The new Paleo/Primal thread - please reintroduce yourself, newcomers welcome!

[misscph1973]

Wow, we got to 1000 messages!

Welcome back from the previous thread and welcome to all new!

I have been Paleo since September last year, I started as an ex-vegetarian/vegan, I wanted to give up gluten and I had been doing 5:2/IF, which lead me to Paleo/primal. I am 40, I have 2 kids age 8 and 6. I have no major health issues, but I would like it to stay that way. I have bad skin, which has improved since starting Paleo and my dandruff has disappeared. I have gained some weight since starting Paleo, but I was not overweight before, although I would like to get back on my pre Paleo weight - I just love Paleo mayonnaise too much ;) I still practice IF and I lift weights 2-3 times per week. My family is also Paleo.

I have just come back from a camping weekend where I was not strict Paleo as I was camping with other families and I just didn't want to spend my entire weekend telling my kids "no, you cant have it". I do think that Paleo camping is entirely possible, think tinned fish, nuts, sausages, eggs etc.

Lovely to see you again miss

I've been paleo for over 3 years and lost almost 30kg . Also, my asthma, eczema and ulcer have disappeared. I do sit-ups, resistance steps, a few light weights, some squats and walking. The rest of the family is mainly Paleo (when away....).

I've always cooked from scratch and bought locally (organic where possible). I have always enjoyed turning my gardens into edible gardens instead of traditional flowers/shrubs/hedges. So adapting to Paleo has not been difficult. There is something so rewarding of harvesting and cooking your food- we even indulge in a bit of foraging.

Thanks for the new thread Miss

I've been low carb for a year, then turned Primal a couple of months ago. I love eating, love cooking and trying new dishes, I am firmly in the live to eat camp and eating primal allows me to do that without feeling too restricted.
My dcs eat mostly primal....with the odd rebellion, we try not to be rigid.
I run 2-3 times a week and do an outdoors bootcamp class twice a week to keep in shape, walk as much as I can.

Hello! I've been reading the old thread avidly, so I suppose it's time to introduce myself.

I am RabbitFromAHat and I am, it has turned out very recently, a coeliac. So although I won't necessarily be strictly or ideologically Paleo, I will certainly be eating that way a lot of my time (I am keen on the odd brown rice and sweet potato addition to my diet, not least because I am a penniless student, and I love dairy and also have osteoporosis so I am all set to add More Cheese Than Is Socially Acceptable to many of my meals).

I am quite optimistic about being able to cope with my new diagnosis, at least for the moment, not least because I have been unsuccessfully TTC and alas coeliac disease is closely linked with unexplained infertility.

This evening I made baked aubergines stuffed with a minced beef stew type thing, topped with Parmesan, and baked some mini frittata for breakfast tomorrow - smoked salmon and green bean.

I've found all of your posts so helpful and I'm looking forward to the rest of the thread.

Yay! I wondered what happened to the old thread. I've been doing paleo for three months for health reasons (VERY strong family history of diabetes and insulin issues). Have lost 10 lbs, unintentionally. I run 5 days a week and do a little bit of hand weights/squats/push-ups a few times a week. Not missing the bread, pasta, noodles, potato at all as you get to keep all the good stuff .

I'd love to know what all of you are serving for family dinners as I'm stuck in a bit of rut....not that it's hard to adapt dishes to be paleo, just needing inspiration .

I forgot to say one of my major goals is to get back to proper exercise - I enjoy adventure racing and obstacle racing as well as gym work, and was training for a marathon in October.

Unfortunately it turned out due to the coeliac disease having damaged my intestines, I am incredibly anaemic (ferritin count of 5 and awaiting transfusion if it doesn't improve soon) I have been advised to halt the exercise for a wee while. I ran a half marathon in May but after that decided I should probably obey the doctors nothing to do with me feeling half dead for a fortnight afterwards, not at all

Hi all, am back. Thanks for new thread. Have given up grains for a couple of months now, and have lost weight slowly but (sort of) steadily. Overdo the carbs sometimes...I have chronic fatigue syndrome and can't exercise so really have to limit them if I want to lose weight, which I DO!

Am so much more able to control my eating without the grains.

Still eat dairy, but less than I used to, and mainly natural yoghurt.

Have just bought some coconut flour and am keen to try some recipes....please?

I posted about my fall of the wagon under another name I think. Started paleo/primal in January and lost 9kg and many inches. Fell unexpectedly pregnant and have been through termination which floored me. So I am back on it this week and doing ok so far
I eat dairy but only have milk in coffee and I do use protein shakes for after workouts
Today was a bit of a rubbish day as I need to sort my sleep patterns out.
B/L - 3 scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
After workout protein shake
Tea - 2 97% pork sausages, sweet potato mash and veg
Wanted something sweet so had an apple and peanut butter
3.5L water

Workout wise I do HIIT, and a circuit/boot camp class which is lots of squats, lunges, weights etc as well as horse riding and usually a personal training session. To complicate matters I put my back out completely and ended up in an ambulance with gas & air so I couldn't train either. Luckily I don't appear to have put much weight on, probably due to stress!!!

Hi, Emuz. Hope you are okay. Sounds like a really difficult time.

I lurked avidly on the previous threads and even sat down and made an excel sheet to collate the recipes, meal plans and shopping tips
I had been eating low carbing for extended periods over the last six years then at the start of this year began paleo and feel very well eating without grains. Also I have MS and there is some really interesting research about the positive effect of a pale diet on auto immune conditions

Wow, we got to 1000, not seen that with a paleo/primal thread before!

Reintroduction of myself for this new thread, low carb, 6+years, paleo/primal for a couple, with a bit of a blip just before that (after sleep problems really hit with DC4 at about 6months old), Health issues flared massively in line with my increased carb/grain consumption at that time.

Benefits to me, health wise of eating this way, list of autoimmune and suspected autoimmune conditions and symptoms about a mile long, all disappeared, or are resolving (hair loss and nail ridging are resolving, but not quite 100%), joint, muscle and bone pain, resolved, dry eyes, mouth and lips, resolved. Thyroid symptoms gone, blood sugars now low normal and very steady, rather than wildly fluctuating.... Etc!

... And a LOT of weight lost too!

My goodness, Rabbit. Could you not get away with an IV iron infusion?
Chris Kresser has written quite a few articles on dairy, some related to osteoporosis as well.

Emuz Really pleased to see you back.

Thanks for the new thread Miss

Welcome Rabbit

I have been Paleo since searching for a way to avoid the type II diabetes and heart disease which plagues my parents and grandparents. I was scared for my children more than anything.

Rabbit Paleo on a budget is totally possible but I would ditch the brown rice. Grains are the first thing you should ditch but if you must eat rice make it white. It's nutritionally a nothing, basically a starch so will impact your blood glucose and insulin (which we aim to keep low on paleo).

If we're having a budget week on Paleo I go to the supermarket and get 3 packs of meat for £20 and frozen veg. Usually a whole chicken or two in there which I will roast and turn into litres of stock. Asda sell 2 packs of 12 or 15 free range eggs for £4. Liver, heart etc are v cheap and make yummy pâté (liver) or bolognese (heart). Tesco sell big packs of sweet potato now which makes them more economical too.

Drink the stock with some organic sea salt - I forget the brand but its rich in minerals and the stock will be great for your joints and bones. I add it to everything - I made chilli last night and mixed some into the sauce.

Breakfast is usually eggs of some description with butter and I try I get some veg in there too. Courgette frittata is a popular one here. Throw cheese on if you eat it and keep the cold left overs in the fridge. I make mini ones for the DDs with sweet potato & bacon in and they love them.

I usually take leftovers for lunch or soup (made with the never-ending stock!) or salad if I can be bothered to make one. I am addicted to bacon and avocado at the moment. I made a huge salad last week - red cabbage, spring onions, baby plum tomatoes, carrots, peppers and bacon and an entire avocado. It took absolutely ages to eat it but I loved it.

We do buy into Paleo as a lifestyle rather than a diet but I have been pretty rubbish on the exercise front. However, I am starting Crossfit in a few weeks. I'm scared senseless (partly because my pelvic floor is totally not what it was pre-kids) but I'm looking forward to it. Does anyone else Crossfit?

I don't crossfit but I do a similar boot camp type thing lots of squats, dead lifts, lunges etc
Goes well with Paleo

Rabbit I been fretting about your post since I replied! There is a Kindle book called autoimmune paleo which you might find useful (it's about £2.50 I think). The grains (brown rice) really will be a bad idea for your gut - especially with coeliacs. Don't forget that Paleo fats, meats and veg are more filling than carbs so once you adapt you may find that you're eating less often but more nutrient-dense food.

Grains don't want to be eaten and so aggravate the gut when consumed. There are people (WAP not paleo) who believe that well prepared grains - ie soaked for hours and hours - are fine but I have never explored that. I don't love any grain enough to soak it or sprout it for three days just to eat it.

Also on the stock front (realise I sound a bit obsessed) it contains gelatine and other great things for gut health which I think you will find really helpful & possibly soothing.

And lastly I'm sorry to hear your fertility has been impacted. Eat clean whole foods, food that benefit gut health (probiotics are another good choice) and hopefully your overall health and fertility will improve.

emuz do you enjoy it? I used to do a weights class before having DD1 but I feel totally out of shape now. I'm scared of collapsing with patheticness in front of a room full of strong people!

Also what do you wear?

Love it except the barbell circuit we did on Monday. My legs feel like painful leg and I've found a muscle in my bum I didn't know I had
Mainly I wear tight Capri type things and long vest tops - my newest one says "your workout is my warmup"
Treated myself last month to some new Nike free run trainers

Here was the barbell circuit (all with 15kg barbell)
Squat, clean and press, lunge (both legs), bent over row. Run 200m. Repeat but 2 reps of everything, then 3,4.. All the way to 10 reps then back down to 9,8 until you reach one

Oh dear God! It's been so long since I've done a class that needed commitment. I mean, aerobics or something - you just dance your way to the end don't you?

How long have you been going?

I'm off to google your new trainers

Cacao sorry, yes, I did mean iron infusion, I'm still getting those things confused! Hopefully it won't come to that though.

kelly thank you so much for your posts, that's really helpful - I'll be taking notes from it, and very interesting to hear about the brown rice. I get paid Friday so I'm really looking forward to a big shop over the weekend. I am fond of offal, too! The autoimmune Paleo book sounds like a fine idea, particularly as I'm being investigated for autoimmune liver disorder as well as the coeliac (it might well be just aggravation from the coeliac disease though).

I don't have any Crossfit setup near me, but when in good shape I do kettlebell and Rip:60 (a form of TRX) classes, and in fact was feeling well enough yesterday to do my first Rip:60 class in over six months! One of my goals this year is to really build up my strength.

Phew um started in January 2012 but didn't do the paleo alongside until January of this year. Got the trainers off eBay, they released the free run 3 so I got the free run 2 cheaper
Purple and silver for a bit of colour!
I do have personal training sessions too and try and do spin. They've just started new classes though and there is power stretch, body pump and.. Crossfit
I'm no teeny person, am a size 16 but can now do 15 full press ups

Rabbit I'm focusing on strength this year too (hence my quizzing Emuz ). I'm 35 next week and I suddenly feel like I'm ageing. I don't want to be one of those women who's skinny-fat. I'm thin but I have absolutely no strength!

Emuz ooh that's a good tip - thanks. I like the idea of a bit of colour. Might see if DH wants to get me some for my birthday

Hurrah! I like the way we're all in it together.

I know that Paleo doesn't necessarily recommend long-distance running but I enjoy it, so if I get back to full health I'll be doing at least a bit. But for the next six months anyway I don't see myself worrying about doing anything over 10k. But I do love my Rip:60 classes, it's sets of suspension training interspersed with Tabata circuits - tough! I'm quite a fan of the Girls Gone Strong group, if you're familiar with that, and Molly Galbraith, they're really motivating.

Today I will mostly be eating the store cupboard and freezer contents so, smoked salmon and green bean frittata for breakfast, lunch will be a tuna and avocado thing of some kind with red pesto dressing, and dinner stirfried pork with leaves. Nom.

I'm back to work tomorrow after 3 months off
Vague food plan for today is some form of scrambled eggs and meat then a salad for tea (a paleo one not a low cal one)
Food for work is sweet potato mash, homemade burgers and veg

Just had 4 sausages with Paleo ketchup for breakfast.
Avocado & ruby grapefruit with chilli dressing for lunch.
Dinner is going to be Patatas Bravas with bacon for kids - dh and I will have the same but we'll have celeriac rather than potato.

Off to do some gardening/digging today. Very I pressed Emuz with your 15 press ups - I've been trying to do full press ups for 2 years now - I'm nearly there, my arms are less twig like, but my butt is filling out, used to be flat and shapeless...now it's 2inches bigger but it's all muscle. I think 10k run isn't a problem, it's the chronic cardio running - 50-80km a week that seems to cause difficulties.