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.

Not sure, I'm looking at the 3 or 5 day plan from fat sick and nearly dead. Just a bit about the whole not eating thing but I think it's mental ability to get through it more than anything!

hello everyone, I've been primal since January to help with a suspected autoimmune disorder. I've also done the candida diet for 2 months but am now going back to full primal.

looking forward to trying some of the recipes here and sharing ideas

Welcome aboard FoxPass :)

Hello Foxpass, would be interested to know if you've found primal helpful to your health issues?

I had a long and boring list of immune and suspected immune issues, which got worse, longer and more boring as I got older, and it has all either gone away or radically improved on a "clean" grain free diet (I do need to keep it completely grain free!) - it's always good to hear from others who've had similar improvements!

Hello, been lurking now posting. Big Daily Apple fan here getting back on it after 3 years (pregnancy and SN parenthood and emigration derailed me).
Started clean low carb/ no grain or sugar etc etc on 9th July.
Also doing IF - 5:2 or 6:1 or 16:8, whatever. Using MFP to track initially just to see where my hunger triggers/optimum carb/fat levels work out.
Cheers for helpful thread :)

Hello foxpass and trucks - look forward to chatting on this insightful thread.

Trucks - how do you feel doing more prolonged fasts? I so 16:8 but that's enough for me. Sounds like you have had a lot on your plate these last few years. Do you find primal is helping?

Well it's chucking it down here today so off to find some sun :)

Hello - can I join?
I've been paleo since doing my first whole 30 in March (was a big dive in - had never even heard of paleo before then!) and have just finished my second. Tended to eat mainly paleo in between with the exceptions being eating out.

DS is nearly 2 and is not paleo but I have definitely moved him more that way. He is allergic to eggs which makes it a bit harder.

DH is also not paleo but is happy to eat the same meals as me in the evening/weekends. He's allergic to fish, nuts and eggs - which does mean that paleo would be quite dull for him!

I don't do cross fit but do lift heavy weights/ Tabata 4 times a week.

I didn't have any big health problems before but did have a BIG sugar addiction - it's much more under control now but definitely my demon. I was attracted to this more from an energy point of view - was so sick of the sugar crashes which coupled with my toddler's sleeping meant I was constantly lacking in energy.

Anyway nice to meet you all!

Welcome to all the new joiners...

I'm back with a new name and a possible diagnosis for my mouth sores - saw an ENT surgeon and he ruled out anything serious - ie cancer, but nothing else made sense either, he said if it was an allergy I'd have to eliminate foods one at a time as there was no way to test everything you eat. So after a lot of thought I believe I have a sugar allergy. The only time I have a reaction is after eating something sweet, even an apple made my mouth tingle.....I'm a bit gutted, I like sweet stuff occasionally but it seems that more than a mouthful leaves my mouth stinging and feeling raw. I think I've been in denial about this but it explains a lot - why dark choc didn't set it off the same way as milk chocolate - I thought it was the milk, I thought it was chocolate, egg, nuts but the only ingredient these items had in common was sugar whether is was unprocessed fruit or refined it makes no difference. Pah!

Off to catch up with everyone's news!

snow at least you can relax a little, but its hard not knowing exactly what the cause is. What about anti candida diet, very similar to paleo but obv there is an emphasis on sugar reduction :( foods to eat on anti candida diet.

or 21 day sugar detox seems to have a fun paleo community but you have to pay to find out the secrets

Hello again and to answer re fasting q: it's getting easier probably because I'm in ketosis frequently.
I skip breakfast, eat something like a hard boiled egg or steamed green beans with butter or oil and herbs about 2pm, then big bowl soup at 7pm. So I'm fasting from 8pm - 2pm really - about 18 hours.

Sometimes I fast once a week, sometimes twice. Usually work out fasting then have something like eggs or chicken drumstick after swimming, about 10.30am. So I guess mini fasts between 8.30pm - 10.30am - 14 hours happen most days. I understand there are benefits for women with 12-14 hour breaks from food but longer fasts suit men better; can disrupt women's hormones and cycle negatively.

HTH.

Sorry - the 18 hr fast doing

Good point about men and women being different with fasting trucks&d, makes sense as paleo women might have been more home based. Also i also think age makes a difference.

Yes, post-menopausal women can fast longer I think: fertile women require extra fats to balance hormones. And therefore store fat differently to men and older women/children.

Hi everyone, hope you're all well. Lou I just finished a Whole30, glad to see someone else on here who is doing it.

I just weighed myself, I lost 6 pounds in 30 days. Given that my average over the last ten years is a pound a month I'm really pleased. I haven't measured myself yet. I have been massively stressed the last couple of weeks and I've not slept much so I wasn't expecting to lose that sort of amount. Plus I went out on Saturday and had a bit of bread, crisps, Eton mess and a lot of champagne. I was bracing myself for the scale being a lot higher than it was!!

I was really pleased to negotiate Saturday ok. I was really worried it might trigger me wanting to stuff my face with sweet and carby things but actually I've been very happy to get back to my regular food. I had the most amazing tomato salad last night with feta and am looking forward to my breakfast eggs. So that is a relief. Just keen to see how my body will change between now and Christmas. I'm off on holiday in 2 weeks time and the meals there will be Vegetarian. However they do have fish, and the evening meals will be eaten out so will have meat then. Have no plans to have grains whilst there.

Incidentally has anyone else's menstrual cycle changed? I hear it's quite common. I'm having a period 2 weeks after my last one, but I'm on the pill, that shouldn't be happening. Just hoping things even out over the next month.

Thanks giraffe interesting link on he Candida Diet - I think the simplest thing is just to cut out sugar and fruit....it's hard though, especially to begin with, saying no to some lovely homemade ice cream yesterday was close to torture, once I have a week under my belt I won't even think about sugar in any form. My mouth is still raw from Friday which helps with the motivation.

I used to fast, twice a week for around 10 months. I gave up a few months back, after finally accepting that it made me irritable, increased my cravings, made me feel ravenously hungry and led to me obsessing about food too much. Eating when I'm hungry, which sometimes means skipping meals seems to work much better for me.

I have just had a microwave baked pear - cored and filled with butter, cinnamon and nutmeg with a dollop of extra thick double cream. Also nice with apples or bananas. Very satisfying! could add honey or maple syrup if you eat it.

Hello, I hope I can join! I'm pleased to see a Paleo/Primal thread on MN.

I lived primal for about 6 months a couple of years ago. I fell off the wagon because of some pretty major upheavals in my life, and I was also diagnosed with hypothyroidism at around the same time. I have essentially no thyroid function at all.

I'm on a pretty massive dose of Armour thyroid which is a natural dessicated porcine hormone, instead of on synthetic thyroxine. I think it is working reasonably well for me, but I have put a lot of weight on in the last few years whilst trying to get to the right dose and so on.

I tried straight-up low carbing, but I didn't lose any weight and found it pretty hardgoing because I really missed fruit and veg, which have always been a big part of my diet.

So, I'm thinking of going back to Primal, which I really loved doing when I did it before. I'm probably going to get started next week because of various commitments I have this week which will make it more difficult. I'm going to aim to be at the lower end of the carb curve so that I can hopefully lose some of the weight, thyroid permitting!

I have a gluten intolerance, so haven't eaten that for a couple of years anyway, which I'm hoping will make the transition easier.

Sorry - what an essay!

hi everyone coconut I have found going primal helpful in my general wellbeing. I had biofeedback treatment for the possible autoimmune skin condition I have, and discovered I had rampant Candida. I cut out all sugar for 2 months and took a mixture of antifungals. I have had an almost complete reduction in my symptoms. I had neck acne and high thyroid levels too, as the Candida was messing with it. I am using natural progesterone cream to balance my hormones which is helping the acne. now the Candida is gone, I am reducing the cream and hoping my body is able to rebalance and heal now my gut is healthy.

candida can cause leaky gut syndrome which in turn triggers autoimmune issues. so cleaning up your diet by cutting out refined carbs can really help.

Hi and welcome paeonies. Sorry about your thyroid issues. Have you checked out the thyroid stuff at perfect health diet.com (paleo with "safe" carbs") really interesting reading about why very low carb can make thyroid issues worse. Also about iodine/selenium/magnesium for thyroid function.

Hi foxpass - your post was v interesting - can I ask what antifungals you took? I'm fairly certain my sinus issues are candida related and whilst everything is improving I wonder if I should think about doing more....

Well I somewhat fell off the wagon this weekend as it was quite stressful with ill DCs and nights out so I had a lot of sugary rubbish and not surprisingly feel awful today!

Has anyone any views on xylitol?

Hope everyone had a more energetic Monday than me :)

Sorry meant to add - itstarts - yes, my period has been wonky since I started all this. I am only 8 weeks in mind and am also taking some supplements which might have knocked it. As I'm feeling so much better overall I'm taking it as a sign of my system re syncing.....

Xylitol - may be less bad than some other artificial sweeteners but I say "no" to it.

For me, I think it's probably better to not use artificial sweeteners, but to use small amounts of honey, maple syrup or even cane sugar (but not agave due to the fructose content), as an occasional part of the diet (occasional does not mean everyday!!!). Essentially natural sugars are a (small) part of the natural human diet, unlike grain foods which are a very recent addition to the human diet.

Candidiasis - yes, the leaky gut thing seems to promote it but its my understanding that lectins and other compounds in grains and other seeds start that process by damaging the gut wall. Once the damage is bad enough, sugars and gluten etc can leak into the bloodstream and set off the immune responses that are at the root of many autoimmune conditions.

There are a lot if complex interactions going on there, but IMHO and IME, grains (all of them), are the root of all dietary evil!!! . Of course once that gut damage is done, I think there needs to be a no sugar diet at least for a few months even for people without candidiasis symptoms, to reset the tastbuds.

The thyroid issue is interesting - it's another autoimmune problem (often autoimmune, not always), and strongly connected with gluten antibodies (they will attack thyroid tissue), so again, grains are a possible cause and in order to remove natural toxins in grains from the body, the liver has to use up magnesium, vitamin D and other valuable minerals, and low levels of those are associated with thyroid problems, and the hundred and one other "metabolic syndrome" conditions. Previously known as syndrome X, basically these are the "diseases of civilisation" which are all very common now, but were very very rare in pre-agricultural humans (ie before grains became an important part of the diet). These diseases include heart disease, diabetes, thyroid, gout, rheumatoid arthritis... Other autoimmune conditions, osteoporosis and dementia. Quite a list!

Did I mention that I think grains are evil ????!

oohdaddypig for antifungals I ate 3 cloves of raw garlic daily. I also eat coconut oil and take a supplement of caprylic acid, which is a component of coconut oil which helps the gut maintain proper acidity.

I've stopped the raw garlic now it's gone (thank goodness!) but I still take everything else, and a good probiotic. If you're tackling candida you need a probiotic with s.boulardii. Holland and Barrett do a good one called Probiotic Gastrohealth.

Stevia is a great natural sweetner, it does not stress your adrenals. Asda sell it for about £2, under the brand name purvia.

I don't know if grains can damage your gut wall but they feed candida. When candida switches to it's fungal form (rather than yeast) it grows roots which pierce the gut wall and lead to leaky gut. It is then more like a parasite and will make you very unwell indeed!

The candida infestation I had was affecting my thyroid function which in turn was messing with my hormones big time. I was totally staggered to learn the impact diet makes to overall health (I feel silly saying that but nobody teaches you these things.) Everything is connected!

No I feel like I have healed my gut and like you say, my tastebuds are reset and I can enjoy food as it should be! I also think grains are evil :o