Paleo Challenge: Day 7 Check in
On Monday I started a challenge to try to follow the Paleo Diet 100% for 25 days. After 1 week I have managed to stay on track and have not cheated. The first couple days were really easy, I was feeling sick and didn’t have much of an appetite. Once I felt better I started doing intermittent fasting again (16 fast where I skip breakfast) and everything was going well. On Friday night I had several friends over for a BYOB wine tasting. Each person brings a bottle of wine and then tries everyone else bottle.
I decided to allow wine for my challenge, as it is one of my few vices a long with salted nuts and Trader Joe’s fruit leathers. Whenever I drink a lot of alcohol I always really want to cheat on paleo. I start craving salty food and junk food. Saturday was really hard to keep to my diet. Every time I drove by a fast food restaurant I started fantasizing about junk food from that restaurant.
I managed to avoid giving in to my cravings but I did buy a package of salted macadamia nuts and a ton of fruit leathers. The fruit leathers, while technically paleo acceptable cause they are made from dried fruit, are a little on the cheating side since they have a lot of sugar in them. I think it is fine to eat one or two a day but I ate like 20 of them in the past 24 hours (at 50 calories each). I also ate almost the entire container of macadamia nuts which is 8 oz.
Although I didn’t cheat at all this week and followed paleo, I didn’t do a very good job with weight loss. I imagine I am about even in terms of weight. Next week will be a lot better. I will make sure I avoid drinking excess amounts of alcohol to avoid craving junk food. This morning I weighted in at 175.5, my goal for next week is to drop down at least 1.5 pounds.
For me it is calorie balance, whether you are eating paleo or low-carb or low-fat. I rarely buy nuts because I will just keep grabbing a handful here and a handful there!
It is good that you avoid nuts, they can be very addictive and the calories add up quickly. They are also high in omega 6 which is increases inflammation.