I like this post from Andreas Eenfeldt where he mentions that "ideally the food you buy shouldn’t even have a list of ingredients (or it should be very short)." I cannot agree more with him. In our "civilized world" we are used to try different, new recipes all the time. It is a kind of fashion to serve our guests with gourmet foods, with a lot of ingredients shipped from all over the world.
For me, meals should be as simple as possible, maybe maximum 5 ingredients. By ingredient, I don't mean, for example, salad dressing, which already contains who knows how many ingredients. An ingredient is, for instance, meat, egg, butter, mushroom, apple etc. I cannot imagine people in isolated populations trying out different recipes for every meal and every day. They just ate whatever was around, local animals and plants.
When I eat, the first type of food I put in my mouth is fatty food. I reach satiety very quickly (fat is filling, hunger is suppressed) with vegetables (greens usually). Then sometimes, I eat a piece of fruit, just a few bites.
If my currently simple diet becomes the fancy "gourmet" paleo diet with a lot of ingredients, including some starchy vegetables, like pumpkin, potatoes, fruits and vegetables, even low carbohydrate cakes (?), I end up where I was a few years ago: with allergies. I would call the "fancy" version of the paleo diet very similar to a normal diet, it is high in carbohydrates (because of the starchy vegetables, other vegetables and fruits) and fat (eggs, butter, fish, fish eggs, fatty meat, organ meat etc) becomes a smaller part of the diet. I would like to point out that if we eat fat with fruits or other starches, we will gain weight, similarly to a normal "healthy diet" recommended by health authorities. The best way to achieve weight loss is to lower our insulin levels, by eating less carbohydrates.
Fruits, vegetables (especially starchy vegetables), and EVEN protein (lean muscle meat) elevates insulin levels. So, if we eat the following food for every meal: salad, lean meat, fruits; weight loss might not happen. Then, the goal is to reduce these foods even further and replace them with fatty food.
Fat is the only nutrient which does not elevate insulin levels.
A word about fruits. They are sweet! They should be treated as nature's candy. I choose the ones which are not really sweet (all kind of berries). I live in the tropics, so we can find many kinds of tropical fruits, like mangoes, papaya etc. I eat them maybe once a week, (as always, after my fatty meal).
Now, recipes. Sorry, I can only give you ideas, not really recipes. Those who know me, also know that I'm pretty simple when it comes to cooking. I just boil the meat or fish (preferably with the bones) along with some green, add salt, sometimes pepper, et voila. I like to fry the eggs, liver or bacon (occasionally) in butter. The fruits, I eat them with sour cream or mascarpone.
This might seem boring, but the thing is, it is not. When we don't feel constant craving (which is the case on a high carbohydrate diet) we are not obsessed with cooking and food.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Wow Ilona! Sounds good too me. I just started this type of diet this week. I feel better than I have for a really long time.
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Take care ~ Jenny Jo
I would put veges down lower though. I think veges should be what we eat most of, then protein etc. I think that is how I tend to eat. I think the "standard" food pyramid is absolutely crazy!!
ReplyDeleteYes, Lynda, I'm sure higher vegs work well for you or other people as well. For me it's fat, not even protein. When I had more vegs, I was hungrier and my digestion was not as good as on a high fat diet. I think people should experiment for themselves what works best. The main point here is to keep food simple and cut carbs and sugar.
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