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.

How did the pork pies work out Favadi? Your food always sounds delish

buy one half price on food in holland and barret with free delivery www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/categories.asp?cid=423&left=1&SCatID=316 they have chia seeds (whatever they are) coconut flour etc

gin

actually ocado is prob a better bet for coconut flour, just did a googlewww.ocado.com/product/202051011?name=Biona_Organic_Coconut_Flour&source=PLA&gclid=CJzC8s7rob0CFYWWtAod7DIABw

The pork pies never happened:some of us had accident with the jelly, which involved spoons and mouths!

About the gin: a splash in a fish stock it's just lovely! :)

New paleo advice = buy lots of spoons

Hi girls,

I'd like to join you

I am standing on the doorspep of my 38th birthday with few extra ponds and doubts about dieting.. I have tried low-carbing before but I was craving for apples abd pears too much so I gave up. Ive read about Paleo and decided to try this woe instead. I love veg and fruit the only thing I might struggle with is cheese. I love feta and tomatoe salad too much :)

As paleo recommends to mostly eat unprocesed food i wanted to ask if smoked macarel or canned tuna counts as processed food?

Thank you

Welcome aboard, IBO.

Personally, I still eat the odd little bit of raw milk cheese. I have also made cream cheese using left over milk.
We tend to avoid smoked fish because of the dyes but mackerel is not generally dyed. You could smoke it yourself-personally I haven't tried smoking fish yet, although I have now smoked ham, beef and lamb.
Canned tuna? We eat the odd tin but my concern with tuna is its origin: I don't buy it if the origin is only specified as 'Pacific Ocean' Fukushima paranoia!

Hi IBO {waves}

Paleo is a great way to lose weight. I think goats cheese , and dairy to a certain extent, are often considered ok so feta and tomatoes should be fine in moderation . If you feel weight loss is slow you could completely cut dairy at that point.and reintroduce after a month?

I think Raw or Favadi are prob more knowledgable about what counts as processed. If you are doing paleo for weight loss rather than food intolerances or heatlth issues then I think they are ok. I tend to have tinned mackerel in extra virgin olive oil when pos rather than sunflower oil.

ha cross post with favadi, I hadn't even considered the dye in smoked fish! But yup tinned rather than smoked mackerel in evo is my fav fish and worth a try - much nicer than tinned salmon say, which makes me faintly queasy

Hello everyone. Thanks for warm welcoming :)

I am thinking of doing Paleo for weight loss only as I have no food intolerance or any health issues.

Is it ok to eat carrots or they are too starchy? French beans are not alowed as well?

Carrots defo ok and in books I have read recently there seems to be a move towards slower weight loss but with a decent amount of carby veg. I read the perfect health diet recently and that gives an ok to green beans and peas but not to broad beans, soya beans peanuts etc.

Keep it simple at first cut out gluten, legumes (other than peas and green beans) and sugar and see how weightloss goes.

giraffeseatpineapples - thanks for advice. I think that is a right thing to do :)

Thanks giraffe and Jemima for those links and tips! Didn't realise how long it's been since I was last on here!

I love this woe! I really thought I'd find it difficult but I don't, at all and I'm loving all the new meals we've been eating. Am now on Day 2 of my first Whole 30 and feeling good.

I'm in awe of those of you drying their own fruits and meats and making bacon etc. One day I might get there but I'm still just an amateur at this stage!!

Is beef jerky nice? I've never had it. Is it easy to make?

Hi Giraffeseatpin suggested I post my question on this thread. Wondering if anyone can help me out
In the last 4 weeks I have found out I have an under active thyroid. I'm taking medication for this but understand that having a gluten and dairy diet can be beneficial.
I'm pleased to have a diagnoses because it explains my rapid weight gain and feeling so crappy.
Then a few days ago I found out I was pregnant. Over the moon about it but I am carrying excess weight and would like to almost maintain my current weight, aiming to only gain about 5-8 kilos through the pregnancy.

the problem I have is the most information set up for weight maintenance during pregnancy is based on a heavy grain diet. 6to 8 serves a day and that just doesn't work for me.

So wondering if anyone has a good guideline of daily consumption around a grain free diet. Does that make sense. I know with low carb you are meant to eat what you like as you get full faster but I think the thyroid has thrown out my switch for when I feel full.
Thanks

Hi Hazchem, congratulations!

Sorry to hear about your thyroid. Marksdailyapple has a carb chart but I think you probably have to discover what is right for you. With a little luck the tyroxine dose prescribed is the right one for you. Generally one doesn't put on weight at the beginning of a pregnancy, so you might find out what level of carbs are right for you.
A paleo diet looks daunting at the beginning but once you are used to the idea of sugar, grain and pulses free diet, the rest is easy. Mark has an easy guide
To be honest you will not really need to worry about carbs on a Paleo diet as it very hard to eat lots of carbs without the grains and pulses! watch out for potatoes :)

Congratulations Hazchem! Melissa Joulwan of the clothesmakethegirl blog has suffered thyroid problems as well although I think she mostly has it under control now. She is on twitter so you could try asking her on there if she can give any tips? She also has two cookbooks, Well Fed and Well Fed 2 and I'm fairly sure that all the recipes are dairy and gluten free. She has loads of recipes on her blog as well. On the Whole30 website there is a meal planning tab which tells you what kind of portion size you should be aiming for, per meal. I think like Favadi says, it's hard to overeat when you take out the grains and pulses. I have quite large meals but am still losing steadily (I think, I'm currently doing a whole30 so can't weigh for 30 days).

Hello,

Can I join? I was paleo for some of last year, and I've tried to get back on the wagon a few times, but failed after a day or so :(

I'm really keen to try again as I feel un healthy and un comfortable, down in the dumps etc. I don't really need to loose weight, it's more to feel better.

I'm mostly after recipe inspiration,but I'm going to try and customise existing recipes this time rather than looking for specific paleo ones.

Tonight we've lamb cutlets with a herb crust (no bread crumbs) veg (carrots, red cabbage, sweet potato) and roast potatoes (in coconut oil).

What's everyone's thoughts on butter and potatoes/sweet potatoes?

Hi Karbea, I'm on a whole 30 at the moment but my long-term Paleo 'plan' is to have butter, some cheese and both white and sweet potatoes.

Recipe-wise, I get loads from just googling eg "paleo shepherd's pie", but also lots from blogs like theclothesmakethegirl, nom nom paleo, multiply delicious and stupid easy paleo. I've become very adept at converting US recipes now!

I'm really into salsas at the moment, I find they're a really easy way to jazz up a meal so for example, we've had in the last few weeks salmon with an avocado salsa and cod with a mango salsa.

Meals for this week are: shepherd's pie, rogan josh, cinnamon-chilli pork with apple salsa, beef stifado with cauliflower mash, cod wrapped in bacon with red pesto, and gammon, egg and parnsip chips. We've also had chicken nuggets (bread them in a mix of almond flour and dessicated coconut) and 'spaghetti' (courgettes) with meatballs this weekend.

What's pulling you off the wagon?

Hello all, I am hoping some of you may be able to help me, I could really do with some advise if you can.
Long story, I will try to make short; I have been eating low carb for about 4 years as a way of losing the weight i gained after becoming ill after my 4th dc was born 7 years(just) ago.
At first, I made sure i ate low enough carbs to be in ketosis, and also low calorie and low fat to initially lose 2 stone. I then found I could no longer eat any gluten after getting terrible gastro symptoms and this has continued with me getting more and more sensitive till I now am intolerent to even a trace of gluten.
So, for a while, I tried to reintroduce more carby veg like carrots and parsnips and berries and nuts and kept struggling not to gain weight. Then about 2 years ago, I stopped eating those things most of the time because I couldn't maintain that 9st 12lb weight, and was trying to keep at the new weight of about 10st 2-3lb. More recently, (6 or so months) i have had to stay in ketosis and around 800 cals a day to keep at 10st 3lb.

I am now trying to work out where to go from here. Since january I have had multiple ear, throat and sinus infections and after the last round have to admit to myself something has to change. I have been eating more carbs and calories and am now 10st 9lb and just seem to keep gaining.
I realised I have a problem when last week I was beating myself up for binging and when i worked out what I'd had that day it was about 1,800 calories of mostly good food with a few strawberries and a hand full of chocolate coated peanuts being the biggest crime. Most people would consider that a good day!
My god! I'm writing a bloody book!!!! sorry, just to add That I have long term health problems regarding my pituitary gland not working and taking steroid and thyroid meds daily.

I was wondering if whole30 would help me?????
I'm actually desperate for some good advise, if you got to the end of my epic post,thanks and well done.

Hi Karbea, welcome back. :)
Adapting existing recipes is by far the easiest way, as you already know how to cook them and buy ingredients for. If I look at recipe books or sites, it's to inspire me; and if I follow a recipe I tend to make it my own.
Potatoes are a 'limbo' veg: as humans we clearly have developed amylase to digest this starch but some people react to some of the chemicals potato contain. Recently Mark wrote about the benefit of resistant starch (potato included)

14k Maybe your thyroid medicine dose is not sufficient?! 800 calories sounds too low. You could try and search Marksdailyapple site to research about nutrients in food that might help you.

It's spring and a glorious one!
Is any of you growing their own vegetables and fruit this year?
For the last couple of weeks I've been enjoying filling my windowsills with seed trays...can't wait to put them in the ground. I'm also attempting to maximising the crops, so I am attempting companion planting and starting on permaculture :)
Also I read that rhubarb leaves are excellent pesticide.

I'm hoping to fava but haven't got anything sorted yet other than buying a composting bin and getting that going. I'm going to buy plants though rather than seeds so still have a bit of time. Hoping to plant courgette, spaghetti squash (because I can't find them anywhere to buy!), herbs, chives, onions/leeks, and lots of other things! I used to have rhubarb in the garden but dug it all out, may plant some more. Mint is supposed to be a good deterrent as well but it spreads so needs to be contained.

l4k, I'm really not sure and wouldn't want to try and advise you. Can you be referred to a nutritionist/dietician via your GP? I know there is a variant of whole30 called the autoimmune protocol which cuts out the inflammatory foods for certain conditions but I don't know whether or not this would be suitable for you. There is a forum on their website, you could ask over there?

Thanks Fava and Boglin, I have read so much about primal/paleo/ whole30/leptin resistance/21 day blueprint challenge that I have actually confused myself with the route to take.
As far as I can tell, my diet is more restrictive the primal/paleo in regards to carby veg but I do have small amounts of fullfat lacto free milk in 3 cups of tea a day, and also use cream and cheese when cooking( moosaka and cauliflower cheese for example)
I think it would be hard for me to ditch the dairy.
I did have a quick look at the autoimmune protocol on whole9 but thought it looked extreamly restrictive, I will look again.
I'm at the hospital for a check up on thursday so will get thyroid bloods done then but I don't think they will up my med, if anything they worry me they will decease them.
Also, I have seen a dietician on nhs who just told me that I need to eat gluten free and wasn't concerned about my weight because I'm not medically overweight. She couldn't understand why I'm not intereseted in eating gluten free crap, like bread and pasta.
Anyway, I'm trying to get to the bottom of what the difference is between primal and paleo so will do some more research.
Thanks for your comments, I think I would just like to feel I'm not alone in the way I eat. And I must concentrate more on my health than the scales. Easier said than done for me, but it's time to try.
Thanks again ladies

I didn't know there was a spaghetti squash, different to the normal 'pear-shaped' squash!

You have plenty of time for a lot of the seeds, Boglin. I'm holding back to scatter spinach, lettuce and mustard seeds. I might even attempt radishes and herbs by seed scattering.
A few years back I came across 'No dig gardening', a book by Charles Dowding ( videos here ), I gave it a go and last year I had a spectacular crop of brassicas. The fruit trees and herbs are doing great. My courgettes seedling were eaten by slugs when hardening out
This year I am going to try intercropping which goes against conventional crop rotation but my annual veg beds are growing smaller each year and we're still sometime away from being able to build a 'proper' veg patch.

Basil and all of onion family plants are good insect repellent. Recently, I've learnt that the liquid from boiling rhubarb leaves is an excellent insecticide, colour mordant and a hair dye for light brown/blonde hair. All the leaves I could have used these last few years, before putting them on the compost!!

14k There is very little difference between Paleo and Primal, they often cross paths or are used interchangeably. I think Primal tend to be strictier and would often not include dairy.

When I was loosing weight dairy, including butter, would stall me. Still now I can put on weight if I eat dairy and I restrict it to the occasional treat (preferably raw hard cheese).