What I Eat and What I Don’t Eat – May 2012 Edition

The last time I posted on what I eat and don’t eat was over two years ago. Time for an update. The biggest difference between now and then is I no longer follow a strict low carbohydrate interpretation of the Paleo diet. In fact, I don’t even primarily consider myself Paleo. I’m more in the WAPF camp, which places greater importance upon traditional methods of food preparation.

What I Don’t Eat

I have found that most of my health benefits came from eliminating the foods with the highest amount of anti-nutrients. People who preach moderation when it comes to toxins never seem to have excellent health. Here is what I avoid.

• Gluten (Wheat, Barley, Rye, Couscous)
• Vegetable and Seed Oils (Corn, Canola, Soy, Sunflower, etc)
• Excessive Sugar
• Soy that hasn’t been fermented  (I eat miso and natto, not BOCA burgers and Tofu)
• Legumes that haven’t been soaked and sprouted (#7 on If I Were Still a Vegetarian)
• Beer, Wine, Cider (my body hates liquid sources high in histamines)
• Milk (unless raw, which is a very rare treat)
• Fruit Juice (no fruit without fiber)
• Food from China
• Peanuts (except purposeful trace exposure)
• Oranges, Tangerines. (I hate the taste and smell)

Things I have taken off the No List include starchy vegetables and white rice. My experiences suggest that The Perfect Health Diet is accurate in labeling them safe starches. I’ve also started drinking the occasional Coke Zero again. It helps me when I have extreme headaches in a way that coffee, tea and water don’t. In Podcast #15 of Upgraded Self Radio, I felt James Krieger made a strong case for the safety of diet colas. In an ideal world, I wouldn’t drink Coke Zero, but it is more effective than Alleve or Advil for my headaches.

Neutral Foods

Here are some foods I eat that fall into a middle ground. They aren’t necessarily healthy, but I have found they don’t cause me problems. Run your own experiments.

• Popcorn
• Gluten-free grains (in small quantities)
• Ice Cream (occasionally and on high activity days)
• Cheese

What I Eat

Once the toxic foods have been removed, I like the strategy of loading up on highly nutrient dense foods. The post High Velocity Super Warrior Foods has a list of ideas. Here are the foods I eat.

• Mostly pastured, organic meat
• Mostly clean seafood
• All vegetables (raw, fermented, cooked)
• Seaweed
• Some fruit
• Coconut oil, butter, lard, tallow, ghee, palm oil, olive oil
• Eggs
• Yogurt (Full Fat)
• Coffee and Tea
• Dark Chocolate
• Soaked almonds

Questionable Foods

As much as I’ve tweaked my diet in the past few years, there are some foods I still have some uncertainty about. I will run tests on these foods to determine my personal tolerance.

• Nightshades – I plan on doing a 30 day elimination test on this food group later this year.
• Tyramine / Histamine Foods – My test last year was flawed, I need to do a strict test to see if this is a cause of my headaches.
• Coffee – My 2 week test last year was flawed as well. I need to go a full month and not have decaf during the test period. I am not ready for that test. It’ll be much later in the year.
• Cheese and Almond Butter – The two foods I find the most hyper palatable. They are fine foods, but I can’t control myself when they are in the house, so I’ve drastically cut back on both.
• Gin – Recently, I’ve discovered that my body might be able to handle very small amounts of gin. More data is needed.

Less Rigid

This list is less rigid than the one I made two years ago. I now know which foods are the most toxic and which are the most nutrient dense. I suspect having a healthy attitude about everything in between is a better approach than becoming a neurotic eater obsessing about the quality of every calorie.