Nutritional Changes - small steps

A good number of podcasts I listen to now advocate the Paleo (Caveman) diet - it certainly is based on some decent principles, especially around eating healthy foods that have not been processed.

What really interests me is the idea that fats can offer greater energy for training / racing and last considerably longer than our glycogen reserves (sugars). By reducing our intake of low-fat high sugar foods and replacing them with good higher fat alternatives can we train our bodies to use fat rather than sugar for energy?

My diet generally consists of quite high levels of grains and carbohydrates - pasta and bread being daily food sources. Over the last week I have made a conscious effort to reduce my bread consumption and also limit alcohol and chocolate in my diet. Eating these high carb / high sugar foodstuffs were becoming more of a habit each day and even though I was probably burning off the calories with exercise I have been worried that I have continued consuming them on rest or recovery days when I have done little or no exercise. I believe this to be the reason for my slight weight gain of late.

You can very easily fall into the camp of a strict diet regime, whether Paleo or some other strategy. One day I may investigate them further but for the time being I think maintaining a healthy balance, making better whole food choices and limiting some of the treats (i.e. don't make them a habit) is the way to go - small steps that I am personally more likely to stick too.