No more Paleo...

I was going to email this to a friend to get their opinion on whether or not to stop my Paleo trial early, but by the end of writing it I’d pretty much made up my mind.  So here follows an open discussion of how the trial has gone, my reasons for stopping, and my plan for the next two weeks.

 Reasons for switching:

• I feel like crap, I feel bloated, huge and frankly, quite constipated.  This makes me not want to work out.
• Its getting really expensive.
• Cooking is taking more time, which is taking away from studying, which is stressing me out more.
• Planning how to pack my lunches is difficult, because I never know if I'm going to be doing cardio or not before-hand. Sometimes I'll talk myself out of a run because I don't have starches to eat afterward.
• I’m having trouble sleeping.

Reasons against switching:

• Most of the things I've read say you feel pretty bad the first 3 weeks, and then you start to feel really good.
• I tend to give up on things half way, and I’m worried I’m doing that here.
• It has been easier to avoid sugars/desserts

Things that will change:

·         I’ll start eating oatmeal, quinoa and brown rice again (probably one serving with each meal, not huge quantities or anything),

·         I’ll start eating legumes again.  I’ll probably alternate cartons of soymilk with almond or coconut milk, but start eating lentils, black beans and garbanzo beans again.

·         I’ll reduce my meat/egg consumption to ~1 meal/day

·         I won’t worry about timing my carb intake with my aerobic workouts.

Things that won’t change (for another 2 weeks):

·         Still no wheat, dairy, processed foods or refined sugar.