It's all in the delivery

Until March 15th I was a vegetarian for many years and a vegan for quite a few.  I chose to be a vegetarian for many reasons including health and moral issues.  No one else in my family was vegetarian and other than my yoga friends I was mostly surrounded by people who included meat in their diet.  The reaction to my dietary choice from meat eaters varied but typically included teasing, often time condescending questions and even the sadistic need of some to try and upset me by describing the gory details of slaughter and consumption of animals in a way they found humorous.  I truly never judged non-vegetarians and explained that to people whenever I was "outed" but I always had a sense of being judged.  I never tried to "convert" anyone and  certainly never harassed anyone about their choice to consume flesh.  It took a long time to realize that the reactions I was receiving had nothing to do with me but where entirely about the other person. 

Naively I thought that by going Paleo the world of meat eaters would embrace me with delight and welcome me back into their fold.  I was actually relieved that I would no longer feel the need to defend myself or to put others at ease, boy was I wrong!  I feel more isolated than ever.  Vegetarians find it baffling that I would make the switch to meat and give up dairy, a protein source staple for many vegetarians and  grains and legumes, also staples of the vegetarian diet.  As for meat eaters, I'm finding that most can not fathom a big juicy steak without a cheesy, buttery potato and a meal without bread.  I find myself explaining and defending myself now more than ever and it can become pretty tiring.

For good reason I have a great deal of enthusiasm about my new way of eating.  I have experienced tangible results:  11 lbs of weight loss, 16 inches total loss, 3% body fat loss, no more bloaty belly and digestive issues, more energy, no more joint pain, PR's in my workouts and runs, more stamina and strength in my yoga practice and finally feeling satisfied after eating a meal.  So it stands to reason that I want to share the secret to my success with everyone especially people who are struggling with weight loss, lethargy, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pain, allergies, etc.  I expected everyone, especially these people to welcome information that is proven to work and could relieve them of any suffering they are experiencing but I'm finding that's not often the case.  When I describe the paleo way of eating it seems to be an immediate turn off and I think I have discovered the reason why.  It's not so much the diet, it's my delivery of the information about paleo eating that's the problem.  Typically, I begin by telling the person I eat a paleo diet and then rattling off the litany of "no-no" foods and that immediately turns people off!  They only hear what sounds like some cuckoo, crazy strict diet so you can imagine how thrilled I was to find the info below over at Whole 9 .

When asked, “What’s this diet you’re on?”, most Paleo people approach their response entirely the wrong way. The first thing we mention are all the things we DON’T eat – grains, dairy, legumes, sugar and processed foods. Trouble is, there is probably at least ONE of those food groups in their listener’s diet, and starting the discussion with a judgment of their dietary choices (whether real or imagined) immediately puts the listener on the defensive. (As we say in our How to Win Friends post, us Paleo people have the ability to make people feel bad about what they’re doing, JUST by doing what we’re doing.) In addition, jumping into the foods you don’t eat first immediately closes off further conversation if the listener jumps to some fast conclusions about your level of dietary fanaticism, or the restrictive nature of your self-imposed regimen. (For most people, not eating ANY of those food groups is hard to wrap your head around.) Finally, that kind of lead-off also places you in the unfortunate position of then having to justify from a scientific (“prove it”) perspective why the foods you don’t eat are actually not that good for you. And as many of you have discovered, that’s darn near impossible when up against a lifetime of “milk gives you strong bones”, “whole grains have extra nutrition” and “black beans are a good source of protein”.)


So we approached our Paleo pitch from a different angle – emphasizing the foods we DO eat, why we eat them, and the general (and well documented) health benefits associated with the foods we choose. And then we seal the deal with a personal testimonial – how this way of eating has affected YOU, personally. It’s hard to argue with, “Since going Paleo, I put 25# on my deadlift, cut my 5K time by 5:00, lost 10 pounds, and my skin has totally cleared up”, right?

So here’s our final version – Whole9 Paleo Elevator Pitch. Give it a read, give it a test run with the next person you see, and share your thoughts, feedback, experiences and suggestions in comments.

The Whole9 Nutrition Elevator Pitch


I eat “real” food – fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important – I’m careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible.


It’s not a low calorie “diet” – I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you’d imagine. Fat isn’t the enemy – it’s a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I’m not trying to do a “low carb” thing, but since I’m eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.


Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym. It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

I made an appointment for my annual physical for Monday, June 28th.  I intentionally set it for that date because I will have been eating paleo for 60+ days and will have completed my 7 week Spartan 300 Challenge training and final workout on June 26th.  I am really curious to see how my lab results will compare to years' past.  Mr. X and my parents who are both in the medical field are a bit skeptical about how eating so much  meat and eggs will affect my cholesterol levels.  Hopefully the results will be good enough to convince them that they should join me in my "fanatical, restrictive, self-imposed regime" :-)

Last night's Vinyasa class with Lilyana was just what I needed and  Malia's adjustments made my heart and body sing :-)  Tonight Coach Crystal's workout  will have my glutes and hammies screaming and my shoulders crying uncle:

Strength:
5 x 3 deadifts

WOD:
5 Rounds
15 swings (16kg)
10 Jerks (75#)

Fuel Log 5/18/10:

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.

½ c egg whites
¼ c green pepper
¼ c onions
¼ c mushrooms
1 tsp coconut oil

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
5 slices brisket
Field greens, cabbage, carrots, beets w/dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey and garlic salt

Snack 2:00 p.m.
Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar

Snack 6:00 p.m.
1 oz oven roasted turkey

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
11 oz coconut water
3 oz baked salmon
oven roasted asparagus w/olive oil and garlic salt
1/3 baked sweet potato, mashed with 1 tsp coconut butter, sprinkled w/cinnamon
¼ c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate