I wanted to spell out what I’m modeling my vegan diet to look like for the next week, and what it will probably look like for the three months of the real experiment.  Just as in the other diet worlds there is some variety in terms of what should make a healthy vegan diet.  One thing that is constant across them is the absence of animal products.  No meat, no dairy, no honey will be found in any vegan diet.  That still leaves a lot of room for error, which requires a plan to avoid.

Many of us take supplements or eat foods to ensure better health.  Getting extra omega-3’s (a type of fatty acid) in our diet has been a common problem for people.  We are told to eat fish and certain foods high in omega-3’s, which actually also includes naturally raised and fed chicken and livestock products not just fish.  A way people can get around that is by taking fish oil capsules. According to this study however, you may be doing more harm than good by going this route if you aren’t careful about which manufacturer you are using.

When I was planning my Paleo experiment week last month I had to think carefully about whether I would do it exactly as I would during the year of experiments by avoiding all artificially sweetened beverages, even my favorite diet sodas.  That sounds like an almost silly challenge, but I was actually just in the beginning of trying to taper off of the stuff when I was doing the experiment.  I was down to, yes down to, 4-6 cans a day.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to swing it but I actually kept off of the stuff for the entire experiment and then almost a full week more, until yesterday.

With Paleo Week now behind me, I wanted to take a look back and see how things ended up.  While it’s easy to draw potential false conclusions while you are doing something, I liked the idea of looking back at hard data while thinking about how the week went.  The bottom line is that the week was very successful overall.  I got all the nutrition I needed.  I felt as good as usual, although some noticed I was a bit more irritable than usual.  I had a lot of weight loss, which I wasn’t expecting or shooting for and want to try to understand better.  I learned a few new recipes and coping mechanisms for the actual diet phase later this year.  Lastly I was able to go a whole week without consuming any diet soda or artificially sweetened beverages.

The sixth and final day of the paleo test has been completed.  Why isn’t there seven?  I’m calling tomorrow my Sabbath so I’m going to have a day of rest, already!  Most of the day was a rehash of various meals from the week but the ending came in the form of a most delicious homemade paleo ice cream (yes you read that right)!

I’m really getting into the groove, or rut, now.  I have always been able to eat the same thing over and over and over again without getting bored with it.  That’s how a lot of this week is turning out, but today still left some new discoveries to be found.

Crossing the half way point the whole Paleo thing is certainly getting easier, but there are definitely tons of landmines to navigate still.