Having just eaten lunch, one thing I've noticed is how filling paleo food is. Today is the second day in a row I haven't been able to finish the food I brought for lunch because I felt so full. A lot of people fear feeling so hungry if they eat this way, and while I definitely have times throughout the day that I'm hungry (but no hungrier than normal), by no means following a meal do I feel unsatisfied.
This concept brings to light just an interesting observation about the kind of food we eat and how our bodies and brains react to it.... there are many times in the past when I have been at the brink of feeling full or stuffed to the brim, and have happily continued eating. Because when you are eating deliciously processed food, your mouth and brain just wants wants wants more more more. When you are feeling full, that next bite of cake or pizza still looks delicious and your craving to continue the yums overpowers your body's signal that it's down for the count. (I know there's some neurosciencey explanation for this - my best nonneuroscientist explanation is sugars/processed foods activitate pleasure centers in the brain, release endorphins which make you feel good, and your brain says OH give me some more of THAT good stuff!! And so on and so forth... some would say this is even akin to the way your brain reacts with an addiction. Food for thought [harhar]).
This doesn't happen on paleo. When you are full - that last steamed carrot or next bite of ground beef just isn't appealing. Not because it doesn't taste good, but because you just simply feel done eating. (See: neurosciencey stuff - pleasure centers not activated so brain isn't called into action to crave more food, it's just responding purely to the body's responses for a change). It been shockingly easy to just put the fork down, bag up my leftovers and call it good. It's all of a sudden magically simple to listen to my body when it says it's full, instead of my brainmouth (yes that's a thing now) that says "MORE MORE MORE." I guess this is stuff I've read about and known about as far as how food and our brain and cravings work, etc., but it's just fascinating and enlightening to experience it directly.
In addition to paleo balsamic vinaigrette that Phil whipped up on day 1, I've now also mastered paleo mayonnaise (recipe from this cookbook)...
I was intimidated by all of the cooking and preparation, but so everything is really simple to make (mostly just involves throwing stuff in a blender), and I won't lie, it's been kind of fun experimenting and learning how to make this stuff (which is a shocking statement coming from me, the person who probably hates cooking the most in the universe). Learning. Growing.
ALSO - it's great to now have validation for my jar hoarding. I started keeping empty jars a while back thinking "we'll have a use for these some day," and voila. Someday is now. It's great having random jars on hand to fill with things like mayonnaise, date paste, and coffee creamer (more on that soon).
On to day 4!
brainmouth! haha! good luck! :)
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