Obligatory forum Introduce yourself thread page 439

[Pilatesmom]

Your location:
Dayton, Ohio
Age (If you want):
32
How Primal are you:
Still getting there, about 1/2 way I think
Do you consume dairy:
yes, probably too much
Do you drink coffee or tea:
both
Motivator for switching to Primal:
weight loss initially, then energy and stamina
Favorite exercise:
Pilates and TRX
Favorite Primal food:
Bacon
Best part about being Primal:
eating red meat without guilt
Worst part about being Primal:
the amount of non-primal food that is shoved in your face via ads, friends, restaurants, etc...

[dentalgal]

Your location: Minnesota

Age: 50

How Primal are you: I have stopped eating most grains and refined sugars, trying new veggies and meats, cooking more at home and eating out less, so I'd say 80-90%.

Do you consume dairy: Yes, milk, cheese, butter, ghee (homemade!), yogurt. Not as much as I used to eat.

Do you drink coffee or tea: on occasion, tea

Motivator for switching to Primal: I have a couple of patients who are following the paleo lifestyle and have had great results with
weight loss, food allergies, and overall better health. I started looking into it online and found
MDA. There is a family history of cancer and diabetes, so I'm trying to get myself and my
family to eat better and hopefully live long and healthy lives.

Favorite exercise: Anything that doesn't feel like I'm exercising, but I would say walking/hiking with my family and dog, and Zumba.

Favorite primal food: Nothing in particular, but I am enjoying eating coconut products and good meat

Best part about being primal: I've lost 9 lbs., I don't feel hungry at 10:30 in the morning or before bedtime, I feel better about
the food that I'm putting in my body.

Worst part about being primal: I do miss bread a little bit. Trying to explain to friends and family about being primal is
challenging! My dietician friend is very concerned about my calcium intake and is very
skeptical because it goes against everything that she has learned. She is very open minded
and is going to check out this site.

[artique]

Alright, so this is my first week doing Primal, so I'm embracing the change and am officially joining you all as a Grok

I'm April, from Chandler, AZ and have adopted an almost-primal eating regiment for over a year now while with occasional bouts of conventional eating in between... only to jump back on the wagon and then get back off here and there. As of the beginning of this week, I'm pretty primal with my meals and have been pretty good at jotting down all my meals as a self-check on my eating habits. Looking at my food log right now, I see that perhaps the only non-primal eating was some butter I may or may not have had at a restaurant in their dish preparation.

I cook almost 95% of my meals - bfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, though, like everyone else, also maintain a social life that includes going out for dinner or parties at friend's houses.. which means that I have to adapt to the situation and bring my own stash at times.

I do not consume dairy these past few weeks... note that I have *always* enjoyed my daily portion of dairy with no side effect up until recently. Only as of late have I been plagued by gas, stomach cramps and bowel irritability. Recently I deduced that these effects were brought upon by the dairy I had just consumed (why a food log is so good!) and finally removed it from my diet. Before this week of full primal, I had train myself to just avoid it.. now, my mindset is to avoid it - plain and simple. I did, however, buy digestive enzymes yesterday in hopes that I can rectify my flora.. not sure if this is a very primal habit (to take digestive enzymes and probiotics).

I've never consumed coffee up until my visit to Spain last year when I fell in love with espressos and everything coffee I have coffee maybe 2-3x a week.. definitely dark roast from Colombia, course-chop in my french-press and black.. always black.. no honey, no cream, nothing. I love it this way and enjoy the flavor this way.

Motivation? Simple: I want to be the best me I can be!

I LOVE lunges, squats (not sure how cross-fit compatible they are.. something else I need to learn).. sprints are great on my legs, and I like deadlifts and rows only because I'm good at them. Oh yeah, I LOVE wall-sits!

HAS to be Coconuts! I love their oil, meat, flour, milk, water, aroma .. everything! 2nd best would be Goat and Lamb and other non-beef red meats.

Benefit? It has to be that I know what I'm eating and have the knowledge of how it is going to benefit my body. Also, It doesn't hurt that my hunger is more in tune with my body rather than my mind? I used to be like "oh it's 11:30, time for lunch.. or, oh, I just woke up, I must eat now"... whereas now, I feel like I'm hungry when I'm hungry and not when it's a certain time.. that is an interesting psychology all in itself.

Worst part? Well, I hate when people are like "oh, you don't want <insert typical carby food item here>? are you on the atkins diet?" OOH I hate that.. that is the worst part: that people are un-informed and make terrible assumptions when I say I'm not eating <insert typical carby food item here>. My coworker told me "yeah, I'm sure that fad is going to be gone in a few years just like every other diet fad" - they don't even know that it is a fundamental way of living/eating and that it is not a fad. Oh well.. more motivation for me to prove them wrong.

So, that's me

Nice to meet you all!!

[GhostStrike]

I'm Larissa, originally from PA, but transplanted down the east coast and PCSed to California via the USMC. Otherwise I may never have gotten up the nerve to leave home, and never grown like I have. Sometimes I take a little push to get moving the way I want to go! My handle comes from my karate school's nickname for me, but I'm not as badass as it makes me sound.

Your location: Camp Pendleton, CA

Age (If you want): close enough to 25, I'll say 25.

How Primal are you: about half. I still talk a lot and don't walk enough.

Do you consume dairy: Yes, but not as much as I used to. Generally as a treat, usually involving ice cream/frozen yogurt. I really do enjoy a nice cold glass of milk now and then.

Do you drink coffee or tea: Tea, green and black. Earl Grey is my favorite.

Motivator for switching to Primal: I needed to lose weight to finish my term in the Marines. I have this thing about commitment, and I'm not about to let myself get in my own way. When I joined the Marines, one of my reasons (and this just reoccurred to me today, October 5) was to be healthier than my grandparents. My grandpa Carl died young of being run over by his tractor; Pop Pop was dead from heart disease, something with valve trouble, in his 85th year. Grandmother Nora had heart surgery, rheumatoid arthritis, a blood disease from a bad transfusion, and a bad infection after a fall. Nana had a stroke, type 2 diabetes, and a host of related problems including 6 years in a nursing home bed. I want to run screaming and laughing straight into my grave!

Favorite exercise: Surprisingly, planks.

Favorite Primal food: OH MY GOD I LOVE VEGETABLES! AND MEAT! Primal is perfect. Also I am allowed dark chocolate.

Best part about being Primal: No need to run millions of miles and PT for hours and hours! Also, it's simple.

Worst part about being Primal: I feel like I don't have much support from my family (lack of knowlege) or my friends (they have their own concerns) and certainly not my Yeerk Controllers.

[Grandi]

North Carolina, USA
53
Just discovering and reading, haven't made the switch yet.
I will consume dairy, but much less and no longer the lowfat/fat-free.
I will continue to drink black and green tea.
I am motivated to switch for health and weight-loss.
I think I will love trading in long gym sessions that do no good, for the PEMs and more outdoor play!
I have never enjoyed meat, other than chicken... until I tried grass-fed beef. WOW. That will be my fav.
The best and worst things about living Primal, I have yet to discover...

[nowisthetime]

Alaska
55
just starting
yep, have up to this point consumed dairy
coffee sometimes tea
want to get fit
swimming
steak
feeling healthy
don't know yet

[mimolette]

Your location: Shuttling between London, UK and Singapore, Asia

Age (If you want): 20

How Primal are you:
currently not very. For quite a while I followed a french style of eating - not consciously, just found it the most palatable and easiest. Fell off the wagon for 8 months and getting back on. Trying out primal

Do you consume dairy:
Yes, cream, butter. ice cream and an occasional yogurt. Going to cut it out

Do you drink coffee or tea:
Tea. I can't take caffeine! (discovered after a week of daily downing starbucks' java chocolate chip cream blended frappe - a joke I know, since there's barely any caffeine)

Motivator for switching to Primal:
fat loss. but mostly feeling better and happier about my food choices

Favorite exercise:
Walking. I am infamous among my friends for loathing exercise

Favorite Primal food:
Give me red meat. Preferably Grass-fed and fatty. (This scared many a date)

Best part about being Primal:
Pretty easy to choose food, surprisingly

Worst part about being Primal:
Being a recovering sugarholic and pastryholic. Isn't that bad actually

[AvatarAbe]

Hey everyone!

Your location: New York, NY

Age (If you want): 24

How Primal are you: I've been Primal for 7 weeks, and I'd say I'm around 85-90% successful following it. I have the major concepts down with very few cheats (no grains and legumes, that sort of thing) but I need to work on some of the finer details, like not having salads at restaurants with suspicious dressings lol.

Do you consume dairy: A little. Mostly full-fat sour cream and the occasional bit of colby jack in my pork and veggie stir fry dishes. Rarely drink milk anymore.

Do you drink coffee or tea: No

Motivator for switching to Primal: Health and fitness. Tired of being the chubby, slow, weak guy. And sick of feeling gross after indulging in pasta and other such things.

Favorite exercise: I love me some traditional martial arts. If we're talking about a specific exercise, I'd say I'm starting to appreciate the barbell squat, despite my difficulties with it (just started an exercise program with it and can only do about 75 pounds with respectable form).

Favorite Primal food: Lamb, probably.

Best part about being Primal: Not crashing after lunch. Also, I keep rubbing my stomach because I can't believe how little gut I have now.

Worst part about being Primal: I'm even more impatient with slow-moving people now that I have more energy.

[cdowkes]

Your location: England

Age (If you want): 26

How Primal are you: Not yet but starting soon

Do you consume dairy: Yes

Do you drink coffee or tea: Yes to both

Motivator for switching to Primal: Always been slim build but noticing a layer of fat starting to develop around my midsection as well as a decrease in energy levels. Want to gain a better fitness level that I have never really had.

Favorite exercise: Road Cycling

Favorite Primal food: Looking forward to steak and veg

Best part about being Primal: Hopefully the physical benefits that come from the lifestyle.

Worst part about being Primal: Let you know in due course

[rachelebuck]

The Questions:


Your location: South Eastern Texas

Age (If you want): 31

How Primal are you: Very primal when I'm at home in my city. I go out of town occasionally and then sometimes fall of the wagon.

Do you consume dairy: I will indulge in some healthy yogurt and full fat creams. very rarely cheese.

Do you drink coffee or tea: about a half of a cup of coffee a day and maybe a cup of tea at night

Motivator for switching to Primal: it just made sense to me. I feel much healthier and it's easier to maintain my figure

Favorite exercise: walking, crossfit when I can afford it, slow jogging, yoga,

Favorite Primal food: Venison

Best part about being Primal: No more excessive carb cravings and getting good sleep at night

Worst part about being Primal: Falling of the wagon when I go out of town with non primal friends. Also after having a non primal meal craving protein and fat then feeling yucky