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Robb Wolf tells me where I erred on my cheat day

Amazing. As if he read my blog (which I know he hadn't, because his podcast came out Tuesday and yesterday (when I wrote my binge post) was Wednesday, Robb Wolf answered part of my question about cheat days and bingeing in his latest podcast (#67).  Starting at the 50:37 point in the podcast, Robb answers "Bennett's" question about cheat days.

Robb's answer was interesting and I think I see part of where I may have gone wrong.  While Rob does not care for planned cheat days unless you are hyper-focused, a la a Tim Ferriss type, because they tend to send your Primal/Paleo efforts soaring into the ether, he's not against treating yourself once in a while if you see a dessert or sugary food that you really want.  The key for Robb is to make sure you stay away from the Gluten.  The possible gut irritants in wheat's death-protein, especially if you're being good and haven't been taking any in at all, will do more harm than you may think by setting off immune issues.

So let's take a look at what I ate:
  • M&Ms: M&Ms are gluten-free.  They're high in sugar, but the sugar can be processed more safely than gluten.

  • Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola Classic is gluten-free. The caramel coloring was the question, but Coca-Cola tells us that their product is without gluten.

  • Pretzel Bites: Boy, it's tough to find info about the pretzel bites at an AMC theater.  Popcorn, no problem. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that these little bites have gluten in them.  They're wheat-based, and of course wheat is the primary culprit in gluten content.

  • Cheese sauce:  Again, very tough to find info about this stuff.  The consensus seems to be that many of these sauces contain flour as a thickener... flour = wheat and wheat = gluten.
So perhaps if I'd gone with something other than the pretzel bites I might not feel AS wretched.  But the sugars themselves coursing through my system probably caused some insulin jumps and resulted in inflammation.  So... all in all, it was not a smart move to go whole hog with the experience.  One of those items probably wouldn't have been bad.  ALL of them... a mistake.  Robb's example of a Creme Brulee dessert was probably the equivalent of one of my items.  I had four.  Sigh.  Lesson learned.
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  1. Beginning a Paleo Challenge! | PaleoMentalApril 27, 2011 at 8:38 AM

    [...] I did a Paleo Challenge for three weeks or so when I first started this way back when, and I still feel a change when I do eat sugars and grains now (my heart rate goes up and I get jumpy).  The last two colds I’ve gotten have followed a bit of a carb bender, too. And of course, you may already have read my post about doing a movie bender (popcorn, pop, candy) and the absolute .... [...]

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