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[FitMama]

Hi everyone!

I am new to the forum, but not new to the site. In April of 2010, a friend of mine directed me here after she sent me some information about gluten and dairy intolerance. When I showed my SO the list of symptoms for gluten intolerance, he said that all of them applied to him. Within two weeks he went gluten free and noticed a huge difference in how he felt: his eczema cleared up, his depression lifted, his energy increased and a lot of his abdominal and intestinal discomforts had also cleared up. This spurred him on to eliminate dairy too, as he knew it upset his system too. Within 5 months he dropped 60 pounds, and has maintained that ever since. He occassionally cheats with dairy, but rarely with gluten, as he suffers the consquences for days.

I work in the fitness industry and have always eaten relatively clean, but subscribed to the thinking of eating 6 meals a day, lower in fat, higher in protein. Which worked for me for the most part. However, I discovered that it almost made me hypoglycemic. I couldn't go longer than about 2-3 hours without food without getting a headache, getting shaky and getting ravenously hungry. When I found this site, I started including more fats in my diet and noticed a difference in the way I felt (I *love* full fat greek yogurt!). The headaches and shakiness went away and my hunger was slow to come on. I can go about 4-5 hours before feeling hungry now. While I was making all of our dinners gluten and dairy free, I was not eating primal yet.

This past December, I decided that I was going to start eating primal. I had had enough. I had gained about 25 over the last 5 years due to a car accident and having chronic pain, plus lot of stress in my personal life, especially in the last year when my son was diagosed with schizophrenia. I had been reading about foods that cause inflammation, and eating a primal/paleo diet fits the bill of getting rid of them. I was hoping that elminating these foods would help with my chronic pain. So, starting early January, I started eating primal. I have gotten rid of almost all processed food and sugar (I still have a bit of honey, maple syrup and stevia) and have kicked my daily diet pepsi habit too. Since then, I have lost about 8 pounds, and I am feeling pretty good.

On January 29th, I accepted a challenge to enter a figure competition in October. I had another trainer do skinfold assessments to see where I was at. She did a 12-site hormonal skinfold assessment, and she said that based on where I store my fat (abdominal, and suprialiac, and subscapularis), my stress, and how different foods make me feel, she thought that I would do really well on a paleo diet. I wasn't quite ready to go that strict yet, so I tightened up my 20% to 10% or less on any given day. Well, I think I am ready now. I told my SO that I was going to do the Whole 30 challenge starting next week (Feb 27). I have about 25 more pounds to lose to get into competition shape!

Oh, and I have discovered too that chronic cardio no longer works for me for weight loss. Two years ago I trained for the Ride to Conquer Cancer for 6 months (cycling over 200 km in 2 days) and didn't lose anything. I am still working on rehabbing my body so that I can lift heavier, and to do HIIT on my spin bike.

I have additional motivation to go paleo now too. My son has been doing research on nutrition and schizophrenia and he wants to go gluten-free, dairy-free and corn-free. He says the research shows that eliminating these foods may improve the symptoms of his schizophrenia, perhaps to the point that he could come off his meds. The poor boy gained 70 pounds in 5 months on the anti-psychotics. I told him to try going primal first, and then paleo, and to stick with it for at least 6-12 months to see if his symptoms improve (it's gotta be a lifestyle, not a quick fix!) , and then to talk to his doctor about weaning off his meds at that point. I hope he joins me in the challenge, but I have a feeling he will need to ease into it like I did.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading!

[Analog6]

Welcome! I discovered I was gluten intolerant after starting my first low carb diet in 2005. Like your SO, I had all the symptoms but no one ever 'connected the dots'.

I also want to do the Whole 30 challenge - I was going to start in March but starting next week (Feb 27) sounds pretty good - I may join you if that is OK.

I have not bought the book but am planning to cut dairy, coffee, wine and my last grain - rice. Is that it? I read that I can use ghee to cook if I want it. If you can give me any tips I'd be very grateful, and I will subscribe to your journal so I can keep track of how you are going too.

[Hedonist]

Welcome! Don't apologize for the length of your post. It is all inspiring to read. Here's wishing your son good luck!

[FitMama]

Thanks for the welcome Analog6 and Hedonist!

Analog6, I would love it you would join in on my journey. I will probably start a journal next weekend. I have only read the guidelines for the Whole 30, but I have The Paleo Diet book by Loren Cordain, and the Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook by Julie & Charles Mayfield that I can use as guidelines. I also checked out nonnompaleos's day-by-day account of doing the Whole 30 the first time: Whole30: Day-By-Day! [UPDATED 1/31/12: Hey! I... | Nom Nom Paleo
and the second time: The Whole30 Recap: EVERY SINGLE DAY. | Nom Nom Paleo, so I will be using these resources as guides.

[Analog6]

I will start on Sunday, that's the 26th - I usually weigh Sunday so that is the easiest for me. Should be an interesting exercise, anyway!

Have a look at this article on a 70 yr old woman who had long term schizophrenia & was cured of some symptoms by LC - extract below:

"In this case study, the abrupt resolution of longstanding schizophrenic symptoms was observed after the initiation of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet used for weight loss. Previously, Dohan observed a decrease in hospital admissions for schizophrenia in countries that had limited bread consumption during World War II, which suggested a possible relationship between bread and schizophrenia [2]. Dohan and colleagues also observed that overt schizophrenia was rare in remote tribal areas of several South Pacific islands where grains were rare, as compared to similar populations which had a higher prevalence of overt schizophrenia and grain consumption [3]. Additionally, some researchers have previously noted an association between schizophrenia and celiac disease, an immune-mediated enteropathy that is triggered by the ingestion of gluten-containing grains [4]."