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Originally Posted by Elli
My friend is onto this Primal/Paleo diet thing. Anyone else here have any experience with it?
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I follow some of its principles by accident. I peruse Mark's Daily Apple from time to time, and find that most of what I do is what they talk about. I diverge in some ways because I am typically in a ketogenic phase when I'm cutting or training for a fight, which means I have to be a bit more selective about my vegetables. I do love organ meats (chicken hearts nom nom), so that meshes well for me.
I combine keto with IF (intermittent fasting). If I'm trying to gain mass, I do 16 hours of not eating (train fasted, then eat right afterward), and if I'm just trying to maintain, I do every-other-day eating. I rarely try to gain muscle nowadays, as I've reached the level of muscle mass that I feel comfortable with (but I do enjoy a bit of extra fat-weight because my face looks funny when I get too low). I just try to stay feeling good, which is much more important to me than anything else. Keto and IF work wonders for that "on top of the world" feeling.
I do hit BCAA during MMA workouts to keep myself from feeling drained, but otherwise, fasted training has added an amazing amount of endurance and capacity to perform.
Interestingly, I've been juicing this past week to change things up and give my body a keto-break (and to gain a few lbs so ketosis doesn't drop me a to twig), and it's reminded me of how much less energy and focus I have when I'm not in ketosis. Go figure.