The Vegetarian Cavewoman

Of late, I have been working towards a more Paleolithic diet, peppered with GI and LC diet theory. I firmly believe that there is not nutritional plan out there that is appropriate for everyone, exactly as written. One must custom-craft a plan to fit individual needs and physiological responses. You choose the plan that BEST fits your goals and body's abilities and tinker from there.

I have been vegetarian since the age of 2. Never have wavered a day. A choice that profound must have come directly from the body itself. Something inside of me just doesn't want meat. A life-long vegetarian diet did not shield me from health woes, though. Rather, it likely promoted the blood-sugar issues I manifested in my 30's. Although I ate only whole grains, beans, veggies and fruits, my daily carbohydrate intake was staggering. And, most of the dietary choices were high glycemic index and high glycemic load. I turned to lowcarbing to alleviate the symptoms (chasing people around with axes is not considered socially acceptable) and it worked like a charm. Now, though, I want to see if I can get to a more middle-of-the-road approach.

I love veggies. Love them. Will gladly snack on raw zucchini, cauliflower or turnips all day. I can live without wheat, corn, potatoes, winter squash, etc.; however, my eggplant, broccoli, spinach - gimme, gimme, gimme...I love veggies as many love chocolate. And I missed them terribly when I went lowcarb. For when I do anything, I do it to the extreme. For me, low carb almost meant no carb. And I can do that. I know how. Most people don't have the ability to truly analyze and evaluate foods and wouldn't take the time anyway. I researched, experimented, planned, prepared and purged carbohydrates from my daily diet. My mental state was significantly improved as was my ability to concentrate. I no longer had the shakes if I didn't eat every 30 minutes. But, my way of eating was not the WOE I wanted for the remainder of my years. It was fantastic to cleanse and reboot my system, but it is now time to find a compromise.

As a scientist, I understand cleaerly the implications and consequences of evolution. Species arise under a set of conditions and demonstrate adaptations to fit those conditions. When conditions change, natural selection determines which individuals will survive to reproduce and which will not. The population, then, begins to change. It is not a fast process and does not necessarily produce drastic change all at once. This is the argument behind the Paleolithic diet. The human species evolved, Paleos argue, eating a diet significantly skewed towards animal products (flesh, muscle and offal), with copious supplementation of vegetable materials. Further, if it were not consumable in raw form, it was not likely eaten - there were no Viking ranges on the African savannah. So certain materials such as legumes and grains, which contain compounds toxic or undigestible in raw form, would not be consumed on a regular basis. Dairy - no. Dairy requires livestock. Very few feral females will allow a smelly cave family to hook up a milking apparatus for the day's cereal soaking.

So, the Paleo diet promotes meats, most vegetables, oils, nuts and seeds, etc. Grains, beans, soy, dairy, vinegars, etc. are not allowed. Ok. Makes sense. A few problems, however. First, many items on the Paleo approved list are not low-carbohydrate. Most are, but a pure Paleo diet includes more daily carbohydrates than my puny body could stand. Also the glycemic index of some of these is too high for my needs. Lastly, I need protein. Since meat and eggs are out, that leaves nuts and seeds. That is too limiting. I would turn into a squirrel from the amount of nuts I would have to consume.

So, to accommodate my personal situation, I am having to tailor diet based around general Paleolithic principles, but taking into consideration the glycemic index/glycemic load effect, low-carb dieting and vegetarianism. Glad I like to experiment! So, I am now working towards adding larger and larger quantities of low GI/GL foods to my day. Abundant raw/crisp-cooked vegetables that are low on the GI and GL scales. Nuts and seeds. A very small amount of low GI fruits (always combined with protein). Soy. I worship it in all forms but natto (which is as nasty as toxic waste in my opinion). This is my main source of protein and, fortunately, it is a complete protein. I gave up dairy. Bye bye cheese and yogurt! Luckily, there are analogs available that are quite palatable.

Further, current research has been highlighting the nutritional benefits of coconut oil. Coconut is perfectly Paleo, low-carb, low-GI/GL and vegetarian. So, into my diet has been going more coconut products. I am cooking almost exclusively with coconut oil, use coconut milk in recipes where milk or cream is indicated (and cooking more recipes that call originally for coconut milk), unsweetened shredded coconut, coconut spread (like peanut butter, but made with coconut). Something I never really ate before and now find that I enjoy a great deal.

So, I've gone from high-carb/low-fat vegetarian to low-carb/high-fat to Paleo vegetarian pu-pu platter. Well, one thing you can say about life is that it keeps you on your toes...