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Hi all. I started eating paleo three weeks ago and I love it. The biggest benefits are that I have a ton of energy, I'm sleeping well, and my chronic "intestinal distress" has disappeared. I don't feel deprived at all and have no cravings. This way of eating was made for me!

The only issue is that I'm having a hard time getting enough fat in during the day. I am a busy (nursing) student and am usually at the hospital/in class/at work anywhere from 10-14 hours a day. I take all of my food with me from home. I usually have a couple of egg/sausage/zucchini/spinach "muffins" with some avocado for breakfast. For lunch I have a whole pepper, a couple of big carrots, some guacamole, a chicken breast, and an orange. I'll have a snack of some breakfast sausage meat in the afternoon, or a Lara bar. For dinner I will have a big salad with some more chicken.

I'm only 4'11" and I've lost 5 lbs since starting paleo (I'm now 100 lbs). This was not my goal and I'd rather not lose anymore as I'm quite active. I also get REALLY hungry a couple of hours after eating lunch, which I think is because I'm not eating enough fat at my midday meal. Ideally my midday meal would sustain me until dinnertime. Additional complications - I really dislike nuts (including nut butters) and I don't know how to cook red meat.

Does anyone have any calorie-dense "convenience foods" that I would be able to make at the start of the week? Examples are the paleo muffins and baked chicken breasts, which I love, but don't sustain me. I've started taking guacamole packets with me but there's only so much avocado I can take. Help?

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I was nervous to learn how to cook red meat too...after years of vegetarianism. It's actually ridiculously easy--easier than chicken, which is just horrible undercooked. Go for it! Also, maybe try baking some sweet potatoes before work, and bring a little container of butter to go on them. – hannah Mar 1 2012 at 16:10
If you are hungry by dinner, you could eat some more food at lunch? – Joy Mar 1 2012 at 20:02

5 Answers

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One simple sub I see is to change out your chicken breasts for thighs -- better with the skin than without.

Also, it's possible that the orange that you eat with your lunch is making you more hungry. Try dropping that, and see what happens.

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Two observations:

  • If you're at target weight/body comp/performance, why are you (seemingly) carb-restricting? You don't need fat per se, you need calories. Starch serves them up just as well as fats/oils.
  • Chicken breasts are too darn lean. Eat some real meat. Learn to cook it, it's actually more forgiving that chicken in my opinion.
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It's Paleo. Someone eating zucchini, spinach, pepper, carrots, oranges and big salads does not sound like carb-restricting to me. It's not just about weight, and there is a difference between getting your calories from starch as from fats. Might as well say you could go down the gas station and stick your head under the pump, plenty of calories there. – PrimalDanny Mar 1 2012 at 15:32
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Veggies aren't that rich in carbohydrate. Eating all that, I'm guess she's still well under 100 grams of carbs per day. I just did some quick math. 4 cups greens, 1 bell pepper, 2 carrots, 1 zucchini, 1 orange, 1 avocado: 58 grams of carbs, 28 of which are fiber (non-caloric). Most Atkins folks would be pretty happy with that level of carbohydrate. Don't get me wrong, her biggest problem is undereating, fat and carbs are both low. She's losing weight when she doesn't want to, that's undereating. – Matt Mar 1 2012 at 15:57
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It sounds like your still on a low fat diet. Get your fat on. Try eggs and bacon for breakfast or an egg and pork chop. Go for 6-12 oz steaks cooked in butter or coconut oil, salmon slathered in butter or a ground meat hash cooked with liberal amounts of coconut oil for lunch or dinner. Also if you don't want to lose more weight up your carbs, toss the orange and go for sweet potato, carrots,squash and pumpkin.Chicken is way too lean and to get enough fat from it you would have to eat an absurd amount of protein. Skip the nuts, you'll feel better for it. A good steak doesn't take a lot of work, for a thinner cut put it under the low broiler and flip 4-5 minutes a side, for a thicker cut 6 minutes a side under really low broiler tends to work, unless you like it more well done. Continue to flip until you get it done to your liking. Pork chops and farmers sausages are really easy to cook at the beginning of the week,cut up and throw on a salad or into a container. Try some coconut milk smoothies with raw egg yolks and coconut oil for convenience when going to school. Also just carry around a jar of coconut oil and a spoon when hungry take a tablespoon. Beef jerky and pepperettes from a local farmer free of nitrates work too.

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Would coconut butter do the same thing as coconut oil? – ceebs42 Mar 1 2012 at 15:57
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Cococnut butter is the whole coconut rather than just the oil. We buy raw coconut oil (Direct Micro Expelling). I find coconut butter actually makes me gain weight or be painfully bloated and hungry where coconut oil keeps me satisfied and can actually reverse dementia and so much more (mct concentration). – Chelsea Mar 1 2012 at 16:49
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First, eating fat doesn't work the same way we're used to. You'll find it works out a lot better to have a big meal of it and then not eat so often. Aside from the great advice here already for how to make use of the fat naturally available in your meals, the easiest solution is to throw a can of coconut milk into a smoothie as part of breakfast. If you're hungry after that there's something seriously wrong!

Second, learn to cook red meat. It's so easy a caveman could do it ;)

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Hi, Pinta. :)

I make piles of beef burgers and hard-boiled eggs for using during the week as "fast food".

Burgers are easy. Here is my method. Take a handful of ground beef and shape it into whatever shape one wishes. A standard, large skillet holds one pound of ground meat made into four burgers quite easily. I cover the skillet as I don't like to clean up splatter, and I don't brown the meat. Flame on medium to medium-high. Let cook a minute, turn down heat, then uncover and flatten the burgers with a pancake turner (aka spatula). Cover again, turn heat back up to medium or medium-high for a couple of minutes. Turn down heat, turn burgers over, flatten again, cover, and turn up heat again. I cook ground meat until there is no pink in the middle. (To make sausage patties, just add savory, pepper, and whatever other herbs/spices one wishes.)

Beef burgers with sour cream or yoghurt made from cream are nice with chives. Cold burgers make nice "fast food". So do roast beef chunks.

HB egg yolks and some heavy cream are also a nice, quick meal.

If one doesn't eat cream or sour cream, then butter or beef fat (drippings from cooking) could be used as a condiment on the burgers or egg yolks.

In hot weather, I use cold burgers, chunks of roast beef, and hb yolks as mainstays.

Salmon cakes are nice, quick food, too. I use Double "Q" wild Alaskan salmon, add egg yolks, and braise in beef fat and pastured butter with chives and pepper. Letting the salmon cakes sit in the fat while cooling helps to soak up a bit more fat. One can also drizzle cooking fats over them while they are cooking.

Hope this gives you a few ideas.

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