How to tell if you are primal
(25 posts) (14 voices)-
PillowFire
MemberWeird question, I know. But I constantly feel as if I am not certain of whether or not I am doing "primal" correctly. I eat meat, lots of vegetables, snacks consisting of yogurt, a fruit, nuts (recently got some walnuts that are fun to crack and eat) and also pickled cabbage made from a cabbage bought directly from a farm by my Mom.
Anyways, I just ate a bag of popcorn with my favorite Sci-Fi shows since it's Friday and don't feel all that sick. So that got me wondering, am I really eating primal and is my metabolism adjusted to burn fats the way it should? Or am I not. How do you tell besides examining the food you eat?
P.S. if anyone knows of a way to figure out body fat percentage I'd love to know. I tried some online ones and they are horridly inaccurate (vary widely).
Posted 5 months ago # -
nessa
Memberi feel as if i'm stating the obvious here, but... popcorn is not primal. even if you're trying to just go 80/20, *popcorn*, IMO, isn't really a "sensible indulgence".
as far as the other stuff- you may feel more energy when you're eating primally. you may find your body composition changes - i.e. less fat & more muscle - that's also including some primal activities/exercise.
i guess, i'm not exactly clear on your question.
Posted 5 months ago # -
PillowFire
MemberI know. But it's not like I am eating popcorn every day. That's like the first time I had eaten a bag of popcorn in a very long time. And the only thing I have been snacking on lately is walnuts, yogurt, bananas, apples, and a small piece of dark chocolate (85%). Also some raisins today.
Anyways, mostly I eat lots of meat, vegetables, fish every now and then, not that much fruit juice (I love juice every now and then; esp. carrot juice) and some other misc. things. I haven't eaten any fast food in a horrendous amount of time.
I have a little paper wheel that determines your body fat % based on your height and weight. I spun it around to my weight-139, and height-5'6 1/2, and it is at 22 percent. According to this paper thing, that's in the healthy range. Below 18.5 is deemed as underweight.
So this confuses me because Mark Sisson apparently has 8 percent body fat, and I have seen many on here with a similarly low amount. My weight has not increased or decreased for several years now, although recently I have built some muscle, which means that my actual body fat percentage must be lower than the little paper disk says (because if my weight is the same, but now I have some muscle, that means some of that fat is now muscle and is unaccounted for.)
My goal now is to convert fat into lean mass and try to get my body fat percentage down low like you guys. From various sources I have seen online on the topic of body fat, it is said that 10 percent is an essential amount, and below that is dangerous (so accordingly, you guys with below ten percent BF are dangerous lol) but either way I feel I can go lower.
Problem is that I can't keep track of the exact components I take in per day, as I have no clue how many carbs, protein, trans fat, sat. fat, glucose, etc is in each meal I eat. I just trust my parents to make great food. They were aware of most of the things that the Primal Diet entails even before I or they found out about it (and I was raised on home cooked meals and quality ingredients back in Ukraine for my early childhood so I am thankful for that), and buy clean meat, organic when possible, fresh veggies and fruits; cook meat over a fire often and make fish and other healthy home made recipes for vegetables and salads and the like. Taking up too much space so if you know my other threads you probably know what it is that I eat.
Of course I also eat buckwheat every now and then, and also potatoes and pasta (again, rarely, but my parents cook food not just for healthiness but for tastiness too, so grains aren't strictly off limits and every few weeks I might eat a dish or two with some sort of grains in it although I have cut that back a lot more recently. I haven't even eaten pasta or potatoes for months now).
Sorry for the huge wall of text, but that sums up my situation. I do exercise at least several times per week, with burpees, weights, going outside and to events such as picnics to eat some meat prepared over a fire or paintball and what not. I don't eat school lunches, instead I eat cold cuts and quality cheese (not heavily processed American style cheeses) with a banana or apple and yogurt for lunch at school.
So, I'm not too sure how to get my body to start lowering my BF percentage and making more muscle/lean mass without having to get extremely technical at every meal.
Posted 5 months ago # -
kuno1chi
MemberPillowfire,
Here are some thoughts:
1.) Ditch the grains, including popcorn.
2.) Try to limit your fruits to 1 serving a day
3.) Check out FitDay.com or one of the other online dietary tools. If you're on this forum, presumably you have internet access, and you can use FitDay for free.
4.) Your little "paper wheel" is probably calculating your BMI, or Body Mass Index http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/
rather than your body fat. At 5-6 and 139, you come out to a BMI of 22.4, which is in the "normal" range.
This, however, says nothing about your body fat; but if you adhere to Primal Blueprint concepts, your BF will tend to reach a healthy level.
5.) BUY Primal Blueprint, if you can! Many of your questions will be answered there.Posted 5 months ago # -
Come on! This should be a thread with funnys.
"You know you are Primal if....":
1. Your cupboard is empty and your fridge has more packages of raw meat for 3 days than a regular family of 6 has available for an entire week's worth of meals.
2. You go to a restaurant and they ask you 'soup, salad, fries, or baked potato? and you reply with "Meat! Just bring me the damn meat will you??! Ahem, why are you still standing there? Go kill the cow!"
Posted 5 months ago # -
groquette
MemberOne sort of arbitrary thought:
My goal now is to convert fat into lean mass
You really can't convert fat into muscle. You can burn fat as fuel, and your body can add muscle, and these are fairly independent processes.
Not sure if that comes across as super-anal. What the heck... I am super anal :-)
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
MemberHere's how to tell if you are Primal:
- You don't eat grains of any kind, including corn.
- You don't eat potatoes or other starchy vegetables like peas and carrots.
- You eat mostly fat, some protein, and minimal non-starchy carbs in the form of non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash, and celery.
- You occasionally eat fruit (maybe 2x a week).
- You eat organic and grass-fed foods whenever possible.
- You do not eat processed foods at all.
- You might or might not eat cheese and other dairy products depending on how strict you are with yourself.
- You Play regularly, you occasionally Lift Heavy Things and Sprint, and you Move About Slowly rather a lot.
- You get adequate sleep, whether through sleeping all night or taking naps when you need extra rest.Popcorn is not Primal in any way, shape or form.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I almost stated that your post was perfect Griff, but I think you missed the legumes!
Lots of people that I've 'converted' follow the zero grains, but still are not educated on the legumes factor. They say "But they have fiber and good nutrients!!!" and I say "So do many other foods without the inflammation factors!" ;-)
Posted 5 months ago # -
Griff
MemberLegumes are any bean, including peanuts and peas, and any lentil. They are uniformly Not Good.
Carrots are way too high in sugar, as are beets and most other sweeter root vegetables.
Cabbage is okay. It's a leafy green and won't hurt you or raise your insulin levels.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I eat peas and carrots, occasionally.
Nothing wrong with eating ample veggies of all kinds, IMO.
Posted 5 months ago # -
PillowFire
MemberWell, it seems as if you guys want to cut everything. I couldn't stick to the strict outline given by Griff above because I do not buy the food. My parents do. And my parents tell me not to jump off the deep end. As of right now, I'm pretty well fit and I eat lots of vegetables, eggs, meat, etc. Fresh and "organic" as best as my parents can afford it. I guess I'll have to buy Mark's book to figure out all of the specifics and maybe talk with my parents about it, but I have this constant schizo state where I realize I am eating great and am primal, then realize I am not, then again come to the conclusion that I am.
Just how harmful is it to include carrots and "root veggies" every now and then anyways?
Posted 5 months ago # -
Really the only root I don't eat are white potatoes. Sweet potatoes VERY rarely. Carrots, turnips, parsnips I eat occasionally, when I happen to get them. I don't think it's non-Primal to eat them. Of course if you have issues with them, cut them out, but I wouldn't call them non-Primal.
Posted 5 months ago # -
PillowFire
MemberI want to be primal, just not to the point where the gains become negligible but the sacrifices great. Meaning, I still love fast food and all sorts of processed crap. I got a taste for it and I don't think that's going to go away any time soon. Being a human being I can exert will power over any desires I may have for this food and consciously chose no. And over time, having not eaten any fast food and a very small amount of processed food in god knows how long, I don't even have any desires for it.
But I still like chocolate candies. I've taken to knocking that off as well with dark chocolate and fruit. Fruit is like the substitute for sugar for me.
Posted 5 months ago # -
BlazeKING
MemberMany people consciously choose to smoke their last cigarette but that often doesn't work out so well. Fast food is a drug and a very addictive drug. The salt and sugar gives a nice massage to your dopamine receptors just like some illegal drugs. You are human and you can choose, hell any animal can choose things based on its level of intelligence. But realize there are forces that are pushing you to choose things just like any other animal. Being able to overcome those forces is definitely a sign of true strength.
That is good that you have come off fast food. And remember folks, Mark talks about the 80/20 rule and no one contends that Mark isn't primal because of that. Think about the long term when primal. Those who go into something to fast and too strict many times fail. Eating some things every once in a while that aren't 100% primal isn't going to kill you or do too much to harm your health or physique. Just don't let that 20% become anything more than that 20%.
Posted 5 months ago # -
PillowFire
MemberI actually used to eat tons of junk food when I was younger. Didn't get much fatter physically (plus medicine for ADHD called Straterra kept my hunger in check, so I artificially stayed "slim" whilst eating all sorts of junk)
Some time ago I began to change my lazy, junky habits. Dropped fast food, soda, etc. Started working out and exercising. Luckily my exercises are short but intense. I only later realized that's the way it should be. I now sprint to all of my classes with a backpack full of books and the like. Go to bed on time, etc.
So after all of that it gets very easy to focus on the negatives. I eat a tiny little chocolate-coated waffle candy (at most 3 of these during the course of one day and then not at all for more than week, this being the only artificial, processed junk I ate that entire time) and feel guilty for an hour and actually start looking at myself in the mirror as if I am fat and unhealthy. That's how powerful the human mind is. Your perception is literally everything.
I ate that bag of popcorn mentioned before and also felt guilty afterward. It's crazy.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I eat primal, although I have just realised in the past day or two (since using FitDay, funnily enough) that I eat too much fruit.
My difficulty (and it's not insurmountable!) is this. I have to get up at 5.15am to get to work and get home at 8pm if I'm lucky (I live far from work but I'm not moving away from the seaside!). So time to prepare things is relativley limited. I also can't have dairy (intolerant). So, I've been sicking to some fruit and various nuts, whichever grab my fancy. But seeing the carb content of an apple has blown my socks off with shock! It doens't seem to be causing me problems, but I'm sure if I really reduced the fruit, I'd be doing even better.
What do you guys suggest?
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread, it just seemed to 'fit'.
Posted 5 months ago #
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