Hi everybody! So excited to find this place! i'm fascinated in the subject of paleonutrition and totally looking forward to meeting all of you!


Foodie212

welcome, foodie! We don't have a lot of active paleodieters (looking in the past couple months posts on this forum should give you an idea who they are), but the more, the merrier!

How did you learn of the paleo concept, and what draws you to it? I don't eat paleo (I eat cheese), but I love the theory. What have you read?

great to see you here. Enjoy your time here.

Hi! Thanks for the welcome! I've always been fascinated by paleontology, anthropology, history, etc. -- and i love to cook. A couple of years ago someone told me about the Atkins diet, and i think while reading that is when i began to seriously do some research into nutrition.

About that same time, i happened to read "African Genesis," the classic work on paleoanthropology by Robert Ardrey. And in my online reading i became interested in "NeanderThin" by Ray Audette, so i got the book.

Like you, i eat cheese -- yum! Also, i have a strict rule against passing up a piece of pastry especially if it contains even one molecule of chocolate. These two things alone are enough to convince me i'll never qualify for paleo sainthood

But the basic concept is fascinating and makes sense to me, especially as far as health and weight. Besides, paleo is the basis for ALL low-carb diets! So apparently our pre-human and early human ancestors were ahead of their time

I guess you already know of http://www.paleodiet.com and various other online resources. I just recently found http://westonaprice.org and it's got a great recipe section and a bunch of amazing articles -- one of my favorites is http://www.westonaprice.org/traditi...ish_short.html.

There's also, at http://www.mercola.com, an interview with somebody from the Rea Centre (alternative health and diet in UK) in which is described something called "new variant paleo." Both the Rea interview and the Weston A. Price articles offer interesting variations of paleo, quite contrary in many respects to Audette's theories in "NeanderThin."

Another interesting FAQ is at http://www.infosky.net/~alexmi/candida.htm Describes the "anti-Candida" diet, which sounds totally paleo to me.

When i'm dieting (i'm a compulsive wagon-faller-offer) i usually do a sort of mishmash of paleo and Atkins, but more and more i'm trying to stay away from processed junk (like artificial sweeteners, and those yummy Atkins chocolate shakes) and eat mainly paleo.

For the past couple of weeks i've been rethinking and revising my eating plan, and decided to see what happens if i omit dairy products and processed oils. So for a while (until i change my mind again here's my food plan -- naturally-occuring fats in the raw nuts and seeds, raw and cooked veggies, and in the sea fish, sea food, and other animals i'm eating; protein mainly in the form of sea fish and sea food and eggs and secondarily in the form of poultry, pork, etc.; carbs from non-starchy veggies and raw fruits, nuts, and seeds. That's it. Beverage is nothing but water (taking 1/4 teaspoon organic sea salt with each 32 ounces of water, as recommended by a friend over at lowcarbeating.com who's a big fan of The Water Cure), with occasionally some herbal tea sweetened with raw organic honey, or an ice-cold glass of tomato juice.

I'm always tweaking my diet and experimenting with different approaches, so i'll give this a try for a while and see how it goes. If i'm not feeling great or not losing weight as i'd prefer, i'll tweak it some more and probably go back to the Induction level of Atkins.

Thanks again! Looking forward to lots of interesting discussions! Got a busy day tomorrow but will be back Wednesday to read more here.

great stuff, foodie!

Yep, I've read a lot of the links off paleodiet.com (could a person read them ALL?) and the weston price stuff. A couple other sites you might like are:

www.eatwild.com -- free range, organic meat site. They have great research, too--should be pretty easy to find the links on their home page to their extensive files

www.beyondveg.com -- click on their links to the Loren Cordain paleo articles

I read Jared Diamond's wonderful The Third Chimpanzee (evolutionary biology/sociology/psychology) last year and he had a good chapter on the advent of grain agriculture and what all it has done bad for us--not just health, but the social aspects.

great to talk paleo. good luck with your dairy free experiment--I've done it twice (6 weeks total) without changes to health or weight loss rates, so figured I had no reason to keep it up (not when there's Jarlsberg cheese in this world)...yet I'm glad I tried.

I'm also a Sort-of-Paleo newbie, although I've been fiddling around with low carb for awhile ... so far this has really been the best bet and am feeling great. I'm doing more or less the Scarsdale diet which is modified Paleo (although the author doesn't know it ha!ha! ).

I wanted to ask you if you've been counting calories or carbs or anything, because with a lot of nuts and fruit and honey I guess it can all add up .... the Scarsdale is pretty low on calories but I feel good and aren't hungry almost ever.

I'm with you there on the chocolate!!!!

Welcome on board!

Gee, anyone notice how we've multiplied in the last few weeks? We should start to advertise on the main forum, cause I got here by mistake ...

Bye for now
Liv

Hi Razzle! Thanks for those links. i've read brief references to Cordain but am curious and would like to find out more. Diamond's book sounds like something i've DEFINITELY gotta read.

Also, thanks for the feedback re the life less dairy If i obtain the same results i'll grab my spear (asparagus that is) and track down a nice fat wheel of baby Swiss

Foodie

Hi Liv! Thanks for the welcome! So great to find this place and meet everyone. Such a fascinating subject, not just the nutritional aspect but the whole thing in general.

Glad to hear you're doing so well! i'm great when i stick to the plan but wow i think i've got some kind of self-destruct mechanism or something. Such a sugar addict, it's ridiculous.

What's this about the Scarsdale diet? I've heard of that, but would like to know more. Wasn't Dr. Scarsdale murdered by his obsessed ex-girlfriend? She was probably in a really bad mood 'cause he wouldn't let her have any CHOCOLATE ... heehee ...

Re counting calories, carbs, etc. -- well, i was going to, but this week i've been experimenting in The Lab (that's what my husband calls our kitchen with some of those wonderful broth recipes from the westonaprice site and the soupsong site. So i have absolutely no idea how many calories or grams of anything, LOL I'm just sort of assuming the soup i make from the broth is providing me with the fats and carbs i need, and then i also eat some sea fish or other protein just to make sure (uh, soup is not an exact science If i'm still hungry in the evenings i munch on some nuts or fresh fruit.

There's a really interesting article at http://www.holdthetoast.com/archive/010509.html that explains very simply how to calculate the number of calories you need each day, along with how many grams of fat and protein.

Using their forumlae i estimate that i need about 1,620 calories per day, consisting of about 80 grams of protein and 130 grams of fat. For weight loss i'm trying to keep the carbs under 25 grams per day. But like i said, i've pretty much just had to say "Forget it" this week 'cause the soup is a great big steaming pot of variables

Nice to meet you and everyone else here! Fun discussions and looking forward to hanging out.

Foodie

Heehee, I guess you're right about the lover.. she must have been on a sugar low!!! Yes, that's him anyway. Tarnower's the name of the doctor.

Here's a site where you can find the whole diet and exerpts from the book : http://lowcarblisa.tripod.com/thescarsdalemedicaldiet/ I'd really like to know your opinion on it ... I'm in a bit of a quandary about the amount of fruit eaten, because as you'll see, the alternative lunch menu for every day is a big fruit salad and cottage cheese, which I've been having every day because at work I can't get anything else compatible with the diet ... it seems ok, and I feel ok, but with all the calculating and stuff I'm always scared I'm not getting enough protein and fat. But I suppose if you choose a diet you should stick to that without mixing and matching ... or should you!?!?

Good idea about the soups: I make a good cauliflower one but if you've got any good ideas I'd be happy to learn... as long as they're simple ... I'm not into complicating my life in the kitchen

Yes, I'm pretty pleased with this forum myself, and I hope to hear from you lots!!

Bye - Liv

Hey, thanks for that link, sounds like it'll be interesting to read. Will let you know (hey, i have millions of opinions

The fruit salad and cottage cheese sounds like a great lunch! As long as they're not spiking the fruit with sugar, of course. And preferably the cottage cheese is full fat -- one whole cup is going to provide you with about 220 yummy calories, 28 grams of protein, 10 grams of fat, and about 8 grams of carbohydrate.

The main thing is, you like the food and you're feeling okay! So it's gotta be making your body happy.

If you get a few minutes, read that article at the holdthetoast.com site and figure up how much fat and protein you need -- that'll give you an idea of what to aim for during the meals when you do have time to count grams. It's pretty easy to get enough protein, and if you're using olive oil (preferably some of that extra-virgin from first cold pressing right off the farms there in Italy!) it'll be easy to get enough fat. If you're not into vegetable oils or dairy fats like butter and cream, go for the fatty pork products, fresh sea fish (great oils in fish!), ripe olives and avocados. You'll be fine.

As far as playing around with diets and mixing and matching, etc. i think everyone does that, they just refuse to admit it

I usually do a sort of mix of paleo and Atkins and anti-candida and then toss in whatever i happen to be craving, LOL Right now i'm REALLY really trying to do my simplified paleo -- this morning i signed up for the "No-Cheat-April Challenge" over at lowcarbeating.com Please wish me luck and determination, as i have been falling off the wagon so frequently these past couple of weeks that i've just about lost my focus and my confidence and my optimism.

Now, about your cauliflower soup recipe -- please post! i've never tried that.

I'm learning (slowly) how to make real soup stock, and wow it's yummy. It takes a while to make a batch, but after you do, you can make all sorts of very quick soups -- just reheat a small amount of the stock, and throw in a handful of whatever fresh veggies you happen to have, and if you want some extra protein throw in some shrimp or chicken or whatever. Simmer for a few minutes, and presto!

Hi there!!

I know what you mean about losing focus: mostly it's about losing self esteem. I think to myself that if I can't even follow a dumb diet that's written out for me to the letter I must be really lousy...

But then I think that just the efforts I make, the extra shopping, the time I take to get info ... it all means you're still on the wagon in a way (kinda hanging on) because you're only off when you give up completely!! But we aren't going to do that are we?!? We're gonna try again and again and we're gonna get there eventually!!! And be skinny (well sort of ) and mainly be able to wear what we want and not slink onto a beach in a large costume cover. RIGHT? Right!

Come on Foodie, you can do it!!! Find your weaknesses and kill them all! I found my demon: the scale! Whether it said up, stable or down, I found an excuse to cheat, so I murdered it's battery (it was a bloody battle with a lot of victims!) and I'm keeping a pair of jeans that are just 1 size too small. When I get into those I'll go for the next pair!!!

If you want a diet and motivation pal, do email me!!! I'm also going to check out lowcarbeating.com so maybe I'll see you there!!!

OK, I've finished!!

Cauliflower soup: really easy. Fry some onions, then throw in a chopped up cauliflower and some mushrooms, and broth and nutmeg. When it's done liquidize it and add cream if you like. (I personally find it a bit too rich!) Super yum!!! Good idea for the chicken soup!

BTW I DID check out holdthetoast or whatever and my calories should be about 1400/1800. On the Scardale I'm doing about 1200, so maybe I'll add some nuts ...

Keep on going Foodie!!
See ya!
Liv

Hey Liv, what an inspiring post !!!!!! Thanks, i love to read stuff like this, really motivating!

Yum, thanks for the cauliflower soup recipe!

Hey about the 1200 calories, that's really low! Great idea to add some nuts! Let me know how it goes!

Have a great day! Maybe see ya around lowcarbeating.com too! I met a couple of paleodieters there just a couple of days ago and told them about THIS place, ha! So if they show up here everybody give them a great big paleo welcome. One is a newbie and the other (Sharon) is a dedicated paleo, and i think everybody will enjoy getting to know each other.

foodie

Hi again! I meant to tell you i finally had a chance to sit and read that site, and it sounds way too complicated for me, ha! And very low-cal and low-fat, but most of the food sounded yummy.

How long have you been on it, and are you happy with it so far?

I don't weigh but my clothes are getting loose, which means I must be losing on this diet and I'm feeling fine. I did add a couple of spoons of olive oil per day to up the fat a bit. The fruit is fantastic!!! Actually it's not really complicated in that I have simplified it: as I said before it's a Sort-of-Scarsdale-Paleo-Thingy.

Basically it's this:
BK: 1 slice bread + 1 egg
LCH: 200g cottage cheese + 1 big fruit salad
DR: protein + LC veg + LC soup (your idea!!) + Tsp olive oil and if I'm really feeling in the mood a fruit. I find that nuts give me awful cravings... wonder why...

What do you make of it? You this it's too high carb? I'm quite happy...

Bye for now
Liv