Lois' Journey with the Primal Blueprint :) page 6

[lolo66]

Oo I also bought some vegetable pots to grow my own veg today. I got tomatoes, peppers and courgettes so we'll see how it goes! Very excited!

[rachel91]

Sorry to hear about your healthy problems, but at least now you know a little more. And it sounds like you are tackling it all in the right way! The stuff on that website is very interesting, just wish I had a bit time to read it! Excellent procrastination material though. The more I read and research primal/natural stuff, the more skeptical I get about our medical system- there are so many areas that seem so wrong. I do trust my doctor but on the other hand I'm now more open to the idea that he could be wrong on some subjects (not necessarily of his own fault).

I'm 99% sure i will be giving up rowing next year. I do enjoy it, but it also stresses me out and leaves me with little freedom to do what I want exercise wise. Plus it's final year next year so I need to get my head in gear for that :/

I have yet to try cocoa powder, don't really know much about it. Might experiment with that once I'm more settled in this way of eating.

Love the look of that mackerel by the way. I'm such a massive fan of fish, I can't get enough

[lolo66]

@Rachel91
Aww thankyou, I feel so much better now that i've been to see someone and that i'm taking supplements that I know will definitely help me. Yes I spend so much time on here, but I never run out of things to read and I do get bored at home. I'm currently working through several journals and learning so much from them, but I definitely won't have time to do that when i'm back at uni!

I don't have a lot of faith in the doctors any more. My local doctor's surgery are rubbish and i'm really not someone who complains often! I went to have a whole MOT blood test done there and when I went to go and get the results (for which I actually made an appointment with the doctor rather than ringing up my phone) the doc told me that everything came out fine. However she didn't tell me that the glandular fever test hadn't been completed, and I only found that out several weeks later when I went back there again (by a different doctor) My parents were really angry as at the time they thought it was likely that I had it (as 3 of my friends at uni did!) Luckily it came back negative when I had the test done again.
The kinisiologist was looking at my thyroid yesterday, as it turns out that adrenals and thyroid work closley together, and I told her that i'd had a thyroid test blood test done at the docs and that it came back ok, but she said they only test for part of it. There's so much they miss out. When I told them I had candida they laughed at me and wanted to put me on anti depressants and I was absolutely horrified.

I felt really bad for being so firm about the rowing. IT was only because you sounded like you were having similar problems to me, and I really don't want anyone to have to go through what I did. But I can imagine that if it is your final year it would be hard to fit it all in.

Cocoa powder's great. I get the green and blacks one (about £2 a tub and you only need a teaspoon at a time so it lasts ages) as it is very pure, no sugar or nasties in it. I sadly can't drink coconut milk anymore, but I used to heat up a bit of coconut milk or even whole milk and mix in a bit of cocoa powder and it was lovely. Especially with the weather being so cold and wet here at the moment, it's a nice thing to drink in the evenings.

Yeah i'm a big fish fan as well. I never was though. You can get really nice mackerel from the aldi. I don't buy a lot there but the mackerel is only about £1.50 for around 3 fillets and they are really nice.

[Lex26]

So went to see the Kinisiologist today. It turns out I have a really weak liver, weak lungs, weak adrenals and something going on in my head that isn't right. I've had pressure in my head for years that affects my sinus so it may be something to do with that. She says to focus repairing the liver beforing attempting to heal the adrenals, so that's my focus for this month. She's told me to take vitamin B2, B12, and copper glycinate. I'm sure that my skin will clear up once my liver is happy again. I've also started using coconut oil on my problem areas, so will update how that is going. I feel so much better now that i've gone to see someone and I have someone at the end of the phone to answer my questions. It's such a relief!

I'll bet! I can't wait til I find someone like that. I've been in the process of moving for the last week, but I have to comment on two things

a) The candida stuff confuses me too. I definitely have it, but I question if it's the cause of adrenal exhaustion like Bee Wilder says. It's more likely that poor adrenal function/high cortisol levels suppress the immune system, which makes it easier for candida to overpower the body. I lean that way because I was paranoid of sugar for a while because of Bee and ate low-carb strictly for a while, like 2-3 months, and the candida cleared up from everywhere. In the beginning of eating an anti-candida diet, if I went off it too early with a screw-up, there were consequences that shall not be named/described the same day. So I thought, Wilder is definitely right - wow! Sugar does feed it. But then I went more like a whole 2-3 months eating right before I ate sugar and sugar didn't immediately cause consequences. In fact, I got overconfident with it and started eating more fruit/weekly cheats and those symptoms didn't come back for two weeks. So that experience has me thinking more that candida symptoms are really just indicative of your adrenal/immune system health. Going a long period of time eating clean had allowed me to heal well enough that I could eat bad for two weeks and not see consequences.

b) Be careful with going too low-carb. High protein diets actually increase the workload on your adrenals. Past the amount of protein you need to rebuild, protein is then converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis - a process that can't happen without forcing the adrenals to make more cortisol. Chances are, they've already done too much of that. In addition, if you exercise, you really do need some carbs. I hit my wall in March. I was weight lifting, sprinting and walking on low carb and eventually I ran out of gas. My workouts quit too early because my muscles just didn't have anything anymore and I had insomnia. There's a chance you'll do fine on low carb for a while if you're not getting regular exercise, but that isn't healthy either.

A lot of other ladies on the forum who first trusted this very low-carb thing and wanted it to work so bad have come to this personal discovery as well - I'm just warning you! We experienced some bad things like losing hair over it literally - never seen that much hair fall off my head. You still have to moderate how many carbs you should eat and that's something I'm trying to master. Fruit is the most convenient source, but not the best for the liver because of fructose. Ideally, when I'm settled in Seattle (my new home!) I'll get better at getting carb sources from root vegetables.

Here's another new blog post about high-protein diet problems, especially in women:

http://www.paleoforwomen.com/protein...engthens-life/

[lolo66]

Hi Lex! yeah the kinisiologist said that candida is only a symptom of something else, not a cause! I never knew that. So it's all very well treating the candida but if you don't figure out what the root of the problem is, it's likely to come back again. Therefore, you are probably correct with thinking that it was be connected to adrenal fatigue/low immune system. My liver is really weak, and it's what i'm treating at the moment before my adrenals so i'm not sure if that's connected as well. I follow Bee Wilder too! In fact I think I found her from your journal. I don't eat any refined sugar any more (apart from the tiny bit in my 90% dark chocolate!) I also eat little fruit as my digestion doesn't seem to like it too much. I can stomach some berries but not everyday. I was eating very low carb but upped my intake when I read in your journal that you had upped it due to the reasons mentioned. I follow your findings and advice a lot I also decreased my exercise at that time.

I've recently upped my carb intake. I no longer record anything on paleo track so I don't know how many carbs i'm having, but lately i'm trying to always have a starchy vegetable some time during the day. Yesterday I had mashed parsnips, tonight i'm having butternut squash, I will occassionally eat potatoes, etc. I eat a fair amount of protein but I don't overdo it. I've also read that excess protein turns into glucose. I eat lots of meat/fish/fowl but I don't use my protein shake any more (which was 32g protein/serving) How do you know how much is too much? Is it the lean body mass rule? When I worked that out it said I should have between 85-120g protein a day, and I reckon I probably eat around that amount. But is that too much if you have adrenal problems? I'm not during a lot of proper exercise at the moment. I'll go for walks and do the occasional weight lifting session when I feel I have the energy (which isn't often, so it doesn't happen a lot-perhaps once a week maximum?)
Thank you for taking the time to write in my journal, I really appreciate it. I hope you manage to sort out your adrenal problems as well. My kinisiologist said its a very long process to heal, but I do have a lot of other things going on as well so it may be longer for me? The best thing to do is just rest as much as you can and try and decrease your stress load, which i'm sure you're already aware of and doing. Hope the move is going well!

[lolo66]

Food eaten today:
3 small chicken thighs
2 squares dark chocolate (onto G&B 85% now)
2 hard boiled eggs
Pumpkin seeds, nutritional yeast, e.v. olive oil roasted in oven
Homemade spaghetti bolognaise (organic mince, onions, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs, basil, garlic) with sliced butternut squash spaghetti. Very nice!

I bought some new clothes yesterday and bought them all in a size 10 which I was really happy about! Also managed to walk 6k around the shopping centre. I hope my new pills come tomorrow, I'm eager to start the new course!

Food for tomorrow:
B- Eggs/bacon
S- seeds, tuna
D- chicken legs with veg. need to find a marinade recipe that's primal friendly.

[lolo66]

If I feel up to it I think I might do some weight lifting tomorrow. I really do enjoy it and haven't don't it in a while. Then on saturday the weather looks like it's going to be sunny so i'll probably go for a nice long walk. On Sunday we're selling at a boot fair so will be on my feet for quite a while.

[Lex26]

I know it's supposed to take a long time to really heal adrenals - boo! Can take as much as two years, but could be a lot less. And it's not like you don't see increasing benefits/improvements in those two years. As far as carb and protein counts go, I haven't perfected the numbers at all but I'm on my way I think. The blogger I cited above says it should be about half your lean body mass. I'll bet that's usually between 110-120 so 60 grams of protein would be what she recommends. Your needs will vary day by day too depending on your activity level too. Sounds like you're on the right track pretty much.

[lolo66]

Hi Lex. I read through the article you linked- very interesting and not what I expected at all. I'm going to keep a close eye on my protein count. I'll aim for about 60g a day but it's going to be hard as i'm so used to eating between 80-100g. But i'll just increase my fat intake so no problems there. I'm not doing a lot of activity at the moment so there generally shouldn't be any need to eat a lot more than that. I hope you're getting there with your recovery!

[lolo66]

Food eaten today
Meal 1:
3 egg omelette
Side Salad
2 slices bacon

Meal 2:
Too much dark chocolate
Pumpkin seeds covered with e.v. olive oil and nutritional yeast
Bowl of berries (strawberries, blueberries + raspberries)

Meal 3:
4 chicken drumsticks (roasted in oven with butter, garlic and herbs- really good!)
Salad with tomato and cumumber and e.v. olive oil
1 orange pepper

11-05-12.jpg

My jeans are definitely feeling looser. It amazes me how I can eat all this food and still lose weight. I haven't weighed myself in a while but I want to leave it like that. Scales just stress me out and I really don't need to stress my body out any more.