Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Low-carb diets

Share advice and experiences of following a low-carb diet.Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

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

905 replies

misscph1973 · 24/06/2013 13:53

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.

OP posts:
BeingMoreDog · 12/08/2013 13:06

wow, I'm really enjoying this woe and so impressed at not feeling hungry or craving my normal mountains of pasta and cake. Only thing is, I don't really like meat, so not sure how long I'll maintain it for...

Started on fri evening and so far I've eaten (am only a beginner so don't be too harsh Wink):

Fri: steak, sweet potato wedges, mushrooms cooked in double cream
Sat: asparagus and spring onion omelette, baked ham with sweet potato, broccoli and carrots
Sun: lunch disaster (stir fry at ILs with rice AND noodles, wtf [hmm?]. I managed to shovel lots onto DH's plate... Dinner leftover ham, beetroot, avocado, tomato, feta
Mon: more ham for lunch with tomatoes and feta, dinner will be ratatouille with pancetta chunks
And tomorrow's plan is salmon with veg for tea.

Breakfasts: natural yog with seeds and nuts, banana
Snacks: dark chocolate, one chocolate frog, carrot batons and guacamole
Drinks: coffee (don't like it with cream but only 2 a day max anyway), red wine, mint tea

Started shredding too - please tell me my post c-section tummy will shrink!

giraffeseatpineapples · 12/08/2013 13:18

favadi thanks that's good to know. I have some skin on frozen salmon I need to cook - I guess best to defrost that.

My gums have become inflamed/ sensitive in recent years the hygenist has recommended those little plastic unterdental brushes but I don't get on with them. I found changing diet makes a bigger difference than using the sticks as sensitivity went away during my stint of whole 30.

What is everyone doing about suncream? I saw a thread on Mumsnet about advice you would give your younger self, and the main thing was to use suncream. I bought some lavera suncream but it is really oily so haven't been putting it on much. Seems like paleo forums are quite anti suncream and that diet can increase skins spf? We were at the park for a while and had picnic lunch sans suncream. Not too sunny and mainly in shade so seems to have been fine.

giraffeseatpineapples · 12/08/2013 13:32

Being more dog great start, your food sounds yum. Not sure how it works with csection but i lost my tummy apron a couple of years ago through diet and excersise , unfortunately it needs a bit more work now after 3rd baby (who is 2 btw, hardly a baby) I gave my sister my shred dvd as she was hinting she wanted it - I might have to buy another copy, I have got quite a few of JMs other dvds but the workouts are too long - 20 minutes is perfect. I really find it hard to maintain excersise even though I know stacks of reasons why I should do it.

snowlie · 12/08/2013 17:18

Bought a coconut at the weekend, it was easier to extract the meat than I imagined. I made a whole in the eye with a corkscrew and drained the juice, then i bashed the coconut with the blunt edge of a cooks knife but that didn't work, so I baked it in the oven for 10 mins - a few more bashes and the job was done.
Coconut juice was too sweet and irritated my mouth, but the flesh was delicious and it was so cheap and surprisingly filling - a great snack food if one were needed.

What's everyone feasting on at the moment, we had some friends around for dinner and I cooked Lamb Shawarma and served it with homemade pitta, I just had the lamb with salad, Harissa sauce and tahini sauce and didn't feel like I missed out. We finished with a selection of stinky cheese and some almond and rosemary crackers - which were very well received.

Itstartshere · 13/08/2013 19:39

Argh, I'm struggling. Not sure where to go for advice really. I have M.E and I really crashed recently. It was because I was overdoing it, it happens a fair bit, but normally I pull out of them much quicker. For the last 4 weeks now I've been struggling hugely with my energy levels. I'm feeling a bit down about it all because I think my body just wants more carbs. I have been quite low, and I keep trying to eat a bit more sweet potato but it feels so unfair because I'm not seeing other people having this issue. I need to lose weight so if I eat too many carbs I won't do so. I had a friend to stay this weekend and I joined her in eating a bit of ice cream and some white potatoes. And I think it made me feel better. It's so hard to tell. I'm about to go on holiday but when I get back I might do another Whole30 just so I can see what's what, but just so scared I can't really low carb (and I know Paleo isn't technically low carb but I still want to keep my carbs low).

I think I'm eating enough, having enough fat etc. Will keep a food log for a bit so I can show people in a few weeks. I just want my energy to pick up! This is scaring me.

oohdaddypig · 13/08/2013 20:21

Just a quick one... Itstarts - you might want to experiment with the carbs. Too low carb makes me feel very weak so I eat potatoes, white rice etc with fat eg butter or coconut oil. Some people can cope just fine with minimal carb but I'm not one of them. There is lots of interesting stuff online about it. Some previously strict paleos are introducing more carbs again....

I think sometimes we need to listen to our bodies. If your body is craving carbs it might be needing them to heal.

Sorry you are so tired. I had chronic fatigue after a virus years ago - I was lucky it didn't develop into full ME - and the fatigue is overwhelming. Maybe you are fighting a virus off just now? That can leave me feeling exhausted....

Giraffes - I don't wear too much sunscreen as I have naturally dark skin but I like the lavera stuff. Green people do a nice one too....

giraffeseatpineapples · 13/08/2013 23:03

itstartshere I think I remember reading about dr wahls diet that things can get worse before they get better so maybe it is similar in the case of ME? Don't carry on feeling ill though, I would agree with oohdaddypig about listening to your body - maybe if you can keep just away from obvious grains and eat lots of veg? Whole 30 describe the white potato rule as 'somewhat arbitrary,' which suggests to me it is a bendable rule. Are you including any liver - I don't like it much but genuinely feel like it nourishes my body instantly and gives me energy Blush sorry bit too over the top!

snowlie good tip to bake the coconut! We got a coconut for about 80p but struggled to get anything from it when we tried. Maybe I will try again. I have some nut milk bags because I have been intending to make coconut milk for ages but still not got round to it. I have finally got a spiraliser though - went for the lurch Grin Was really surprised how nice beetroot is thinly sliced, oldest dd really liked it too. Btw do you cook courgette spaghetti or eat raw?

babylann · 14/08/2013 09:16

Hi everyone :) Hope it's okay if I join. DP and I have been doing Paleo for about three weeks now. He's lost a stone and I've lost 5 lbs. The weight loss was definitely a factor for me (I've been feeling really uncomfortable in my skin lately, particularly around my stomach), but mostly we're interested in the lifestyle and health benefits.

We're really enjoying it so far, but it's been difficult from time to time, especially when we're feeling lazy. I've definitely realised just how much of my plate was stocked up with "fillers", and how it was stopping us from really focusing on making everything in front of us tasty.

That said, I might be growing tired of the taste of coconut... We have something coconutty at least once every 2 days. And I'm definitely fed up of eggs!

snowlie · 14/08/2013 09:18

giraffe did you cook the beetroot? My dcs hate beetroot - or at least they didn't fall for lipstick soup - aka borscht and were not impressed with beetroot and goats cheese risotto....maybe time to reintroduce it through the spiraliser. As for the courgette, I think a quick fry in olive oil or butter is probably the most successful, you don't want to cook it too much as it turns to moosh but raw doesn't gel with the sauce properly. A quick blanch might work too.

Discovered a new food yesterday - dried sweet potato, it had 10% sugar added and it tasted like sweets, the kids loved it and it makes a healthy alternative to Haribos. Bought it my local Chinese supermarket.

snowlie · 14/08/2013 09:33

Itstartshere if you are going very low carb, it is perfectly normal to feel quite poorly for a few days while your body adjust from burning carbs to burning fat, known as carb flu, your body is moving into ketosis...eating carby food during this time will solve the immediate problem, you will feel better but it will also bring you out of ketsosis, the state you wanted your body to be in. You can still lose weight without being in ketosis, it just might take that little bit longer. The posters on Biwi's bootcamp thread are more experienced on this than the Paleo folk, who don't aim to restrict carbs by quite so much.

Your ME no doubt complicates things and my knowledge on that is close to zero so I won't comment further other than to post an inspirational story of a fellow sufferer. I'm assuming Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME are the same thing, forgive me if I'm mistaken.

www.primalpalate.com/blog/glandular-fever-cfs-insomnia-and-paleo-as-a-cure/

giraffe we try not to use sunscreen, unless it's a day where we're at serious risk and fresh white bits are showing - like at the beach. I use facial sunscreen cause I'm vain like that. Kids have never burned....so my judgement hasn't been too screwy....we're just soaking up that vit D. Smile

Itstartshere · 14/08/2013 11:37

Thank you everyone. Snowlie I'm on week 5 or 6 (can't think!) of eating Paleo so I'm not sure I should still have carb flu. I had it badly the first week, felt absolutely fine the second week, crashed my 3rd week (having massively overdone it) and just can't pull out of that crash however much I rest. I'm just very, very, very exhausted.

It makes me think my body can cope with being low carb if I'm on top of things, just not if I overdo it. I don't think I have a virus, but I could, and it might be that the sugar from the ice cream I've had in the last week is contributing to me feeling vile.

CFS is possibly different from M.E (different criteria) but pretty much the same thing, yes. Thank you for the link.

I really think experimenting with carb amounts is the way forward. I think white potatoes aren't necessarily harmful for most people. Will just stay away from grains. I will try and have some liver some time and I want to eat coconut oil more reliably too as some people find they feel better having a spoonful of it a day. When I crash this badly it always takes a good few weeks-months to come out of it so the plan is to take things very gently for a while and see what happens. I just love this woe already, I don't want to have to give up all the lovely fats!

Dried sweet potato sounds amazing. I just bought some ground almond and coconut flour so that if inspiration strikes I can do some baking. Saw an amazing recipe for sweet potato brownies that I must try sometime!

snowlie · 14/08/2013 11:50

Itstarts it doesn't sound to me that you are eating low carb enough to go into ketosis for any period of time, so must be something else. I think it's suggested that people who have very high activity levels can tolerate white rice and maybe potatoes, I don't think it will be easy to lose weight if they are a regular feature in your diet.

And remember Paleo treats like the sweet potato brownies are better because they are more nutritionally dense than the regular kind but eating them will have the same effect on your waistline as the regular kind because they are still high in sugar and should only be eaten very occasionally.

RawCoconutMacaroon · 14/08/2013 13:05

Potatoes- the thing to remember about them is they are a gut irritant to many people, although skinless ones, and baby new potato tend to be better tolerated.

I am one of those potato sensitives, and the major effect is overwhelming fatigue within a couple of hours of eating them, and muscle and joint pains a few hours after that, which last a couple of days. I also get the same with other nightshades such as chilli, sweet peppers and tomato but limited amounts are ok now and again.

I never would have realised that (and other food sensitivities), if I hadn't removed absolutely ALL grains, and starchy veg for a couple of months - with reintroductions of foods after that it was a lot easier to see which foods were causing problems. On a standard diet, I was so fatigued, pained and ill all the that it was difficult to point the finger at any individual food with much certainty, other than my obvious egg yolk allergy and the strong conviction that gluten grains were causing me more problems than anything else (which was true).

Unfortunately, after a period of "clean" eating, if you get a little lax and eat something that you react to, potato, gluten, whatever, you could get a much stronger reaction than before - the trick is to try and remember what you've eaten (or eaten a lot more of) in the 1-2 days before. There are an awful lot of people who never know gluten (for example) is making them ill until they stop eating it for a few weeks for something like "whole30".

White rice is regarded a quite benign, ie not actually good for you, potatoes less so, you need to be sure you are not reacting to them. Try this little experiment, eat a simple dinner with only a couple of ingredients - a large portion of potato, and some grilled chicken breast, maybe a few salad leaves with no dressing.
If you feel bloated/lead weight in your stomach, very sleepy after a couple of hours, joint or muscle pain within about 18 hours, then potatoes are not a good choice for you!

A useful indicator of which foods you may be allergic/intolerant to, are cheaply available (less than £50) online blood tests (easy to do, but several steps to follow). These test for antibodies for common food allergens.
I did one of these tests several week after starting grain free, paleo eating. I showed a strong antibody response to all of the grains including maize and rice, and potatoes, egg, and small reaction to pepper, cashews and shellfish... A reaction does not mean you should never eat that food again, but that you should remove and reintroduce after a few week to see what happens, and that maybe you can eat that food occasional but daily - it's trial and error.
I found the antibody tests to be a very useful pointer and tool for finding which things were making me feel bloody awful! I'd recommend one that's testing at least 50 common food reactions.

With paleo and primal woe, it is very important to remember that the adding back in of more carbohydrate to the diet is for AFTER weight loss and metabolic issues have been resolved, and in line with the activity levels of the individual. Eating too many now will slow weight loss but also slow any health gains you may get from eating this way.

After initial carb flu, lack of carbs should not make you feel fatigued, if you are eating plenty of fat and protein, I think it's more likely to be illness or a food reaction - but of course some people do better on a little bit more carb, some on less. It is likely that for most people, they should not be going over 50-70g carb per day for weight loss. Many are happiest at between 20-50g per day- which should give good weight loss but is not very very low carb.

giraffeseatpineapples · 14/08/2013 19:02

Wow, interesting post Raw - I am guilty of relaxing before I have lost all the weight I need to. Food for thought :)

Snowlie yes beetroot was raw! They ended up with pink teeth. I put it on the plate but didn't really expect it to get eaten so was a surprise.

itstarts here I am guessing you probably take supplements to help with CF but there was some mention of magnesium earlier on the thread and that most people are deficient in magnesium. I have found it to be a really helpful supplement . I think chromiun is supposed to be good for controlling carb cravings.

goodasitgets · 14/08/2013 20:20

I did some updated photos today. The top ones are just as I started paleo and exercise, the bottom two are from today Smile
i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/brighthair84/3473BE37-010B-40D8-B79E-EED904492FE7-5178-000006D76CB53B61_zps774a1935.jpg

snowlie · 14/08/2013 21:07

That's amazing Asgood well done!! How long has that taken?

goodasitgets · 14/08/2013 21:18

I think that first photo was February this year. Intercepted with a few falls off the wagon and a hefty dose of sciatica

snowlie · 15/08/2013 07:52

Interesting raw that you report a decrease in joint pain. It just occurred to me recently that I no longer feel joint pain in the morning going down the stairs - I blamed the pain on my running and age but the pain has stopped in the last few weeks and my running continues, I now wonder whether my aches were diet related, they disappeared when I went completely sugar/fruit free.

Asgood it's an amazing difference, very inspiring, you must be thrilled. I think cheats are to some extent inevitable, even desirable.....you need a break from rules occasionally but I have found the longer I do this the less I cheat because I have become very used to eating this way, so I don't miss the old foods as much and when I cheat my body reacts badly.

RawCoconutMacaroon · 15/08/2013 13:12

My joint pain- worse in the hand and feet, was agony in the mornings, some days it would take ages to get out of bed as the pain on putting the feet on the floor (or moving the fingers to hold anything), was excruciating. Often at night I would wake with the pain burning in hands, feet, elbow and shoulders.

Looking back I can hardly believe how ill I was, how much discomfort every day (dozens of things, joint and muscle pain, migraine, headache, balance issues, rashes... The list goes on!). And yet, I accepted this as "normal"!!! Normal, getting older...

Now I get NONE of the above unless I eat something I shouldn't.

goodasitgets · 15/08/2013 13:41

I'm noticing the difference now. Even though I haven't changed dress size or seen much weight change, my body shape is definitely changing

RawCoconutMacaroon · 15/08/2013 15:27

Goodssitgets, wheatbelly disappearing? Or beer belly, carb belly, whatever you want to call it!

With lower carb (therefore generally lower, more stable blood sugar), the visceral fat (belly) starts to drop off... Smile

TrucksAndDinosaurs · 15/08/2013 15:50

Roger that.
Waist gone from 36 inches to 30 since starting this 9 July

:) :)

goodasitgets · 15/08/2013 15:50

Yup carb belly Grin

TrucksAndDinosaurs · 15/08/2013 15:56

Before

158 lb
Waist 36- 38 with bloat. Size 14 tight.
Daily food before:
B:Brown buttered toast with marmite and cheese
Ham and cheese sandwich for lunch
Fruit
Snacks - Toddler food leftovers, more toast
Home made cookie a few times a week
Dinner - pasta and meat sauce/ meat and veg
No exercise regime

Now
Skip breakfast til after Shred and swim
Coconut oil
Eggs or chicken and avocado salad late morning

Lunch: big salad or chicken drumsticks with greens

Dinner: fish or meat with green veg or salad

Now 144 lbs and waist 30 inches. Size 12 loose.

TrucksAndDinosaurs · 15/08/2013 15:57

Oh yeah, used to drink 2 bottles beer every night [ face palm]

Swipe left for the next trending thread