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.

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

Emuz sometimes you just gotta follow your cravings Meal tomorrow sounds yum and saves you making a meal another night if you divide it into portions.

I did a first ocado order today so saved £25 on a £100 order. They do eversfield meat boxes and organic veg boxes. I was a bit dissapointed with the meat box because the mystery joint was chicken wings, customer services gave me a discount as a good will gesture which made the price more reasonable. Ocado also sell bob's red mill flours but ££ so didn't order any in the end.

[EMUZ]

I'm a bit skint as well which doesn't help. Usually for ease I just grab a cooked chicken and have some of that with veg but I'm off chicken totally and eggs don't appeal either
Am almost tempted to have a pizza and see if it makes me hungry! Weirdly I've put no weight on which is good, just trying to concentrate on loads of water, some food and staying away from sugar
If I go off track I'd rather do it with carbs than sugar

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

I start to get queazy when I think about how much I am spending on food at the mo - I was sainsburys basics all the way and if the bills are too mammoth I will be back there next month!

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

Could you do some kind of thinly sliced sweet potato with cheese on top thing to get the pizza effect?

[EMUZ]

Yeah that might work. Am watching man v food - that is helping me get hungry!!

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

Make sure you switch off before the end when its less appetising

[EMUZ]

Ooh I've found something I want to eat
Going back to an old staple I make and portion for work. It's basically a ratatouille with chorizo and chillies in, sometimes with a little brown rice. Heat it at work and add shredded roast chicken or feta cheese
off to the supermarket for me!

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

Giraffe, sliced sweet potato doesn't work well as a "pizza" base, unless you add egg as it goes soggy.

Fritatta type recipes make good "pizza", nice to cook ahead for several days breakfasts too.

Grated or thinly sliced sweet potato, yam or courgette layers (a combination is good) with egg on top makes a solid sliceable base, throw toppings on and cook for about 40min on about 180. The dish needs to be well greased, or the egg will stick to it.

Good toppings -thin slices of onion, veg, pesto, bacon, anything you fancy!

Nice toppin

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

, I have had a few disasters trying to make a suitable pizza substitution, and the frittata ones are the most successful as with several very thin lavers of different coloured veg for the base, and about 10-12 eggs, you end up with something very pretty when sliced into wedges, and have served it up to non paleo people who loved it!

[EMUZ]

I am an idiot. Due to not sleeping well I have been listening to a hypnotherapy phone app I've had for ages. Not helping me sleep but its relaxing



I'd imagine the fact I'm not hungry is maybe because its a gastric band app? FFS

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

Emuz ast least you know the cd works ;)

Raw that sounds really good - will try that thanks.

I lost the whole 30 and aip plot today - made gluten free pumpkin wraps but I didn't follow the instructions properly and they didn't work so well, so I ended up eating some of them. also gutted as used posh chicken to make curry for dc and their friends and they didn't like it either sob!

Dp has decided he only likes the homemade gluten free bread so making some now for everyone else to go with picnic.

[prettybird]

Not sure if it's paleo but I've had success with a cauliflower "pizza" base: from memory, it was grated cauliflower cooked and them drained/squeezed of excess moisture and mixed with goats cheese (and an egg?) and patted out into a pizza base shape and cooked at 200C for c.15 minutes until golden and then the pizza topping put on.

It's about 2 months since I did it, so I'd need to check the details.

[Salbertina]

Yea, Pretty, me too! Sounds same recipe and didn't taste of cauliflower at all, thankfully from my kids' pov.

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

Caulifower comes into its own on this woe! Rice - mash and now pizza base!

Ok - my coconut oil which is quite a new jar - has totally turned to liquid, I am guessing its fine to use it as cooking oil but if it tunrs back solid does it become trans fats or rancid?

[prettybird]

Shows you have a good quality one as the melting point is only about 23C (it's much higher for the hydrogenated ones).

As long as it is clear and not yellow/brown, it'll be fine.

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

Yes its clear - thanks!

[prettybird]

Keep it in a cupboard/the dark: UV will accelerate something going rancid. It's why crisps are now in foil laminated bags.

[Itstartshere]

Hello everyone, can I join you? I've just started eating Paleo (doing a Whole 30 first) so I could use some support/people to chat with.

I'm only on my 3rd day and I won't lie, I'm finding it a bit tough, but it's not been as bad as I was dreading. Just feeling a bit worn out and fragile and wanting to hide from the world.

I'm loving the food, I've been on a low fat diet for years which I found so yeurch. I always felt deprived. I can't believe what nice food I'm able to eat now. I think today is the first day I've thought 'I wish I could have some bread' but it's not a huge craving, and I'm reminding myself that the changes I'm going to see are far more important to me than any bread. I want to change so badly - I need to have better energy, lose about 2-3 stones and just generally get my life on track. I'm a bit scared at this point that I'm going to be one of the few people who is just going to put on 2 stones doing this, as it's still very strange to me that I can eat fat/meat, but hoping in a month's time I'll be able to convince myself otherwise when I step on my scale.

Anyway, nice to 'meet' you all, and look forward to chatting.

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

Hi itstartshere the first days are the hardest with whole 30 - so should get easier soon. unfortunately having said that I ended mine a bit early but really want to do another soon but this time without snacking! I put a halt to nuts for most of the time and I think that helped a lot because I was really overdoing them. I lost about 8 lbs over 3-4 weeks and have lost about 18 lbs in all over the last 6 weeks. Glad you are enjoying the food - snowornevah has just started a recipe thread if you have any good recipes to add Unfortunately I am really not a good cook but hoping to add some links :)

[snoworneahva]

Morning! Yesterday I decided to give up on my restricted diet, my skin was showing no signs of improvement, my mouth is still raw and I was thoroughly fed up! Made some Gluten free cookie dough ice cream for the dcs - ahem....really! Ended up eating some and I'm not sure whether the results were directly attributed to the dairy/almonds but my skin went crazy - could be the weather but looks like the experiment needs to continue - off things again and will deliberately break the diet in about a week's time and note the results!
Bought a bottle of Coconut Aminos and tried it out last night - was very pleasantly surprised but it's incredibly expensive and unless you have issues with soy, I would think Tamari would be just fine.

[tillyfernackerpants]

Hi, hope you don't mind if I join you? A friend started paleo and was raving about it, so I did a bit of reading up and it does make a lot of sense!

I've been following it for a couple of weeks now, haven't really noticed any weight loss (though dh thinks I've lost a bit - think he's just being nice & encouraging tbh ) but the biggest difference has been in my moods. Even the dses have noticed I'm no longer grumpy in the mornings.

I feel better in myself, not as tired, and less inclined to snack on sugary things so for me, its worth it just for that

[misscph1973]

Welcome, tilly! Good to hear that your mood is improving. I find that my mood really improves when I add IF to Paleo - it even eases PMS!

It was DHs birthday this weekend and we had gluten free birthday cake, my MIL makes the best. We ate all of it in less than 24 hours, I am embarrassed to admit :( Normally we give at least a quarter to the neighbour kids, but not this time ... I have been IF'ing today and yesterday to make up for it.

Oh, and thanks to all for the support with my almond addiction. I ate the last of them and I am not going to stock up on them again, at least for some time, going cold turkey, and I am fine.

Pizze: I make a mix of wrung out (they get so wet when grated, wring out in a tea towel) grated potato (probably 1-2 baking poatatoes), 1/2 thinly sliced onion) 2 egg whites and salt/pepper. I spread it thinly on baking parchment and bake it at 175 C until golden on the edges, then carefully turn it over and repeat. Then I spread a thin layer of tomato puré and water (1:1), sprinkle grated mozzarella over and top with pepperoni (Sainsbury's Basic Pepperoni works well). Bake at 225 C for about 15 min or till the cheese is golden. It is VERY nice ;)

[kellykettle]

Hello everyone just checking in briefly - snowed under with work right now so chat - paleo or otherwise - has gone out of the window!

Welcome new Paleo-istas.

Someone brought doughnuts to work today and for the first time in ages I thought "I want one". I resisted. I are my chicken liver pâté and carrots instead but it reminded me that I'm going to do some primal baking this weekend.

Did I mention that DD1 has been for some school settling in sessions? Lunch was sausage and boiled rice with sweetcorn. She's asked if she can have packed lunches

Going to go back and catch up on the thread now.

[GiraffesEatPineapples]

kelly - i think ignorance is bliss when it comes to school dinners!

Hi tilly

misscph your pizza also sounds tempting! I have ordered some mesh bags for making coconut milk which might be good for squeezing liquid from your pizza base too!

I have been doing some normal baking in prep for dd's birthday party and really enjoying it - a lot less stressful than trying to get a decent gluten free loaf (lets just say I have been whizzing up a lot of gluten free french toast and breadcrumbs for the freezer!). Planning to try some paleo/ gluten free baking for ds' birthday in hol though.

snow hope you are able to pin down a trigger for your skin flare up. I have slipped a bit a fair bit on eating this week because I am using steroid cream on my rash, but to be honest not much improvement yet. Eating some sugar and mainly gluten free grains has resulted in a large zit on my nose, a bit of ibs and a couple of extra lbs. Have eaten pretty well today prob a bit too much protein though, but feels good to be getting back to paleo.

Thanks to the person who mentioned fat, sick and nearly dead being on tonight. I recorded it but the break meant i missed the middle part where the american guy changes his diet! Def makes me think I need to up the fruit and veg.

[snoworneahva]

Welcome Tilly!

Kelly my dcs will always chose my food, they prize it above everything else, which is quite flattering but it has always been my intention that I introduce them to good tasting real food so that the processed stuff pales in comparison and for the most part it has worked. School dinners is a flavour fail....but it's my fall back if they ever complain about not having Kit Kats, crisps and sweets drinks in their lunch box - they immediately stop complaining at the threat of having to endure the school dinner again.

I have a planned cheat tomorrow - dh and I are treating ourselves to have a Michellin starred lunch, I nearly cancelled because i was so worried about my skin but then thought life's too short! Really hope it doesn't go nuts afterwards but giraffe has reminded me to go straight to the steroids and not just suffer on - rashes are best contained because when they break out, they take on a life of their own without need for an irritant to continue.

How's everyone coping with the hot weather? I'm finding myself a little sloth like.....melting every evening into a snooze on the sofa.