I don’t believe I’ve said much about this here, and I’m a bit behind everyone else because my copy of Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution was to be shipped when Amazon ran out of copies. I attended Robb’s seminar in July at Potomac CrossFit.
This is not the most awesome picture, but it’s the one I’ve got!
Long story short, I think Robb is a great guy as well as being extremely knowledgeable. His book is very easy to read, and I’d recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about nutrition and digestion. Even if you’re not sure that you’re interested in going Paleo, it’s chock full of information.
I did get to ask Robb my most pressing question: Why can’t I lose weight on a ketogenic diet? Yeah, that’s right, I don’t lose weight. In fact, according to my BIA scale, I put on fat and lose lean mass. I don’t *gain* weight even if I eat a lot, but my body composition definitely goes the wrong way. At this point, my weight is normal so everything is about body comp for me. The answer was “Cortisol“. My workouts force gluconeogenesis which raises cortisol. This causes my body to decide to break down protein instead of running on fat because it thinks it *needs* that fat.
Obviously, this doesn’t happen to everyone, but if you’ve stopped losing weight via low-carb, you might want to try easing some carbs back in. It helps if you have a glucose meter so you know how you handle carbs. My sugars are normal and stable. I have other hormonal issues to deal with (thyroid, estrogen dominance), but hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia are not among them. I can’t eat a breakfast composed entirely of caffeine and carbohydrates, or I do get hypoglycemic, but I figured THAT out in high school, though I didn’t know what was going wrong. I just knew that I felt like crap, so I started eating sandwiches for breakfast instead of cereal.
At this point, I have decided staying full Paleo is not for me. I did find out a number of things that I should not eat, and for that, I’m really grateful, but I just can’t ban whole classes of food forever. Here’s where I’ve landed.
- Gluten: Total lifetime ban. I just cannot digest it, no way no how. I only eat it accidentally.
- Legumes: Extremely minimal consumption. I do not do well with these at all. I recently tried adding them back so that I could unify more of the meals at home (Tino is a vegetarian), and it was a bad idea. In addition to the digestive issues of the infrequent bean eater, I also had noticeable bloat and inflammation. Incidentally, broccoli does the same thing to me, whether it’s cooked or not. I have to eat all my crucifers cooked, but only broccoli (so far anyway) messes me up this much even when cooked. It’s too bad, because I do actually like it. I also adore green beans, but I have to only eat them once in a while – they actually cause trouble for me like beans and broccoli.
- Vegetable Oils: Minimal Consumption. I eat out too much to eliminate them completely, but I either get all my dressing on the side or bring my own. I can’t eat fried food out of fryers that have contained gluten, so I do eat little of this outside the house. Basically, I eat McDonald’s fries now and then. Pretty much everyone else I know of cooks fries and breaded items in the same grease. At home, it’s very easy to work around with Extra Virgin Olive Oil for salads and Light Olive Oil (100%, not extra-virgin) for cooking where butter, bacon grease or ghee won’t do for some reason.
- Non-Gluten Grains: I eat white rice and corn tortillas with no blood sugar problems, no carb cravings and in moderation, no weight gain. My diet is a lot more enjoyable for this inclusion. You can only eat so many sweet potatoes. I do have problems with some of the more exotic non-gluten flours, so I try to stick to stuff I make myself from rice flours or eat foods that are inherently gluten free, like corn tortillas. I do have to watch it with the corn chips – I can really over consume those if I’m not careful with portions. I have yet to find a gluten-free beer that I actually enjoy. I hate sorghum in beer – it tastes metallic, and rice beers seem to always lean towards white ale, not something I never liked much. Nothing has enough hoppy bite either, so I just stick to wine and cocktails.
- Refined Sugar: I generally avoid this, but I don’t freak out about small amounts of sugar in stuff (liqueurs in cocktails in small amounts), and once in a while I like some ice cream, a gluten-free brownie or whatever. I do avoid HFCS because it’s always a sign that a product is totally jive.
- Potatoes: With the skins on, white potatoes are a problem for me. Yams and sweet potatoes are not an issue at all.
- Dairy: I eat dairy, but I’ve very recently made changes to that.
- Intermittent Fasting: I exercise fasted at about 7am, and I don’t generally eat after 7pm. I eat breakfast between 8 or 9am. This sucked the first few days, but I think it’s really working, and now I’m used to it. Basically, 13 hours every day, some days a little more. If I get much over 14, I turn into a raging bitch, and nobody likes that.
- Alcohol: I average out to slightly less than two drinks a day, cocktails or wine. My most common cocktail now is a Martini, and I generally only drink before dinner (except wine – that’s with dinner). I try not to overindulge as it’s dehydrating, and if I drink after dinner, I generally pay for it in less restorative sleep. I’m not binge drinking on the weekends, in other words, but some days I drink wine and cocktails and others I abstain completely.
If you’re not sure why you feel like crap, the Paleo Diet is a great way to straighten yourself out. After you’ve eliminated the possibly meddlesome foods for at least three weeks, you can add one back in ONCE and find out what happens. If you haven’t cut them for 21-30 days minimum, you’ll never sort that out. I really didn’t know that adding legumes back would be so bloody obvious. Lots of people tolerate legumes just fine but can’t eat corn. Everyone is different, and it’s worth finding out where you are at if you aren’t looking, feeling or performing to your potential.
I have recently cut way back on fruit. I decided I’m better off with the sweet potatoes, corn tortillas and the rice than eating more fruit. It’s not that I’m afraid of fructose exactly, but I think starches are a better choice for my goals. I’m also no longer using dairy as a protein source (the Zone was a bad influence there). I do eat my home made raw milk yogurt with frozen berries or cherries every day. I’m back to drinking my coffee black. Dairy (or coconut milk) would break the fast I’m trying to keep, and I’ve found that I drink a LOT more coffee if I have half and half or coconut milk in it.
I quit caffeine completely for three days and felt like a wet dishrag almost all the time. I could get out of bed just fine, but I felt groggy or just unmotivated most of the time. I’m now back on half the coffee I was drinking before. I feel like what I was doing before was probably excess and that this is more moderate.
I also cut back on nuts. The fat blocks for The Zone drove my consumption up. I eat less than 1 ounce of nuts per day. Most are unsalted and raw, but sometimes, I eat roasted and salted cashews.
I’m doing my workouts (CrossFit, three days on, three days off) fasted, and I’m trying to eat my largest and most carbo-rific meal at breakfast. Lunch tends to be small, and dinner is kind of medium. Some days I have a snack at 3 or 4pm if I’m hungry and my lunch was a bit *too* small.
I have no idea if you can call this Paleo or not. Certainly, I learned things from it and incorporated elements into my diet. Beyond that? I don’t care. I’m doing well, and things are moving in the right direction, and I think that’s a lot more important than obsessing about what to call my style of eating.
I’ve been lurking for ages – “long time reader, first time commenter!” I’m in much the same situation as you, so I just wanted to say that I’m very interested in this idea and want to hear how things are working out for you.
I wonder though, if the Crossfit workouts cause a cortisol spike, then does one still continue to do the Crossfit workouts? Or is it better to step back and do less intense stuff for awhile? Did Robb recommend anything else specifically re: cortisol?
I Crossfit 2x a week, lots of walking (I have not really done justice to interval/Tabata work yet; that’s something I could still try). Low-carb paleo eating for almost two years, but now at a plateau with 10+ more pounds to go that’s lasted for over a year. I’ve monitored blood sugars and they are quite stable (except if I were to eat sugar or wheat/grains, of course). I do the Crossfit workouts but don’t seem to improve much, and am apparently not gaining any more muscle after the first six months I did it. My measurements and body comp are all still the same as a year ago. My before/after photos look identical. I still feel like I’m ‘bonking’ after the first 3 minutes of the workouts, every time. I’ve read most of Robb’s book, haven’t finished it yet. Listened to all his podcasts. In the last month, I’ve been trying intermittent fasting (basically an eight hour eating window). I’ve also started supplementing magnesium and gone off dairy completely. The scale isn’t budging, but finally in the last two weeks or so my waist measurement dropped by 1/2 inch (no other measurements budged).
Anyhoo, TMI, but I’m very interested in your story, so thanks for posting!
Robb suggested adding yams and we talked about the options for estrogen dominance as that plays a part. I think I’ve got a handle on all that stuff now.
Nobody says you have to eat the carbs I eat – you could get it out of root vegetables. I’m just happier doing what I do, and my blood sugar response is the same whether I eat 2 corn tortillas, a med. sweet potato or a banana.
So, my problem is solved by eating more like 150g of carbs a day, and my goal is not weight loss. If my weight stays the same but my body fat percentage drops (and that *is* happening), I’m fine with that.
This all predates CrossFit, BTW. Any workout beyond a long walk would cause it to happen. I didn’t bonk during a workout. I would get tired and cold in the mid-afternoon, I’d drive myself to work out and then I’d feel great for a while. This is still a bad thing as it eventually causes early waking and makes it really hard for me to get up in the morning. My weight would be stable, but my scale would say I’ve put on fat and lost lean muscle mass.
Shifting lean mass into fat is a bad thing, no matter what, and I keep seeing people complaining that they can’t get the last 10-15 pounds off, and they see their only options as cutting calories or cut carbs. If something’s not working, doubling down on that plan is unlikely to solve the problem.
Atkins even recommended that people add back carbs at 5g per week starting after induction. No one seems to do that any more.
I don’t know if it will work for you, but there’s a radical difference for me between “beans” and “legumes that I’ve pressure-cooked myself”. I’m not entirely sure why but that’s the way it works for me. You would think that they would have to pressure cook beans to can them. Makes no sense at all.
I have tried preparing them myself, properly. I actually thought, when I decided to try again, that they just hadn’t been done right. I used WAPF methods. No dice.
“If my weight stays the same but my body fat percentage drops (and that *is* happening), I’m fine with that.”
> Yes, ditto. I speak of ‘losing weight’ merely as shorthand.
“I keep seeing people complaining that they can’t get the last 10-15 pounds off, and they see their only options as cutting calories or cut carbs. If something’s not working, doubling down on that plan is unlikely to solve the problem. Atkins even recommended that people add back carbs at 5g per week starting after induction. No one seems to do that any more.”
> Very good point. I think after beating that dead horse for a year, I’m finally ready to move on. I just started eating more carbs (veggies, some fruits, yams) over the last couple weeks, and it certainly hasn’t caused any problem. Interestingly, to me at least, it’s actually taking me a couple of weeks to kind of figure out how to do that, what I enjoy eating day in and day out versus prep time, and what my personal tolerance is. Unfortunately, I did not do it in as organized a fashion as Atkins/Protein Power recommend. arrgh. That would’ve been easier in the long run. Hindsight and all that.
And I appreciate the reminder about yams and estrogen dominance. I had forgotten that.
Anyway, thanks!
i’d be interested in hearing more about yams and estrogen. i think my wife is estrogen dominant and we eat a lot of yams.
The yams were suggested as a healthy carbohydrate (vs fruit). It has nothing to do with hormonal issues.
I just stumbled across your blog and WOW! I’ve been eating Paleo since the beginning of the year, with some carb binges here and there(social reasons!). I’m a sugar addict, but I think I’ve got that under control now. For the past 4 months, I’ve been doing low carb(around 50/60 grams) by eating on veggies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ve cut out fruit, only 1 or 2 servings a week). I used to eat fruit everyday, and lots of it! I’ve cut out nuts too. The carbs I get are from sweet potatoes and veggies. I’ve been wanting to lose the last 10#s or lose some inches around my waist, but it hasn’t been working. I’m glad I read your post, because I’ve been toying with the idea of adding some grains back in, I’m just afraid to take the plunge. I don’t think that going 100% Paleo is actually helping me get the body composition that I want, and the explanation that Robb Wolf gave you makes sense. I was worried that I was eating too much protein, therefore causing me to hold onto the weight. But how can I stay full if I don’t eat enough protein and fat. I can definitely eat more sweet potatoes, but I was thinking of adding in a cup of oatmeal with my eggs and veggies for breakfast, and that would be all the grains that I would eat for the day. What do you think? Or maybe a sandwich here and there. I’m just afraid that adding grains back in will open pandora’s box, and cause me to go down the path of eating unhealthy foods. But maybe that’s another issue I have to deal with.
Do you think I should be eating closer to 100g of carbs per day. I’m 5″ at 119#, and would like to be at 110-115.
How are you measuring your blood sugar? Is it a kit that you buy?
Thanks for the post!
You can buy a blood glucose meter – they are pretty easy to use. The unit should be $9.99 – $15 without any test strips, and the best price on test strips is at Amazon. google “blood glucose meter” for how this all works.
If you describe yourself as a sugar addict, and you’ve been doing well on Paleo since the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t add grains back, just up your paleo carbs. Adding back neolithic foods is definitely a slippery slope! Yams/sweet potatoes are a great place to start.