Shirley and anyone else struggling with the diet.

[Matthew]

Shirley.
I noticed in the journal area that your test results have slipped some, perhaps because you have moved away from the paleao diet. You had some amazing results from it in the past. ( I was so impressed at your results) Don’t let it deter you from trying to continue with the diet . Far be it from me to try to convince anyone that changing everything about ones diet to accommodate MC is easy. Their is not a week that goes by that I don’t have to set a specific time aside to plan meals, plan what I will look for at the market, what I hope to buy, what I can buy and then what I will do with it for the 21 meals I fix for myself a week plus snacks, plus family members.

Whew, just writing that makes me realize how much work it is plus working fifty hours a week. It’s a wonder any of us can do it at all. It is my joy that it can be done and is far more enjoyable than anything I used to eat.

Polly’s so simple “Sticky Chicken “ is just the kind of easy thing that I love to hear about. Thanks so much Polly.

I miss the old GF kitchen where there was lots of talk about GF food and how to cook it Paleo or not , and how to do it at all. We can do it just as well here.

Now that fall is upon us I would love to hear what all the other dieters are coming up with along with any of those just starting out.

Love,

Matthew

[kate_ce1995]

Hi Matthew,

It is a lot of extra work isn't it. But you are right. Its worth it. I went to Milwaukee Labor Day weekend for a wedding and was way off my diet. I felt so sick coming home on the airplane it wasn't funny. I've been reasonably gluten free since and I do fee better! (which I knew, but my commitment has been reaffirmed).

I am looking forward to indoor cooking. I'm a bit grilled out. But the number of days its too cold, or rainy or too dark are starting to increase. For me, I LOVE beef stew. I just throw it in the crock pot. Geoff wishes it were thicker even though I put corn starch in. But of course I wish I could put onions in, but he hates them, so I guess we're even.

I used to do a really quick and easy (and I don't know if it works for you MIers) chicken breasts in the crock pot with a can or 2 of diced tomatos (I usually got the cans with basil and oregano). I still do that for lunch food sometimes in the winter. Its great over rice, or as just a piece of chicken.

I love tacos too. And with or without a shell, (i.e., just taco meat and veggies) makes a nice meal. In fact one of the places we go out to eat, I almost always order fajitas and then just don't eat the wraps.

Anyone else got any ideas. I spend hours watching the food network hoping some of the tips rub off on me.

Oh yeah, and I'm dying to try, cranberry injected chicken or turkey breasts. I think I'll do them in the crokc pot the first time around to make sure they stay moist. But the smoked turkey I had at a bbq fest this summer that had cranberries injected into it was AWSOME! (I can do without the pine nuts that he also used....didn't really do anything except make the turkey crunchy...the cranberries of course add moisture).

[starfire]

Thanks Matthew,
I am trying harder again, and I am hoping I will eventually be as committed as you and others here.

I just posted in my journal that I have Polly's Sticky Chicken started in the fridge.

I'm not sure I'm going to try and be totally Paleo just yet. I did do that last year and was going great but then got derailed. I think I'll start off slower this time. For instance, I think I'll keep potatoes in my diet for a while and I do love cheese & sour cream so I don't think I'm ready to give them up at this point. Just thought maybe I wouldn't get "derailed" so bad again if I kept a few favorites as long as gluten isn't involved. Also trying to keep carbs at minimum except for fruits & veggies of course.

Katy, you hang in there. Are you taking any meds for MC? I can't remember. I imagine I'd be better able to stay on plan if I were off meds because I'd KNOW then that I would pay a high price. Since I'm on the Asacol I might feel cruddy but I'm not throwing up or having D.

Thanks again,
Love, Shirley

[kate_ce1995]

Hi SHirley,

I am not on meds. My doc never offered any (other than lomotil which did nada/zip) But I was able to get my D undercontrol by rotating drugs (i.e., not using ibuprofen but switching to Tylenol for headaches and Vioxx for cramps...I'm now okay with ibuprofen again...the vioxx even quit working (no D but no pain relief) and rotated again to naproxen), but found the gluten sensitivity through aches and pains and reading and trying here.

I like your idea of leaving in a few favorites. Especially in the winter, grilled cheese is a favorite of mine (and actually the last 2 nights because its quick and easy) and potatos are easy...I'm not a huge fan of mashed potatos anyway, but I like them from time to time for a change from rice (which I know on strict paleo doesn't work either, but at least it works for gf).

I was on an antidepressant until July though and as I got farther and farther from weaning off of it, the sicker and sicker I felt when ingesting gluten. Of course it was also longer and longer since I'd been terribly good about it. Anyway, I think the antidepressant suppressed a lot of bad feelings including those of being sick.

You hang in there too. We just got our freshly butchered beef (black angus from a local farm) last night. So the freezer is stocked. I want to find a source for fresh chicken as well.

Katy

[Polly]

Hi All!

Matthew, you are welcome for the recipe. Let me know how you like it! The chicken just melts off of the bones.

You know, there is something else that I have realized since I have had to be on special diets. Matthew has alluded to it, I think, but I don't know if we have discussed it openly. It is the fact that I am doing something special for ME, that I am putting myself first and doing what is best for ME. We spend so much of our lives doing for other people that we almost feel guilty or selfish when we do something that is really good for us. What could be more important (not just to ourselves but to those around us) than to do whatever is necessary to give us optimal health? We DESERVE it......whether it is the extra time or expense involved in special diets, exercising, meditating, etc. I really feel much of the time that I am "honoring" myself by taking that extra step to do what is best for my body and soul. Does this make sense to anyone else, or am I being a babbling idiot here?

Ahhhhhh, Katy! You mentioned the magic words - grilled cheese. Lucky you - it is just a vague but fond memory for me! LOL!

Shirley, easing in the the best way to go! Be sure to let us know how the chicken turned out.

Love,

Polly

[tex]

Polly,

I think your comments about "doing something special for yourself" is right on the money. After all, if we don't take our situation seriously enough to do that, why should we expect others to take it seriously?

And, you're right on target with your suggestion that your health is just as important to your loved ones, (and others in your life), as their own health. No one enjoys knowing that someone else is sick, or doing something that is damaging to their health, (well, normal people don't, anyway).

Love,
Tex

[harvest_table]

What do Paleolithic diet researchers talk about during a picnic. Paleolithic nutrition, of course. We discussed the new work coming out in the field, we discussed our differences on the saturated fat issue, we discussed his new research interest, which is diet and epithelial growth factor (EGF). He is doing some real groundbreaking work on what happens to EGF receptors with a non-Paleolithic diet. His data is so powerful that I won't be surprised if he gets in published in either Nature or Science, the world' s two leading scientific publications. I don't want to spill the beans before he's published, but I can tell you the take home lesson: don't eat wheat, rice, or corn and drink milk.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/arch ... in_ta.html

This is a fun link between Eades and Cordain.


Love,
Joanna

[Polly]

Joanna!

You find the BEST websites! I found this blog about 2 of my paleo "heros" fascinating! I was even inspired to make an entry myself!

The first thing I noticed was how thin and healthy their families looked in the photo of the picnic. It looked like a photo of how people looked in the 40s or 50s, didn't it? And I loved the wine discussion!

I am excited to read Cordains' next book - I've never heard of EGF (epithilel growth factor), have you? And the fact that rice and corn are no-nos right along with wheat is interesting.

Thanks again! BTW, would you mind putting the URL in the Info in Diet Forum? I don't want to lose it - it is a great way to stay on the cutting edge of research I think.

Love,

Polly

P.S. Matthew and Wayne and Shirley and Mike and Luce and all - lots of interesting stuff on the "main" page of this blog too!

[mle_ii]

I am excited to read Cordains' next book - I've never heard of EGF (epithilel growth factor), have you? And the fact that rice and corn are no-nos right along with wheat is interesting.

Not sure I've heard of EGF, though I have heard of other growth factors that play in epithilel growth. Perhaps they're making up some terminology for the average joe.

Also, I've yet to see a study (but then I haven't looked yet) saying that rice was bad in any way. Wonder how they support this view of it being bad.

Mike

[tex]

Hi Polly,

That certainly is an interesting blog site. For example, I'm sure the comments about the origins of the strain of E. coli that has been so troublesome, is right on target. Grain fed cattle do indeed have a problem with acid imbalance, due to high concentrations of grain in their ration. In fact, large amounts of calcium carbonate are routinely added to their rations to keep the pH from getting severely out of line.

Like most of the producers of consumable goods in this world, the cattlemen produce a product that they perceive as best reflecting the demands of the marketplace. Consumers vote for their choice, every time they buy beef. The market works - the products most in demad bring the highest prices and/or the hightest demand levels. If consumers really want grassfed beef. they have to vote for it by actually buying it. Writing about it, and talking about it, does not count as a vote. It's kinda like all the hoopla a few years ago about the public demanding low fat food from the fast-food chains, and yet the lion's share of them consistently voted for the "fatburgers" every time they went to a burger joint.

When I was a kid, we always butchered our own beef, (and pork, poultry, etc.). Now this was half a century ago, back when there were still a lot of grassfed cattle slaughtered, and since we grew our own livestock, we obviously had a choice of how we fed the animals. So what do you think we did? Yep, we almost always finished them on grain, in a simplified version of what the huge feedlots do today. Why did we do that? Because everytime we did that, the flavor of the beef was much more palatable than the grass fed beef.

In view of that, I'm guessing that a cattle market dominated by grassfed beef is going to be an unattainable goal, unless/until this world runs out of adequate supplies of grain. Therefore, issues with virulent forms of E. coli, and other "selectively" enhanced pathogens, will problably always be a fact of life, at least into the foreseeable future.

Love,
Tex

[kate_ce1995]

Tex,

Does "finishing" the cows off with grain to affect the flavor, have enough of an impact on the meat to be the same as grain fed beef though? Just curious. We just stocked our freezer with a half a locally grown cow. Don't know how they feed theirs, but at least know it was fresh butchered, and hasn't been sitting in the grocery for ages, and wasn't injected with weird stuff.

Katy

[harvest_table]

I am excited to read Cordains' next book - I've never heard of EGF (epithilel growth factor), have you? And the fact that rice and corn are no-nos right along with wheat is interesting.

Looking forward to reading that book also Polly! Here's an interesting article about epithelial growth factor receptors- (EGFR) that mentions Cordain as a contributor . Hum...I've just scanned it quickly.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Tgd- ... =clnk&cd=4

I agree with you Eades and Cordain are tops in my book second only to Tex and the great guy's that hang out here!

Bookmark his blog site- it's updated regulary by he and his wife. Lot's of interesting stuff.

I also noticed how great they looked (each holding a glass of wine!) and how lean and healthy the children are. I'm taking these guy's more seriously everyday- the EGF thing is interesting.

Love,
Joanna

[tex]

Hi Katy,

"Finishing" on grain, typically implies feeding a ration with a significant amount of grain for a period of several months, which is basically what the feedlots do. They feed grain long enough that fat shows up as "marbling" in the muscles. All cattle are grass fed for the first 6 to 12 months of their lives, and they will get fat on grass, they just won't have the muscle marbling that buyers look for, that will allow the meat to be classified as "choice" grade.

Note that there is a large difference in forage quality in various parts of the country. Where I live, grass quality, (forage quality), generally is not nearly as good as it is in many other areas. If forage quality is higher, (higher protein, with adequate minerals from the soil), it will certainly make a difference in the quality, (and flavor), of the meat.\

Cow beef is usually grass fed, whereas the grain fed beef you see in the supermarket is normally from calves finished in a feedlot. Some unscrupulous stores advertise grain fed beef as grass fed, based on the fact that all cattle are grass fed for at least the first part of their lives. IOW, the stores neglect to mention the little detail of 4 to 6 months spent on a grain ration, just prior to slaughter.

Tex

[Matthew]

Shirley and Katy

From Loren Cordain’s Paleo Diet NewsletterCourier Vol2 No3

“In my original book, the Paleo Diet, I spoke of the 85:15 rule - meaning that if one were 85% compliant with the diet most of the time, significant improvements in health could occur. I still believe this concept, and believe that minor dietary discretions involving potatoes and sweet potatoes will have little adverse impact upon health.”

He goes further into how root vegetables fit into the diet in this newsletter. It is well worth reading.

It can be found here.

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/newsletter/ ... sues.shtml

Any approach is better than none. Perhaps just a few Paleo meals a week will make enough of a difference that you might continue to expand on it.

Polly is right on. I promote my initial concept from some time back that unless you take care of yourself first you can not be all that you can be for yourself let alone all that you can be for friends and family. No, it is not selfish. In fact IMHO quite the opposite. When you feel your best you can give your best in your work and in all your relationships.

I think that Cordain objects to all grains including rice in that they all have a high lectin component that he considers to be an anti nutrient.

Eades Blog is very interesting. I am looking forward to reading more of it.

My best

Matthew

[starfire]

Thanks Matthew,

I have bookmarked the site for study at a later time. It's about bedtime right now.

I have not done too badly with my diet for the last few days. I'm pretty happy with myself tonight although I probably still need to cut out some "sugar" (mainly root beer). I can't say when I might slip up again but this time I plan to try and get right back on track.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Love, Shirley