

What to eat:

• Meat (Grassfed)
• Fish/Seafood (choose wild over farmed)
• Fruit and Veg (choose locally sourced organic produce if available) Try Beechlawn Organic Farm for this
• Nuts and seeds
• Oils (cold pressed extra virgin olive oil/coconut oil etc.)
• Oh, and eggs are cool

And there you have it…

If it ain’t on the list, don’t eat it!

Simples.

Now,

-Lets go to a grey area-

The problem with this is it excludes the following

1. Dairy
2. Night shades
3. Legumes
4. Grains

So the above four are food groups that unless you have sensitivity to one of them in particular are going to be cool in your diet.

1.Dairy

Do you find yourself caught up with phlegm after drinking milk or eating cheese? Maybe you react badly to yogurts or get headaches after latte’s/cappuccino’s..

Look to exclude dairy.

If not, have the dairy.

2. Night shades:

(For the record: Bell peppers, aubergines, goji berries, hot peppers such as chili peppers, jalapenos, chili-based spices, red pepper, cayenne, paprika, potatoes not sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco to name a few.

These are said to contribute to leaky gut syndrome and can sometimes illicit severe immune responses such as breaking out in hives and rashes. If this sounds like you try eliminating nightshades from your diet and see how you respond.

Explanation of leaky gut.

How it affects leaky gut.

Probably best to keep these to minimum or avoid altogether.

3. Legumes

These bad boys: Beans, lentils, peas, peanuts.

Why does it say to avoid them?

Because they contain phytates and lectins.

Phytates bind up minerals in food leaving the body unable to absorb them.

Lectins are carb-binding and leave them harder to digest causing indigestion.

Please note: the body required a certain amount of non – digestible (insoluble)  fibre anyway so for me legumes ain’t such a big deal but should possibly be kept to a minimum.

4.Grains:

This is a huge topic.

Mostly around gluten.

I’ll let you research it yourself. I would ask the question

“Are you coeliac”?

• If yes, avoid grains at all cost.
• If, no, eat it if you want it. Keep it to a minimum and consider it a treat

Have a read of Danny Lennon’s blog over at Sigma Nutrition.

Read Can I eat that sandwich? first and then why did I feel better after giving up gluten after.

Then jump onto What is wrong with grains? after. This one is interesting from the point of view of the how it is stored and why it is so resistant to weather and predators. Little screenshot from the article below.

So why are the governmental food pyramids so grain and carb heavy?

I’m guessing the fact our little planet is so over populated that if we all ate as outlined above, we would run out of animals, fish, fruit and veg quite quickly!

Do yourself a favour and educate yourself.

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In summary,

Eat everything the Paleo diet recommends. (Provided you like it)

Add in provided you have no intolerances:

• Dairy
• Legumes
• Nightshades (minimum)
• Grains (Remove altogether if you can)

“But what about calories??

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Now that’s what to eat…

How to wrap it up all sexy and stuff so it don’t get boring..

Take cooking advice from a pro.

Recipes from oliveoilandlemon blog are fantastic.

Dominic has summarised and picked out his favourites from the blog on his website with photo’s here at what you should be eating and how to cook it.

I’m not even going to pretend to be a good cook!

End

Go be awesome

#becomeyouranomaly