Two weeks into the 30 Day Challenge, and the sweet tooth hits. The urge is often to look at the list of primal approved ingredients and whip up a dessert from them. With nuts, seeds, cheese, and fruit, I could have a Primal Cheesecake that's very awesome, but still about a million calories. Banana is a fruit, and coconut is actually encouraged, so would my banana ice cream work better?
Yes and no.
Yes, the Coconut Banana "Ice Cream" would be better from a calorie perspective, assuming you kept your intake to a reasonable amount.
Then comes the "no."
Are you a binge waiting to happen? (Roland holds up his hand) If you are, like I am, the 30 Days is more than just 30 Days of Primal ingredients, but 30 days of Roland getting old and bad habits out of his head. ...or at least out of the forefront.
Desserts, ice cream, even fake ice cream, brings up memories and subconscious feelings. We love ice cream for more than the taste, but for the feelings that go along with it. If you think the insulin surge or the resulting blood sugar drop is what makes you go back to the freezer for another two scoops, you're mistaken. It's the feelings. Is there a physical component? Sure, but still...
Ice cream isn't alone here, I mentioned cheesecake earlier, and we also have primally approved chocolate coming in the form of cacao nibs, cocoa powder, chocolate bars, paleo cookies, and as little chunks in caveman-style trail mix. All might be mighty healthy, but if you eat five hundred calories of anything "extra" it leaves little room for anything else. If that five hundred is not satiating, this is bad news. If that five hundred leads you off onto a binge of yet another five hundred or even more, suddenly you're back to getting fat. It IS possible to get fat on a paleo treat, just like almost any food that you might overeat.
Cool, that rhymes.
Vizzini -- No more rhymes now, I mean it!
Fezzik -- Anybody want a peanut?
Roland -- Um, peanuts are not paleo...
I'm back...
I hope 30 days of fewer treats period, primal, paleo, or "normal," will help to put that sweet habit on the back burner.
Second, this, and other "paleo" treats, can be the kind of loophole that brings down even the best of those on a diet. The Zone Diet or Atkins Diet has a lot of failures, no doubt many were triggered and finalized by bars and packaged meals that are "compliant" but still, in my humble opinion, loopholes. Not that I'm particularly FOR (or against) either diet, but when you play a loophole, you defeat the purpose of your "diet." Personally, I think the end result of too much maltitol is punishment enough, but those bars continue to sell, and bring down those who overeat them.
Paleo and Primal, Zone and South Beach, Low Fat and Low Carb, Vegan, Vegetarian. They all have "rules," and rules have loopholes that one can exploit. Are you in this to get your health on or just going through the motions for some other reason? A diet that you've chosen to follow is not a punishment, but a tool to help you.
Are you even bought into your diet? Did your doctor prescribe it? Are you doing it with your spouse because you don't have the balls to say no? I remember a guy who was on the TNT Diet with his wife. In addition to eating everything else TNT, he also ate about two whole chickens a day "because it's compliant." Man up and get with the program OR man up and talk to the wife.
Third, there really is no third point. The first two are points enough.
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