Paleo and primal

[Daughteroughter]

I have been reading about paleo and primal diets has anyone tried them?

Stuffez - I've just started (a few weeks ago) and haven't lost any weight yet. I think that's probably because I've had a few slips and I'm not sure I've got the balance of fats/non-grain carbs etc right when I am being good. I think I need to go back and look at the recommendations on the primal website again properly. Might consider adding in a bit of intermittent fasting too. I lost quite a bit of weight (2.5 stone) over the last few years, post-dc by running and watching what I ate, but seem to have stalled at 11 stone, which is still heavier than I want to be.

Stufez
For me the key to the weight loss was the green veg. Just as you say Veg and some more veg! Whilst trying to lose I would have avoided any kind of potatoes, parsnips and only indulge in one carrot with my Sunday roast but I would happily eat a full bag of greens, a whole cauli; snack on a giant bag of spinach or a full romain or round lettuce; no dried fruit but berries and cantaloupe melons were welcome treats. Also, I was fine with cream but cheese (other than a small grating) and yogurt would stall weight loss.

As Raw says it can be slow but it's worth it. Before Paleo, I would lose some weight, then regain it with the extra. Now, I can indulge and often overindulge in food and maintain the weight.

Holmes

Don't worry too much about the ratios, it'll drive you mad! A simple guide could be 2/3 of a plate of veg (avoiding bean and peas), the rest is protein and fat. Lower GI/carb fruit (berries, melons, rhubarb...) are easiest for overindulgence ;)
It takes time to adjust to not having grains. I started firstly by removing gluten but I still had a small 'glass' of rice or a couple of small potatoes. The first three weeks were the worse for cravings, especially when passing near the bread aisle. After 3 months I tasted a bit of tiger bread and it tasted revolting! .

Table of carbs for fruit

Thanks for replying.

Favadi, love the snack ideas. I'm mad about spinach at the moment and my lunch of choice is spinach with half a can of tuna. Delicious.
I've never had much of a sweet tooth so always prefer going to town with a good variety of veg.

Holmes, even though you haven't lost weight, do you feel better? I feel infinitely better on paleo. When I got paid recently I went a bit mad with junky snacks and spent the whole weekend feeling like a sack of wet, nauseous cement. Determined to keep this up.

To the poster who mentioned the dark chock and almonds (sorry, you're on the prev page!) that sounds a lovely snack! My vice is red wine.:-(

Yes, Stufffez, I do feel better! My appetite stabilised quite quickly - no more sugar highs and lows. I find it hard not to fall off the waggon though, even though I know a biscuit will just make me crave more. I need to get a better hoard of primal snacks. I think part of the problem is that I had been using My Fitness Pal and had got uses to how much to eat on my normal low-cal highish carb diet, so I feel a bit clueless now by comparison.

I just ate a small bowl of dessicated coconut ,mixed with seeds, a pear and a packet of vegetable crisps. I don't even care if that is high carb today, it is better than chocolate digestives and that is where I'm at right now. .

Misscph, you have a concept2 at home! Oh I'd love that! We have a fluid cycle xt thing, bought when we ditched the gym membership (with the sleep disruption early morning gym just didn't work any more!) similarly expensive but shorter (concept2 too long for the space we had). It's getting on the damn thing tho'... Dh is much more disciplined, I tend to find the routine harder to keep as the toddler is always needing something or doing something.

But the garden may be my saviour! As the eldest dc are at uni now, I am having to cut the grass etc. It takes about 4 hrs and is pretty hard work (we are in the middle of nowhere, gardens tend to be big).

Stuffez, it may be that you just need to cut the carbs right down for a while - have you seen the low carb bootcamp threads? I don't post there but lurk a lot. It might help reset your taste buds to do that for a few weeks iykwim. And give you the physiological boost of a bit of fast weight loss to get you started .

snoworneahva - Are you sure the Aldi parma ham and prosciutto is nitrite free because I'm sure when I checked the packaging I put it back because it did.

Sometimes it is listed as an E number instead of sodium nitrite or potassium nitrite. Sodium nitrite is E250 and potassium nitrite is E249

Nappyaddict I do know how to read a list of ingredients - especially one that lists only 2 ingredients!
Every packet of Parma ham I've ever lifted from Waitrose, M&S & Sainsburys has the ingredients listed as only Pork and salt. Aldi is the same.
The Prosciutto from Aldi lists the ingredients as Pork, Salt but we don't buy
Prosciutto so I've no idea what the ingredients are normally, but checking in Lidl today their prosciutto contains nitrates.

Parma ham is only allowed to use that name if it is cured using only salt!
The aldi stuff is fantastic, cheap too!

Protected Designation of Origin hams (like Parma) are only allowed to use sea salt.

Perhaps Aldi has changed it's ingredients on it's Prosciutto since I last looked then cos it definitely had nitrites a few months ago.

oh excellent, a paleo thread :) hope i can join.

I have pcos with metabolic syndrome x and insulin resistance. Following 5 months of 1000- 1200 cals a day last year and only losing 10lbs, i was told by my doctor to give up and accept the way i am, and to just try to maintain. Ive yo-yoed over the last 15 years in cycles of starving ( only way to lose weight9 then binging, because that isnt substainable. Ive seen dietician after dietician, all citing the same low fat, high fiber diet.

At the end of the 5 months, i hit upon the fact it might be sugar, i was using mpf, started using the sugar montior and relised that while i was eating ' healthy' and lo cal, i was eating so much sugar, knowing sugar is the devil a few cogs in my brain clicked.

That said, i did nothing for 8 months, life crisis and things got in the way. Early this year i did paleo for a month. My friend does iron man, shes always going on about it, i knew it would be good for me. I lost just over a stone, i looked and felt amazing. It was easy, i was cook and enjoying food and eating such a variety. Loved it.

Fell off the wagon, gained it all back in a month, once i start eating sugar again its so hard to stop and i end up in a cycle of getting the shakes/ sweats/ feeling faint and having to eat sugar to boost them. Not good.

I started to cut it out 10 days ago, and have gone back to paleo as of monday. I love it already.

:)

My Aldi (and Lidl) has two types of non PDO dry cured hams. I think the one without nitrites is called Italian Prosciutto.

Prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) al Naturale will not have nitrates.

Bresaola (air dried beef) should be ok. I've only found it in Italian deli. You would certainly taste nitrites on this type of meat.

Aldi sell Bresaola.

Thanks for the quick meal ideas. In he end I popped into sainsburys on the way home and got some pork steaks, I have green beans and asparagus in the fridge.

Like the idea of veg ribbons instead of pasta with two minute pasta sauce but how do you make the ribbons and how long to cook them for?

nappyaddictThank you. Aldi here I come!

thebest For the greens (or other cabbages)-I remove individual leaf and cut the bottom 1/4 of the centre stalk out, like if if were cutting a triangle out. Then I roll the rest of the leaf length way. Then I slice thinly across (at 90degree). I don't throw the stalks, just fight for them with dh and dc! You can roll 4-5 leaves easily together to speed it up.
The lettuce you could do the same or just cut across-I don't mind the slightly bitter white centres.

Yep, I do the same as Fava. Tonight we're having bolognaise with shredded cabbage instead of pasta - waaaaaay better!

Welcome, winecentral, it's quite along thread to get through ;)

Raw, gardening is great exercise! I throw in a few weights when I mow my lawn and do the weeding, and I have a great, natural workout.

Lol, no weights required when mowing our lawn! Heavy petrol mower and half acre of hideously uneven grass with inconvenient trees to make it more difficult! Still, very good for topping up the vitamin D levels!

Looked in Aldi tonight and they now do 2 sorts. The one I previously looked at with preservatives was prosciutto cotto. I got the Italian prosciutto this time £1.49 for 100g. Couldn't find bresaola so don't if they have run out or stopped doing it.

Lidl also do bresaola but it does have nitrates as does their prosciutto. They do parma ham which is £1.99 for 90g (same price as Aldi)

Oh and I also couldn't find the smoked duck breast in my Lidl. There was nothing with Piquebroche on at all.

Well, I am embarrassed (but so happy) to admit that after all my moaning about not losing any weight, I have just re-weighed myself and since beginning paleo about three weeks ago I have lost about 7 pounds! I have never lost weight in my life!
I just cannot believe it - I am cooking with BUTTER, I'm eating meat, I'm having omelette for breakfast... It's like a luxury diet! I definitely wasn't losing weight at the start though, so I'm convinced that stopping having a sweet potato or two every day has accelerated weight loss.

So, 7lb down, 35lb to go!

stuffez I'm very pleased for you. I've been losing a fair bit of fat, but you do need to get on a roll of being in ketosis I've found. Holidays or being away from home really disrupt this for me.

I noticed you said you often have half a tin of tuna and spinach for lunch. I often have similar but for me it's a whole can of tuna in home-made mayonnaise (olive oil, egg, cider vinegar, salt just blended together) and possibly some avocado with the salad. That will really keep you going and actually help you lose more weight I reckon.

Significantly increasing the amount of good fat I eat has made the most difference to me, possibly more than focusing on protein.

The good fats are what keep the cravings for rubbish at bay, I find. So sustaining.