She-Groks Only.......... cuz it works different for us page 69

[Pedidoc]

Primal seems to be a way of eating I could be comfortable with, so I'm going to ease into it. My daughter has had success with Primal. She looks great, and that's what got me really interested.

I'm not a meat lover, but can deal with hamburg, and some other meats as long as they are cut up into tiny pieces. I can't eat a "slab of steak" though; grosses me out.

Since I'm 55 years old, I'm not aiming to look "hot"--I just want to feel better, stave off any more illness than I already have, and improve my mobility.

Over the years I've tried most everything else. If Primal doesn't help, I'll just have to resign myself to being fat for the rest of my life.

I look forward to participating in this thread.

Enjoy your evening.

Mrs. B,
If you can eat eggs, they are a great protein source. You can make a quiche, frittata, or scramble with small bits of meat and veggies. I also like to put small bits of meat or fish in my salads. Lettuce rolls are another way of getting small bits together with veggies. Not sure if you are doing dairy, but cheeses can also help increase protein levels in your meals. Nothing says you have to sit down and eat a big cave man hunk of meat - well in this thread, any way (the boys are a different story). The key is to make it yours within the guidelines.

Can you switch docs? Possibly find a Family or Woman's Health Nurse Practitioner. I ask, because the nursing background makes them (read us, as I'm a pediatric NP) focus more holistically on our patients. We also tend to "listen" better. Of course there are good and bad in both professions and these are generalizations and the younger docs are being educated a bit differently. Anyway its an option to explore. You also can google paleo doctors and there is a web site you can use to see if there is one in your area.

Welcome and good luck!

[Jodis]

Sorry about the little schnauzer.

Welcome to the new-to-threaders. I mostly lurk. Right now, I need to go out the door and get in some walking before it goes up to the "promised" 93 degrees today. And it isn't even June yet. Ugh.

[Pedidoc]

Thanks. The house seems empty without her. The other schnauzer and the basset keep looking for her too. Son and GF left today, so house is really quiet!

[KimT]

So sorry to hear about your schnauzer. They are part of the family and it does leave a void.

Just thought I'd pop in here and introduce myself. I've been a lurker on MDA for well over a year. I just don't post much. Guess I feel I don't have much to offer as I'm still struggling to find my way. I read a lot of your journals and thought this was a good post to jump in to. I need to connect with others and feel like I belong somewhere.

A little about me. I'm soon to be 41, married to a wonderful man, and have an awesome dog. I held a desk job until we moved from PA to CA 3 months ago. I'm a certified kettlebell and battling ropes instructor. I am also a resistance stretching practitioner. I have had a weight issue my whole life, have/had fibromyalgia (*mostly taken care of with food changes), had migraines (* same). Feeling a little displaced with leaving everyone back home. I was athletic through school, but suffered with cluster and migraine headaches, so I missed out on a lot of life. I ended up being home schooled the last 3 months of my junior and senior year due to severe headaches, some which lasted 9 weeks straight. Yo-yo diets through the years, back surgery which lead to a lot of inactivity, along with bad relationships, lead to a high weight of 230 at 5'8". Thank God my husband loved me anyway!

Fast forward, I met a doc at a Kettlebell seminar that said he could take care of the fibro. I was about 200 pounds at the time and started treating with him long distance. I dropped to an all time adult low of 175. I couldn't maintain that and went back to 185. I got lax about some foods and went up to 190. Life got crazy stressful and I went up to 212 during the sale of the house and the move, but I'm back to 201.

I have a hard time avoiding sugar. After some tests, the doc said I have sugar management issues (go figure, dad is diabetic), so he had me avoiding all fruits. I can't eat eggs. I love them, I am not allergic per se, but they do keep weight on me. When I looked back at my food journals I found I started putting weight back on with the reintroduction of eggs. I do best on strict elimination phase, which is meat and some veggies (no nightshades) and sweet potatoes once in a while.

I think that's about all for the intro phase. Hope I can fit in with the group here. My husband eats healthy and works out with me (he's my trainer), but it's not the same as talking to women about the struggles.

I'll be stalking your journals.

[Pedidoc]

Yes, the dogs are definitely part of the family. I always joke that with 4 sons, the girl dogs were my only daughters! Welcome KimT. I stalked for quite a while before I found this thread. It really helps to have a female support group to encourage, support, and problem solve with you.

[OutdoorAmy]

Read part of the thread, but dang it's long - so mostly I'm just jumping right in here!

HELLO ALL!

My name is Amy and I'm pretty new to the primal lifestyle but definitely think this is where I belong - seems to really align with my values though it's definitely a challenge as a recovering carb addict.

I live in CO and am a wannabe homemaker, though right now it's just me and my dog in a rental, I'd love to have a small organic hobby farm someday.

[EyeOfRound]

Read part of the thread, but dang it's long - so mostly I'm just jumping right in here!

HELLO ALL!

My name is Amy and I'm pretty new to the primal lifestyle but definitely think this is where I belong - seems to really align with my values though it's definitely a challenge as a recovering carb addict.

I live in CO and am a wannabe homemaker, though right now it's just me and my dog in a rental, I'd love to have a small organic hobby farm someday.

That's neat! I'd love to keep at least egg-laying hens one day, but if I could live just a few miles outside of town and keep some small livestock, that'd be even more awesome! Right now I live in a condo, so all I've got is 2 tomato plants, a hanging basket of strawberries, and 3 cats....haha.


So I recently started dating a guy and it's getting semi-serious. He's quite athletic, but a little overweight - maybe 30 lbs or so, mostly as a function of having some injuries that prevented him from working out for quite a while, but he does eat a lot of crap. For example, this morning he insisted we hung around this area for 30 minutes until the poutine store opened! I don't know if you guys know what poutine is, but it's the most disgusting thing ever, IMO. Anyway, I still find him attractive, but damn if he wouldn't look so much hotter with those 30 lbs off of him. He's well aware he's a little chubby, too. He does know that I eat primal and it doesn't seem to bother him that much, but he's expressed zero interest in doing it. I just feed him primal stuff whenever we eat at my place. Say, how can I convince a fellow to start eating better and drop a few pounds without making him feel bad about himself?

[OutdoorAmy]

I was recently talking to a guy friend of mine about primal (he happens to be my ex, but we're still good friends). I think he could do it and he is pondering giving it a try. He's always telling me about how pasta and dairy act up in his system when he eats them, and I suspect he might have gluten intolerance if not full blown celiac. His biggest hang up though is that he is a beer coniseur. He loves beer, has about one a day, and I am not sure he could give that up no matter how much his body rebels. He is at least thinking about it now though.

[sbhikes]

I'm back from my little hike. 89 miles in 4 days.

Hi KimT. I'm also fairly athletic (if you can consider hiking 28 miles in a day athletic. I'm not sure that I do). I do a lot of backpacking. I hiked most of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2008 and 2009. I just finished within my 89 miles the final last 20 miles that were incomplete, so now I can say I've hiked all 2663 miles of the trail.

Sadly, all this exercise doesn't do a thing for weight loss. Sure it comes off at first, but after a while, it doesn't seem to work anymore and you have to keep it up or gain it all back. Who can keep up that much exercise? Only people who exercise for a living. Sometimes I suspect that exercise instructors do it because it's the only way they can keep from becoming obese.

I truly believe the high carb sugar and grain diet combined with exercise is what kills the ability to stay normal weight. Now I'm experimenting with lower carb hiking hoping for better results. So far so good, but I'm pretty sure that 89 miles in 4 days didn't lose a single pound. We'll see. I'm too swollen from inflammation to go weigh myself. I chopped a day off my trip because I didn't bring enough meals and because I obviously suck at math. "Why is it taking me all day to hike 18 miles." "Duh, it's because you hiked 28 miles, you idiot."

[Paleobird]

Pedidoc, as a fellow dog lover, my condolences.

sbhikes, I want to go hiking with you some time. You rock.

After taking a bit of an MDA break and then going on a cruise for six weeks, I'm back home and finally got caught up on this thread. Good to know that it is still here and thriving.

I put on some weight with the cruise which I think was mostly due to the booze since I stayed pretty much on plan otherwise. The only other thing I couldn't control was the quality of the oils things were cooked in. I've got about 12 extra pounds that I want to get rid of again. I did it before (total of 65 pounds lost) so I know I can do it again.

The thing that is different this time is that my time is not my own as much as it used to be. I'm taking care of my 86 year old Dad who has had some health problems lately. So, I can't just take off for an all day hike the way I used to. I am cooking breakfast and dinners for him daily.

The cool thing is that Dad has agreed to go Primal and has been seeing great results after just a couple of weeks. He doesn't need to lose weight but he was being plagued by shooting pains and swelling in his feet from diabetes. These are both completely gone.

Is anybody else here dealing with elder care in their lives?