Grain Free/Primal/Paleo for Spring!!! - Page 12

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by karen1968 

I've managed to avoid melon, for the most part, but the blueberries and cherries?? OMG. Too yummy. I find it hard to resist, and hard to care.  I'll go back to a low-fruit diet when the only things in the store are bananas and imported apples!

eh. You have NOTHING to worry about! I would consider berries TOTALLY primal, personally! Maybe not cherries but I would still TOTALLY indulge and their price and season are pretty self limiting! I agree about it being easier to avoid fruit when it's just grainy apples and imported bananas!

Originally Posted by fluffywandering 

It's soooo hard to avoid the fruits here!!! C'mon HAWAII!! We have delicious seasonal fruits ALL YEAR LONG!! Also, my hubby can't live without cheese and yogurt and so it is always in the house and I am ALWAYS eating it. Maybe I would feel better without it? I have done the grain-free thing for 1 1/2 years, but never got that energy boost everyone talks about. :( Maybe I am just not strict enough... My daughter (1 1/2) only likes fruit and SOMETIMES meat and cheese. She does like soup, so maybe I should make that more often, although mine never turns out deliciously. I get really anxious about how much fruit this kid eats, but maybe I just should relax? She also LOVES Go Raw cookies (the spirulina ones) and I figure that is ok, but all that dehydrated food seems weird (as she is sitting next to me munching on a piece of raw, dehydrated onion bread, LOL!, and i am eating a piece smeared in brie cheese ). I dunno. Just venting I guess.

Any suggestions for helping kids LOVE primal? I smear butter on everything and still, no go. :( Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones that are making me worry!

Maybe I should do a week of meat and veggies and see if that helps... although pregnancy might not be the best time to cut out fruit! I LOVE MY SMOOTHIES!!! :) blah blah... tips? Suggestions?``

That would be hard!! I guess I wouldn't worry. I do think fruit has value but I notice that I shed more pounds when I am low fruit. It's hard for me to not eat peaches and cream in the summer!!!!

[ocelotmom]

I can't see how there could be anything wrong from an evolutionary standpoint with eating reasonable amounts of seasonal fruit, though I recognize that modern agriculture has bred for increased sugar content and that there are other reasons (weight loss, personal intolerance) that people avoid them.

Our garden has hit zucchini season, and I've discovered that it makes a surprisingly good stand-in for dairy when mixed with other flavors (at least our variety does - it's pretty mild flavored. Other varieties might require peeling or not work well at all). Zucchini ice cream and frappuccinos work, as well as more traditional uses like zucchini pancakes, "noodles", and soup - we're using up the 'cchinis as fast as the garden creates them, which is really saying something, because the garden creates them really quickly! And I don't even like zucchini!

[fluffywandering]

What about Juicing? Does anyone do this? I was thinking of trying to add more vegetable juice into my diet, maybe in a smoothie with some berries and chia seeds... anyone?

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by fluffywandering 

What about Juicing? Does anyone do this? I was thinking of trying to add more vegetable juice into my diet, maybe in a smoothie with some berries and chia seeds... anyone?

they tend to be too high carb for me, even without a lot of fruit. I mean, I love them, but I don't think they're very primal.

[mamakah]

Originally Posted by mamaspirit 

mamkah - page one of this thread, post #13 has a list of pretty good websites.  I especially recommend everydaypaleo.com.  I also like thegrainfreefoodie.blogspot.com and Thespunkycoconut.com  although the spunky coconut is not fully paleo, or even grain free, it is easy to substitute to make it completely grain free, and it has awesome recipes!

Thanks!!!

[fluffywandering]

Originally Posted by Toolip 



they tend to be too high carb for me, even without a lot of fruit. I mean, I love them, but I don't think they're very primal.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought! I just get surrounded by people who say how great it makes them feel, and get confused. I think I will try some green smoothies, and see if I feel any different. At least that will still have the fiber right? I can justify the carbs right now being pregnant! ;)

[Koalamom]

What!! no melon?! Oh then I am a terrible primal eater.

I don't know about the no fruit thing. I am really going with how my body feels and I feel crappy with too much salad but great with a steak and an orange for a meal.

[K'sMama]

Yes, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries are considered Primal and are highly recommened b/c of their high antioxidant levels - just make sure to eat them in moderation.  Cherries, strawberries, apples, bananas are also fine in moderation.  Really - all fruit is considered Primal - you just shouldn't eat ridiculous amounts.  2 or 3 servings of fruit a day is perfectly acceptable as long as you still keep your carbs under 150 gms/day (less if you want to lose weight).

[butterscotch]

The book "Real Food on a Real Budget" by Stephanie Langford (you can get it online) has some pretty good ideas as to how to reduce the overall spend when you're eating traditionally.  It involves more planning, though, so that's the tradeoff -- you have to be always thinking about the month ahead in the big picture.  "Convenience shopping" is always more expensive.  I tend to agree with the folks who say an expensive grocery bill is generally cheaper than an "inexpensive" hospital bill.  The bottom line is that nutrient dense foods tend to cost more, and in a way that makes sense -- there's more in them!  I've been eating paleo (with limited grains) for about three years and I'm happy to say that when I break down and eat something dumb like pizza (usually when I'm out in the world, rushed, and starving), I can actually FEEL the nothingness of it inside me - like my brain is completely not fed by white flour anymore (it probably never was, but when you're nursing the addiction, the hit off the insulin spike makes you feel like you got something out of it!)  So stay steady as she goes and little by little, your body will thank you for the extra expense!

[butterscotch]

The reason you feel guilty about eating red meat is because we've been told for 40+ years now that saturated fat is bad for us and causes heart disease, and that we should reduce it.  If you want the full inside scoop on how that went down, I highly recommend Gary Taubes' book "Good Calories, Bad Calories."  He unfolds the whole story that begins with a very determined lone researcher who wanted to prove that cholesterol causes heart attacks.  Meanwhile, George McGovern in his senate committee on American diet and health wanted to get to the bottom of why heart disease was so dangerously on the rise in America.  So he convened hearings where dozens of scientists came to testify as to what they thought.  There was basically a "cholesterol/saturated fat is bad" contingent and a "we don't yet know what cholesterol really does" contingent.  The "saturated fat is bad" camp won, and that's how official government dogma came to recommend severely limiting saturated fat.  This was a dangerous bit of advice, because cholesterol is very important for brain health (and probably explains the rise in mental health problems).  In women, cholesterol is also protective to cancer.  Simultaneous to this, a burgeoning "science and health" niche was growing in the American media, hungry for content.  So over time, the media had a field day, explaining how science has now proven how all our favorite foods are bad for us.  This was hogwash!  Based on a sliver of scientific research that was not supported over the long haul.  But it was drilled into us for decades by a hungry press, government officials that don't know any better, and scientists that are now frankly afraid of having egg on their face by going against conventional dogma.

Eat as much red meat as you feel like and your budget will allow.  Here's an article showing the benefits:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/01/21/grassfed-beef.aspx

Just google "grass-fed beef CLA" and you will find many more.

The tide of research is turning, and Taubes as well as other researchers now believe it will be found through research (though we already know it anecdotally) that too much sugar and refined carbohydrates are the culprits behind heart disease, cancer and a host of other modern diseases.

To your good health!

Butterscotch

[MaxsFox]

Hi all, it's about time I join this thread.  I turned to a paleo diet a year or so after having my son (who is now 3) as a weight loss method.  I also took up running again at that point, which I hadn't done since high school.  Between eating paleo, running, and working out I dropped down to a muscular 125, and felt better than I ever had.  But life happened, and I lapsed.  Now I need to get back on the wagon again, and this time I'm dragging my fiance along for the ride.  My son is already mostly paleo by his own choice, as he's a rather picky eater and those are the foods he likes, but we'll be working on getting him a little more that direction.  Unfortunately my ex-husband has him a good amount of the time and loves to load him with bread and pasta, but that's a discussion for another day.

At any rate, I'm wondering how many of you are not only paleo, but also take a whole foods approach to it?  We'd like to do both here, and are already mostly on whole foods.

[karen1968]

Originally Posted by MaxsFox 

At any rate, I'm wondering how many of you are not only paleo, but also take a whole foods approach to it?  We'd like to do both here, and are already mostly on whole foods.

Not sure EXACTLY what you mean by "whole foods approach", but I think Paleo is by default a whole foods "diet". It is hard to find Paleo-friendly foods that are processed, IMO. I do eat sweet potato fries...which I make at home with TJ's sweet potato spears and coconut oil. Um...I ate some of my son's veggie chips the other day, which aren't really paleo-friendly.

Of course, the least Paleo thing I've eaten lately was at my friend's bakery - housemade brownie and vanilla bean ice cream put together like an ice cream sandwich. Yum!

I've really noticed a difference in my mood and energy when I eat too many grains. Who else mentioned that? It's a good check for me, and one of the reasons I think this lifestyle is "sticking" this time around.

Karen

My blog about the changes I'm making: karencompton.blogspot.com
 

[Piglet68]

I eat a lot of fruit and still manage to lose weight so long as I avoid grains and starchy stuff. Right now the stuff in season is wonderful, but otherwise I buy bags of frozen berries. I eat about a cup every morning with my "paleo cereal" (ground nuts, seeds, and coconut; toasted in butter). 

I also drink smoothies often. If I have spinach around I'll put a handful in there, followed by a heaping spoonful of nut butter, some milk (I drink raw milk, but have also substituted soy milk, coconut milk, and/or yogurt) and a handful of frozen berries. Yum!

This evening, after being "good" for so long, I was exhausted and did not want to make dinner so I took the kids out for drive thru and then we hit Dairy Queen. It was good, and I don't regret it, but wow I feel SOOOOOO stuffed and full! I never feel this way when I stick to my primal diet, just feel satisfied. It's an important reminder of how different (in a bad way) eating is when you load on carbs and refined sugar!

I also wonder how one can do Primal without being whole foods? I suppose you could live on Lara bars but...?

[MaxsFox]

There are lots of foods that are technically paleo, but are not whole foods.  For example, right now I'm trying to figure out how to convert one of our favorite recipes - it's a crock pot beef roast that takes a bottle of steak sauce, golden mushroom soup, and a packet of dry onion soup mix.  Paleo, but very much not whole foods.  I use a few too many recipes that have become favorites over time and are easy to make, but contain processed ingredients.

Count me in as feeling much better all around when I'm fully (or at least 95%) paleo.  Not only do I physically feel better on it, my mood is vastly improved.  I've always struggled with depression and ocassionally been on medication for it.  In my case, I have found that meds and completely unnecessary when I'm eating paleo and working out regularly.

I've also started drinking green smoothies lately.  They make a quick and easy breakfast when I need to be out the door.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of putting nut butter in them, but I'll be trying it the next time I make one.

[MrsBone]

I'm trying really hard to lose like 5 lbs and I'm having a hard time staying away from too many carbs. I'm not eating any grains, but my staples for a lot of meals include barbecue sauce, ketchup, and raw honey( I make barbecue pork, chicken, sloppy joes, chili, etc). I also use Chebe bread occasionally(grain and gluten free, but certainly not low carb!) It's made with manioc flour which is from tapioca. Summer is prime fruit season so I don't limit myself too much on fruit. During the winter I'm sure I'll eat a lot less fruit. In general I've found if I stay away from processed foods, my belly dimishes. I don't have much to lose, but I have had 2 babies, so I'd like to get some of that flab gone!

[mamaspirit]

I've been making ketchup and bbq sauce with stevia and it's really quite good!  My kids haven't noticed a difference, at least they havent voiced one.  I also find that eating nuts and seeds makes it harder for me to lose weight.  I've cut out the nuts this past week because they were causing gassiness in me and I lost more weight this week than usual and my belly isn't so bloated.

[Millie Ivy]

I also can't overdo the nuts or I stall.  The weeks I eat more meat and veg, less nuts and fruit (not NO nuts and fruit, but more as  a controlled garnish instead of an ongoing ingredient) then I lose or maintain better. 

Plan, plan, plan!  And for me, zero tolerance for cheating on the weekends, or when I'm out, etc.  If I start taking a bite here, a nibble there, I backslide quickly.

(as in, Stacey, the popcorn and fritos I've had last week screwed me up and I'm getting back on track now...)