Hello lovely readers. Here’s an update on my journey eating the ‘kind of paleo’ way.

It’s been four weeks since I quit sugar, quit grains, and restricted dairy in a bid to give my body a break and to see if eating this way would make me feel better.

What I haven’t done is quit alcohol completely and I’ve allowed myself natural Greek yoghurt with no additives or sugar, and some good quality cheese. I love cheese. I mean, I can’t give up everything right?

I’m sweet enough

Drinking black coffee without sugar is okay now. I have realised that I need to buy better quality of coffee for drinking at home, but aside from that, I’m enjoying sugar-free coffee now. I’m going through a coffee trial and will blog about which coffees I like sometime soon. If you know any coffee producers / roasters that want me to try their coffee, send them my way!

The only time I’ve knowingly had refined sugar in the past four weeks was when I made my own BBQ sauce and tomato ketchup in the thermomix – I used unrefined rapadura sugar and used half of what the recipe called for – just 50 grams of sugar that went into producing 1 litre of sauce.

Interestingly, I had a glass of Moet champagne on Australia Day and I almost spat out the first sip because it tasted so sickly sweet. That surprised me. But I finished the glass anyway, and then on to have another.

And just this morning at a breakfast, I took a sip of the orange juice and again, couldn’t drink it – I could taste the added sugar and chemicals in it. Not pleasant.

I don’t think I’ll eat sugar again – I’m kind of over it. Which I NEVER thought I’d say.

Grain free

For a month now, I’ve not eaten one grain. No wheat, rice, oats, sprout. No bread, pasta, noodles. Well, actually, I had some salad with quinoa on Australia Day – but that’s all I’ve had. I feel better for giving my body a break from wheat. I’ve known for a long time that eating too much wheat causes bloating and digestion issues.  I’m starting to miss pasta and bread now, and I love Pho with rice noodles.  Today, my thinking is to keep this up for a total of 8 or 10 weeks, and then assess things then. I can see myself allowing either cheat days or treat days from time to time, but maintaining a relatively grain-free diet 80 to 90 per cent of the time.

Nothing processed 

Everything I’ve eaten in the past month has been real food. That does include some canned tomatoes (which some purists don’t consider real food).

My diet has consisted of fruit, vegetables (not potatoes or legume – limiting those as per the paleo way), meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, good quality cheese (2-3 times per week), and natural Greek yoghurt (with no additives) 2 or 3 times per week.

I’ve used unprocessed natural honey and organic maple syrup as a sweetener when needed. And that’s about it.

5:2

Zorba and I have been following the 5:2 for over 1.5 years now and we both love it. Since eating the kind of paleo way, I’ve continued to fast two days per week, limiting my calorie intake to under 500 on my fast days.

Why I love 5:2:

• It’s easy to do
• It makes me feel good
• I get a natural rush / high about 1-2pm where I’m super focussed on fast days
• I wake up the next day feeling lighter / better

In six months, Zorba lost 9kg and his cholesterol halved by doing the 5:2 and changing nothing else. It’s something that we’ll continue with because we both enjoy the benefits from it.

The verdict after 4 weeks eating mostly paleo

In the first 2-3 weeks, I lost 2.5kg, but have since put 0.5kg back on (geez those scales are annoying!) and my weight seems to have stabilised (which is also very annoying – why won’t it just melt off?!).

I’ve noticed an improvement in my skin – it’s not something that others would necessarily notice, but I’ve noticed it. It’s smoother, less blemishes, and my wrinkles don’t look as pronounced. They are subtle differences, but ones I’ve noticed.

Okay, now I’m about to bare it all…We don’t like it, don’t like to admit we have it, but the fact is that about 80 per cent of women have cellulite, me included. I’m pleased to report that my cellulite looks lesser – probably TMI for some of you, but to the ladies out there reading this, it’s a valid reason and perhaps a motivator for following this way of eating.  I read somewhere that the Dukan and other high protein diets can help in that area.

I’m starting to miss pasta, beautiful thin and crispy wood-fired pizza, and Pho with rice noodles.

What next?

I’m going to stick with it for another four weeks, and be fairly strict with it. After eight weeks on Paleo, I’ll have a good idea if it’s something I want to continue on with.

I’ll keep you posted!

What is Paleo?

If you want to know what Paleo is – there is just so much information on the net that it’s overwhelming, and contradictory.

To simplify it, Paleo essentially is eating only meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, some nuts, some seeds, fruit and most vegetables. No diary, no grains, no sugar, no processed food , no legumes, and no potatoes.