Your Personal Paleo Code: The 3-Step Plan to Lose Weight, Reverse Disease, and Stay Fit and Healthy for Life (39 page)
Authors: Chris Kresser
Tags: #Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Diets, #Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Weight Loss
Diet
There are four primary dietary concerns for people with thyroid problems:
•
Limiting intake of goitrogens, foods and chemicals that increase the need for iodine in small amounts and can damage the thyroid gland in large amounts.
•
Ensuring adequate intake of iodine and selenium, which are crucial nutrients for thyroid function.
•
Being aware of foods that have the potential to trigger an immune response (if you have one of the autoimmune forms of thyroid disease).
•
Avoiding very low-carb and low-protein diets, which may decrease thyroid function by inhibiting the conversion of the less active form of thyroid hormone (T4) into the more active form (T3).
Please see the bonus chapter on thyroid disorders at the website for a detailed explanation of each of these topics, including a list of goitrogenic chemicals and foods, and foods highest in iodine and selenium.
•
Stress management.
Chronic stress impairs thyroid function in numerous ways. See
here
for a recap of stress-management recommendations.
•
Gut health.
There’s a strong—though not well known—connection between gut health and thyroid function. See
chapter 10
and the bonus chapter on digestive conditions on my website for detailed information about healing your gut.
•
Ultraviolet light.
Ultraviolet light (via sun or UVA/UVB tanning beds) may help put the brakes on an overactive immune system. See
chapter 16
for specific recommendations.
Diet
There are three approaches to addressing autoimmunity through diet:
•
Remove foods that may trigger or exacerbate an immune response.
•
Increase your intake of nutrients that promote optimal immune function.
•
Increase your intake of foods that support a healthy gut microbiota.
Please see the bonus chapter on autoimmune disease on the website for a detailed discussion of each of these approaches.
•
Physical activity.
Regular physical activity and exercise improve immune function via several different mechanisms. See
chapter 12
for tips on how to increase your physical activity and sit less.
•
Acupuncture.
Acupuncture helps to bring the immune system back into balance. I recommend getting acupuncture two to three times a week for the first month and at least once a week thereafter. Please see my website for information about how to find a clinic near you.
•
Pleasure and connection.
Pleasure and connection release chemicals called endorphins that help to regulate the immune system. See
chapter 15
for specific recommendations.
•
Ultraviolet light.
Exposure to sunlight (or UVA/UVB light in tanning beds) appears to be especially important for those with autoimmune disease. See
chapter 16
for specific recommendations.
You won’t find adrenal fatigue syndrome (AFS) listed in medical textbooks, and if you ask your doctor about it, she’ll probably just shrug or tell you to stop researching health conditions on the Internet. Yet there’s no doubt in my mind that this is a legitimate, common, and potentially very serious condition. I see it every day in my work with patients, and I’ve
experienced it myself. Please see the bonus chapter on adrenal fatigue syndrome at the website for more information on this condition.
•
Eat a moderate-carbohydrate diet.
I suggest between 15 and 30 percent of calories from carbohydrates. Start with 20 percent as a target, and experiment with slightly higher and lower to see what works best for you.
•
Eat adequate protein, especially in the morning.
Eat at least 15 percent of calories from protein, and start the day with a high-protein breakfast (greater than forty grams of protein).
•
Eat frequently throughout the day.
Try not to go more than two or three hours without eating. You can eat either five or six small meals spaced throughout the day or three regular meals with snacks in between. Snacks and meals should always have at least some protein and fat (never have carbohydrates alone).
•
Avoid excess dietary potassium.
Excess potassium can lower blood pressure, and many people with AFS already have low blood pressure to begin with. See the bonus chapter on blood pressure on my website for a list of high-potassium foods.
•
Ensure adequate sodium intake.
Sodium increases aldosterone, which is often low in AFS. If your adrenal fatigue is pronounced or if you have low blood pressure or strong salt cravings, I suggest starting each day with a full glass of water with one-half to one teaspoon of sea salt and using salt liberally on food, to taste. Monitor your blood pressure on occasion to make sure it remains in a healthy range.
•
Avoid caffeine and alcohol.
Both caffeine and alcohol place additional stress on the body. It’s best to avoid caffeine entirely, and limit alcohol consumption to two or three drinks per week (or eliminate it entirely) until your adrenals recover.
•
Get plenty of sleep and rest.
This is by far the most important recommendation for adrenal fatigue. See
here
for a recap of recommendations for sleep.
•
Manage your stress.
Along with poor sleep, psychological and emotional stress are primary contributors to AFS, and managing stress is a crucial part of the recovery process. In fact, I have never seen someone fully recover from AFS without paying significant attention to stress management. See
here
for specific recommendations on stress management.
•
Moderate your physical activity.
Not enough physical activity can contribute to AFS, but overtraining is actually a more common cause. I see this particularly in my patients that are high-level athletes or CrossFit enthusiasts. See the section “Are You Overtraining?” in
chapter 12
for more on this topic, including a list of signs and symptoms of overtraining.
•
Go outside.
Spending regular time outdoors in a natural environment is especially important for those with adrenal fatigue syndrome. See
chapter 16
for specific recommendations.
•
Cultivate pleasure, have fun, and connect with others.
Pleasure, play, and social connection are all deeply nourishing and restorative on both a physical and an emotional level and can provide a powerful antidote to the symptoms of adrenal fatigue syndrome. See
chapters 15
and
17
for specific recommendations.
The skin is influenced by other organs in the body, and this is especially true of the brain and the gut; scientists coined the term
gut-brain-skin axis
to describe the interconnection of these three systems. See the bonus chapter on skin disorders at the website for important background
information on the gut-brain-skin axis and for more detail on how to intervene when it is not functioning optimally.
I use one of two diets with my patients with skin conditions, depending on their particular presentations of signs and symptoms:
•
Low-histamine diet
•
Low-FODMAP diet
See the bonus chapter on skin conditions on my website to determine which is right for you and for more information on each of the diets. I also list several nutrients that are important for healthy skin. Fortunately, if you’re following a Personal Paleo Code approach, you’ll naturally obtain adequate amounts of these nutrients.
•
Stress management.
Stress is associated with numerous skin conditions, including psoriasis, dermatitis, alopecia, urticaria, vitiligo, acne, and exacerbations of the herpes simplex virus. See
chapter 14
for specific recommendations and read the section on adrenal fatigue syndrome above for additional tips.
•
Physical activity.
If you have a skin problem along with symptoms of adrenal fatigue syndrome, I suggest doing more gentle forms of exercise, like walking, cycling, and yoga, along with strength training two to three times a week. Avoid strenuous workouts until your adrenals recover.
•
Sleep.
Chronic sleep deprivation promotes inflammation and disrupts hormones, both of which can trigger or exacerbate skin conditions. See
chapter 13
for recommendations on improving sleep.
•
Ultraviolet light.
Ultraviolet light from sunlight or UVA/UVB tanning beds has been shown to improve certain skin conditions, such as psoriasis, vitiligo, acne, eczema, dermatitis, and lichen planus.
Seven-Day Meal Plan and Recipes
I’ve provided a lot of guidance throughout the book about what to eat, what not to eat, and how to determine your own Personal Paleo Code.
But all of this information really comes alive in the meal plan and recipes below, where you’ll discover just how easy it is to eat delicious, satisfying, and healthy meals with this approach.
To get you started, I’ve provided a one-week meal plan with recipes. At
ChrisKresser.com/PPC,
you’ll find an additional
three weeks
of meal plans and recipes. Finally, I’ve provided shopping lists for each week that you can print out and take to the store with you.
Although I list new recipes for each meal, I realize that it won’t be possible for the vast majority of you to cook from scratch at every single meal. This is where leftovers and planning in advance come in. If you work outside the home, consider doubling the recipes the night before so you’ll have enough to bring with you for lunch the next day. Another helpful strategy is setting aside a few hours on the weekend to prepare snacks, soup stocks, and/or larger meals that you can eat throughout the week. With a little bit of advance preparation, it’s entirely possible to eat this way
without
spending hours in the kitchen each day!
Bon appétit!
Day 1
| Breakfast: | Baked Eggs en Cocotte Florentine-Style |
| Lunch: | Butternut Squash Frittata with Salad |
| Snack: | Nori Chips |
| Dinner: | Beef Rendang |
| Side dish: | Roasted Carrots and Garlic |
Day 2
| Breakfast: | Poached Eggs with Swiss Chard |
| Lunch: | Hamburgers with Mushrooms Provençale-Style |
| Snack: | Nori Chips |
| Dinner: | Grilled Ahi Tuna Steaks with Chinese Five-Spice Powder |
| Side dish: | Cabbage, Bok Choy, and Shiitake Mushrooms |
Day 3
| Breakfast: | Green Smoothie |
| Lunch: | Cod with Coriander Red Pepper Sauce and Sautéed Broccoli |
| Snack: | Hard-Boiled Eggs with Avocado |
| Dinner: | Tom Kha Gai |
| Side dish: | Thai Basil Eggplant |
Day 4
| Breakfast: | Green Plantain Fritters with Sausage |
| Lunch: | Tuna, Ginger, and Avocado Salad |
| Snack: | Hard-Boiled Eggs with Avocado |
| Dinner: | Spanish Pork Loin Roast Adobado |
| Side dish: | Cauliflower Hash |
Day 5
| Breakfast: | Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Eggs and Asparagus |
| Lunch: | Greek Turkey Burgers with Zucchini Noodles |
| Snack: | Kale Chips |
| Dinner: | Chicken Tikka Masala |
| Side dish: | Green Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette |
Day 6
| Breakfast: | Taro and Bacon Hash |
| Lunch: | Chicken, Tarragon, and Grapefruit Salad |
| Snack: | Kale Chips |
| Dinner: | Rosemary Lamb Rib Chops |
| Side dish: | Yuca Fries |
Day 7
| Breakfast: | Cauliflower-Stuffed Acorn Squash |
| Lunch: | Salmon Fillets with Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad |
| Snack: | Guacamole with Carrot Chips |
| Dinner: | Rustic Meatball and Tomato Stew |
| Side dish: | Kale and Kabocha Squash Salad |
:
•
You’ll see
traditional fat of choice
listed as an ingredient in several recipes. This means you’re free to use any of the saturated or monounsaturated fats listed in
chapter 5
. If you’re cooking at medium heat or above, I suggest choosing fats with a smoke point above 350°F. These include ghee, extra-light (not extra-virgin) olive oil, palm oil, expeller-pressed (not extra-virgin) coconut oil, macadamia oil, beef tallow, duck fat, and lard.
•
If you’re following the autoimmune or low-carb/high-blood-sugar version of the Thirty-Day Reset, please see ChrisKresser.com/PPC for specific meal plans for those approaches.
•
You’ll see nuts used in some of the recipes as a garnish or optional ingredient. In
chapter 3
I explained that it’s best to soak and then either roast or dehydrate nuts before eating them in order to make them more digestible and to improve the bioavailability of the nutrients they contain. However, when used in small quantities as part of a recipe, it’s fine to simply use raw or roasted, unsoaked nuts to save time.
•
I have purposely not included nutritional info for the recipes. As I mentioned in
chapter 1
, the Thirty-Day Reset is not about counting calories or macronutrients—it’s about resetting your body with the nutrient-dense, whole foods humans have evolved to eat. That said, if you’re following a low-carb version of the Thirty-Day Reset or you’d simply like to know how much protein, fat, or carbohydrate each recipe contains, you can enter the ingredients at NutritionData.com to find out.
For this recipe you’ll need two 8-ounce ramekins, each of which fits two eggs plus some spinach.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
1 tablespoon traditional fat of choice
½ pound fresh spinach, whole leaves
1 large garlic clove, peeled, crushed, and finely chopped
½ cup coconut milk
Pinch of nutmeg
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 eggs
1 teaspoon snipped chives, to garnish
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat the fat in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the spinach, garlic, coconut milk, nutmeg, salt, and pepper and cook at a medium-high heat until the spinach is wilted. Drain off the excess liquid. Arrange spinach mixture in the bottom of ramekins. Crack two of the eggs into a small bowl (in case there are bits of eggshell) and gently pour them into one of the ramekins. Repeat with the remaining two eggs. Bake in the oven until the eggs are cooked the way you like them. If your preference is soft-cooked eggs, 5 minutes should be enough. Serve garnished with chives.
To prepare chard, remove the leaves and coarsely chop. The stalk should be peeled (this is preferable with many stalk vegetables, such as celery, rhubarb, and so on) and chopped finely. Both stalks and leaves can then be cooked together.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
1 tablespoon traditional fat of choice
1 medium shallot, peeled and finely chopped
5 cups Swiss chard, chopped as described above
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 large eggs, as fresh as possible (fresh eggs are best for poaching)
Juice of ½ lemon
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon to garnish (optional)
Heat the fat in a sauté pan over medium high heat, add the shallot, and cook until lightly browned, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add chard, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and cook at medium-high heat until the chard has wilted. Drain off the excess liquid, divide between two plates, and keep warm.
Add the apple cider vinegar (this helps the eggs to set) to ½ inch of boiling water in a saucepan. Crack each egg into a small bowl. Reduce the boiling water to a simmer and pour the egg into the water while vigorously stirring around the outside of the egg with a chopstick or kebab skewer. This forces the egg to the center of the pot, helping to hold it together. After 4 minutes, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and place on top of a portion of warm chard. Repeat the process with the second egg. The white should be firm but the yolk should be somewhat creamy, with a white film over it. Serve the chard and egg topped with a drizzle of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Garnish with tarragon if using.
A quick, energizing, and delicious way to start the day. Note that raw spinach and kale contain compounds (such as goitrogens, nitriles, oxalates) that may impair thyroid function if consumed in excess. If you have a thyroid issue, I suggest lightly steaming the kale and spinach first and then cooling it before adding it to the smoothie. This will at least partially inactivate the potentially harmful compounds.
Serves: 1
Equipment: Blender
Prep time: 5 minutes
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 medium banana, or 1 cup of mango chunks
½ cup coconut milk
½ cup raw spinach
½ cup raw kale
1 tablespoon almond butter (optional)
Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
These fritters (without the sausage) can also be served as a snack or side dish.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
2 strips bacon
1 green plantain
1 heaping teaspoon of lard (see note)
Pinch sea salt
12 ounces ground pork
½ teaspoon ground fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 heaping teaspoon of lard (see note)
2 teaspoons chopped parsley for garnish
In a skillet, cook the bacon. When it is done, drain on a paper-towel-lined plate or rack. Leave the bacon fat in the skillet for the final step of the recipe and set aside.
Slice the plantain into four pieces: cut once across and once lengthwise. Bring a pot of water to a low boil, add the plantain, and simmer for 5 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a knife to see if it will go through easily. If not, simmer until tender. (The plantains could also be grilled, sautéed, or cooked by any other method.) When they are done, drain the plantains, place in a mixing bowl, and mash.
Chop the bacon into small pieces and add, along with teaspoon of the lard, to the mashed plantain. Stir to create a batter. If the batter is dry or crumbly, add more lard bit by bit until it becomes moist enough to shape into fritters. Stir in pinch of salt, keeping in mind that the bacon adds some salt already.
Shape the batter into 4-inch-wide round patties of about 1 inch thick. (You should be able to make two fritters per plantain, using about 6 to 8 tablespoons of batter for each fritter, but you can make them as large or small as you wish.) Heat the skillet containing the bacon fat over low heat. Gently place the fritters in the skillet and allow to cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side. (The bacon fat will brown them nicely.)
Mix all the sausage ingredients together except the lard and parsley and shape into patties. Heat the lard in a skillet over medium heat and fry the patties over medium heat until thoroughly cooked, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Serve with the plantain fritters, and garnish with parsley.
Note:
The lard can be prepared on the first day of Week 1 (see recipes in Basics).
This Scandinavian-inspired dish can also be served cold with sliced cucumber on the side.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
10 green asparagus stalks, tough ends snapped off and discarded
Sea salt, to taste
3 eggs
6 tablespoons full-fat coconut milk
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons lard
4 ounces smoked salmon, sliced
2 teaspoons fresh chives, chopped for garnish
Blanch the asparagus in slightly salted boiling water for 5 minutes and refresh in cold water. Beat the eggs with coconut milk and pepper. Heat the lard in a saucepan over low heat, add the egg mixture, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until just set, occasionally scraping the mixture from the bottom of the pan. Arrange the scrambled eggs on top of the asparagus, then place the smoked salmon on top of the eggs, and garnish with chopped chives.
Note
: When making scrambled eggs or omelets, season with salt
after
cooking, otherwise the eggs will be rubbery. Also, remember that the smoked salmon is already quite salty.
Taro is usually available in Asian markets or in the ethnic sections of grocery stores. Make sure to peel away the purple layer, if present. If taro is not available, substitute 4 cups celery root (celeriac) or parsnips (cubed and parboiled the same way).
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
4 cups taro, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon lard
8 strips bacon, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar (optional)
2 teaspoons chopped parsley, to garnish
Parboil the taro for 3 minutes in lightly salted, boiling water. Drain and let cool. Heat the lard in a sauté pan over medium heat, add the bacon, and fry until crisp. Add the onions and cook until browned, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the taro, salt, and pepper and sauté until crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drizzle with vinegar (if using). Serve garnished with parsley.