Cheap Paleo Diet for an Athlete?

[quote]Serd wrote:

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:

[quote]theBird wrote:
I eat Paleo aswell. I thought PB is allowed, given that it is natural?

As a semi-pro soccer player I allow myself lots of potatos and sweet potatos. Im not a fan of rice. Once or twice a week I allow myself a cheat meal which may include pizza or pasta. Im allowed 4 beers a week.

I agree with the previous poster who commented on making boiled eggs a meal. Boil 8 eggs, addd some salt and pepper and a bit of mustard if you like, and eat with a side bowl of spinach.

Good luck kid.

tweet[/quote]

Peanuts are legumes :wink: not allowed at least on Loren Cordain’s Paleo version.

I’m switching to cashew butter as we consume quite a bit of PB in our house.
[/quote]

Legumes are also a subclass of legumes…
[/quote]

?

[quote]AspiringTank wrote:

[quote]dscasciano wrote:
My friend said he’s been doing it for a year now and looks to be like he’s seeing results[/quote]

People are seeing results with a lot of things. Most people on this board with beastly bodies have eaten tons of meat - but with rice and potatoes. The paleo diet is fine, although hard to gain muscle on. But it’s not a cheap diet. If you do it on the cheap all the meat you eat will be shit quality. I think it’s better for you to focus on chicken and rice.[/quote]

Paleo is hard to gain muscle on? I’m not sure if you’re serious… I gain far easier on Paleo than I have with anything else…

Without starches for calories, where do you get the bulk from?

First you praise this idiot TORO for defining Paleo as a formula for being Lean, then you claim that it’s easy to gain muscle on it, but let’s face facts Hungryone, everyone on T-Nation knows why we cycle from a cut phase to a gain phase when adding muscle and it is NOT done while the body fat is in the single digits. These High Protein, High Fat Diets may have purpose as for weight loss, but muscle gain? Nah.

[quote]TITOV BIG BOY wrote:
Without starches for calories, where do you get the bulk from?
[/quote]

Eat more fat?

I don’t disagree with TITOV BIG BOY, if I were to eat for gains there would be a lot of rice, yams, and oatmeal on the table to go with my regular mix.
HungryOne is correct however, one can pack on muscle even while carrying a low bodyfat level, it may not compare to the sheer numbers that a bulking diet will produce, but none the less gains are gains. Every ounce of new mass is satisfying.

[quote]TITOV BIG BOY wrote:
Without starches for calories, where do you get the bulk from?

First you praise this idiot TORO for defining Paleo as a formula for being Lean, then you claim that it’s easy to gain muscle on it, but let’s face facts Hungryone, everyone on T-Nation knows why we cycle from a cut phase to a gain phase when adding muscle and it is NOT done while the body fat is in the single digits. These High Protein, High Fat Diets may have purpose as for weight loss, but muscle gain? Nah.[/quote]

You’re making wide, generalized and unproven statements.
Here’s the thing: using Paleo has allowed me to get very lean (sub 10%) and maintain that level quite easily. As a result, I’ve got great insulin sensitivity. As a result, whenever I do decide to carb up, I pack on muscle incredibly easily.

How often do I carb up? I have a big cheat meal with lots of carbs once every week or two weeks - utilizing clean carbs such as potatoes, yams, rice, etc.

The need to cycle from cutting to bulking is an out dated concept… The best results of my life have come when I’ve managed to stay lean and keep my insulin sensitivity high. All “bulking” does is help ruin insulin sensitivity while putting on some muscle.

[quote]hungryone wrote:

[quote]AspiringTank wrote:

[quote]dscasciano wrote:
My friend said he’s been doing it for a year now and looks to be like he’s seeing results[/quote]

People are seeing results with a lot of things. Most people on this board with beastly bodies have eaten tons of meat - but with rice and potatoes. The paleo diet is fine, although hard to gain muscle on. But it’s not a cheap diet. If you do it on the cheap all the meat you eat will be shit quality. I think it’s better for you to focus on chicken and rice.[/quote]

Paleo is hard to gain muscle on? I’m not sure if you’re serious… I gain far easier on Paleo than I have with anything else…[/quote]

I definitely agree with Hungryone on this one, I’ve also gained more muscle faster on paleo than I have in a long time and simultaneously lowered my bodyfat percentage at the same time (gasp), And as for the point made by aspiring tank about rice and potatoes: remember root vegetables are allowed on paleo so that means potatoes are all good, I choose sweet potato instead but there’s nothing wrong with the occasional white one as long as you eat it in the presence of protein.

As for a good shopping list, here is my pick for your hard earned $70:

  • Ground beef, turkey and chicken: these meats in their ground/mince form are usually super cheap and it doesn’t matter about the extra fat in them as extra animal fat is encouraged on the paleo diet
  • Cucumbers, Carrots, Celery, Peppers, Lettuce: Make a big salad with dinner and bag it up for the next day’s day time meals too
  • sweet potato: I personally use a cheese grater, shred the sweet potato, heat up coconut oil in the pan, squash the shredded sweet potato down into a little pancake/hash brown shape and it tastes amazing! Add some cinnamon to make it even better
  • raw nuts: macadamias are the paleo nut of choice due to high omega-3 and low omega-6, raw almonds are choice #2
  • nut butters: almond butter tastes the best but macadamia is the best choice nutritionally
  • coconut oil: use it for cooking or combine it with protein powder and nut butter for delicious high fat and high protein “balls”
  • Whey Protein Isolate (preferable unflavoured if you can handle it and want to be a hardcore paleo)

All of this when divided out over a month can easily be achieved on your budget

Hope this helps

Cheers

Christian

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/recipe/2467201/2
Basically 2500cals:
100g red meat
100g fish
5 whole eggs
1/2 cup ‘wet’ almonds
1/2 cup ‘wet’ sunflower seeds
1kg mixed raw vegetables (carrot, zucchini, beans, broc, tomatoes, peppers, avocado)
2 scoops (60-80g) of protein powder

(wet just means store it in a container with water for the day when you pack them)

Have 2-6 skinless potatoes an half hour to hour before workouts and before running for the fast glucose and insulin spike. This also adds 300-900 extra ‘carb timed’ calories for bulky goodness.

Runs at about $80 a week, less if you shop cheaply. Has about 250g protein, which is all you will need really. If you have spare money buy a bit more meat or have some other supplements like creatine/citrulline malate/leucine/preworkout of your choice… Then have some cheat meals twice a week on your hardest days (running+training or hardest training days like legs/back).

[quote]MrChristianB wrote:
I definitely agree with Hungryone on this one, I’ve also gained more muscle faster on paleo than I have in a long time and simultaneously lowered my bodyfat percentage at the same time (gasp), And as for the point made by aspiring tank about rice and potatoes: remember root vegetables are allowed on paleo so that means potatoes are all good, I choose sweet potato instead but there’s nothing wrong with the occasional white one as long as you eat it in the presence of protein.

As for a good shopping list, here is my pick for your hard earned $70:

  • Ground beef, turkey and chicken: these meats in their ground/mince form are usually super cheap and it doesn’t matter about the extra fat in them as extra animal fat is encouraged on the paleo diet
  • Cucumbers, Carrots, Celery, Peppers, Lettuce: Make a big salad with dinner and bag it up for the next day’s day time meals too
  • sweet potato: I personally use a cheese grater, shred the sweet potato, heat up coconut oil in the pan, squash the shredded sweet potato down into a little pancake/hash brown shape and it tastes amazing! Add some cinnamon to make it even better
  • raw nuts: macadamias are the paleo nut of choice due to high omega-3 and low omega-6, raw almonds are choice #2
  • nut butters: almond butter tastes the best but macadamia is the best choice nutritionally
  • coconut oil: use it for cooking or combine it with protein powder and nut butter for delicious high fat and high protein “balls”
  • Whey Protein Isolate (preferable unflavoured if you can handle it and want to be a hardcore paleo)

All of this when divided out over a month can easily be achieved on your budget

Hope this helps

Cheers

Christian[/quote]

Great quote Christian, although where I’m located nut butters and coconut oil can get quite expensive… However, if you can afford them, they’re definitely worth your money.

[quote]AspiringTank wrote:

[quote]dscasciano wrote:
My friend said he’s been doing it for a year now and looks to be like he’s seeing results[/quote]

People are seeing results with a lot of things. Most people on this board with beastly bodies have eaten tons of meat - but with rice and potatoes. The paleo diet is fine, although hard to gain muscle on. But it’s not a cheap diet. If you do it on the cheap all the meat you eat will be shit quality. I think it’s better for you to focus on chicken and rice.[/quote]

This sounds true as hell paleo is nice… It feels good and is great for cutting fat. But it is hard to gain mass on it. I tried the Anabolic diet after about 6 months on Paleo and gained a solid 8lbs in 3months… If you like Paleo its a easy switch just eat paleo style M-F and carb up Sa & Su You an do this with yams potatos ect but its hard

[quote]mewalczak wrote:
get a costco card and then 70 dollars gets you 140 dollars worth of good stuff[/quote]

Yep!!!