"Your dad is so fat".... Primal Papa's Journal. page 24

[jenn26point2]

Isn't the fat that drains off your chicken essentially chicken stock? I make mine into gravy or save it to be used in chicken broth. Sometimes I pour it back onto the chicken b/c no matter how I make it, a whole chicken breast roasted seems dry to me (even with skin on/bone in).

boneless chicken breast isn't what I would consider a sabotage either. How do you get your chicken skin crispy? I've had to put mine under the broiler and it's not a consistent crispiness throughout - just the portions closest to the broiler element.

[jenn26point2]

Just thought of something regarding the "regularity" problem you mentioned...

My thinking is this. We aren't as regular as we were before because our bodies are producing less waste because we're eating less waste.

For instance, CW tells us to eat fiber for bulk and "regularity"... but for what reason do we need to be "regular"? Maybe our bodies will eliminate waste when it is available to be wasted. Since we're eating more nutritively rich foods, our bodies likely need more time with the food to draw out all the nutrients it needs - thus taking longer to reduce our food to waste. With that in mind, since we're taking in less "bulk" that is eliminated quickly after eating it, we also have smaller amounts of waste to eliminate.

In addition, our decreased appetites come from our bodies telling us that it has enough nutrition to survive longer without a meal... so we go longer between meals b/c we still have a lot of food in our gut for our body to process, draw nutrients from and then eliminate.

I don't think humans are supposed to "go" on a regular schedule and we only do that because someone has told us we should - and in order to do that we had to eat a lot of waste to produce the waste product...

Does that make sense? I've noticed since changing my diet to Primal/Paleo, I go less often and eliminate less each time, but I feel like I've eliminated the proper amount (meaning I don't still feel there is stuff there to eliminate). Based on my experience, and reading about how our bodies work, this is my hypothesis. I'm sure someone labeled "expert" out there has already researched this and has the answers... and I'm sure we could find it. But for the time being, this is my hypothesis.

[namelesswonder]

From what I've read, we should be producing waste regularly because solid waste is primarily bacteria. During a transition phase, a change in "schedule" makes sense because your bacteria may be adjusting to the new/different food amounts and types. Afterwards, supposedly, we should be regular (some say a little elimination after every meal, which makes sense if you think about how small a healthy volume is supposed to be (no longer than your colon), but since we're eating varied things meal to meal, I don't think that's very likely for most people. It is supposed to take roughly 72 hours for complete transit, however, with a healthy gut.

That's mostly according to Gutsense. There's a lot of varying information out there. The main thing that I agree on with the non-CW information is that fiber is NOT as essential as people say, and it should NOT be supplemented. Regardless, as Mark would encourage, we should all be trying to listen to our bodies more, and that includes frequency and urgency of elimination (the book "fiber menace" talks a lot about this, how we're trained not to go until it's a convenient location etc.). Just make sure you don't ignore your body's signals!

[jenn26point2]

I go when my body tells me it's time... however, the frequency has diminished significantly since going primal. At first it increased from once to about 3 times a day but has now dropped off to about once every other day (unless I go on a non-primal free for all, then I'm back to 3x a day for a couple of days).

[Owly]

I'm at about twice a day, which is probably because I eat more plant foods.

[Primal Papa]

Isn't the fat that drains off your chicken essentially chicken stock?

Not in my way of thinking.... stock is thin, whereas gravy is thick. There might be some fat in my stock, and that's A-OK, but I can't even comprehend drinking a full cup of greasy fat. I think I would puke.

[naiadknight]

The way I figure it, I'm not constipated unless I feel constipated. If I haven't gone in a few days and my body's still bopping along without any of those symptoms, it just doesn't have enough stored to need to eliminate it. I tend to go every few days, and my body seems just fine with that.

[Finnegans Wake]

Either I'm eating a lot more than you, or my gut flora are incredibly over-active.

This thread has taken a shitty turn.

[jenn26point2]

The way I figure it, I'm not constipated unless I feel constipated. If I haven't gone in a few days and my body's still bopping along without any of those symptoms, it just doesn't have enough stored to need to eliminate it. I tend to go every few days, and my body seems just fine with that.

+1 ^^ that is what I was getting at... that maybe our bodies have a "norm" that is different than what "they" say is "normal" and it's fully 100% based on what we eat and how our body chooses to "savor" that food.

[Primal Papa]

So, I weigh myself on Monday, and Mondays only.... except for some reason I jumped on the scale today, and broke through the 270 pound barrier..... leaving me about 13 pounds to go by 2013.... As people say "you got this."