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.

Checking in here, day 4 of strict, cold turkey paleo. I'm not enjoying today, my mood is bad. Tell me it'll get better.

I've gone completely dairy free too as I've been sensitive to dairy since I cut it out when BFing my youngest. I did but some raw butter from ocado that's waiting to be used.

Overall I feel much less bloated. I'm a bit scared to excersie at the moment because I feel crap and I don't want to pass out at the gym. I've done quite a bit of walking though.

Yes it will get better! You may have carb flu - withdrawal symptoms. The fact you feel "less bloated" is good, it suggest you will benefit a lot from this WOE.

Carb flu usually lasts 4-5 days and then you should feel a lot better (than before the diet!). And you should have normal energy for the gym too - this initial feeling crapness is just a transition, don't worry.

Oh and feeling down/blue is a common reaction when cutting grains from the diet (lots of people react this way, they are full of (natural) compounds that affect your mood, and that drives a people to eat more).

Phew, I'm glad you have said all of that. It makes me feel much better. Thanks.

Hello, I was hoping you could give me some advice. I've been paleo/primal since the start of the year, which has all been good (the carb flu does pass!).

I've not been well recently with joint pain and exhaustion. My GP doesn't know what it is, and has referred me to rheumatology. However the pain and the pain meds (dihydrocodeine and gabapentin) have killed my appetite and I'm losing weight.

Any advice for how I can get bigger again? I know it's lots of fat (coconut, avocado, cream) and protein (meat, fish and eggs) which I'm eating plus lots of veggies.

My main issue is that I can't manage large amounts, especially rich food such as lots of red meat. My weight hasn't dropped that massively (8st 10lbs and I'm 5' 8"), but my clothes are hanging and lots of people have commented. I caught sight of myself in a dress and slippers, and thought 'jeez, I look like a Christmas elf!'. Not what I'm aspiring to at all!

Any thoughts?

Ok, so ideally, you need to find the cause of the joint pain so you can reduce or stop the pain killer and hopefully your appetite will return!

I have an idea... With me, when I ditched grains I pretty much immediately cured a list of chronic health niggles and some bigger issue too... But, I'd still get intermittent flare ups of joint pains/muscle pains, flu like fatigue, and it took me quite a while to work out I was reacting to nightshades (potato, tomato, pepper, chilli).

While I was eating a standard diet, I never realised that nightshades were a problem for me because I was so chronically unwell with migrane/headache/joint pain and fatigue all the time anyway.

For me, powdered dried chilli, paprika and other dried peppers are worse than fresh chilli or peppers, and cooked tomato is better than raw, but I stick to only small amounts at a time. If I have enough to cause a flare up, it's the bones in my hands, elbows, feet and hips that are worse, and it will wake me at night with the nagging pain of it, so not pleasant and I can't believe a couple of years ago I had that almost every day!

Do you think it's worth excluding the nightshades from your diet for a few weeks to see if you get an improvement? Obviously it just a "could be" but I think it's not that unusual to have a problem with the nightshades.

Thanks raw. That's interesting about the dried stuff having such a powerful effect. I guess it must be that the compounds you react to are much more strongly concentrated.

I've toyed with the idea of cutting out nightshades, and maybe I should just bite the bullet and give it a go. It's probably easier in the winter months. Potatoes are tricky as they're one of the few safe starches I can tolerate (and there's less complaining from DD), and with the colder weather and long days, I feel the need for extra carbs.

I'd really just like to add more of a buffer to my body. I'm starting to look and feel quite gaunt and I don't enjoy it.

Sweet potato instead of white potato? Yummy baked and served with butter (makes a good mash too on its own or in combination with less starchy veg like cauliflower).

My theory about the dried chillies/peppers is that they are usually powdered, so increasing the surface area hugely compared with a fresh chopped chilli... So a lot more of the active compound will be digested and absorbed. Maybe.

I don't have your problem (still have some pounds to lose despite losing more than 6stones!) so I limit "safe" starches, but if I was needing to gain weight I'd be adding a sweet potato mashed with LOTS of butter to my dinner! They are a tasty way to add in piles of fat.

What about some grain free breads? I make these now and again for my DC (always have some myself too of course!), they can be spread with butter for added calories. "Grass fed Girl" blog has lots of recipes for grain free breads and muffins. I've made a lovely on that's banana and almond flour and coconut, and her "fat bomb" choc brownies are fabulous (contains a LOT of coconut oil, and a lot of Cocoa powder). Very rich.

My guess would be that increasing fat wont help as studies have shown carbs and sugar cause weight gain, people can be drip fed fat and not gain weight. Bananas possibly would be good and more starchy veg and carby nuts like raw suggested.

I've been managing to eat a bit more in the last few days which is good. I upped my gabapentin and that helped as I was able to reduce the dihydrocodeine for one day and that's the real appetite killer

I've been trying to cut out nightshades, but as I menu plan, batch cook etc., I've only managed one day without. I work full time and am a single parent, so everything in my life is planned well in advance.

I've started eating some white rice again, which in effect is empty calories, as well as plenty of dairy. I'll keep at it and hope my weight creeps up even just a little, as my BMI is now borderline underweight.

Queen, what about nuts and raisins. You can get 1000 calorie bags some of us have no problem eating at one sitting between meals..... Mind you all those raisins (i.e. sugar) is not that great an idea.

*Queen def difficult to batch cook on a budget without tomatoes. My health food shop sells something called nomato - never tried it but might be worth looking out for? Here is a recipe I found when I googled nomato if you want to try making it yourself. www.food.com/recipe/basic-nomato-sauce-tomato-free-tomato-sauce-359835

I'm following Primal based on reading Instinctive Fitness. I have been struggling with losing weight now for a number of years and with mild fibro with fatigue coupled with anxiety/stress but general health excellent. I've lost 2lb but no more and wouldnt say I feel any better. I was expecting to feel the fog lift and have more energy but not really.

My erratic IBS has got worse with all the veg and salads.

At 11 stone I need to lose 1 stone desperately. I went up to 12 stone and have slowly (over 3 yrs though) lost 10lbs.

My problem is because my energy and mood is low I'm struggling to get the enthusiasm for exercise and with two young boys in tow I feel they exhaust me enough!

Cutting out tomatoes is so much harder than I expected! Thanks for the nomato recommendation. I did a bit more digging on from that link and it does seem to be a sauce based on carrots and beetroots. I like both,but the thought of it isn't making me think yum. Now where's that coconut milk?

My appetite is slowly increasing and I'm trying to eat any time I feel like something - nuts, salami, cheese. It's a catch 22 as my hands are so sore I can't really chop veggies to cook full meals.

bacon how strict are you being with your diet? You need to be at least 80-90% paleo/primal to get the benefits and stay in ketosis. I wouldn't worry about really exercising too much at the moment. Most weight loss comes from diet, not exercise - that's not just a paleo view, I've had really senior doctors say it to me.

Also if you sign up to www.balancedbites.com newsletters, you get a free Christmas cookbook, which is surprisingly good.

bacon that does not sound very good, poor you and not typical. I wonder what you are eating and drinking. Most weight loss is from food. Eat a lot more fatty meat - that often does the trick and fewer of the salads.

Is anyone here good at creating recipes? I have really been craving pork pies lately and someone on another forum had the idea of making a sort of pork pie/scotch egg by having the hard boiled egg in the middle with the pork pie filling around egg, then rolled in some sort of almond/coconut flour crust?

nappy addict I'm not the best cook but cant see whay that wouldn't work - sounds yum

raw - don't know if you have any tips, my dad has been having a lot of aches and pains pain in his shoulder/neck but doctors don't seem to know what it is other than old age (he is a fit 64 year old). he has had physio etc but no luck.

I suggested he try cutting out wheat so he mentioned it to the doctor but she dismissed that as in idea; apparently they are going to give him some kind of injection to see if that helps. He is going to try cutting wheat in January (he says) and I said i will again too for moral support. I have started to wonder about nightshades though, I don't think he could cut potatoes and tomatoes aswell as bread, which would be more important to try cutting out first?

Giraffe... Not surprised the GP was dismissive , true, it may be nothing to do with diet, but it often is! Fortunately exclusion diet is something people can do on their own. It just involves a LOT of label reading...

I would say he has two options if he wants to try exclusion, cut out ALL grains for a month (then try white rice. Then maize, if he wants to eat grain, they are the least bad for most people). If the shoulder is no better, try excluding nightshades (don't forget things like chilli powder and paprika in sauces/herb rubs).

Or he could (if sure grains don't bother him), just exclude the nightshades for a month of so. Then eat some potato with skin on or a plate if tomato... And see what happens... He may react differently or not at all to each nightshade, and how it's cooked/prepared makes a difference too! For me powdered/dried things are worse, baby new potato is ok in small amount but "old potato" isn't especially with the skin on.

With regard to grains and ill health, anecdotally at least (from reading many "success stories" on marks daily apple and other blogs, an awful lot of people have no idea that they feel quite unwell when eating them, until they stop eating them and start to feel well!!!

I was fairly sure wheat was making me ill (due to gut pain/bloat), but I had no idea that a very long list of issues i had would just disappear within days/weeks when I went grain free...

Thanks raw

I think babysteps would be the way forward, he has always been one for popping gaviscon so cutting grains might cure two ills. He isn't into reading books etc but maybe if I can find a good/similar success story on mda I could print that to show him.

Can someone please remind me why gluten free flour is A Bad Thing? Is it because there are other things in wheat and other grains that are harsh on your gut?

I enjoy a bit of baking and the occasional slice of cake, but paleo baking just isn't the same despite my best efforts. I'm tempted to buy some and make a really nice chocolate cake or something. I'm not trying to low carb or lose weight, so I'm not too worried about that side of things.

I don't do carb substitutes so anything which paleo brownies or paleo cake to my mind if a bit like using an electric cigarette or aspartame instead of sugar - you keep priming your pump and staying used to carby products. That is how it would work for me, not the same for everyone.

I think its because there are lots of random ingredients added like xanthum gum which might have their own side effects; your body can think these flours are gluten because of similar protein structures in the flour and react to them anyway if you have gluten intolerance. App gluten free flour is more fattening than wheat. Have also seen something about rice flour and arsenic

I think mary is right in a way these things can be addictive too.

on paleo baking front Raw had a good choc cake recipe on here recently which sounded good

I guess you prob want to weigh up the pros and cons of having some gluten free flour maybe you wont react and it will stop you feeling deprived. I would possibly buy a gf cake if you want it as a one off less frustration, possibly cheaper,

I have been having wheat again - probably gained a stone so back to gf as much as possible given its christmas - feel lighter already

Hello.
Wondered if I could ask some advice?
Did low low carb year and lost 1.5 stone and felt so much better - my GERD symptoms much better too.
Sadly lots of awful things have happened since :( and I fell of the wagon majorly.
I have had an awful time recently health wise - had my gallbladder out 2 weeks ago and currently have a chest infection :(
Really want to get back on the wagon as I want to come off the Zantac I have to take each night for the GERD.
Has anyone used this woe to cure GERD?
Any tips for how to go gf? My diet was/is very high in wheat and sugar.
Thanks!

(Should also say my mum is coeliac and I am pretty sure I am intolerant)

For questions about all grains and health, I direct you to Marks Daily Apple. It's not just about the gluten and similar proteins in all grains, Lectins and other nasties are also a problem... But so is the absolute amount of carbohydrate a person eats.

For baking, nut and coconut flours with honey or sugar (in much smaller amounts than you'd find in any bought cake), are a much better option for occasional treats. The Internet is full of free recipe blogs just google "paleo baking" or try Grass Fed Girl blog (that's where the very good paleo fat bomb choc brownie/muffin mix came from that was mentioned up thread).

Bad... Sorry to hear about your health issues, I have had similar but managed to keep hold of my gallbladder when I changed to paleo by very carefully increasing my fat intake (gallbladder NEEDS fat to function). Low fat diets interfere with the way the gallbladder works and can cause stones and sludge to gather... But interestingly, autoimmune issues caused by wheat and/or other grains can too, it might be worth you reading Wheat belly blog as there is a family history of coeliac so a good chance you are in the process of developing it too, given that you already have health issues which are much more common in coeliac (were you offered a test?). I am pretty sure I am not coeliac myself because my iron levels have always been really good but I clearly have a problem with gluten (and showed high antibody levels to ALL of the grains when I had private blood tests done). The thing is, Coeliac is the tip of the iceberg as far as gluten/lectins go.

You'd probably struggle to find a dr in this country (uk) who'd even entertain the idea that grains (and the amount of grains we eat) are responsible for many illnesses (and much of the autoimmune disease that plagues modern societies), and they are not a "natural" food for humans (or our animals come to that!).

But I'm one of the crazies (as in " you don't eat bread?! thats crazy!). The blogs I mentioned above are really good sources of info, read, make up your own mind, it's very interesting stuff .