As I write these words, I’ve completed five weeks of my Stone Age Eating (Aging Boomer’s Diet) experiment, and I’m happy enough with the results that I’ll continue following this approach for the foreseeable future.
I’m not exactly sure where to start with all this since Stone Age Eating is such a radical departure from where I’ve been and what I’ve been shoveling into my mouth since 1993. That’s when I first used the Natural Hygiene vegan approach to lose fifty pounds and to pretty much rejuvenate my mid-forty self.
In 1993, you see, I topped the scales at 200 pounds and had started to experience disturbing symptoms of arthritis in my hands and right shoulder.
The Natural Hygiene model worked well for a couple of years, but then the inevitable nutritional deficiencies hit, and I eventually put idealistic vegan philosophical objections aside and recognized the truth that human beings — as opportunistic omnivores — HAD to have foods from both plant and animal kingdoms to thrive in the long term.
So I started adding small amounts of eggs, cheese, fish, and meat back into my diet — along with plenty of grains and beans and carbs, carbs, carbs.
Using the low-fat, high carb approach promoted by the nutritional establishment, I maintained good health and plenty of energy, but over time I packed the fifty pounds I’d originally lost in 1993 back around my waist, plus 17 more.
Living a sedentary life working seven days a week on a computer and eating carbs, carbs, and more carbs can certainly transform a fit man in his fifties into a fat man in his early 60′s!
I’m living proof of that one. 
To make a long story shorter, by the beginning of 2009, I topped the scales at an absurd 217 pounds, at least 67 pounds over what I consider a healthy and appropriate weight for my 5’7″ frame.
“Enough of this,” I vowed to myself in February of 2009.
A firm believer in the value of fasting for weight loss and rejuvenation purposes, in February and March of 2009 I completed a ten-day fast on just water and then adopted a calorie-restricted diet and reduced my weight from 217 down to 173 in about five months.
At that point, I returned to my supposedly healthy diet of fruits and vegetables, lots of beans and grains, about 20% animal fats and protein, and occasional “treats” of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt… and, guess what?
Yeah, I started gaining again.
Indeed, by February of 2010, I was back up to 195.6 pounds. I could see I was headed into new fat territory into which I did not want to venture. I’d been into that land of lard on three occasions before, and I just plain wasn’t going there again.
So on February 15th, 2010, I overcame my resistance to the idea of eating a lot of fat and protein and decided to go whole hog — so to speak — on a full blown super low-carb, high fat paleolithic Atkins-like diet.
Whoa!
Talk about a dramatic philosophical turn to the right.
The first four days of low-carb eating were not fun. As my body adjusted to burning fat instead of the insulin-flooding carbs that I’d been fattening up on for so long, I experienced a variety of interesting symptoms: trouble sleeping, bad breath from ketosis, and a crabby state of mind that made me harder than usual to live with.
Happily, the symptoms passed pretty quickly, and each successive week of low-carb, high fat eating has been better than the last.
The single greatest benefit of Stone Age Eating so far lies with the fact that I’m no longer hungry all the time.
I mean, seriously, during my vegan and predominantly vegetarian years I was constantly hungry.
All THE time.
Now, with Stone Age Eating, most days for breakfast I prepare with a tablespoon of organic butter a three or four egg omelet into which I’ve folded a slice of Havarti cheese, two tablespoons of organic sour cream, and a couple of tablespoons of habanero salsa.
This delicious, high-fat breakfast leaves me happy and satisfied until late afternoon.
Previously, on my old routine, I’d eat a huge bowl (I mean gargantuan) of oatmeal, along with a couple of slices of toast and an egg. By ten or eleven o’clock, I’d be hungry enough to eat a bicycle seat. Ridiculous!
Lunches are a snap with Stone Age Eating. Several days a week, I’ll open a tin of sardines and have them with several stalks of celery. If I haven’t had breakfast, along with the lunch sardines I’ll have two or three hard-boiled or deviled eggs. Ummmm, fabulous!
For dinner, I’ll start with a big salad of Romaine lettuce and sliced avocado and tomato and other favorite veggies… or I’ve have three or four cups of fresh cole slaw as an appetizer. For the main course, I’ll eat a grilled pork chop or a chicken breast or an eight to ten ounce grass-fed hamburger steak, along with some steamed broccoli or cauliflower.
Eating meals like the ones just described for the past five weeks, I’ve lost twelve pounds of ugly belly fat.
Projections indicate that by continuing with Stone Age Eating I’ll be down to my goal of 150 by September 1, 2010. And sooner than that if I’d get off my ass more often and exercise, which, of course, is always a helpful activity to engage in when one’s trying to unload blubber!
Well, that’s enough for one entry.
I’ll have a whole lot more to say about Stone Age Eating, pretty much on a daily basis, from here on out, so if you’re interested in this latest adventure in health of mine, I hope you’ll check in regularly to see what’s new.
Comments and questions are encouraged, so please join in the discussion and let’s have some fun together exploring Stone Age Eating.
Chet
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Tags: Aging Boomers Diet
