Paleo and primal

[Daughteroughter]

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

Yes, RCM. I agree and it does not have to be complicated - just eat real food. if it were around 30,000 years ago it is likely to be the right thing to eat.

I am a big water drinker and being in the sun person - today is our first day warm enough to lie out with virtually nothing on without being too cot in lovely mid day sun. Vitamin D is best absorbed on skin without sun screen so in most of the UK you can do that for 20 minutes a day if it's possible where you are - costs nothing but a bit of time. Drinking water costs nothing either compared to smoothies, fresh juice, colas, diet drinks, alcohol etc. So think a lot of this is very very cheap to do and makes people feel good.

I once bought some coconut water (Waitrose) and didn't like it particularly but when we occasionally buy a real coconut and cut it open I always drink the juice in there.

Teaandthorazine Choices when out can be very limited and 18g carbs is really not that much. When I first started Paleo I was losing weight eating around the 100g carb/day! Only when I reached a plateu, I started to reduce carbs further.

I reached my target last June/July, having lost 30kg and I have never counted a carb since! My weight has remained stable within a kg or so.

I made an omelette this morning with asparagus, mushrooms and a little smoked cheddar (is that allowed?) and some strawberries. Very different from my usual but SO filling...and delicious.

I made pumpkin bread for the dcs this morning, big success!

Tried the naked bars - the gingerbread version was well received even by my nut hating dd. The orange and choc was a bit too bland....could do with some 85% cocoa IMO. I think I'd prefer to make my own anyway.

Sunday lunch was curried celeriac and coconut soup followed by trout in bacon with Savoy cabbage seasoned with garlic butter - dcs had potatoes too. Finished with strawberries and double cream and a spoonful of raw honey. And a little cheese. Dcs had some organic vanilla ice cream.

Can I ask, do any of you encourage your children to eat in a similar way? I am worried by my DD's obvious sugar addiction and would like to try and cut out some sugar at least.
I'm not sure what to replace bread with though, it is a large part of her diet. She doesn't like eggs and that for breakfast, preferring toast. Dh and I have scrambled egg or bacon and eggs.

I certainly remember with our 3 older children we had a no sugar / sweets rules for a while which worked well. Now they are older. The ones at home are teenagers and they are interested in food and learn a lot on line and I want them all to form their own views and if they differ from mine that is fine too. I certainly encourage them and I don't buy what I regard as bad stuff but I don't stop them This weekend some were arguing with others about grapes just because grapes are high sugar and I said - I think it's great they eat all their grapes rather than chocolate.

I have always encouraged them all to have protein breakfasts - if delicious eggs are available every morning they don't all fall on cereal and breads with abandon and I always think with children example is so much better than orders. Most children ultimately follow what their parents do in all senses rather than say.

Small children cannot eat what isn't in the house so it is not that hard to force them into eating good stuff although I doubt most of them suffer from the odd slice of toast with their breakfast.

I haven't cut bread or pasta out of ds's diet entirely, although he eats less of it than he used to, definitely. And he eats the same evening meal as I do - cba cooking twice! I have found this WOE good for getting him to try new foods and we don't have stuff like fizzy drinks, juice, cakes, crisps or biscuits in the house anyway.

Dinner tonight - roasted red peppers with Brie, garlic and basil, then bolognaise sauce served on a bed of buttered spring greens. And a glass or two of red wine...

No, we don't have crisps or fizzy drinks in the house either, I sometimes bake a cake if we have visitors. Trying to stop buying biscuits and instead encourage fruit as a snack. We don't have cereal in either, but DD will have toast or tinned pasta/baked beans for breakfast and panini at school for lunch or sandwiches in her packed lunch and I can't think of an alternative she'd like.

Otherwise she's pretty good at eating cherry tomatoes and cucumber but doesn't like meat or fish much.

I think with dcs gradual changes in diet are best. Pick one thing at a time and work on making that change a lasting one. We were getting a lot of resistance from dd about the move from gluten based foods but after 2 weeks on holiday with relatively no dietary rules, the resistance has disappeared, it's bloody amazing! She ate Savoy cabbage dressed in herbed butter today and even admitted to liking it. Sometimes we all just need a break from rules so we can embrace them again with a fresh attitude.

Thank you Favadi.

I am very interetsed in this WOE for the health benefits.
I eats far too much carbs and feel tired and sluggish, sleep rubbish - will give anything a try to get some energy back and improve my sleep. (seen GP bloods ok so no problems with low iron)
Only thing is I dont eat meat (just dont like it) but I eat fish.
Is anyone else doing this woe and doesn`t eat meat?

I do eat meat but also lots of fish. I have salmon four times a week because I love it. I eat a lot of eggs. I love sea food. A pack of frozen still in their shells prawns or shrimps are good. Tinned muscles and tuna are nice too. Lots of veg of course. Paleo is not anti carb or no carb - most people need some carb to feel happy but it does not have to come from loads of bread.

Thanks Xenia I have been looking at some of the web sites linked in this thread and theres some good fish, egg & vegie ideas that would suit the whole family. My downfall is breakfast cereals, all types unfortunately -I just love it :-( I need to start the day with a protein based meal. Todays planning tomorrows 1st day for feeling so much better ;-)

Breakfast this morning went well, dd is still on board...she had a slice of bacon and a fried egg and then 2 slices of the pumpkin bread I made yesterday. Ds had cream cheese pancakes with blueberry sauce.

Packed them off with a veg korma and brown rice and a banana nut muffin. Lunches are going to be more challenging fortunately they've never been too keen on sandwiches....maybe it's time to start thinking about portable salads.

Dh and I are fasting today, so nothing until dinner this evening when we'll have a chicken curry with cauli rice for dinner. The Dcs will have a piece of fried meat - probably chicken and a roasted carrot and avocado salad.

Rigt day 1 of paleo here goes.... Ive been an on/ off reader of mumsnet for years but never really posted ( worried i will spend all my time on here!) but I am going to be using this thread lots as I need to do this. I did two weeks sugar free back in feb which I liked but some how got distracted off it. I've read lots about doing a Whole30 but I think I'm going to do pretty close with a bit of dairy every now and again but trying to stay away from hard cheese. Right, here goes....

With regard to protein breakfast in going to try the porridge from Against All Grain blog. It's nuts whizzed up with banana and coconut milk. Sounds nice and hoping the kids will eat it too.

Kids and paleo/primal woe- yes, why not as these are the foods "wild" children would have eaten.

With our 3 teens, it was a gradual shift, they are a lot more aware of what they are eating and mostly they stick with it as they have realised themselves that they feel sluggish and a bit unwell if they eat junk.

Our toddler eats what we eat, with a bit more carb. I don't freak out if he gets offered bread/wheat products when out at parties etc, as this is something he is going to have to learn to deal with (an I hope choose) when he is older but it's not part of his everyday diet.

Olrojo,

For breakfast my toddler likes "not porridge" which is stewed unsweetened apple and berries, mixed with either raw almond butter or almond flour- very tasty warm or cold- the fruit freezes well in portions.

Banana with nut butter smoothy is also lovely - too many carbs for me but good for active kids!

First Abel & Cole organic fruit & veg box has arrived - excitement!! In it are...oranges, apples, two heads of broccoli, bananas, two aubergines, cabbage, two courgettes, vine toms and carrots. And a box of salad! We asked for them to never send potatoes so hopefully we'll get a surprise every month...

It is pathetic how excited I am by a box of veg. We are eating LOADS of veg since going primal; so much more than ever before. But I was thinking that a veg box might prompt me to get a bit more creative... there's a recipe in the box for aubergine 'meat'balls which looks delicious... It's not exactly the cheap option and we might not do it forever but it's worth a go just for a bit of variety I reckon.

Tonight I think it will be pan-fried (I hate that phrase - how else do you fry anything except in a pan?) pollock with roasted broccoli, peppers and buttered spring greens. The best thing for me about primal (except sleeping better, stabilising my moods, having clearer skin, losing weight, not being shattered and bloated all the time) is how much fun it's made cooking. Who would've thought I'd crave a plate of green veg? But I do.

Just got to wait for my raw chocolate to arrive now...

I'm really going to struggle with breakfasts for my DD as she doesn't like meat or egg much, this morning she had a tin of spaghetti with sausages! Otherwise she'd just eat toast with butter and marmite. She only eats white bread too. She would possibly eat natural yogurt with a little honey and some berries so I might try her with that.

My kids like hot berries with coconut milk, boiled eggs, cold chicken with veg sticks, meatballs or mini fishcakes with veg sticks. I'm going to try the apple puree with nut butter - it sounds good.

Ds(12) came back yesterday from 4 days away: "Mum, I need a decent meal. I survived rice pudding and lumpy custard, so don't skimp on fish and veg, Pleeease!" He ate almost 2 mackerels and 1/2kg of courgettes! :)

Apparently, he was able to have veg only on 1 night.

Shocking! Cheap stodgy food!

So... Sweet potatoes. Are they ok or aren't they? I am skint. Horribly, depressingly skint until the end of the month and have had to do an absolutely minimal shop this weekend. Luckily, I have some meat frozen, so my evening meals for the next couple of weeks seem to be a piece of grilled meat with a sweet potato (baked or chilli wedges) and nice veg like broccoli or spinach. I don't mind this at all as this is pretty delicious!
But a woman at my work today told me sweet potatoes will stop me losing weight. She used to be a slimming world rep. Is she right?

Well, they are a sweet, starchy veg so from a low-carb pov they're out tbh. But... they are very very popular in the primal world ime! They are lower GI than white potatoes...

Your friend is right in one sense, theyre certainly not going to help you lose weight, but from a primal standpoint they are a really good wholesome food. If money is really tight and its all you've got I'd say fair enough - though butternut squash or celeriac would be better choices from a weightloss pov!