I think a really good wake up call to the power of diet was this article by James Fell, which discusses religious zealotism and dieting. Another is the phenomena that when you focus narrowly on one issue, and so it becomes illogically the only solution to your problems. So by obsessing over diet, diet becomes the placebo for health, and probably half the short-term benefits are derived from the belief: because “while placebos may provide relief, they rarely cure.”
So why this preface? Because yeah, eating a SAD diet is shitty. But if it’s paleo, or vegetarianism, or high-fruit or low-carb high protein–whatever, the emphasis by doctors is always on foods which haven’t been processed and are fresh. There is and will continue to be debates about whether high protein is good for you or whether too many carbs will give you diabetes, like yesterday. You do you. This is just showing you what I do.
Part 2 will show what I eat for less than $200 a month (and I do apologize if this is a ‘high’ budget–my only point is to show that even if you can’t afford a half a cow and $500 a trip to costco you can eat healthy). But before that, a brief explanation as to why I do, then, eat “paleo”-ish.
Ages 0-18: Roughly a better than average SAD diet. My mom cooked a lot of our meals at home but I tended to overeat and was overweight.
18-20: Learning about nutrition and carbs. Realized there was high-carb and low-carb diets and began to cut out carbs and moving towards low-carb. Kept high-fat saturated items.
21-22: Discovered paleo and WAPF (Weston Price); began fermenting foods and grains, eating cultured dairy, kombucha, and using the ‘old-world’ methods of slow-eating. Perhaps paradoxically, also training quite hard in the gym and taking whey protein supplements. Ate roughly <100g carb; >100g protein; some fat.
23-24+: Became extra poor. Tried eating lentils and pulses (soaked/sprouted), but felt really bloated and lethargic. Returned to chicken/fish existence with rice/potatoes and huge salads. Carbs still <100g but slowly being pushed higher because, surprise, they give you energy. Felt really exhausted until introducing higher carb items like dates and oats into my diet. Currently ~120g carb; 60g protein; 20g fat. My estimates are rough because I don’t actively track anymore ( I actually recommend it for a month or two–it teaches you to recognize how calorie-dense certain foods are, and you get better at eye-balling it while you’re out. I used this free website)
So why not-really-low carb Paleo? Less work than slow-food methods of soaking/sprouting grains (which I actually do think is really important); easy for me to digest; cheap; allows me to eat the free food on campus without getting fat; lets me not get fat; lets me train and maintain muscle; is unlikely to give me serious nutritional deficiencies long term (one of my things with veganism); lets me eat out pretty easily; isn’t a fucking diet.
Part 2 is with this journey in mind and 0$$$ in the bank.