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.

Nappy, that sounds lovely!

Does it make some kind of porridge or cake nappy addict? I have most of the ingredients might try it - how long do you nuke it for?

I can find those ingredients in my local supermarket, but hate the found of almond or hazelnut milk - looks like lots of chemicals added. I wish there was a healthier dairy free alternative. Might stick with water and a little coconut cream.

Second the question; does it turn into porridge or muesli or cake?

Sorry, that should say "I hate the THOUGHT" ...

Solidgold, in answer to your earlier question, no, paleo/primal doesn't have to be especially low carb, but it's lower carb than the SAD (standard American/awful diet), which is very very high carbohydrate.

If you eat paleo/primal, no grains, no white potato, and not to many high carb veg, you will be hard pushed to eat half the carbs a SAD person eats, a third is more likely... That would be around a 100g total carbs per day (thats a lot of veg!) and probably quite a good level for someone not needing to lose much weight.

I stick to 50-70g most days and that is still plenty of veg, some berries and a bit of 85% chocolate every day, so not deprived at all. If I'm being hard line for a few days, I can do 20g carb a day... That's low!

People who are either active, or already slim (not me yet despite the 6+stone loss!), should be able to eat a little bit more fruit and starchy veg but generally the aim is around 100g a day unless you are very seriously active... That seems to be a level that good for most people (good for their metabolism).

Thanks RawCoconut

Hello,

Can I join in please? I was paleo for three months earlier this year, but fell off the wagon. I'm feeling really grouchy and congested and after realising we can't afford ivf again, I'm hoping paleo might help with that too.

Starting tomorrow!

Hello and welcome!

I'm sorry to hear about your ivf situation, I hope you may be able to have another go in the future.

Without wanting to sound like an insensitive arse, sorry if this is not appropriate to your situation but do you know that some fertility issues can be helped by diet? This would particularly be the case with people with pcos and people with autoimmune issues.

I have a tiny little bit of experience with that, or wouldn't dream of mentioning it, with DS4 born at age almost 43, after years of "secondary" issues... In retrospect the problems were almost certainly caused by autoimmunity (consultant talked about this but thyroid etc came Back within range of normal despite symptoms but I suspect Hashimoto's, symptoms resolved on paleo, along with all my other health concerns).

A friend had her first baby at age 44 after adopting a gluten free diet (not paleo, she still eats gluten fee grains and flours), again, she had autoimmune symptoms, pcos and was advised to go strictly gluten free to reduce the her pcos symptoms.

Once again I apologise if the above is not appropriate to your situation - but for some, diet can be a powerful tool .

Hello,

No totally appropriate! This is what I'm hoping thinking!

My issues are to do with immunes and old age, my dhs issues I'm convinced are to do with diet and lifestyle. Earlier in the year he did it with me, but I'm pretty sure he won't do it this time, but everything I cook him will be paleo!

Ive downloaded Kressers fertility pack so will be trying to follow that to a certain extent too. Plus some vitamin advise from a fertility nutritionist.

I'll also be using some non P stuff up this week too, so not 100% perfect to start with...

So far I've had 2 inositol pills, 2 egg, goats cheese (using it up) omelette, decaf coffee (with no sugar almond milk), 2 zita west pills, one vit d, one omega 3.

I hope people don't mind me using this as a food diary as it'll hopefully keep me committed... And please feel free to suggest stuff slap me :)

Really hope it helps Karbea. If I come across any useful links for you I will post them if you like? x

Karbea, glad I wasn't putting my foot in it! I think if you suspect autoimmune issues anyway, that the biggest thing you can do is cut out all gluten containing grains, even in trace amounts (and all other grains too!). They are the no. 1 suspect when it comes to the development f autoimmune disease (with growing evidence than that is the case). Nobody NEED to eat any form of grain for health or nutrition so cutting them out can do no harm ... And may do real good (fingers crossed).

Thanks ladies, didn't do too well at lunchtime, but lamb curry planned for dinner whichll be 100% paleo!

Getting there! Updated photos
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Looking fabulous!

Your hard work is paying off goodas

Insisted the day off with a couple of bits of white chocolate, I don't even like white chocolate. Stupid.
Oh well tomorrow's another day!

Karbea it can take a while to get into it. More than one of the paleo blogs i have read confeses it took about a year before they were 100% paleo.

What about concentrating on cutting out gluten firstly, then increasing meat and veg then doing some of the other lifestyle bits, more sleep, pos excersise, then reducing sugar?

I agree with giraffe, for a lot of reasons, Gluten is the most evil of all and it's name is legion! Watch out for wheat/oat/barley/rye, maltodextrin, food starch, modified starch, and many more. Especially true if you have any suspicion at all you might be intolerant to it (gut pain? Headache? Joint pain? Little skin bumps on arms/legs?).

Gluten containing grains increase your appetite and cause addiction like symptoms, as well as stripping nutrients from the body (natural toxins that you need to get rid of).

It is the one thing I NEVER cheat on - just not worth it in terms of the reaction I get.

But doing that one thing (cutting out all trace if gluten) will, by default cut out almost everything else you want to cut out! And the rest you can work on gradually .

Thanks ladies, I'm just annoyed with myself a bit because the first time I did it I was 100% from day one and kept to it and felt amazing!
I'm a bit of an all or nothing person, so going to keep pushing myself.
Anyway today should be slightly easier as dh is away today/tonight.

I've just ordered some of these. We had them before and were great as a store cupboard help, the only bad thing I think is they use olive oil to cook with, I tend to use hemp oil if I'm heating it up. But pretty good.
The best tomatoey jar'd sauces I found were calluccios ones.

I made pancakes with coconut flour today, following a recipe from Ditch The Wheat (I think). I really didn't like them at all.

I was doing ok yesterday until the evening, when I was craving something sweet. Dh bought Haagen Daaz ice cream and it was yummy. However after that I went a bit crazy. At least I didn't have any gluten though, so quite pleased about that. Unfortunately I did suffer with heartburn all night

Today I've been out with dh, doing a little Xmas shopping, and we went to costa, I tried their gluten free brownie which was made with ground almonds Lovely! Not completely unprocessed, as there were some additives, but not too bad.

Otherwise doing ok, had bacon and eggs for breakfast and having gammon with cauliflower for dinner.

Just had crisps and angel cake :( rest of angel cake has gone in the bin!

It's hard, isn't it?

I didn't really enjoy the gammon for dinner. I am eating less and less meat from day to day, as I just don't enjoy it so much.

Still stuck for ideas for breakfast and lunch that don't involve eggs and bacon. I'm not sure an Eat Natural bar will be enough for breakfast? I tried coffee with coconut milk, but didn't like it. I only really enjoy coconut milk in curry.

I looked at seed, nut and dried fruit mixes at Holland & Barrett today, but - aside from the expense - I don't know what I would use instead of milk.

Can we eat Eat Natural bars? When I did ivf last time one of the girls got me into spirulina bombs from h&b I wonder if they are ok?

Can't you use raw milk or almond milk?

I'm eating the final portion of curry.

I also had a few biscuits :(

Sorry you are finding it tough, thb I am not really paleoing at the mo, I am trying another diet but want to be as paleoy within that as pos!

solid gold maybe have a look at this page for non meat inspirationwhole30-for-vegetarians

I have done paleo in the past but primal is easier if dairy isn't problematic for you. In theory this means you can have raw milk and yoghurt but tbh I just got normal organic dairy. John Briffa actually advocates having natural yoghurt, apparently it has been linked with inreased success with weight loss on diets so some organic natural yoghurt with berries seeds and nuts might be an ok breakfast. Might not keep you full for very long though. If you haven't already read escape the diet trap I can reccomend it. Mark Sissons 21 day solution is quite a fun read (as far as diet books are fun )

You will get there and manage a day without cake karbea and then it will soon start to feel right again. It is always harder to get back on a diet than when its brand new (nods head wisely - I am queen of falling off the wagon)

Pancakes made with a mashed bannana, scoop of almond butter and an egg mixed together and fried are pretty good, esp with a sprinkle of cinnamon and maple syrup on top! This is the closest recipe i can find at the mo ultimatepaleoguide.com/paleo-pancakes-recipe/

The first thread has quite a few recipe links and night be worth a browse, most of those posters aren't really around much now sadly. Raw has come up with some lovely continental sounding breakfast ideas before so hopefuly she will be along too.

Eat Natural bars aren't paleo, they have some crisped rice and sugar in, but I'm looking for damage limitation at the moment. My go to breakfast was always porridge with frozen fruit and I miss that a lot.