Our family's transition to eating Paleo has become quite an adventure. My wife had some challenges initially, but has become quite creative in preparing Paleo meals. We're dropping weight, and I am really convinced that this manner of eating has a positive impact upon your health. After completing John Durant's book, The Paleo Manifesto, I tried a couple of short fasts. I have found that they are easy, make you feel great, and cause no discomfort. I have, generally a couple of days per week, merely skipped "breakfast". Finishing dinner at around 7 pm most nights, I simply wait until lunch time the following day to eat, having only coffee and water in the morning. That sets up about a 17 hour fast, and has, in my experience, really helped with dropping those few additional pounds, although that is not the main reason. What is amazing to me is that it is so easy. When I was a "carb eater", I would get SO HUNGRY when mealtime approached, I couldn't wait to eat again. Our diet now is almost all meats, vegetables, and some fruit. Anecdotal, I know, but my body seems to have flipped the switch from burning carbs to burning fat. My weight has dropped, since our odyssey began in mid-July, from 189 to 176. I am currently back at my high school weight! I just don't have the food cravings that I had previously. Yesterday was not a "fasting day", but we had a busy day with a number of activities planned, and when dinner time rolled around, I found that, between dinner the night before and our evening meal, I had only eaten two pieces of fruit and a handful of almonds. It wasn't a conscious restriction of food, it just happened that way. What is the most interesting thing is that my energy level stays steady. I used to get that kind of shaky, weak feeling when I hadn't eaten, and my wife had always said that she knew when I was hungry because I would be grumpy and frowning. It was really true. I just don't get that effect anymore. I have a steady energy level throughout the day, whether I have eaten or not. In these blog posts, I am not specifically recommending that everyone or anyone do what I am doing, but I want to share my experiences with those of you who may be going through the same issues or are considering doing so. I have not yet tried longer fasts, but have no qualms about doing so. I don't think 24 hours would even feel like a challenge at this point, something that would have seemed like a gargantuan task when I was eating a lot of carbs.
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