Salads

[captkronos]

I never really made a point of eating salads, it seemed like some annoying barrier that stood between me and meat.  However, this week I forced myself to eat one for lunch, WITH some form of meat.  A couple of days it was a can of sardines, one day a can of tuna, and one day with some sliced steak on top.  The salad itself was just romaine lettuce, feta cheese and some olives.  Olive oil for the dressing.  I had my BPC for breakfast, and around noon ate the salad.  I was amazed how long I stayed full.  Really not even hungry in the evening, but had some coffee and an apple with peanut butter most days.  I could easily do an alternate day diet with a big salad for lunch probably as a long term way of eating.  It would definitely save money and seems like it would be healthy.  I remember some of those "CRON" calorie restriction optimal nutrition guys just ate one big salad a day.  They might have been onto something. Some leafy greens are very high in oxylates so I have arrived at romaine as the base leaf. 

[Dave Reslo]

Should keep you regular too m8

[whiffet]

Big salads are a fantastic meal. Just add your protein of choice and carbs if you want them on the side.

I use a base of rocket and build it from there. I tend to add raw garlic and ginger; chopped red pepper and celery; cucumber and then tomatoes. I’ll then add some salt and drizzle with olive oil and mashed avocado and a balsamic reduction. They taste fantastic.

[jonrock]

Jan 20, 2024 17:01:48 GMT whiffet said:

Big salads are a fantastic meal. Just add your protein of choice and carbs if you want them on the side.

I use a base of rocket and build it from there. I tend to add raw garlic and ginger; chopped red pepper and celery; cucumber and then tomatoes. I’ll then add some salt and drizzle with olive oil and mashed avocado and a balsamic reduction. They taste fantastic.

I love such meals and have not done them as of lately, this reminds me to go back to them.
My take on them used to be to use scrambled eggs as protein, delicious!

[TexasRanger]

I can't always eat a big salad, so I'll take different greens -- spinach, kale, etc., etc. -- and slow cook them in balsamic vinegar and then fold them into my egg white omlete with lots of other veggies (onion are always on the list) since they're a fraction of their original size. More and more mushrooms of late. I'm also breaking my "fast" (breakfast) with a dehydrated powder of greens when I'm not traveling.

[captkronos]

Well, this was a short-lived experiment. I really was thinking this would work for me, but the seemingly harmless romaine took a heavy toll. Salad for lunch = farting for dinner. I was swimming in rotten cabbage-like fumes every night. No wonder women are always bloated. My gut doesn't like veggies, potatoes, or beans of any sort (peanuts don't seem to bother me even though they're a bean).  I was eating a small apple daily too, so not sure how much that contributed as I don't normally consume much in the way of fruits and veggies. 

[TexasRanger]

Jan 24, 2024 11:52:41 GMT captkronos said:

Well, this was a short-lived experiment. I really was thinking this would work for me, but the seemingly harmless romaine took a heavy toll. Salad for lunch = farting for dinner. I was swimming in rotten cabbage-like fumes every night. No wonder women are always bloated. My gut doesn't like veggies, potatoes, or beans of any sort (peanuts don't seem to bother me even though they're a bean).  I was eating a small apple daily too, so not sure how much that contributed as I don't normally consume much in the way of fruits and veggies. 

Let me ask...do you go from near zero to the diet you describe?

Possible reason as to why: if your 'gut' isn't adapted to real plant foods with fiber, you're going to experience what you describe.  Dr. Will Bulsiewicz (a gastro MD) notes patients that he's worked with take up to six weeks, if not a couple of months to re-adapt their guts to ancestral diet depending on how long they've been eating a diet void of these foods.  That fiber is adding volume and bulk you didn't have previously.

Also, the flora in your gut that make those critical short chain fatty acids critical to our health need fiber to thrive.  If you haven't been 'feeding' them, the bad flora will thrive and they don't do well when you introduce fiberous foods.

Our Paleo ancestors allegedly ate 60 or 70 or more grams of fiber/day, if I recall and a high variety of grains (grasses back in the day), tubers, fruits, etc.  Bulsiewicz referenced up to 20 (?) different kinds of plant foods.  

I know when I first tried Clarence Bass' diet -- the massive "old faithful" oatmeal breakfast w/ various adds, the nut butter sandwich on very, very fiberous bread along with an apple and the massive salad at night with options like rice & beans -- years & years ago, but stomach took a turn for the worst for a while.  Wrote Clarence and he suggested 'don't give up, but take very small steps'.  Worked for Clarence, eventually my gut adapted and (!!) I was eating fewer calories with a lot more volume and a reduced grocery bill.

Women bloated?  Hmmm.  Think that has to do with hormones and their cycle.  

[captkronos]

Yes I went from eating an occasional banana (no issues) to a salad and an apple. Six weeks of that would be miserable 🫢

[TexasRanger]

Jan 25, 2024 2:56:06 GMT captkronos said:

Yes I went from eating an occasional banana (no issues) to a salad and an apple. Six weeks of that would be miserable 🫢

Baby steps.