The Primal Blueprint

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by benkei, Mar 6, 2011.

  1. benkei

    benkei Valued Member

    Just curious as to how many people here follow the PB? What got you into it and how has it changed your life? Most importantly, how often do you cheat and what do you cheat with? I can't resist here and there and I like wine too much to give it up...
     
  2. CosmicFish

    CosmicFish Aleprechaunist

    I don't follow it, but my diet does have several similarities - I eat mostly meat, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, fruit, veg and (drink) milk and cream.

    I also follow my own version of the 90% rule, keeping the 10% mostly for nights out (or in), the odd lunch date and restaurant visit. Others use an 80% rule and I've even seen one person who follows an 85% rule. I allow my 90% to slacken right off a couple of weeks before Xmas up until the new year. And for this year and last, I've tightened it up to over 95%. I prefer to do my cutting in the new year along with the resolution crowd as it's less aggro to do it then. The 90% rule also goes out of the window for the once or twice a year that I'm visiting my parents.

    The above works for me as it provides a nice compromise between getting what I want from my diet whilst inflicting minimal disruption to my social and family life. Favourite cheats are beer, curries, dark chocolate (90%, so it's not that bad anyway), ice cream.
     
  3. John Titchen

    John Titchen Still Learning Supporter

    I started eating a PB style diet in January. I've essentially cut out the main staple carbs in my diet: bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, couscous, oats, flour based products, refined sugar, milk chocolate. I still eat dairy produce.

    My cheats:
    Occasional glass of wine or bottle of beer.
    I won't stick to the diet if I'm eating at someone else's house - it's not polite.
    Occasional meal in a restaurant
    The odd bit of dark chocolate (generally 80%)
    Either croissants on a Sunday morning or some hash browns with the bacon/eggs/sausages.

    I've slipped up occasionally and had a sponge pudding or a bar of chocolate. What I've noticed is that when I have these things - they don't satisfy. They taste too sweet and I feel sick afterwards. They also make me incredibly thirsty.

    How's it working? Well I've more energy and I feel less thirsty. I don't feel bloated after meals. I've lost 10 kg of weight without having to up my exercise routine - with no visible muscle loss - just a much slimmer waist.

    My plan is to continue with the diet in its current form with occasional cheats if I want to make chips (fries for the Americans) or dunk some bread in flavoured olive oil, or have some biscuits with cheese.
     
  4. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    My diet is based on it, but I'm not hugely strict. I'm probably 80-85% compliant. I relax at the weekends and eat more carbs than during the week. What I have found with reducing the starchy carbs at lunchtime is that I don't feel sleepy in the afternoons the way I used to after having a sandwich for lunch. I eat more veggies than I use to, but am unwilling to give up cake, my Friday night Indian takeaway or the occasional sandwich/piece of toast/plate of pasta. I pretty much give up over Christmas and just enjoy festive foods.

    I don't worry about the diet if I'm out with friends.
     
  5. Kwajman

    Kwajman Penguin in paradise....

    I eat very little meat. Probably less than 3-4 lbs of veggies in the last 8 months, almost all carbs, lots of alcohol. I've lost 55 lbs in 8 months, and yes a lot of it is muscle.
     
  6. SpikeD

    SpikeD At the Frankenstein Place

    Can someone please link me to the page that listed all of the vegetables that were ok with the PB plan as i cannot seem to find it now, the website has got incredibly bloated lately and i just can't seem to find a definitive list. Individualy searching for each veg to see where it stands is tiresome and google-ing whether a veg is a this or a that type is even more so.
    I have never liked vegetables and generally only ever eaten spuds and onions so i would like to try some veg again and see if i can tolerate the taste. Cheers.
     
  7. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

  8. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    I have the odd carb up day (usually weekend day) when I feel totally knackered and my CNS is drained.
    (self regulation, usually my grip and dexterity is the first to go and I'll be grumpy and lethargic)
    That's when i take a carb up day and a few days off training.
    I'll usually have a brown roll or two and a big bowl of brown rice with veg and some treats throughout the day (yumm yummy!!)
     
  9. SpikeD

    SpikeD At the Frankenstein Place

    Thanks Frodo. I knew it was there somewhere, it is now bookmarked.:cool: Now let's see which of these veggie things i can actually enjoy. :thinking:
     
  10. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    You're welcome!

    There's a pdf version as well - it might be worth printing it out and sticking it to the fridge! :)
     
  11. SpikeD

    SpikeD At the Frankenstein Place

    I've printed 3 copies, 1 for the fridge, 1 for the car and 1 for the wallet just to make sure. TBH i will probably end up with peppers, spring greens and maybe some of the 'bite-ier'? veg like asparagus and radish that i will go with as they have a chance of actually being eaten and not given to the G-pigs. Oh and onions and garlic of course. I told the missus that i was going to have to eat loads of onions and garlic and she told me something i can't repeat here, apparently the 18 eggs a week has erm, affected me enough. :)
     
  12. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Erm... so how is this PB thing any different to eating plenty of fruit & veg and keeping the crap in moderation? :confused:
     
  13. Jabby Mcgee

    Jabby Mcgee Valued Member

    This one has a label :hat:
     
  14. John Titchen

    John Titchen Still Learning Supporter

    This one says don't eat complex carbs.

    ie no potato, rice, semolina, pasta, bread etc...
     
  15. SpikeD

    SpikeD At the Frankenstein Place

    It also promotes high fat intake and debunks modern conventional wisdom drummed into us by health officials such as eat fat - get fat, sat fats cause heart disease/blocked arteries.
     
  16. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    I was always under the impression complex carbs were the "good" carbs.
     
  17. Socrastein

    Socrastein The Boxing Philosopher

    The media and your average ADA nutritionist has a hard time distinguishing "good" from "slightly less bad compared to white bread".
     
  18. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    And what results have you seen from that advice? (Open question to all on the forum.) I thought it was a fairly logical process that a diet high in fat would result in obesity and heart attacks - hence why eating McDonald's twice a day won't give you a 28" waist. I do absolutely believe fat is essential for healthy living, but in moderation. Though I suppose it's like most other fields of study in the health industry, where for every claim there is a counter-claim to which there is a counter-counter-claim. :rolleyes:
     
  19. John Titchen

    John Titchen Still Learning Supporter

    You've been here this long and you've not been reading all the nutrition articles posted by Coma and Cosmicfish? :)
     
  20. Socrastein

    Socrastein The Boxing Philosopher

    I had a client who recently went to the doctor to get some blood work done. He admitted to me later that he was very nervous to see his doc, because he was sure he was going to get a lecture when his triglycerides and cholesterol were higher.

    See I had told him to eat at least 4 eggs every morning and never ever take out a yolk, put some cheese on his eggs, snack on lots of nuts, eat tons of salmon and fatty meats, etc. In fact, his goal was to put on size and I told him he needed to eat at least 20 oz of red meat and a large russet potato with sour cream and butter after every hard workout we had (3-4x a week).

    While he's been putting on size at a ridiculously fast rate, he thought in the back of his head that he was getting big at the expense of his health. Of course I had explained in detail that I would never make recommendations that put someone's health at risk just to get bigger, but like most clients he only half believed me because 1000+ other people and the media had told him otherwise his whole life.

    To cut to the chase, his cholesterol dropped over 20 points from last time he checked it (just before he started training with me) and everything else stayed in the same healthy range it started.

    This is the same thing I see every time a client gets blood work (assuming they've been following my recommendations). Every time they're sure they're going to get in trouble with their doctor, and every time their doctor is stunned that their numbers improved as their saturated fat and cholesterol intake went through the roof.

    Not all fats are created equal. Yes, eating McDonalds every day is going to have a negative impact on your heart health as well as other things, but eating the same amount of saturated fat in the form of healthy meats, eggs, dairy, coconut oil, and nuts is going to have a completely different effect.

    The same way eating pancakes and eating broccoli will both effect radically different changes in your body even though they're both carbs.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2011

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