Anyone do Paleo, or have thoughts on it?

[RagingBITCH]

I'm basically Paleo, due to food allergies (dairy & grains). Although I do eat legumes & starches. I have a LOT of friends who do it. It does pair well with Crossfit, which I think is a great thing - I've had a lot of friends switch from being overweight & not active at all to being pretty dang healthy because they found something that worked for me. I think it's a lot better of a diet than a lot of other eating styles too, because it encourages you to make healthy decisions & gives you some structure to base your meal plans off of.

If you hate cooking, then you should definitely look into make-ahead meals (sometimes called "freezer cooking" or the "once-a-month" system). Basically you do all of the cooking once a week or once a month & then just eat throughout the week. I use disposable plastic TV dinner trays that I buy in bulk online, shovel the food in them, and then either put in the fridge or freezer. I have a thread on that project over here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2336038

Basically, you can find ways to both hit your dietary targets & make it easy on yourself. There's tons of great Paleo resources out there; here's a few to get you started:

http://paleomg.com/

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=paleo

http://nomnompaleo.com/

Sorry didn't see your post earlier. I cook several times a week so it's not a big issue for me. So far this week so good, minus being fairly tired yesterday and today. It's literally the same things I have been eating minus dairy and grains, as everything has been fairly healthy. (Veggie + protein)

Appreciate the links - had NomNom already bookmarked, but good seeing the Pinterest pins!

 

[Kaido]

My family has been doing Paleo/Primal for the past few years. We slowly, over the course of 6 months transitioned to strict Paleo. My son has had several food allergies since birth, my wife did an elimination diet while nursing and we found out he was allergic to corn. Corn is in everything so we took that out of our diets completely first. Then over time he started to react to oats. So we then went to SCD/GAPS/Paleo diet. All three of us have been on it now for 2 years. My wife and I cheat now and then but we try to stick to it. My wife sees a big change in her mood, brain fog, etc when she goes off the diet.

Yeah, freakin' brain fog. Story of my life. I was a lump growing up because of food allergies - I had no energy & felt like crap all the time. I only found out about my corn allergy last year. I have a few false-starts - my "Body by Dave" tracking threads are littered around here over the last few years, and they never really got off the ground because I just didn't have the energy, and subsequently the motivation, to pursue sticking to a plan. And I was having random reactions to stuff like...jelly. All thanks to corn. Cleaned corn out & I'm 100% good now.

It sure is nice to feel good every day :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

Oh also @VoteQuimby - not sure if you've heard of "Against All Grain", but I've been going through that book lately & it has a TON of great recipes:

http://againstallgrain.com/buy-it-now/

 

[Kaido]

Sorry didn't see your post earlier. I cook several times a week so it's not a big issue for me. So far this week so good, minus being fairly tired yesterday and today. It's literally the same things I have been eating minus dairy and grains, as everything has been fairly healthy. (Veggie + protein)

Appreciate the links - had NomNom already bookmarked, but good seeing the Pinterest pins!

Yeah, I love Pinterest - I'm very visual, so being able to SEE the meals helps a lot, especially in picking new ones to try. Yummly.com is pretty good for searching for food, but I like browsing Pinterest better because I can pin things into categories to try when I have free time.

One of the big things I love about Paleo is that you can have healthy food that is also tasty. For me, that's a big deal, because I love food. I also love cooking, but I'm busy at work, have a baby, I'm still in school, blah blah blah, so I don't have as much time or energy as I'd like to spend on it.

Another really big resource is the "Well Fed 2" cookbook. My ATOT SS got it for me for Christmas...wasn't really familiar with it before, but the concept is "Paleo recipes for people who love to eat". Even includes recipes for stuff like ketchup & mayo! (that aren't crapified with HFCS & the like)

http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/about-well-fed-2/

I like to eat tasty food, so having recipes that are (1) healthy, and (2) compatible with my allergies is super awesome :thumbsup:

 

[RagingBITCH]

Awesome I have a gift card to B&N so I now have something to get there - thanks

PS - do you have a spiralizer or veggie shredder of sorts? Interested to see how that veggie pasta tastes. (Not spaghetti squash, but shredded veggies) IE, can you recommend one that is decent? Thanks again!

 

[VoteQuimby]

Oh also @VoteQuimby - not sure if you've heard of "Against All Grain", but I've been going through that book lately & it has a TON of great recipes:

http://againstallgrain.com/buy-it-now/

Funny you mention that, my wife's friend actually just bought us that book a month ago. My son is addicted to her banana bread recipe. It's nice too because it uses minimal coconut & almond flour ($$$). We've been fans since we stumbled upon her "White bread" recipe while back.

Interesting to find another person allergic to corn. Basically means you have to make everything from scratch. Plus there is a learning curve to find out what has corn in it and all the chemical ingredients that are derived from corn. Though some brands (health food store) are getting better. We even make our own Vanilla from potato vodka.

Another great place for recipes is Urban Poser urbanposer.blogspot.com

 

[blackdogdeek]

We've been fans since we stumbled upon her "White bread" recipe while back.

Could you post it or a source?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Could you post it or a source?

http://againstallgrain.com/2012/05/21/grain-free-white-bread-paleo-and-scd/ - maybe that's it? Either way that looks pretty darn good...might have to give that a shot this weekend.

 

[VoteQuimby]

http://againstallgrain.com/2012/05/21/grain-free-white-bread-paleo-and-scd/ - maybe that's it? Either way that looks pretty darn good...might have to give that a shot this weekend.

That's it. Fairly easy to make too. You can toast it and put on some homemade preserves or use it for french toast. Very versatile.

 

[blackdogdeek]

That's it. Fairly easy to make too. You can toast it and put on some homemade preserves or use it for french toast. Very versatile.

I want to toast it, put butter on it, then sop up the leftover runny egg yolks in my over-easy eggs. Can't wait to try this.

 

[RagingBITCH]

That's it. Fairly easy to make too. You can toast it and put on some homemade preserves or use it for french toast. Very versatile.

Awesome. Have you tried almond vs coconut flour out of curiosity? I don't have a preference one way or the other on flour, just thought I'd ask. I need to pick some up this weekend and will give it a shot (also going to use almond butter instead, as I just whipped up a fresh batch)

 

[VoteQuimby]

Awesome. Have you tried almond vs coconut flour out of curiosity? I don't have a preference one way or the other on flour, just thought I'd ask. I need to pick some up this weekend and will give it a shot (also going to use almond butter instead, as I just whipped up a fresh batch)

They both have their uses. I don't really have a preference. Almond flour doesn't have as strong of a taste as coconut flour I guess. We typically buy Bob's Red Mill coconut flour(Amazon) and Honeyville Almond Flour(http://shop.honeyville.com/blanched-almond-flour.html).

 

[Kaido]

Funny you mention that, my wife's friend actually just bought us that book a month ago. My son is addicted to her banana bread recipe. It's nice too because it uses minimal coconut & almond flour ($$$). We've been fans since we stumbled upon her "White bread" recipe while back.

Interesting to find another person allergic to corn. Basically means you have to make everything from scratch. Plus there is a learning curve to find out what has corn in it and all the chemical ingredients that are derived from corn. Though some brands (health food store) are getting better. We even make our own Vanilla from potato vodka.

Another great place for recipes is Urban Poser urbanposer.blogspot.com

Yeah, not too many of us around! I only know a few people IRL who have it, or at least, have it identified - I think a lot of people have it & don't know it, and just feel crappy all the time without knowing why. Are you guys on the Corn Allergy Facebook page? It's a great resource:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornallergy/

Haven't heard of Urban Poser, thanks! Yeah, it took me the better part of the past year to get a handle on the allergy...but I feel good 24/7 now, which is huge for me. I probably have 25 appliances at this point...dehydrator, food processor, etc. The additional twist is that my kiddo is also soy & nut-free, so I can't use any almond flour for his stuff. We've had pretty good luck with coconut flour lately tho, like for cupcakes. Thank goodness for the Internet (recipes) & Amazon (weird ingredients & unique tools)!

 

[Kaido]

Awesome I have a gift card to B&N so I now have something to get there - thanks

PS - do you have a spiralizer or veggie shredder of sorts? Interested to see how that veggie pasta tastes. (Not spaghetti squash, but shredded veggies) IE, can you recommend one that is decent? Thanks again!

Yes. The Inspiralized website (& e-book) are the best resource:

http://www.inspiralized.com/

I have this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Paderno-World-...dp/B0007Y9WHQ/

Although this one is advertised as being better: (I've had no problems with my Paderno, however)

http://www.amazon.com/Tri-blade-Vege...dp/B00GRIR87M/

I mostly make zucchini noodles. 2 or 3 green squashes do the trick for a plateful. You can boil them, eat them raw, or fry them up. I just fry them up. They're pretty good! Even my wife (Italian) likes them, and she makes pasta from scratch...

 

[Kaido]

Awesome. Have you tried almond vs coconut flour out of curiosity? I don't have a preference one way or the other on flour, just thought I'd ask. I need to pick some up this weekend and will give it a shot (also going to use almond butter instead, as I just whipped up a fresh batch)

I use both, but I only use almond flour only after the little dude goes to bed, since he's nut-allergic, so my usage is minimal. I've also read that almond flour maybe isn't the best flour to use a lot:

http://empoweredsustenance.com/avoid-almond-flour/

I don't mind using it occasionally though. I do have an amazing chocolate-chip cookie recipe using almond meal (it's like coarse almond flour) & coconut oil. They are ridiculously enjoyable to eat:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/78284306/Chocolate Chip Cookies

btw, if you want to get more into coconut, check out the Coconut Mama on Facebook - she posts links to amazing recipes all the time:

https://www.facebook.com/thecoconutmama

 

[RagingBITCH]

I use both, but I only use almond flour only after the little dude goes to bed, since he's nut-allergic, so my usage is minimal. I've also read that almond flour maybe isn't the best flour to use a lot:

http://empoweredsustenance.com/avoid-almond-flour/

I don't mind using it occasionally though. I do have an amazing chocolate-chip cookie recipe using almond meal (it's like coarse almond flour) & coconut oil. They are ridiculously enjoyable to eat:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/78284306/Chocolate Chip Cookies

btw, if you want to get more into coconut, check out the Coconut Mama on Facebook - she posts links to amazing recipes all the time:

https://www.facebook.com/thecoconutmama

Ok made the bread recipe last night. Looked more like wheat than white bread (made a new batch of almond butter, so that caused the discoloration) and didn't rise as much as the picture did, but it's good. Interesting though. I will say, toasted it tastes a lot more like regular bread.

Choc cookies - made those too lol. It was about the same recipe as the one you posted. A bit more crumbly than I was thinking though, but still pretty tasty!

Coconut vs almond - read an article last night about the dangers. Is what it is, I'm not overly worried about it when we've cut out all the other crap out of my diet. Thanks for all the links K!

 

[Kaido]

Ok made the bread recipe last night. Looked more like wheat than white bread (made a new batch of almond butter, so that caused the discoloration) and didn't rise as much as the picture did, but it's good. Interesting though. I will say, toasted it tastes a lot more like regular bread.

Choc cookies - made those too lol. It was about the same recipe as the one you posted. A bit more crumbly than I was thinking though, but still pretty tasty!

Coconut vs almond - read an article last night about the dangers. Is what it is, I'm not overly worried about it when we've cut out all the other crap out of my diet. Thanks for all the links K!

Yeah I mean, everything will kill you. It's all about moderation. I just read an article about why one baker quit using coconut flour in their recipes - number one, it caused stomach distress in a lot of people (it's super high in fiber, I guess), and number two, the quality differed from brand to brand. Well not so much the quality as the consistency, such that people were getting wildly different results based on which brand of flour they chose to use.

But for stuff like those grain-free cookies, it's really amazing how good stuff can taste without your traditional sugar/egg/flour combo! And you don't have to feel like you just ate a bunch of junk food...I can polish off half a batch of those almond-flour cooies & still feel great! I just picked up a couple bags of garbanzo bean flour to start making some recipes this week:

http://www.mynaturalfamily.com/recipes/breakfast/my-favorite-garbanzo-bean-recipes/

This Cookie Dough Bites recipe is the BOMB:

http://www.texanerin.com/2012/04/grain-free-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-bites.html

I literally make these every week. They are super awesome! It's fun to try out alternative stuff like this too...I never would have thought to combine chickpeas with cookies, you know? And yet they turned out fantastic!

 

[RagingBITCH]

Ok after two solid weeks on Paleo, I dropped the ball when I went on vacation the past week. Wheat, dairy, and booze aplenty.

Learnings: it made me be a little smarter as to what I was putting in my body. Sugars, refined (foods), etc. I had a decent diet even before that, but it really made me take a look at even the "healthy" bars and snacks that had 8,000 ingredients in it. I noticed a big drop in productivity and energy the first week, which I limited even fruit intake pretty severely. I upped it the second week and improved, but it was hard focusing/doing anything at work. Everything suffered.

Off: I noticed more bowel issues/indigestion once I got off it. That first granola bar did a number on my stomach. But the weird thing is, I felt way more energized/better even eating out than I did on strict Paleo. (Not counting fried foods)

Overall: I can't say it's for me long term. It's made me smarter about what I eat and what I put into my body, but damnit if I'm going to be a walking zombie all day because I limited *natural* carbohydrates/sugars into my body. My goal moving forward is to be more conscious of what I eat, but not worry about skipping bread or beans because it's a supposed agent of evil.

 

[MiniDoom]

I do keto all winter and more of a paleo diet in the spring and summer during bicycling season (race bikes) when I need more energy. Been about three years now and have had great success keeping fat down. I do miss beer sometimes.