so so i just started doing this paleo diet thing - feels like it should be bullshit. is it?

Sweet potatoes\yams are just amazingly good. Went to my favorite asian market today and got orange, yellow, white, and purple (!) fleshed ones.

I set off all the smoke detectors with my stir fry tonight. Oops. Burned the garlic, but everything else was fine and tasted great. We are trying those coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and the taste is nearly identical - maybe just a bit less salty.

I'm interested in how you find the paleo comfort food - I've been eying it. Mr. Jaq got me the gigantic Everyday Paleo book for xmas, and I already had the Well-Fed book (which is really good). Everyday Paleo is only about 1/3 recipes.

There's a huge intersection between paleo, Crossfit and libertarianism.

Less paleo-specific but the most granola (gluten-free, homemade laundry soap, co-op bringing in Alaskan salmon/elk/grassfed beef, etc.) people I know personally are evangelical Christians who adore Ron Paul.

tonight i'm making the langostino bisque from the paleo comfort foods cookbook (the recipe is actually for shrimp bisque, but this'll work). it subs coconut oil, coconut milk, almond flour, and arrowroot for the cream and thickener.

i thought paleo came from parkour dudes.

get bent - one of the things I've found with almond flour: Bob's Red Mill brand is grittier than Honeyville Farms.

okay, one thing i'm finding with this recipe (making it now) is that it calls for too much broth and coconut milk*, so it needs to reduce down at the end. but i did add in twice the amount of brandy.

*actually, it just said "one can" of coconut milk, which isn't helpful if the stuff you have comes in a box. i just used a cup.

making the onion soup from the same cookbook -- the house smells like caramelized onions, it's killing me. recipe calls for red wine and sherry but i also have some leftover brandy from the bisque. this is gonna be nice and boozy. hic.

I think I might need that cookbook!

OK guys help. I am trying this again after being force fed chef food by my dad over Christmas for 2 weeks and basically doing nothing but eating and getting drunk that entire time. I've been doing this high fat/ high protein very low carb (~20 a day) vegetarian thing for a week now and I FEEL LIKE SHIT. I'm exhausted and literally feel like I'm going to just collapse. Also I have muscle cramps in my legs and just feel like I'm not eating enough something or other. Also, I miss carbs and this fucking sucks! I am trying to stick it out but it's pretty tough when I feel this bad. :(

i have no clue if this helps but leg cramps is v. often a hydration issue for me.

Cramps = metallic salts. Magnesium, calcium, potassium. Maybe you can't have a banana (too much sugar?) but figure out what you can have and eat several of it.

x-post - I just looked in my book and it seems a lot of the stuff I'm feeling could be a hydration thing and I didn't drink much water over the weekend. Orbs I am gonna go grab a banana too just in case. If I still feel like this tomorrow then fuck this - I seriously feel awful. I don't think I could do this for another day if I don't improve.

What's your main protein source? What are your fat sources?

xp If you find you're missing carbs but don't want to completely cheat, eat some fruit-- I usually have an apple or an orange before swimming-- or eat starchier veggies like carrots

And I am very very sick of spinach and eggs and tofu. "This diet is not about deprivation" my ass.

x-post

Most of the protein is eggs, cheese, tofu, nuts and Greek yogurt. I swear to God I have eaten more of these things in the past week than in the last two decades of my life combined. Fats - butter, coconut oil, olive oil and from nuts and cheese mostly. OK that might be a slight exaggeration but I'm cranky!

If I still feel like this tomorrow then fuck this - I seriously feel awful. I don't think I could do this for another day if I don't improve.

If your body feels like shit, don't do it. I feel like this is how people learn to hate eating. Eating is a required part of being alive, so we would be happier if we enjoyed it rather than dreaded it.

That sentence was a little out of order. The exaggeration was about eating more of the protein foods in the past week not about the fats. Ugh.

I'm just saying -- you sound pretty serious. I meant to say that supportively. I don't follow any particular "diet" because I viscerally hate being told what to do.

LL - Yeah, you're right. I'm going to give it another day or two mostly so I can eat all these expensive cheese I now have in the fridge but unless I start to feel better I'm done. This is not fun at all.

i mean, you sound pretty upset about it and uncomfortable as well. i feel like your relationship with food -- everyone's -- is more valuable than your -- everyone's -- need to follow a particular diet that may not be working for you/them. i am here because people are sometimes talking about cooking healthy foods and that is a topic of interest for me, but as soon as the convo turns to weight loss, i bolt.

not that people shouldn't talk about that if they want to -- none of my business, is all

I'm upset because I want a bagel.

:(

OK, I may also be exaggerating for effect but not by much. I'm just jealous of all these people who say they feel better than ever once they go low carb because I can't remember feeling much worse.

No, going low carb made me feel like shit. For me, the best thing about paleo is it is moderate carbs (I eat around 100g/day now - ate 20 or less/day for almost 3 years prior).

Make sure you get enough salt and drink plenty of water, btw.

tried paleo out for a while but don't want to live a life w/o tasty snackz. what i got from it, though, is i eat way more vegetables and wholefood protein than before and definitely feel the difference. there is no way i'm ever giving up pizza, though.

relationship with food is interesting, though ... before paleo i saw food as solely a pleasure thing. but it's really about nourishment. i found that pretty helpful wrt getting in the habit of eating primarily veggies and wholefood protein for my meals.

we've been eating bad (sweets, chips, bread, etc) since christmas. but we are getting back on the cave horse. so easy to go back to old unhealthy routines. been eating bad for so long so it makes sense. but i really ENJOY the paleo thing and i feel great doing it and new love for greens is such a nice thing this late in life. made mostly paleo beef stew the other day (did have a couple of regular potatoes in there) and ate it for three days and could kinda eat it every day. wanna do like that.

I'm sorry you're having trouble ENBB :(

If you want a bagel specifically why not have a bagel? If you're gonna cheat you should cheat triumphantly

LL is kinda right. No reason to power through if it's actually not doing you any good. Maybe you need to regroup first.
but def keep an eye on yr hydration. For me the key to hydration is get a fun water bottle that you enjoy drinking out of :)

I would just put booze in it

or that

DAMN YOU DJP

Have you heard about DJP's glowing blue cube diet

I have already had 1 liter today and am about to fill up a second. I did not have a bagel but I did have some extra carby vegetables with my fucking egg fucking salad for lunch. Like I said, I'm gonna give it another day or two and then reevaluate. Thanks for the tips though guys.

I cheat in tiny increments. I made a big paleo-ish meal last night, with some cheating, for four people. Hangar steaks with wine and shallots (wine is cheating), cabbage gratin (topped with a little bit of panko crumbs-- cheating), cucumber salad (with a tablespoon of sugar in the dressing-- cheating), baked broccoli (I grated the tiniest amount of parmesan-- cheating). While I cooked the steaks we snacked on homemade kale chips for which I didn't cheat and I'm eating them right now.

Oh and I'm drinking as normal :( which was the main reason I went on this diet :( oh well

Just to clarify, I've had a liter of water not a liter of booze.

I'm on my third week of doing paleo. The first week I felt like garbage, I think that's pretty common. Then it got better and I'm really enjoying it. Or maybe enjoying is the wrong word but I don't find it to be a hardship. Didn't quit drinking but I did cut out beer (sticking to red wine or bourbon).

Let me tell you how I make the prospect of eating a hard boiled egg for breakfast every morning seem absolutely delicious: I cover it in pink Himalayan salt. I used to use smoked salt but we know what happened to that. ;_____;

Also I put it on a bialy which is not allowed here but fuck it, anyway, that's it. Egg + salt = Mmmmmm!

Oh I put mountains of salt on them and I love them. Pink salt sounds fun though. Wait - what happened to your smoked salt??

TJ's stopped making it because of LOW SALES at the same time as their flower pepper, btw. Lechera and I had a long cry about it on the TJ's thread.

;_;

WHat about salt and a little smoked paprika? Smoked paprika is amazing and good on eggs too.

good idea!!

also i object to "eating what you want" = "cheating"
it leads to unhealthy thinking imo/e

Most of the protein is eggs, cheese, tofu, nuts and Greek yogurt.

I thought that too but theoretically it should be OK.
ENBB if you're still feeling shitty tomorrow maybe you should try adding pulses
Make some dhal or something

Or drink a liter of booze ;)

Depending on where flax seed fits into your approach to eating atm, this is pretty great for breakfast and feels satisfyingly carby, especially with apple cut up and added before nuking it. And/or yoghurt or a bit of butter on top.

figuring out that sweet potatoes were a-ok was a big discovery for me

why are sweet potatoes a-ok? seems like more sugar would be worse for you (compared with a tuber)?

I don't know chapter and verse, but they are considered more nutrient-dense and are ok for doing paleo. regular potatoes are "empty carbs." something like that.