Fat, my friend
I’ve officially been paleo for two and a half weeks now, and one of the most difficult things for me to get used to is the embracing of eating FAT.
I’ve seen varying viewpoints on fat – some paleo peeps say that animal fat is GOOD, bacon fat is FINE to eat all the time (whhhatttt?!??!), olive oil is great, and organic sausage with no nitrates is A-OK to eat every single day.
Of course, my husband loves this – and has fully embraced it. I’ve been trying to – but I find myself still scraping fat off of beef broth that I made, and scooping out oil from my Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Bake. I’ve definitely been eating fat – about a piece of sausage and two eggs every day, avocado most days, and beef with some chunks of juicy fat on others. But it’s weird to make that transition and to convince myself that it’s ok. It’s not, in fact, the fat that’s been making me fat – it’s the sugar, grains, and processed crap I’ve been feeding myself for the past 29 years.
I know that there’s something to it, though, because I’ve been eating more fat that usual, and still enjoy carbs like sweet potatoes and fruit – and I’ve lost at least 3 pounds since I’ve started. I think I would have lost even more, but I haven’t worked out since starting paleo with the exception of a short walk here and there due to a fairly severe-and-unrelated-to-diet cough that I’ve had for almost 3 weeks. Yuck.
Has anyone else had a hard time embracing the ‘eat the fat’ mentality? And does anyone know how to get rid of this dang cough?
Posted on June 2, 2011, in Musings and tagged animal, bacon, Cook, cough, Eating, fat, Food, Home, Meat, Olive oil, paleo, primal, Sausage, sick, Sweet potato. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
I have to keep reminding myself that eating fat is ok! I was eating chicken the other day and was taking the skin off, then I was like I don’t have to do that anymore! Which is kind of nice…because I like eating the skin, but used to take it off since fat was ‘bad’. I still feel guilty putting a whole tbsp of coconut oil in my eggs, or using the bacon fat to cook with, but I keep reminding myself it’s ok! And I have noticed that when I include fat with my meal, it keeps me full for a lot longer!
I’m glad it’s not just me having a hard time getting used to it. It’s been so ingrained in our minds that ‘fat is bad’ – it’s hard to break that cycle.
Once I thoroughly researched the importance of fat in our diet, I had no problems increasing my fat intake. For me, the problem was more that I prefer the taste of leaner meats. I don’t like poultry skin, I don’t like globs of fat in my red meat, I don’t like oily foods, and the overall slippery feeling that fat leaves in your mouth. So I had to find sources of fat that I DO like. I eat a lot of eggs and avocados. I snack on nuts. I realized I like fatty meat if it’s on the bone. About 60% of your calories should come from fat.
Also, if weight loss is your goal, you should cut down on sweet potatoes (and other tubers) and fruit. You can get all the carbs/glucose that your brain needs to function from just veggies and like one serving of fruit a day as a treat. As you continue paleo, you’ll find that your carb/sugar cravings will disappear and that when you do eat carbs again (grains, etc), you’ll feel sick and it won’t taste as good. Makes staying paleo really easy!
Funny you say that – I’ve already noticed that when I cheat (was on vacation this past weekend and cheated a little) I feel WAY worse. Amazing, really! It almost warrants a post of it’s own… hmmm….
Good advice about the tubers! I’m working on cutting down on them. They really helped at the start!