How many of you do paleo

[Zizzle]

What are rare eggs, etc.?

Sorry! By rare I mean I rarely eat them / Eat them very infrequently.

One word of caution on the "regular" (as opposed to "autoimmune") paleo diet. It turns out I tolerate most nuts, but lots of paleo recipes encourage trying to replicate non-paleo baked goods with paleo look-alikes made with lots of almond meal. I was addicted to almond meal cookies for a spell, but they were not doing me any favors MC-wise. Not all paleo foods are gut friendly. In fact, not all paleo recipes were likely to be eaten by paleolithic people -- you think they ground almonds into flour for baking sweet treats? You get the point...Keep it simple.

[brandy]

I eat mostly paleo. Breakfast, Lunch and dinner are always protein, overcooked veggie and a chunk of sweet potato or sometimes a side rice pasta (not paleo) for dinner. Almost nothing I eat has an ingredient list. I had to ditch soy free earth balance margarine as it was causing brain/anxiety issues, I had to ditch Trader Joe's Enjoy Life cookies "free of the most common allergens" as they were causing brain/anxiety /depression issues.

I have rice pasta as a side for dinner @ 3 or 4 x per week. I have black and gold soy free chocolate rarely--perhaps a square or two every 8 weeks. I have GF bread maybe once every 10 or 12 weeks usually associated w/ business travel and boars head GF meats. I have paleo muffins when I travel. They are not a regular part of my diet.

[Lesley]

Sheila - how I can identify with you regarding children's troubles. My son has been through a terrible year, to the point where I was really scared about him. I think he is coming out of the depression, and I will literally do anything to help him do so. Now he has to focus all his energy and talent (considerable) on getting his life back on track.
I have also been through imploding marriages (mine and those of my kids), and know how awful it is to deal with.

Re: paleo. Right now I am on very restricted food choices. White potatoes and oatmeal are NOT paleo, but I have so few foods I can eat I keep them in there. I eat TONS of potato chips to prevent more weight loss, but am hoping that I can add in a few foods over the next couple of weeks, and maybe throw the potatoes out.
I, too, do not buy anything that needs an ingredient list. At least nothing that has an ingredient I can't read, don't know, or is described as "natural" something or other (eg flavorings), and I also make everything from scratch. Since my back accident standing is really tough for me, so for a long time I could only eat whatever took me the least time to prepare and clean up.
When I can eat beef again I will be able to eat the beef jerky I made, which my son informs me it's the best he's ever had. Hopefully that will become my snack rather than potato chips.

I tried to explain to my doctor what a miserable illness this is, and it is only "benign" in that it doesn't kill you. It kills your quality of life and that's what is so hard to deal with.

[Sheila]

Lesley, yes our kids, despite their ages, are always a first concern and can generate considerable stress, both good and bad.

I hadn't thought about beef jerky at all. When I see it in the store it always looks terrible. Would you post your recipe? Right now I am starving! It is 2 hours until dinner because I can't justify eating dinner at 4 o'clock. There is nothing I can eat, no snack in the house, that is safe. A piece of beef jerky would be a great, safe snack.

Before I had my spinal fusion in 2007, I also couldn't stand without extreme pain. I used a rolling stool to get around the kitchen. It was high enough for me to reach the counter and stable enough not to tip over. It was a life saver until I could have the surgery. The one yoga pose I am trying to do daily is the tree pose to help with balance issues. When I get on the floor to do a little yoga, Rosie thinks I'm down there to play and walks all over me. Not conducive to getting much yoga accomplished.

I hope you begin to get some benefit from the LDN soon.

Sheila W

[ldubois7]

Zizzle....what do you use the potato starch to make?

[Lesley]

Sheila,
I know how you feel. I am chomping my way through a big bag of potato chips, although I swore I wouldn't, for the same reason. Hungry, and nothing to eat.

I don't like the usual jerky flavors. To sweet, too reliant on soy and all sorts of other stuff.
This recipe is based on the flavor of S. African biltong, which is dried any meat, usually beef or game, and has a WAY better flavor that US jerky IMO.
Use a lean beef - sirloin, top round, flank steak, rump are all good. Partially freeze the meat - easier to slice. Cut in thin slices - I don't like it too thin. Take away as much fat and gristle as you can. I keep it for Licorice. I mix it in with her (raw) food. She loves it.
Fat goes rancid if you leave it on. I slice against the grain.

3 lbs lean meat of your choice.
Proportions of seasoning to 3 lbs are more or less these:
1/4 cup black pepper, coarsley ground
1/4 cup coriander, coarsley ground
1/4 cup normal table salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
8 ounce bottle vinegar. I like malt, but it's no good because it has gluten so I use apple cider.

Directions:
Mix the Pepper, coriander, salt and brown sugar together thoroughly.
Place a layer of meat in a container and sprinkle lightly with the vinegar.
Sprinkle the spices over the top of the meat without completely drowning it.
Place another layer of meat on top of the first and repeat the vinegar and spices steps until all the meat is used up.
Leave in the fridge for 3 hours
Remove and mix it all up thoroughly so that all the spices are evenly spread through the meat.
Drain any excess fluids from the container and return to the fridge for a further three hours. The longer it stays in the fridge the stronger the spice flavors become. (I left it overnight and it was too strong.
Remove and place in your dehydrator until dried to your satisfaction. My dehydrator only took about 4 hours. I left the thicker pieces in longer.

Keep in fridge or freeze. Vacuum pack. I have a little gadget that does this efficiently.

When I can eat nuts again (who knows when?) I will dry them to make nut flour rather than nut meal for baking.

Enjoy!

[Sheila]

Thanks so much Lesley. I don't have a dehydrator and would have to buy one or borrow one to make the jerky. I'm also wondering about the vinegar in the recipe and histamine reactions. Beef jerky would be ideal for snacks and traveling. I think I'll try to find a commerical jerky at Whole Foods, give it a try and hope I can tolerate it. If so, I will make your recipe for sure.

Thanks again,
Sheila W

[ldubois7]

Shiela,

Jean was very happy with an all natural jerky she ordered a few months back. I can't recall the name, but you could message her.

[JFR]

Shiela,

Jean was very happy with an all natural jerky she ordered a few months back. I can't recall the name, but you could message her.

I have gotten the plain turkey jerky at Wellness Meats. They also make beef jerky. I like the turkey jerky but it is a little pricy.

http://www.grasslandbeef.com/Categories.bok

Jean

[tex]

Remember that dried foods in general tend to be high-histamine foods, because they grow mold (that remains invisible in the early stages), and mold appears to be the primary source of histamines in foods (IMO).

Tex

[Sheila]

Gee, Tex, I hoped you wouldn't say that!

Sheila W

[tex]

Well, that doesn't mean that you won't be able to tolerate jerky. It just means that you may have to minimize the ageing process, because the histamine level increases with time. And/or, you may have to limit the total quantity of high-histamine foods that you eat on any given day.

Freezing would stabilize it (prevent the histamine level from increasing), but I'm not sure how that will affect the other characteristics of the jerky. If it's vacuum sealed, I would think that freezing would be OK, but I've never tried it, so I'm just guessing. IOW, you might be able to keep most of it frozen, and just take out what you need each day, in time to allow thawing.

Tex

[JFR]

Well, that doesn't mean that you won't be able to tolerate jerky. It just means that you may have to minimize the ageing process, because the histamine level increases with time. And/or, you may have to limit the total quantity of high-histamine foods that you eat on any given day.

Freezing would stabilize it (prevent the histamine level from increasing), but I'm not sure how that will affect the other characteristics of the jerky. If it's vacuum sealed, I would think that freezing would be OK, but I've never tried it, so I'm just guessing. IOW, you might be able to keep most of it frozen, and just take out what you need each day, in time to allow thawing.

Tex

I have never made my own jerky but I have bought turkey jerky. I keep it frozen until I eat it. It works for me, no problem.

Jean

[tex]

Thanks,
Tex

[MBombardier]

Well, that's a huge light bulb. It's amazing how many times I've heard about histamines and I am just now getting it that the reason I react to what should be perfectly safe beef jerky is likely the histamines. Thanks, Tex.

And thanks, Jean, for the info on Wellness Meats and freezing the jerky. I am going to check this out.

Sheila, I am very sorry about your son and his troubles, and your son, too, Lesley. No matter how old our children are they are still our children and we ache for their hurts.

I have eaten a generally Paleo diet for maybe two years and a strict Paleo diet for over three months now. I just wasn't doing as well as I want, more that three years into the healing process. I started that because I read Chris Kresser's Your Personal Paleo Code book. He recommends going on a strict Paleo diet for at least 30 days and then very slowly adding back foods you love to see if they can be tolerated. He recommends dairy first, and I tried that. Um... no. So my only cheat is Daiya cheddar cheese, which is made from tapioca starch. Tapioca is technically Paleo, but Daiya cheeses have some brown rice syrup which of course is not Paleo.

I have just started reading The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body by Sarah Ballantyne. I am really looking forward to this book. Sarah has a clear and concise way of explaining things (like Tex ). I like her blog, which is called PaleoMom, and also Against All Grain. Both these blogs have many recipes that are nut-free as well as Paleo.

The benefits to me of Paleo are that it's an easy way to eat and I feel so much better (current stress-induced flare not included).