Beasley begins to go Primal page

**Beasley** · 11-14-2011, 06:14 PM

Your location: Reading, England (barely, if at all, English by blood; Italian-Austrians on one side, and a mish mash of Irish and Welsh/possibly English on the other)

Age: 19 as of 10 days ago!

How Primal are you: Haven't even started yet. I've been working on cutting out bread, bagels, torillas and pasta from my diet this past fornight (ie gluten free, partly due to the mum being gluten intolerant and testing to see how it affects me) but have admittedly been having a few sandwiches or bowls of pasta; the former due to going to my hometown uni* and the latter due to the mum having tests done on her gluten intolerance which require she eat it, so pasta's sometimes on the menu

*Out of the universities I chose, Reading was my insurance choice if none of the other 5 accepted my application and...well...I'm here, so that should tell you how well that went. Life, lemons and all that!

Do you consume dairy: Less now that I'm not having my regular peanut butter sandwiches with milk, but I still have a glass now and then, not to mention with my whey.

Do you drink coffee or tea: Not on my watch...can't stand the stuff!

Motivator for switching to Primal: I'm unhappy with my body and have heard this works wonders. Also, as mentioned, my mum has some food intolerances and I'm worried that they affect me to a lesser extent and I don't even realise it (too much sugar and alcohol give me everything from gut ache to...frequent toilet visitation, and that's just what I can feel; for all I know, and from what I've learned, food intolerances can go practically unnoticed by us while they break us down) Since physical well being is a big thing for me, it seems the logical step.

Favorite exercise: Press. Nothing is as fun as pushing some heavy stuff overhead.

Favorite Primal food: Well, since I'm not a Primal person (yet!) I'll just go with what I eat that constitutes part of a Primal diet. It's got to be either lamb, chicken or salmon. Lamb is possibly the best red meat there is, when cooked right, chicken is just delicious and salmon, when cooked right, is something I'd climb mountains for. Shame it's so expensive, I'd have it all the time if I could...I guess Salmon wins!

Best part about being Primal: Here's hoping that I feel better, from my stomach to sleep, memory etc

Worst part about being Primal: No more shmears....

With all of that out of the way, there are some questions I have. I'm going to make a thread with these in the 'odds and ends' section as it may get a better response there (from my vast knowledge of the interwebs, intro sections don't generally get much of the traffic on a forum) but please, feel free to answer here too!

1 - How much fruit/veg are we supposed to eat per day? I love apples, but the juicy buggers tend to give me gut trouble (see the above with the sugar thing) so it sounds like I may be buying a few bananas everyday on my back from uni. Also, with regards to veg; is sweetcorn ok? It's damn good stuff that goes well with chicken (in my opinion anyways) and is pretty cheap too, and if I'm gonna be having a lot of veg every day, being a student, the cheaper that veg is the better!

2 - What's the verdict on brown rice, oats and baked beans? I realise the answer may be a resounding 'no' but (a) rice is cooked with a lot of dinner by my mum, (b) it makes an awesome breakfast and is damn cheap, along with being gluten free, and (c) it's nice to have with some bacon and eggs

3 - How often do you buy veg? Seeing as it's something that you guys go through a lot of (how much, I'm not sure, see Q1) are you always to-ing and fro-ing from the shops with greens and fruits?

4 - Would you recommend buying a little mini fridge to hold extra fruit and veg if a lot's required? Our fridge isn't massive and at times I feel I don't buy more greens because space is an issue. Again, ties in with Q1, but also Q3; does the volume of veg and length between shopping trips justify buying an extra little fridge, or is there not that much eaten/not that long between shopping trips?

5 - In all honesty, is this doable on a fairly low budget? I know I've made it sound like I'm making it rain on a daily basis with the job info, but I get £200 at the most per month, and while I still get student grants without having to pay for campus accommodation, about £35 goes towards phone bills, phone and laptop insurance, and I'm already saving for holiday, and I set some aside on principle of saving money, and I plan to start giving some to my mum (we're skint) and I don't want to start living a lifestyle now that I won't be able to afford when I move into student accommodation with friends next year. Meat I buy already, but with the focus on veg, and possibly lots of it, I'm curious as to how much it'll cost.

I can't shake the feeling there's more I want to ask, but I can't remember what it is! Anyways, I look forward to any and all answers you guys can give me, and here's hoping it's stuff I want to hear!

**namelesswonder** · 11-15-2011, 09:46 AM

1. Corn is a grain not a vegetable, so keep that in mind. Generally a number of primal people will eat it when it's in season because they enjoy it, but if you're just starting out, you might want to cut it out completely and then add it back in later so you can truly assess how it affects you. As for fruit

2. See above on corn, except switch to white if you're going to have it. Also, read the book, or any book on primal as soon as you can! It's not just the gluten that's the problem with grains, it's the undigestable parts that destroy your intestines (read "Wheat Belly" if you really want to be convinced).

3. I buy once a week but I don't eat a huge variety. I can find some frozen so I use those as much as possible, though my primal options are pretty limited (asparagus, peppers & broccoli are the only primal veggies I've found frozen).

4. Only you can know that. Buy as much as you want, and make the space for it. If you still don't have space, cook some immediately and start saving up for that mini-fridge. If you ARE going to get a mini-fridge, make sure you read a lot of reviews for the model you're interested in. The ones I used while in university did not keep anything cool for long. Milk went bad within 3 days so I can imagine that it wouldn't be good for veggies either.

5. You can make it work. I don't have a lot of money to spare after rent, student loans, and utilities, but between me and my boyfriend, we can make it by on around or less than 75 USD/week. Depending on the price of groceries in your area and how much you eat at home (ie. someone else buys), you could probably make it work. When you can't afford top quality meat & veggies, the regular stuff (canned, frozen, not grass-fed etc.) is fine and still a far cry better than pasta.

Welcome aboard and happy recent-birthday!

**Beasley** · 11-16-2011, 02:34 PM