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.

I bought Chris kressers book a couple of weeks ago and started cutting out my beloved dairy. I have now done 7 proper days of 30 day paleo challenge / whole 30 and it is challenging but doable. I hadn't eaten any fruit ( except for occasional berries) for about 4 years so I'm enjoying a little every day but can't seem to let myself have more than half an apple or 1/3 of a banana. The low carb lifestyle is ingrained in me in seems!!!
I'm missing odd things like sauces and gravy. Meals seem dry. I like coconut when it's fresh but not particularly the milk which is disappointing.
Cockneydad, you'll be fine as long as you plan while away I went to London last week and its all about choices in restaurants.

Welcome all New! :)

Cockneydad, if your meals are provided, ask to be gluten free to make your choices easier (and to stay focused ).

l4k I heard a few people struggle with the 30 day, which 30 day challenge are you doing? Which part do you struggle the most?
Home-made coconut milk tastes very coconutty; have you tried the organic coconut milk? DS only likes home made or organic. I love coconut oil because it's like eating the fresh one but more addictive hiding spoon!
Apples make a beautiful sauces to go with pork; they take the bitterness away from bayleaves, rosemary and red wine when cooking. Lemon juice is great on stake and veg. Slow cooking meat makes it juicier (95-140C in the oven).

My latest cooking adventure!
Rabbit and/or Squirrel hot pot made 2 meals for 3

Ingredients
1 Rabbit
1 Squirrel
100g bacon
1 onion chopped
4 small bayleaves
4 juniper berries
2 cloves
4 tender twigs of hyssop (substitute with 6 of thyme or 1 of rosemary)
2 peeled and sliced apples
salt and pepper to taste
drizzle of olive oil/fat
2 glasses of full body red wine

Method
The rabbit and the squirrel were already prepared, so I just removed the hearts, livers and kidneys (kept them for an apetiser) and I then chopped them into legs, front legs and body.
Cut bacon into small pieces and place it in a hot pan with a drizzle of oil (fat) to get the bacon started. Once the bacon is sizzling, reduce the heat and gently cook until all the fat has rendered. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and save.
Add onion to the bacon fat and gently cook until it starts sweating (it will absorb some of the fat first); remove onion with a slotted spoon and save.
Add rabbit and squirrel bits and gently cook until the meat is white on all sides (4-5 mins).
Add all the other ingredients, including the saved bacon and onion and add water to cover the meat. Cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer away on the lowest heat for 1 1/2- 2 hrs. Serve with some of the stock as sauce.
(save the leftover stock for the next roast joint).

Wow that hotpot sounds incredible! Where did you get the squirrel from??

I bought the squirrel from the game's stall at the local farmers' market. It was delicious, enough to earn lots of hugs and kisses! :)

I'm going to look out for squirrel now - stupidly it had never occurred to me that you could just buy it.

I've got some lamb shoulder slow roasting in the oven with some mint, garlic and rosemary, and it smells gorgeous!

Thanks Favadicacao - I was going to request gluten free - I've actually been referred to a gastro consultant as I have problems with acid reflux and swallowing sometimes - my mum was just diagnosed with Coeliac disease, having suffered with stomach trouble for years (decades?) !

Hi there

Can I rejoin? Name changed several times since last posting...a year must have passed. I'm back to Paleo, more specifically I'm doing an elimination diet to determine if diet is the cause of some very painful abscesses which are rumoured to be auto-immune related. I don't have a firm diagnosis yet, I'm having a biopsy in June to exclude Crohns and if it's not Crohns then they will assume and treat for Acne Inversa.

For the first week or so, until I see concrete signs of improvement I'll be Diary free, grain free, red meat free, egg free and nightshade free.

So basically I'm eating chicken or fish with a limited range of veg, black coffee and red wine at the weekends - I know the wine is not good but if the cure involves no wine then it's not going to work for me. Realistically, I don't wish to forgo my favourite tipple so in that case I'll fold and agree with my dermatologist and reluctantly accept the prescriptions.

So I'm quite excited - day 3 and my symptoms have improved, I'm trying not to get carried away but for many people nightshades seem to be the trigger and I could live without nightshades. The other main triggers are red meat and diary. I'll introduce those again when I've started healing properly.

Hi Blackjack - I'm new too. I really hope this woe with the adaptations you've made will help to sort out all your auto-immune problems.

I started a low carb paleo diet on monday. I'm struggling a bit today with low carb flu I think, urgh.

I'm drinking lots of water and eating fat and salt, so I'm hoping I'll start to feel better soon. Don't really want to up my carbs because I need to lose weight.

Carb flu can be a pain foolish but it passes. Would like to lose a few inches too, it would be a very pleasant side effect.

Ive always had carb flu and terrible sugar cravings, but this time round after day 2, they went. usually i suffered for a week or so, so, im pleased about that.

Ive had some lovely meals, i feel better already, so much less bloated, ive got more energy too and my skin looks better already as well.

Plus, ive dropped 6.5 lbs since monday.

Hey all - quick update - started primal 10 days ago, so far 3.5 kg lost and feeling pretty good !! No bloating / indigestion, sugar cravings few and far between. My other half is also doing it too, and is loosing. All good so far!

Well done on the weight loss cockneydad! I'm glad you feel so good on it too

As for me, I'm feeling much better today so I'm hoping the worst of the carb flu is now behind me.

I'm not weighing myself because I used to have an eating disorder and that is a major trigger for me. However, I think I'm a bit less swollen generally - my rings are fitting me better and I think my ankles/feet look less swollen too. Hopefully my clothes will start fitting me better soon!

Hi again, I'm doing Chris kressers 30 day reset from his personal paleo code book. It's just the same as whole30 as far as I can see.
I have had a bit of a bug this last week , with stomach pains and feeling "wishy washy" iykwim. Anyway, I was feeling so much better yesterday , having done 10s of no dairy. We went out for a meal last night and I was very happy with my choice of monkfish with veg. When it arrived it had a cream sauce that wasnt on the menu. I was really hungry and chose to just avoid the sauce as much as poss. 10 mins after I finished eating I had stomach pains. It got worse all evening and I also felt sick. Felt terrible all day so went to docs who said it was gastritis and nothing to do with the cream. I don't know what to think now.
I haven't weighed either so don't know if I've lost weight.
So I suppose I'll carry on and then do the dairy re-introduction properly. I really do not want to have a dairy intolerance.

Welcome back BlackJack. :) Sorry to hear your problems are still not resolved.

cockneydad and Needsmorecake great start

foolishpeach I'm glad you are feeling better. If at any point you feel you could do with extra carbs, do so. I lost most of my weight eating ~80g carbs.

l4k I definetely know the pain cream and butter can cause! If I have any you can visibly watch my tummy (above the belly button) expand like a balloon and the pain can be intense . I was told I had gastritis at 16yo, it then evolved into an ulcer at 25; I spent years avoiding anything rich, eating low fat so not to aggravate or induce flare ups...No more Rennies, Gaviscon, ulcer tablets since I started eating full fat Paleo (minus the butter and cream). I'm fine with raw/unpasteurised cheeses (including homemade cream cheese from unpasteurised milk); I haven't tried reintroducing yogurt yet as Chris K suggests, mainly because I would like to make my own-next project in the making! This is what Chris Kresser has to say about the anti-acid medications. :)

Hi everyone,

I am a fellow paleo eater and just popped in to say you will never guess what I saw in Planet Organic today (London)! Bullet Proof coffee! I have never seen that in a cafe anywhere! I guess Paleo is catching on! I drink my coffee black so did not try it, but the lady behind the counter said that she had never heard of it before but tried it yesterday and was surprised to love it. Perhaps the UK is due for a paleo conversion!

Thanks for the tip Wii - I go past one of them quite regularly so I'll have to try it.

Thanks Favadi - I may try that if the carb flu reappears but I'm feeling ok at the moment.

Hope everyone has had a nice weekend so far.

Thanks for the welcome fav. Glad the monster carb flu has been tamed foolish.

I'm on day 5 of my autoimmune diet and my body is falling to bits, cold sores, eczema, abscesses, headaches.

I'm hoping it's my body reacting to the bad stuff going because this diet is hard work....it makes Paleo sound so attractive. It's not the food that is awful, it's the lack of chilli that's killing me. I'm eating up to 10 fruit and veg a day to power up my Vit intake, I'm starting to dream about eggs and steak. I'm planning to keep this going till I go on holiday during half term, when I will slacken a bit and maybe suffer the consequences.

That sounds pretty miserable blackjack - I hope it is the nasties heading off.

All well chez foolish. I had some poppadoms last night and too much wine, so I'm going back on the wagon today, and going to try to have a very clean day to remedy last night's excesses!

Anyone here pregnant and paleo? I was paleo pre pregnancy but had to introduce some grains (I.e. Rice) when I was in the first trimester. Now after holiday (where I didn't do paleo), I'm completely out of whack and need to get back on track but can't figure out how!!??

By yesterday morning my symptoms had worsened, looking at my food diary, I've narrowed down my recent outbreak to either lemon juice, capers or fish. But that only leaves me with chicken for protein and fairly dull salad dressings, but if it means every orifice is not red raw it might be worth it, until I can figure out what other foods if any are triggering my health problems. I have no appetite anyway.

Oh Blackjack that sounds totally awful.

I remembered that I'd read about a book which came out fairly recently which was written by a woman who had various chronic skin conditions - eczema, hives, hidradenitis supparativa, dry skin etc, and she had to do an adapted version of Rob Wolf's auto-immune protocol to sort it all out.

I've just found the Amazon link.

You probably know all that anyway, so feel free to completely ignore me, but I thought it might be worth mentioning just in case it is of any help.

How weird foolish I just discovered and bought that book this morning, downloaded it to my kindle, thank you for thinking of me.
My symptoms make me sound and feel like an old hag - luckily I have a very lovely and supportive dh but leaking pus from your butt doesn't sound very sexy does it?

Strange that we both thought of the book at the same time - hope it is useful!

As for me, I've had a pretty good week. I've decided to try upping my carbs slightly - I noticed that I was getting breathless more easily when exercising. Don't know if it is the low-carbness or something else but this was easy to try.

I've got a friend coming to stay this weekend who is a total carbaholic, and eats lots of cake etc! I'm determined not to be sidetracked, so it might be an interesting couple of days.

Can I be excited? Just a little.....my symptoms have improved, I have no idea which of the very many things I am doing has caused this but after a very depressing weekend of watching other people tuck into some very lovely treats, it's the boost I needed. I have lost 2kg too, which can only be a good thing, as body fat seems to be connected with symptoms, at BMI of 21, I'm not overweight but if losing a bit of excess fat is the key, I'm not going to argue.
And I have been continuing to drink red wine - less of it - have discovered tiny sips give me almost the same pleasure and taste as big sups, so I have reduced my intake dramatically and it has really helped me feel normal after a day of being the freaky eater, food refuser. Introduced steak too with no ill effect so, it'll be fillet all week;)
It's all good!!