By Jerry Borrero on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply

Hey Sandy,

I figured I’d leave a couple thoughts on the subject.

I’ve heard there is a point where your body hasn’t completely transitioned between using carbohydrate as its prime fuel source and using fat. During that period you can experience a decrease in performance and an energy crash, but the official advice is to push through until your body finally “gets it.”

Personally, I never experienced that transition, and never have felt any decrease (or really an increase) in performance. What I DID notice was a huge impact on body composition, a lack of ever feeling tired throughout the day, and (oddly enough) a sharp decrease in thirst. I’m capable of doing serious strength workouts, intense MetCon workouts, and even prolonged martial arts seminars without “crashing.”

I attribute my lack of problems transitioning to the gradual implementation of Primal eating. I didn’t do it cold turkey, I shifted from 50% to 60% to 80+% compliance over time (roughly speaking of course). I could be wrong about that, it could be entirely genetic/lucky in nature.

One error I see frequently whenever someone decides to give the Primal lifestyle a shot is that they don’t adjust the rest of their plate to compensate for the lack of grains. If you build your plate just like you used to and simply remove the grains, you are probably not going to be feeding your body adequately. Its important to replace the lack of carbs with healthy fats (this is a general comment and not directed at you, because I know you’re already aware of this). I also try to eat a GOOD amount of veggies and some fruit, because no matter how hard I try I’m not going to eat too many carbs solely with veggies, and the Primal diet isn’t about zero carb dieting necessarily. I want carbs, I just want the priorities to fall at Fat > Protein > Carbs.

Lastly, I’ll mention that I had a friend who gave Primal eating a shot after seeing my success with it. He’s a very active athlete and I know he gave it a good try, but I didn’t monitor his meals or ask him exactly what he cooked. He experienced a sharp decline in energy when exercising, even after three months of roughly 80% compliance. He added carbs back in and immediately experienced an improvement in performance. I’m not sure how much can be gathered from this experience, since I don’t know EXACTLY what he ate for those 3 months, but I would go out on a limb and say the amount of time it takes people to fully adapt to our inverted food pyramid varies from individual to individual, and for some it might take more severe compliance plus enduring a more dramatic performance drop for a while.

By Lee - kettlebellwitch on Nov 8, 2009 | Reply

Sandy,

Good website blog. I knew you were a good one to follow on Twitter!

I read your review of The Primal Blueprint so I now have a good overview of it and am adding the book to my “buy list.” Jerry Borrero posted some good info. I completely agree with all he said and with everything you covered in your review of the book.

If you are getting a balanced diet with complete nutrition your energy should level out even for the hard workout days. It’s also best to stop doing caffeine. I don’t know if that’s mentioned in the book. Bad stuff and it plays havoc with your energy.

Seems that I’ve eaten (and lived) the Primal Blueprint way for years! My eating isn’t “mainstream.” The only difference is that I do eat limited grains in addition to whole grain rice, but not wheat. There’s millet, quinoa, amaranth and spelt. BTW you can buy whole grain organic rice pasta and whole grain rice flour makes a great thickener for soups and gravies.

My energy level is high and consistent. I don’t work out with the heavy kettlebell weights that you do being female and only 5’2”. I work with 2 -18s and 2 – 26s, with a 35 lb on my wish list for Yule! I have an RKC trainer. I don’t find any difference in my energy or endurance with different workouts… some more days more aerobic & anaerobic, some days more concentrated on strength training, some days an even mix of both. Every day is a good day… as long as I get 8 hours of sleep. That’s the key for me.

You mentioned that you dropped your oats & whey product. Are you sticking with the whey? I can’t think of any reason not to and lots of reasons to stay with it! I start my day with this whey shake: 8 oz raw milk (yup, I drink the raw stuff too), whey protein powder, tablespoon of organic unfiltered flax oil (or coconut oil as an option), tablespoon of Amazing Grass, 5 drops of Lugal’s iodine and half of a banana. Midmorning I have a second “breakfast” of some sort.

Keep up the healthy diet! You’ll be glad you did.

By Lee - kettlebellwitch on Nov 9, 2009 | Reply

It’s pretty amazing how good you feel with the right food, exercise and rest! I feel sorry for people who haven’t figured it out and don’t feel like this!

By Jason Marshall on Nov 22, 2009 | Reply

Stumbled across your post while searching through google. I read the first paragraph and its great! I do not have time to finish it now, but I have bookmarked this site and will read the rest later. : )