Living in a SAD Beige World
Whenever I watch the Biggest Loser and they show the former diet of the contestants, I'm always struck by the colours of the food. Almost everything they ate is beige, brown and anaemic yellow in colour, broken up with the black of the cokes they drank (usually diet, clearly that worked) and a few fluorescent coloured sweets and cakes.
Burger buns, bread, pizza, chips, fries, crisps, popcorn, pastries, cakes, biscuits, sugary milky coffee – it’s all virtually the same colour. It seems utterly depressing eating beige foods the entire time; it must start turn your World, well, beige after a while.
Contrast that with a healthy Paleo or Primal diet where virtually every colour seems to be represented. Certain colours are actually attributed to certain properties – for example the vibrant orange foods like Carrots and Capsicum provide Beta Carotene and dark green vegetables are rich in Vitamin K. It’s not just pretty, eating lots of different colours really is essential for a good nutrient intake.
How colourful is your diet? Could you live in a beige world?
 |
 |
 |
My diet is really colorful. I have an almost Paleo diet (with a small amount of organic milk).
I always find it rather funny the way people say, “I get convenience foods I’ve no time to cook”. I am left thinking, what could be quicker than an omelet with a few chopped mushrooms peppers & any other veggies. I think it’s just getting used to not relying on ready prepared packaged foods. Would you believe I even saw a precooked frozen omelet packaged and ready for sale in my local supermarket! (Would take so much longer than cooking from scratch and with a lot of ‘e’ numbers or whatever else they choose to add!
Thanks Geni! It really is just an excuse a lot of the time, isn’t it!
I love reading your blog… I totally agree with this assertion! The food looks rubbery and dead and lifeless and I can’t honestly believe that I ever put that sort of food in my gob. I made a paleo biscuit/cookie over the weekend with blueberries, coconut and egg whites. They are BRIGHT purple – hilarious! But so much more appetising to look at than some beige crap that will give me a headache. I think there’s a misconception that Paleo is all brown cooked meat! It’s more about the lovely fresh veggies and fruit for me…
Thanks Amanda! Wow those biscuits sound amazing!
They were a strange consistency as they don’t have the crunchiness you’d get from sugar but they are sweet from the fruit – not my recipe – must give props:
http://paleofood.com/baked.htm#berryballs
My diet is very colourful these days, 3 years ago when I was a WW member and lost 42kg I ate those horrible packaged foods, diet bars and convenience meals. Please shoot me, it was encouraged cause we were within “points” so we could eat that diet meal and diet dessert that was fat free and sugary. Honestly I was not enjoying food and I ate it cause it was frozen lasagne therefore it was endorsed by the company so it MUST BE GOOD for me a “low fat” alternative and you can have your cake and eat it too!! dear god if only I knew then what I knew now, if i read the ingredients list half those ingredients I couldnt recognise.. and I consumed that… Prior to that scenario I was a takeaway pasta, rice, grains freak lots of insulin raising nightmares no wonder I got fat and quick.
Yes I lost weight with WW but I was ahem stuffed up I was never regular, I required laxatives to go to the toilet this went on for over a year, I was dizzy and had bouts of sickness where my immune system suffered and I couldnt get out of bed. but I didnt tell anyone cause I thought it wouldnt be acceptable and half the time I was starving and just eating carrot sticks in order for the weight to come off quickly. My diet was lean meat never organic, sometimes sandwich meat, no fat, no nuts, crumpets, bread, microwave porridge, veges and diet meals and desserts. I pushed myself into the ground and went on long runs and was a cardio junkie.
My goal is for paleo eating to restore that balance from years of abuse, fill it with goodness and see how I feel 6 months down the track and report on how i feel, measurements, weight and to report on my moods etc. I know when I eat those beige lifeless foods including bread and scones, cakes, hashbrowns from maccas etc then I am not doing my mind or body any favours.
So far I am enjoying what I am eating, am making my own chicken stock, broths, grain free gluten free nut bread, so many organic eggs I go through a carton each day and a half with husband, eggs with veges and nut bread for brekky, eggs for snack or in a lovely green salad with onion, capsicum, carrot, cucumber whatever is in season and available, I now grow my own herbs and throw in chives, basil, mint whatever I fancy. I love browsing local markets for free range meats and eggs and buying local organic produce that hasnt been stuck in a freezer for months and transported miles and miles to reach me. Yes its expensive but the way I feel is amazing and it tastes great it doesnt feel like a chore to prepare and eat good food. The weight is going steadily, nearly 5kg in a month but I am enjoying the journey. I still have around 20kg to lose to get back into a healthy weight range again but I am determined for this to become my life. its a change for the better. I love cooking again with coconut oil, coconut flour and creating new delights to support my lifestyle. it really is the best gift I can give myself.
I feel healthier, my skin is clearer, my stomach is looking less bloated and I feel like I have some control back in my life.
Oh sorry for the essay! Because its Anzac day I found this recipe online by Teresa Cutter, which is Paleo Anzac Bikkies made with almond meal etc which look delicious, I dont use honey though so not sure what to put in its place hmmm.. have a look if you have time, yes they look beige but they are better for you than the shop bought Anzac Grainy biccies Enjoy guys!
http://www.teresacutter.com/2012/04/paleo-anzacs/
Thanks Elissa! That’s such a problem with Weight Watchers – all that matters (well, when I tried it anyway) is the points value of a food – to the extent that something processed and full of rubbish might actually be deemed “better” (in terms of points) than something real, natural and whole! It doesn’t seem maintainable, either for the long term.
You must be so pleased with the fantastic changes so far!
Cool – another biscuit recipe to test on my kids – thanks elissa! p.s. do you remember ‘Nutrisystem’ – I lost tonnes of weight on that because I was just eating sweetener and cardboard… got really sick too and then put all the weight back on. Yay! Much prefer this way of eating (even if making stuff from scratch gets a bit tiring!). : )