Advice for newbies page 2

[Tawny]

As a newbie and one who posted a question about IF'ing this morning, thank you for this information.

I am a way-of-lifer, in that I've been working on improving my eating patterns over the last 4 years. But Primal may or may not be where I end up. I suspect that it will be, though, because it seems to fit the best with what my own needs are. I think there's a big difference between people who eat a SAD and come to primal and those who already try to eat close to the earth most of the time and then come to primal. But the difference isn't in being able to skip the basics, it's more in how our bodies respond to primal eating.

I have not experienced a carb flu, the way it's been described in some posts. I had a few days of decreased mental clarity and some dizziness, but it passed. I can be perfectly patient and wait before trying to IF, etc. But I have read posts from people who consider not eating from dinner until lunch the next day an IF. I'm trying to balance out that idea with "don't eat if you're not hungry". Except that the first time I did that, I ended up binging on carbs. I have since corrected, by adding more fat. But if eating breakfast even if I'm not really hungry will prevent the carb cravings until my body switches over to primarily fat burning, then that's what I should do - but that would be eating even if I'm not hungry...maybe I'm trying to be too precise.

Or maybe my question needs to be, "what are some of the ways you knew your body was ready to move from an eating plan based on external cues (it's noon, time for lunch) to one based on internal cues?"

[naiadknight]

I honestly can't answer that without knowing more. Run it through daily plate or fitday or chron-o-meter. If you feel good and fat is the majority of your calories, you're doin' good. It varies person to person, even day to day. There are those that only need about 50% of their cals to come from fat, there are others who need upwards of 80 and 85% fat. Run a typical day through one of those, see how your numbers come out. If you're at 50% or over, go by how you're feeling.

[naiadknight]

Tawny-
I am not an expert. I try not to pretend to be one. Take this with a grain of salt.
Internal cues:
-Ask yourself "If it were 9PM or 3AM instead of dinner time, am I still hungry?"
-Distract yourself. Notice if food is still constantly on your mind, even though you're busy doing something else. Note I didn't say "I should be eating" thoughts, but rather, you're drooling over thoughts of roast beast and a salad or something similar.
-If your thoughts are more about junky foods or temptation foods, you aren't actually hungry.
-If you aren't sure if you're hungry or just bored, you're bored.
-If you can't tell whether it's hunger or "I should be eating," you likely aren't hungry.
Again, I'm not an expert, your body has different cues than mine. This really is somewhere where you're going to have to listen to the little nagging voice of your body more than anything else.

[Tawny]

naiadKnight - I know your not an expert, but you are much more experienced than me, so what you say counts

I guess for me what it comes down to is I don't trust my body yet. I lost a whole bunch of weight a few years ago and have struggled to be more "normal" in my eating ever since. I do know that I need to eat something if I'm having thoughts of junky foods, because if I don't, then I will eat those junky foods. But I am beginning to find that by eating primal, I'm getting fewer of those thoughts...so I guess that answers my own question. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing, because it's working.

Thanks for helping me gain some clarity.

[naiadknight]

Tawny-
Carb addiction's a bear. That's what those junky food desires are. It's your brain asking you to feed that addiction. Pay attention when it wants real food, and firmly tell it no when it wants the addiction fed. This forum acts much like an AA meeting in that respect, most of us are coming over from carb addiction and lend support to one another It will help you get to know your body if you were to create a journal, here or on your own, journalling intake, exercise, how you feel, and what happened. That'll really help you zero in on your pitfalls and such, as well as your strengths.

[Griff]

This needs to be a sticky. Awesome job.

[naiadknight]

Thank you, Griff. That means a lot to me coming from you.

[Griff]

Hey, I was really touched for the pointer to my cholesterol primer. So same goes both ways.

[kuno1chi]

Naiad,
I just want to thank you for summing things up so well.
I agree, this should be a sticky!

[naiadknight]

Thanks, Kuno. I just wanted to help those who were floundering around and asking the same questions that we'd all asked (and answered) before.