Hello Paleo People...

[jaybird]

Hi! Well, my ultimate goal is to be paleo all the way, including eating only grass-fed meat. Right now I've at least gotten to where I'm eating all organic fruits and veggies ... I'm able to afford it now by joining a co-op and also starting one of my own. Hopefully within a years time my husband and I will be able to buy a big freezer and buy grass-fed beef from the local farmer about an hour away. I can't wait until this day comes! Until then, I'm eating the not as healthy meat from Sam's club but taking extra omega-3 capsules to help balance things out. I do eat organic eggs too. Just all the meats are still the regular store bought.
Last year I did the Atkins diet for a month (until I found out I was pregnant). I lost 15lbs in the first two weeks. I had my baby this February and I'm breastfeeding, so no ketosis aloud, so I didn't go back on Atkins (even though I could do the maintenance plan). Well, I've been working on paleo for the last two weeks. The weight loss is slow, but it is happening none the less. I've lost 3lbs in the last 2 weeks, so I'm not complaining. There are some things I need to work on though. I've been having coffee once or twice a week sweetened with raw honey, and I think to speed up the weight loss I need to cut this out. I've also been eating small amounts of dairy...raw cheese and organic milk in small amounts. At least I can say I have completely cut out the grains at this point, and I feel it's a good first step.
I would love to hear from more Paleo peoples out there! I've read a few of your posts PaleoDeano and find them very informative and inspiring....anyone else want to share? Anyone else still eating grain-fed beef and wish they could afford the good stuff right now!

[PaleoDeano]

jaybird,

Good for you!

You have to take these changes slow... but you seem to have goals about where you are going. I too made a slow transition over to paleo. I first cut out the pasta, potatoes, rice (all the really high starchy carbs), then the bread, and finally all grains and legumes. I then started cutting back on dairy until it was gone. I actually have recently brought some dairy back in to get more fat in my diet. I first started using lots of butter (to fry eggs in and to top steamed veggies). I then tried to bring cheese back in (something I once loved), but found it did not sit well with me at all - so out went the cheese in a hurry! Although, not really entirely... because, some of the low carb salad dressings I use have some cheese in them. I may cut the butter out as well... but only after starting to use lard or something to cook in. Does anyone else have any thoughts on using butter versus lard? I don't seem to have an averse reaction to butter, but it may be doing me some unseen harm. ???

I was a big consumer of organic produce at one time, but have opted to spend money on grass-fed meat, and save money on produce. I wish I could afford both... but, since I don't feel I can at the moment, I feel that the grain-fed meat is much worse for my health than the pesticides. Perhaps my body will be strong enough to deal with pesticides if I am healthy by eating grass-fed meat. I know one person here was saying that he eats raw meat and believes he is healthy enough to take care of the bacteria he may getting in doing so. I for one like to eat my meat very rare... but, I don't know if I could trust it raw! If it was not for the bacteria, though, that is exactly how I would eat it!

- Dean

[jaybird]

PaleoDeano, thanks for your encouragement. Luckily being a part of a co-op I'm not paying anything above what I would pay at the regular grocery store for my organic produce. I would also like to start using lard at some point...but not until I can get it from a grass-fed source. As for the butter being bad, I've been doing some research on "real milk". Check out www.realmilk.com, you may find it interesting. I may end up not using dairy at some point, but first I am going to try raw dairy products, they are supposed to be much better for you than the pastuerized at least.

[MichaelG]

Hi Jaybird

The majority of Australian beef is grass fed, beef cattle tend to be half-wild range animals here and are rounded up annually for sending to the slaughterhouse. Here grain-fed beef is promoted as superior and is favoured by the restaurant trade! I think that most Aussie beef exported to the USA ends up in your Burger kings and Macdonalds. Maybe you can find imported Aussie beef somewhere in Florida in the form of frozen burgers or something.

I eat small amounts of grains, oats, maize, maybe once every 2 weeks. I believe that paleolithic people would have gathered some buckwheat, wild millet etc at various times of the year. I understand that native American fisher-folk would paddle canoes through wetlands where wild rice was growing and beat the seed heads against the 'gunwales' of the canoes and end up with a lot of grain in the boats. Of course that would be very seasonal and wouldn't constitute a grain-based diet!
Maybe just something to store to eke out their winter diet.

On the meat question, what about lamb, mutton and goat? Most of this should be grass fed and our ancestors maybe ate more of this sort of animal than the bigger (dangerous) wild beef.

Cheers

Michael Gardner
Bribie Island
Queensland
Australia

[jaybird]

Wow, that's very cool. Very interesting on the Aussie beef, I'm definitely going to look around here for some. I'll have to check the lamb, mutton, goat idea too. Thanks!

[JenofWi]

I eat organic grain fed beef. I am working on may husband. He's come a long way. He now prefers organic and has stopped eating grain most of the time. He just can't see buying meat in bulk. And we already have the freezer! Oh well. We do also eat bison (Which is not always grass fed but the brand we buy is) and ostrich.
A friend of mine is going to buy a 1/2 of a grass fed cow in October and said I can buy some from her at cost so we'll at least have some.