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Eating paleo is hard.
March 13, 2013
10:35 am
Wanderer
Forum Posts: 2
Member Since:
October 25, 2012
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For me, anyway.

 

I'm a 15 year-old-girl, with extremely fat-phobic parents. One of them thinks red meat causes cancer, and that it rots in your colon, even though I've shown him many articles that disproves that statement, including the one on here. Still doesn't believe it. He likes low-fat, low-calorie goodness. He's also overweight.

 

I've tried explaining the concept of paleo to them, and they downright disagree. But, since I have to make my 'own mistakes' in life, I'm allowed to sort of eat paleo. Not in the way that most people do.

 

Everyday for breakfast I have 3 scrambled eggs in butter and 2 slices of bacon. For lunch, vegetable soup and half-to-a-full chicken breast. ("you had a big breakfast so you don't need that big of a lunch!") and a piece of fruit. Some days I cave in and buy biscuits or cakes from school. I don't know whether it's cravings or hunger, but sometimes it's too bad. I know, I know, they're only cravings. But I'm hungry for fatty meat! And I'm not allowed it. Apart from at breakfast.

Dinner is meat and veg. More often than not, the meat is in small portions, and low-fat. My mum removes the skin off the chicken. She drains the juices out of the beef. Add some vegetables, and that's my dinner. Dessert is fruit and greek yoghurt. But sometimes I feel unsatisfied, so I have more dark chocolate than one should.

 

And I'm not losing any weight. Obviously. 

 

But it's awful. I have fat, especially around my stomach, but I have a big frame so it looks worse. I put on weight waaaay too easily for a girl my age. And my parents are dying to feed me sandwiches, so I have them every weekend. There's no other choice when we're away. I also get fed cake, soda...my will is weak when there are only soggy egg-white sandwiches available.

 

So yeah. This may be one long rant. I mean, sometimes I do eat good. Sometimes, I don't buy biscuits and I do get enough meat for dinner. The first time I started paleo I was allowed as much butter as I wanted, and I had huge salads for dinner. And I lost weight. Unfortunately, it was short lived, as I went on a binging period for two weeks and gained back the weight, and more. My parents, thinking it was the meat and butter, restricted those two items, even though I explained what happened.

 

They do care, they are trying to help, and I appreciate that, but they don't really have much clue on diet.

 

I probably don't need to eat more. They're probably just cravings. I don't know. 

 

Can someone tell me what (obvious) changes I need to make to my diet? I'll try and win my parents over. Try.

 

I am 5'4", 150 pounds. I go to the gym 3-4x a week, to do weights and sprints.

March 13, 2013
11:05 am
Madison, WI, USA
Gnoll
Forum Posts: 75
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September 24, 2012
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With fat-phobic parents it's hard,  especially when your not "an adult" yet.  Obviously the protein is too lean, and was probably cooked in seed-oils (I'm guessing since your parents are fat phobic)

"Often we forget . . . the sky reaches to the ground . . . with each step . . . we fly."  ~We Fly, The House Jacks

March 13, 2013
11:15 am
Gnoll
Forum Posts: 10
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February 15, 2013
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The cravings are because we are sugar addicts. You'll continue to have them because your parents make you avoid fat and eat sugary things. Make sure you only drink water and if you can pull it off, you should buy some coconut oil and stash it in your room or take it to school. Don't go crazy with it, but a spoon full should help things.

March 14, 2013
3:56 am
Indiana
Gnoll
Forum Posts: 37
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September 20, 2012
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I think it's difficult to change your way of eating unless the whole household is supportive. I went through dietary (and many other!) conflicts with my mother as a teenager and it didn't help my eating or health.

 

I don't know what may change their minds, but it sounds like *potentially* your families eating could fit a Perfect Health Diet carbohydrate/fat/protein ratio (and your parents may find that a milder option). You may wish to check out their website and see if your parents find that a better approach for them/you and would be supportive of you trying it.

 

You could also potentially be eating too little.  I don't know because each person's version of working out at the gym is very different!

 

I wish you absolutely the best =)

March 14, 2013
10:48 pm
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First-Eater
Forum Posts: 2045
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February 22, 2010
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ebrady:

It sounds like you're dealing with two problems:

1. Being unable to get the food you need because of your parents

2. Cravings, like those which caused you to fall off the wagon the first time

These problems may be related.  It's currently fashionable to blame weight accumulation on "addictive food", but this gets the causality wrong.  Food becomes addictive because you're hungry -- and you're hungry because your body either needs nutrients it isn't getting, or is metabolically dysfunctional in some way (it can't properly access stored nutrients).

First, it's best to point out that "three eggs plus two slices of bacon" isn't very much food.  Eggs only have 70-75 calories each, and two cooked slices of bacon have, at most, 70 calories.  (The package says 90, but much of the fat cooks out.) A tablespoon of butter has 100 calories, and you're probably using less, so...

Total breakfast calories: 350-400.  That is NOT "a big breakfast"!  Even your parents should be able to do that math, and understand that they can't starve you at lunch. 

Moving on to lunch: vegetable soup has basically zero calories, and a 3-4 oz. chicken breast will have 120-160 calories...so they're feeding you a 150-calorie lunch, you've only ingested 500-600 calories over two of your three daily meals, and you're working out 3-4x/week.  Of course you'll be hungry! 

Again, your parents should be able to do that math and understand that they are, quite literally, starving you during the school day...which is why you crave junk food at school.

Your next problem will be "How can I get animal fat and nutrients in my diet, since my parents refuse to let me eat them except at breakfast?"

First, everyone agrees that fish is healthy...so you can request fatty fish, like salmon.  I can't imagine they'll object, and you can easily get one or two dinners a week out of that.  You can even make gravlax using my delicious recipe, which you'll be able to take to school and eat for lunch!

Second, to get them to stop feeding you sandwiches, you need to provide some easy (for them) alternatives.  For instance, make a big pot of garlic mashed potatoes (sneak plenty of butter in there as you make them), and you'll have several days worth of stuff you can microwave, throw some leftover meat on top, and go.  Same with rice: leftover rice keeps for several days in the fridge, and you can throw some butter on it, fry it up, spice it with some salt or Creole seasoning, throw a bunch of leftover meat on top, and go.

Also, you may have to buy and keep some things on your own if they won't feed them to you.  Coconut oil keeps without refrigeration...and I don't know if kids are allowed to have lockers anymore, but you can certainly keep it in your room, or anywhere else, and add it to your lunch so you have some fat and calories.  (Refined coconut oil has no taste, virgin/unrefined oil tastes like coconuts.)  And most people go "Ew, yuck," but butter is fine at room temperature for several days unless you live in the tropics.  (Clarified butter will last much longer.) 

Finally, if you want to try and educate them, you can do far worse than a copy of the Jaminets' Perfect Health Diet, as it's heavy on science (and written by PhDs) while not being explicitly "paleo".  (Link to Amazon UK

(And here's a request for Paul Halliday...can you point out some of your recipes for her that look "mainstream healthy" (e.g. probably fish-based) but have plenty of delicious fat?)

I hope this helps...let us know how you get on, and I'll do my best to answer questions.

Live in freedom, live in beauty.

JS

March 16, 2013
12:34 pm
Wanderer
Forum Posts: 2
Member Since:
October 25, 2012
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Thanks everyone...I will try...i'm sure it'll be alright. 

 

Even if it's not, it's only for a few more years. I have the rest of my life.

 

🙂

July 2, 2013
5:31 am
John
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ebrady98 said:

I am 5'4", 150 pounds. I go to the gym 3-4x a week, to do weights and sprints.

That's quite a nice workout schedule. Have you considered more long-range running? It worked for me, and I wasn't even trying to lose weight, and not on the paleo diet yet. You definitely have the time for it if you're at the gym 3-4x a week currently.

July 9, 2013
4:48 pm
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First-Eater
Forum Posts: 2045
Member Since:
February 22, 2010
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John:

Why would she need to do more long-range running?  She's already overtraining and undereating, given her description of her diet...adding more cardio to an already exhaustive workout schedule will just leave her more tired than before, and its effect on fat mass in controlled studies is generally not very good. 

JS

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