Nutritional Adaptation
Always an evolving topic, nutrition and training go hand in hand. I have been paleo for a long time. But to me, it was never about a diet with restrictions. To me, it was a lifestyle change with a new way of thinking about where does my food come from and what happens in my body when I eat this. How does it make me feel and why? That awareness is my nutrition. Paleo… Keto… Banting… it doesn’t matter what you call it, the bottom line is you need to get all your energy systems firing to their max and adaptation is key to this. Fat and ‘higher’ carb are all good things when you use them correctly. However, one thing is clear, staying away from processed food is the goal. Things in packets with too many unpronounceable additives are not the way forward no matter if an athlete or not.
What Paleo means to me
When I started Paleo, it was a hard transition. Only through the help of Nell Stephenson did I manage to make the change in mindset. She asked me to read the book, The Paleo Diet Athletes. I was a little overwhelmed by it, not quite understanding what I was reading. Then Nell did a kitchen cleanout and shocked me with what she threw out. Then I remember buying the food on the list she gave me, and with a kitchen full, I still had no idea what to eat. I always have a sandwich for lunch. Now I can’t eat bread, so what do I eat. It took me a while to figure out I just eat the things inside without the grain outside. It took me a while to deconstruct what food is. It was so complicated in the beginning. I always have cereal and milk for breakfast, and now neither will do. So what do I do? Changing the habit of buying food was another barrier I had to cross. Previously I would go food shopping once a month. And buy the things in tins, boxes, packets, that would last and last. Now with all the fresh produce Nell had on my list, I had to go once a week at least. This seemed like hard work.
I remember driving to training one day, pondering this paradigm shift and feeling like I have been a horse with flappers on all these years. Suddenly I saw a blue sky for the first time. I started to understand what Nell was trying to tell me when she said eat real food. I realised how much marketing had lied to me. How in my degree of design, packaging made me buy foods that I thought were good for me. Later on, the readings of Michael Pollen Food Rules, were so pertinent here, when he said the more the box says this is good for you, the more it’s not. While the real food, he writes, sits quietly on the produce shelves with no packaging at all.
Another big turning point came when I watched the film, King Corn, learning about how destructive only for-profit agriculture is. And that I have to step up on what I’m buying and eating. That I can make a difference to the environment, to our planet by what I’m buying Because the big impacts facing us in the next years are about our failure to adapt to environmental needs. The water crisis is one impact I faced when I lived in Cape Town during Level 5 water restrictions. We were only allowed 50L per person per day. If you flush an average toilet once, that consumes 14L. Three flushes and that’s your daily allowance gone.
Robb Wolf has also made a major impact on my life. I consulted him on high-performance Paleo Nutrition when I was training for the Olympics in Rowing. He guided me on the nuts and bolts of performance nutrition, but the deeper lesson he gave me, was on thinking about how my performance impacts those around me, taking me out of my selfish bubble for a moment. Today Robb is still passionate about helping folks but with a holistic, regenerative approach that involves agriculture. We wrote on his blog an article about are we walking the talk… Please take the time to read it here…
Lastly, an Irish trail runner by passion; nutrition scientist by profession, Barry Murray taught me about getting all your energy systems firing to their max and that fat-adaptation is key to this. He has also taught me about the power of subtraction, and grounding meaning that it’s about being a ‘Connected Athlete.’ Curious for yourself….
Now after years of this Paleo/Keto/Fat-Adaptation journey, I have learned that only in food consumerism can we really make a difference. If we keep buying meat from feedlots, they will never change. If we keep buying banana’s that have traveled more than most families ever do on vacation, we will never encourage local farmer’s markets, or even better, growing our own little vegetable garden.
-
It is so simple to do, that it looks complicated because we can’t wrap our minds around it. For example, dessert can be just a few grapes. But our TV tells us dessert needs to be some baked thing topped with ice-cream or custard.
-
Paleo is not a diet. It is not the new Atkins or South Beach. It is not new research where wine at dinner is now good for you, tomorrow new science research says it’s not. Paleo is founded from our natural beginnings. What we were meant to eat. And the science is there supporting this is what our bodies need. Nothing processed.
-
Our western diet all went haywire the day breakfast cereals came to the table. Before the ‘convenience’ of this boxed food, we were cooking real food that looked like food.
-
Eating is supposed to be shared, enjoyed and a very social thing. You can make something fast, but don’t make everything fast-food living.
-
The reason for eating Paleo will become worthwhile to you when you start feeling it on your body. It’s shockingly wonderful and uplifting, and the best gift you can ever give yourself.ing to do.
The reason for eating Paleo will become worthwhile to you when you start feeling it on your body. It’s shockingly wonderful and uplifting, and the best gift you can ever give yourself.
I started a blog on my recipe discoveries and foodie places. I haven’t updated it for a while, but still a good read: paleowinning