Hello -
finally have managed to log in, after much frustration (told me my email address doesn't exist - huh, cheek!).
Have been reading a lot about paleo, due to several reasons. Used to do Atkins (1 year), and it 'kind' of worked, but I always felt like I was missing something in my diet. I didn't lose that much, but it's not like I'm overweight anyway, I just have this annoying bunch of flab round my stomach (wish this was fashionable then I would be a goddess!). Honestly, it's like God took the fat from my bum and put it on my tum instead!
I never really strayed far from induction, but had to drink decaf coffee with sacharrin and cream to try to get rid of some of the cravings /incomplete feelings I was getting. Also, I got very tired quite often and suffered from depression. Other than this I was in a far better position than before (I am bulimic and making protein/fat basis for eating seemed to help vastly with constant fluctuating blood sugar levels).
Soooo - one day a couple of months ago I was really fed up, especially with the complete lack of choice when it came to fruit on atkins. I live in Chile, and there is a huge amount of fruit here, but not that much in the way of berries (a few strawberries and blackberries in the Summer, but that's it).
I decided to experiment. One afternoon I thought sod it, and ate several pieces of fruit (note had eaten large omelette couple of hours before). Something just clicked. I had been eating tons of veggies, but nothing was 'completing' my nutrition. I felt tons better, and it wasn't just blood sugar, as the feeling stayed for the rest of the day.
Ok, sorry to be so long-winded. So then, I started eating raw things, and loads of fruit etc. All very good for the first couple of days, however noticed that I wasn't sleeping at all, and also that I was needing to eat every hour or so. I feel pretty foolish writing this now, but I'm glad I did this as it really taught me a lot about what my body REALLY needs in the long run.
True to the raw way (or some anyway), started eating lots of avocados and nanas to douse huge bread cravings I started getting. Didn't work, and was becoming very nervy and irritable as well. Bulimia reared its huge and ugly head once more and I got trapped into low serotonin, bingeing, purgeing, exacerbating low serotonin etc etc.
Cutting this ol story short, I finally let go to my body once more, and ate some eggs. Yet again, dramatic difference in the way I was feeling. The next few days I ate A LOT of eggs, and also some goats cheese, mixing all this in with a lot of lettuce, tomatoes and of course, the beloved fruit. Gradually I started to add in more protein and fat, and less fruit. I have also become interested in eating low GI fruit like apples and plums, which seem to agree with me without sending my blood sugar overboard.
I now eat lots of salmon, beef, eggs, seafood along with a huge amount of salad (one really good thing from eating raw is that I enjoy the taste of lettuce now), followed by fruit. Or in the morning I will start with fruit, primarily because that is what my body is saying to me (quite strongly). I do trust my body, as due to the amount of strict natural eating I have been doing (whether atkins or raw), I do not have cravings for anything unnatural or processed anymore. Anything I do crave is either meat, or fruit, or vegetable. So at least I have achieved this.
Ok, so what I would like to know, is, am I going to put on a lot of weight eating this way? How much fruit does an average paleo eat? I just read that it is better to buffer all the protein with decent amounts of fruit and veggies to avoid calcium loss? What do you all think of this?
Ok, I think that's enough for my first post. Sorry it went on for so long, but I've been wanting to write for ages!
Loops