Paleo Diet in SA

Norri

Norri

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Anyone know of Paleo cook books by South African authors (with common South African ingredients and in South African metrics)?

I'm keen to get started but most of the Paleo cook books are American.
 
Norri said:
Anyone know of Paleo cook books by South African authors (with common South African ingredients and in South African metrics)?

I'm keen to get started but most of the Paleo cook books are American.
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If our paleolithic ancestors were healthier than us it's because they either had to run after their food or run away from becoming food on a regular basis. ;)
 
Didn't they also only live to 35? You know that is healthy when you manage to die before you're 40.
 
Norri said:
Wise-cracks aside, anyone know more about Paleo diet books in SA?
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You'll have to make do with wise-cracks. Paleo is still very much a fringe thing. The chances of you finding a book about that SA style is near zero. Best to lower your sights a bit & settle for an imported paleo book. Most respectable cooking books give both metric & imperial measurements now-a-days anyway.
 
Paleo is the way to go. Hard to follow though. Rules are pretty simple, if you can eat it raw and its not processed or dairy, eat it.

Regarding metrics, its really not that hard to convert, come on.
 
Okie dokes, making do with wise-cracks :)

Ja, the book just came out recently. I did notice one of the US books had a metric conversion thing but I'm concerned that some of the ingredients of the recipes won't be that common in SA.

Will check them out in the bookstores in any case and see if it looks doable.

Thanks!
 
Geriatrix, you underestimate the laziness :D

I think the main thing for us will be to get rid of the stuff we currently have and only buy stuff that fits in with this diet. Goodbye bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, peanut butter, corn. Eish. But ja, once that's done I'm sure it becomes easier.

How long have you been on the diet?
 
Norri said:
Geriatrix, you underestimate the laziness :D

I think the main thing for us will be to get rid of the stuff we currently have and only buy stuff that fits in with this diet. Goodbye bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, peanut butter, corn. Eish. But ja, once that's done I'm sure it becomes easier.

How long have you been on the diet?
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I was on the diet for about 7 months. Lost over 12kg and never felt better in my life. Then late nights at work happened and things escalated and the bad habits came back. :(
I'm slowly returning to a full Paleo diet though.

Anyhow, I suggest having one day a week as a cheat day. Don't eat refined carbs or sugars of course but have some brown rice or potatoes on Saturdays or something. This makes falling back to less likely. This is really,really a hard diet to maintain, especially if you have a work schedule that makes you have to buy takeaways every once in a while(best option is Nando's btw :p, even though the sauces have sugar).
 
Thanks for your advice and experience, Ger! Much appreciated!

Luckily my wife and I both work from home but, alas, we're both a tad lazy so fast food still wins a little too often.

Did you find that this eating style was expensive? I mean we're talking about removing the cheap stuff (pasta, bread, etc) and increasing the expensive stuff (meat, nuts).

Obviously increasing the veggies isn't expensive (at least not at Fruit n Veg) but having that amount of veg in the house is bound to result in some going off or our fridge having no space for anything else :P

What were your experiences?
 
Norri said:
Did you find that this eating style was expensive? I mean we're talking about removing the cheap stuff (pasta, bread, etc) and increasing the expensive stuff (meat, nuts).
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It was marginally more expensive but barely noticeable. Depending on how bad you eat currently it could actually work out cheaper. Remember no sweets,chips, cold drinks, sugar, syrup, muffins or anything like that. Regarding veggies, frozen veggies ftw. Of course fresh is better but you have to be somewhat practical.

Learn to make smoothies. Those rock for breakfast. Some milk(I kept milk in my diet :p),raw eggs, a banana and a teaspoon of honey all blended together is awesome.

And regarding meat, remember to watch your portion sizes. Paleo is NOT a protein only diet. So you can buy a steak and cut it in two portions. Thus meat should average on about R10 per portion. Also, the first thing you guys should focus on is how to make paleo friendly sauces. Those help keep the diet interesting.

Hmm, can't think of anything else now. Shoot some questions if you have more.
 
The sauces sound interesting and I agree, that would be one of the most important bits. What ingredients did you buy to make sauces? We currently buy those sauce bags (laziness again :P) and chuck them over our food before cooking which would definitely have to stop.

Half a steak as a meat portion? For a guy or a gal? Because I don't know if half a steak would be enough for me, especially as I'm starting capoeira soon and would want to bulk up a bit.

The smoothies sound cool but I'll have to skip on the milk as I'm lactose intolerant. I'm wondering if lactose free milk would be okay. Since I switched to decaf, I've noticed I hardly drink coffee any more, so cutting out milk entirely won't be much of an issue for me. My wife is another story though :P
 
Norri said:
The sauces sound interesting and I agree, that would be one of the most important bits. What ingredients did you buy to make sauces? We currently buy those sauce bags (laziness again :P) and chuck them over our food before cooking which would definitely have to stop.
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Hoo, that laziness is going to be a problem...:p:D
Half a steak as a meat portion? For a guy or a gal? Because I don't know if half a steak would be enough for me, especially as I'm starting capoeira soon and would want to bulk up a bit.
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Veggies dude, veggies. That suggestion is only if money is tight. But seriously, don't over do the meat. You need to eat veggies and salad too. Thats a major part of the diet. I do martial arts too and you don't need that much meat to bulk up. You can eat eggs, nuts and even some whey isolates to supplement if need be.

The smoothies sound cool but I'll have to skip on the milk as I'm lactose intolerant. I'm wondering if lactose free milk would be okay. Since I switched to decaf, I've noticed I hardly drink coffee any more, so cutting out milk entirely won't be much of an issue for me. My wife is another story though :P
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Others use coconut milk. I can't stand that but maybe give it a go. I kept the milk in my diet because I found my choices too limited without it.

So its up to your wife. Just not fat free milk. Have a look at the ingredients in it.

Of btw, check any things ingredients before you buy it. For instance, did you know some powdered coffees contain sugar?
 
I love my veggies so that's not an issue. I just find that my body goes through meat like crazy. If I have a small portion of meat, my body feels weak within an hour. A decent size (2 breasts or a bit more) and I'm feeling strong for quite a while.

Thanks for the tips! I hugely appreciate it! Good to hear from local dudes on the diet :)
 
Many months later and we're getting by well on Paleo. It's reached a point now where I've realised that most of my life-long issues (stomach cramps, lethargy, joint problems, etc) were a result of eating badly. If I cheat and eat bread or other non-Paleo food, I feel it within 20-60 minutes and it can last days :/ Not fun so, actually, sticking to Paleo has become quite easy for me!

I have done the 1-day cheat thing though and on that day we eat potatoes and a bit of honey, etc. During the week, I have little to no fruit as I'm still on a weight-loss mission so I also use cheat days to binge on fruit. So far, so good. The paleo diet coupled with Capoeira and JKD has resulted in a much healthier couple of people. Quite chuffed :)

Thanks for the tips, meneer. Hope this thread helps others as well.
 
Sorry for the necro... It's 8 years since the original post and paleo has become more accepted and popular over that time, so I'd like to ask the question the OP asked, once again:
Anyone know of Paleo cook books by South African authors (with common South African ingredients and in South African metrics)?
 
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