New Girl From Virginia page

[leslieinvirginia]

Hi there. I am happy to have found this forum. I've been "playing" with going primal for about a year now. I've been gluten free for about 4 years and experienced amazing health benefits from that change alone. My weakness is and will always be Mexican food. It is my cheat food. I'm having fun looking around and getting motivation from all your successes. My goals are to be 90% primal, lose that last 15 lbs I've been carrying around for the last 17 years, eradicate all joint pain and think more clearly. I started losing big chunks of memory about 5 years ago. I low-carbed to lose weight and my brain fog seemed to clear. That's when I started making the diet(wheat in particular)/mind connection. I hope to participate here often.

p.s. I have noticed that a few folks that seem to be oldtimers randomly post really belligerent comments, dropping f-bombs etc. Is there a way to avoid this or is it just a part of the culture here? Thanks. Leslie

[Finnegans Wake]

Welcome aboard, and good luck with your change to the Primal lifestyle. Since you did not mention whether you've read the Primal Blueprint (book), I will suggest that you make that investment in time and money, neither of which is particularly taxing, since it is the best summation of Primal principles. I had read much of the message board posts, and had read quite a few diet and nutrition books previously, and still felt PB added to my understanding.

Part of the reason newbies get rebarbative responses is that a) the posters ask questions clearly covered in the book(s), and b) they ask questions that have been asked dozens of times before - use the search tool before posting new threads, please. Sometimes, too, posters are clearly coming in with intent to troll or an agenda to stir things up for the sake of stirring things up, and they get what they get.

One of the great things about journaling here is that you can track your progress over time and get invaluable feedback from members. If you feel comfortable sharing details such as age, starting/current/goal weights, and more details about pain and memory issues, others may be able to advise from their experience.

You can certainly enjoy Mexican food as all- or mostly-Primal. Eating a tortilla once a week isn't a deal-breaker, but you can also ditch the tortilla and emphasize meats and veggies. There are recipes for manioc wraps that are primal-friendly and work well in place of wheat and corn (manioc is a tuber, aka tapioca). To me, the rice and beans part of Mexican is the least appealing anyway. Even though it's not "Mexican," you could try something like grilled steaks with chimichurri sauce, e.g.

Good luck!

[jfaw1124]

Hi Leslie!

Welcome! I'm pretty new here too, and I have been doing much more reading than posting at this point. As they told me last week, there are quite a few Virginians here, myself included. Currently in Newport News, moving in August to the upper part of Toano, near New Kent County. I've been about 95% grain free for 30 days now, it's been amazing. I think it's doing wonders for both me and my husband. Gluten seems to be especially bad on him. As far as the trolls and f-bombs go, I think they are a part of any forum, and you just have to learn to live with and/or ignore them. Good luck on your transition!

[leslieinvirginia]

Welcome aboard, and good luck with your change to the Primal lifestyle. Since you did not mention whether you've read the Primal Blueprint (book), I will suggest that you make that investment in time and money, neither of which is particularly taxing, since it is the best summation of Primal principles. I had read much of the message board posts, and had read quite a few diet and nutrition books previously, and still felt PB added to my understanding.

Part of the reason newbies get rebarbative responses is that a) the posters ask questions clearly covered in the book(s), and b) they ask questions that have been asked dozens of times before - use the search tool before posting new threads, please. Sometimes, too, posters are clearly coming in with intent to troll or an agenda to stir things up for the sake of stirring things up, and they get what they get.

One of the great things about journaling here is that you can track your progress over time and get invaluable feedback from members. If you feel comfortable sharing details such as age, starting/current/goal weights, and more details about pain and memory issues, others may be able to advise from their experience.

You can certainly enjoy Mexican food as all- or mostly-Primal. Eating a tortilla once a week isn't a deal-breaker, but you can also ditch the tortilla and emphasize meats and veggies. There are recipes for manioc wraps that are primal-friendly and work well in place of wheat and corn (manioc is a tuber, aka tapioca). To me, the rice and beans part of Mexican is the least appealing anyway. Even though it's not "Mexican," you could try something like grilled steaks with chimichurri sauce, e.g.

Good luck!

Thank you for the reply. I read The Primal Blueprint and currently have 21 Day Total Body Transformation. Although I have not been regimented about it, I've been incorporating many of the ideas from the books. I will look into manioc, as corn is not my friend! I'll think about the journalling. I'm convinced that my joint pain and memory issues are directly related to wheat. I think it was/is a problem for several family members as well. Thank again!

[leslieinvirginia]

Hi Leslie!

Welcome! I'm pretty new here too, and I have been doing much more reading than posting at this point. As they told me last week, there are quite a few Virginians here, myself included. Currently in Newport News, moving in August to the upper part of Toano, near New Kent County. I've been about 95% grain free for 30 days now, it's been amazing. I think it's doing wonders for both me and my husband. Gluten seems to be especially bad on him. As far as the trolls and f-bombs go, I think they are a part of any forum, and you just have to learn to live with and/or ignore them. Good luck on your transition!

Nice to meet you. We'll be in VA for another year. I'd like my husband to try eating primal. He has horrendous allergies. I think going off wheat alone would help relieve some of the load his body is carrying. We'll see if he'll go for it! It will mean more work for me though!

[jfaw1124]

Going off wheat has really been great for my husband. He has been pretty overweight for about 5 years, and up until recently we never noticed that whenever he had a bunch of wheat he would get very congested, and his nasal passages would clog up. He seems to not be having that problem now, and I've noticed a distinct lack of snoring when he sleeps. Also, he's lost about 12lbs in our initial 30 days. Oh what a little knowledge will do for you!