From now until Christmas, week on week off, I am following Dr Zenon Gruba's version of the Stone Age Elimination Diet. I have written here before about Dr Gruba and the 12 week guided detox program that Pete and I undertook with him last year. We did it because we really subscribe to the theory of - 'why wait to get sick to be well?!'
Many people wait until they are diagnosed with a chronic illness to improve their diet and lifestyle. I believe that even for people who are in good health and eating a nutritious diet there is always room for refinement.
It had been 12 months since I last saw Dr Gruba so I went for a follow up visit and basically he gave me the thumbs up for improving my health. To keep me on my path though he recommended I follow his version of the Stone Age Diet. With the emphasis being on eating fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and meat (no pig products) no grains and no dairy there are similarities to the Paleo diet, however in contrast to Paleo ways Gruba's diet includes legumes and potato. (The baked rice in the third picture was not for me but the vegetables were). This article is a good read to cover the for and against Paleo.
Having completed my first week I can say the beauty of the one week on one week off is two fold. For me it makes it very achievable. Having gone 3 months with no sugar, salt, dairy, wheat, fruit, alcohol or caffeine, 7 days is a walk in the veggie garden. The other aspect I am enjoying is it has heightened my awareness to which foods agree with me and which don't. As much as I enjoy a bowl of porridge on a cold morning I have really noticed that if I eat too bigger a bowl I feel like Goldilocks in need of a nap.
I won't bore you too much with the intricacies of my personal observations (because given there are people in the world who only have rice or less to eat I do find bantering on about detoxing etc; to be self indulgent and the need to detox indicative of our culture of excess) but another aspect I like about this diet is the reliance on real food. I was in the veggie garden harvesting greens 3 meals a day compared to one or two meals a day where I would take a leaf or two for a salad sandwich I was picking bunches of greens to cook up and eat with an egg or some kangaroo or to mix in with chickpeas and other veggies. By the fourth day Pete asked me to please go easy on the kale plant. It made me realise that most people eat too few vegetables.
I commenced last Saturday to coincide the ending of my 7 days with going to a birthday party where I red wine, bread and cheese were back on my menu.
Where are you all at with your real food journeys? I ask because, well because I want to know, but also because eating real food in a processed world requires a certain way of thinking, a commitment to good health and it takes planning. Share your tips and thoughts.
I find decisions about what to eat and what not to eat so intriguing. I've made a lot of changes over the past 18 months, from not thinking about what I ate at all to eating a vegan diet. Now I'm a vegetarian pretty much 100% but I will eat meat very occasionally - only if I know where it has come from and I'm satisfied that it is free range and organic. It's not very often that happens at all.
ReplyDeleteWe were talking about sugar/dairy recently and whether or not they are good to have in your diet. I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm ok with eating rapadura / honey occasionally and that I'm also ok with drinking raw cow's milk - I'd rather drink that than soy which I drank as a vegan until I realised how processed it was.
It seems like having hard and fast rules doesn't help when the research is constantly being done and new articles come out - which is why I hesitate to call myself a vegetarian (or vegan when I was) but instead say I eat a primarily vegetarian diet.
So very interesting! x
ps. What's kangaroo like? I have to admit I was a little surprised reading that - I had to go back and re read it to check I had understood!
pps. I love kale as well. Can't get enough of it! Luckily our garden is quite good at growing it :-)
Thanks G for sharing this. I agree about not having hard and fast rules. I believe in constant refinement of one's diet depending on what stage you are at in your life. Gosh, I hadn't even thought about the kangaroo thing. There are people in Australia who won't eat kangaroo but it is the leanest and healthiest red meat option. We eat it about once every ten days. I am so used to the taste now that I don't consider it to be 'gamey' in taste but I think that is how some people would describe it, that it has the texture of beef but a more gamey flavour. Hope that is ok for non meat eating readers! x
DeleteI think I'm on a slightly different path, starting with just avoiding processed foods, and then getting a dairy cow and reading "Nourishing Traditions" (and not actually being sick either, just wanting to improve wellbeing). We eat lots of raw and fermented dairy, fermented veges, sprouts, home-made 24 hr stock, veges and herbs (raw and cooked), homegrown beef, chicken and pork (why is paleo no pig? NT also said no pig, but I like bacon too much!), eggs, all wholegrains soaked before cooking, including bread with long soak time. I'm just learning how to use dried beans and legumes. It has been really interesting and I feel so much better, but it does take some time to re-learn how to cook and to be organised to start things fermenting/soaking/sprouting ahead of time. And I put kale in just about everything, what a brilliant vege, it just keeps going! I hadn't bothered to find out what Paleo was, so thanks for the link, seems to strict for me and a bit silly to give up dairy when we have a cow :) great if it works for you though!
ReplyDeleteSounds great what you are eating Liz! Just to clarify, the diet I am following is not the Paleo diet. The Paleo diet allows consumption of grass fed meat including pork. I first gave up dairy about 15 years ago when I went to see a naturopath because I had chronic recurring sinus infections, the naturopath suggested I quit dairy for 1 month and then reintroduce a serving here and there. I haven't had a sinus infection since and these days while I do eat a small amount of cheese I find that cows milk is too rich. I use rice milk on muesli and porridge and almost daily a soy coffee is my indulgence. Thanks for sharing your food story.
Deletehey lovely, i definitely read this blog post with lots of interest and awe, i like that the diet you are on alternate weeks, which is a lot more achievable in my life. we eat a mostly vegetarian diet but eat 'happy' local, organic meat occasionally. we are getting into a bit of fermented foods, there is an amazing woman up here who makes a killer raw probiotic sauerkraut and some natto miso as well. Whole foods, local, lots of spices (particularly tumeric and cinnamon), fresh herbs, legumes, beans, raw milk, eggs, hmmmm what else.... We do draw from 'Nourishing Traditions' and Jude whilst also understanding that occasionally we aren't perfect and I do forget to soak oats or sometimes don't make my own muesli, etc, but we are comfortable with that and are enjoying our journey.
ReplyDeleteYou are forgiven by the Wholefood Gods for sometimes not soaking your oats or making your own muesli :) considering the number of people who don't even eat breakfast or drink a soft drink to start the day you are doing great! Love the sound of the sauerkraut. We really got into sauerkraut while we were in Byron this year as there was a new local business that started making it, they did one with seaweed, another with spirulina and another with tumeric and chilli - delicious! I do find the whole subject fascinating and am so motivated at the moment to keep spreading the word about eating well and the difference it makes to well being. I think so many people underestimate the impact of what they eat on their whole being and that making the smallest changes can make big differences. Thanks for sharing where you are at. Sounds delicious and totally nourishing to me x
DeleteI am wheat & dairy (cow's especially) free, probably 95% of the time. I always knew they didn't agree with me, but when we took my then-2 month old to a kinesiologist I realized dairy was impacting him too (casein rather than lactose). Since then I've really made the change, I have a soy coffee most mornings & rice milk too!
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. A quick question. Do you notice a real improvement in avoiding grains? It's one of the most confusing..or for me anyway...I know a lot of people swear by eliminating grains from their diet? Thanks nat x
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