How has your primal diet evolved over time? page 2

[Lawyerchick12]

Wow My Diet has definitely evolved! I had always been too afraid to go 100% paleo and so I had difficulty especially with the artificial sugars. I took the 80/20 to another dimension. I did nto see that much progress apart from 5lbs that kept coming and going. I then started eating mostly paleo but turned to lots of fruits to get my sugar fix specially mangoes and bananas. I felt better but still did not see a massive shift in weight. I then went low carb paleo and adhere to eat 90 percent of the time. My stomach is as flat as an iron on most days and my thighs do not jiggle anymore as well as i can fit into most of my early twenties clothes (I am in my mid twenties now). I have stopped weighing myself so not sure how much overall I have lost. All in all...so far..so good

[jakey]

i started off VLC, and did a few whole 30's too. then i brought dairy back into the game, but stayed VLC for the first eight or nine months. i was a keto-adapted inuit-like beast. until that utterly stopped working and yeilded some not so fun side effects.

then i just decided i wanted fruit back in my life. slowly at first, one piece a day. made me feel calmer and a helluva lot better. then, i discovered paul jaminet's website, and his book perfect health diet. for a while after that, i got a bit obsessed with counting everything, to hit my 100 grams of glucose per day, and keep all my macros perfectly consistent. it's kinda fun for a bit, but completely dominates your life, especially if you're slightly OCD like me.

then i got over me fear of fructose, and my need to hit some magical macro count. now i count nothing, eat some fruit and starch on most days, but definitely have higher fat days and higher carb days as my appetite guides me. some days i eat only fruit for carbs. other days, only starch. but most days, i mix it up. and i'm happy!

[seaweed]

i started off ditching gluten and worked out that gluten free grains were pretty dodge too. sugar goes without saying. then i found primal. i have been thru phases of cheating an eating too much GF cake and cookies as i do have kids. what i have found is over the years my tastes have changed. i dont eat liver coz i think i should, i actually like it. i can eat funky seafoods too now and i enjoy them. i think i have discovered a whole spectrum of savoury tastes which is so much deeper and better than just sweet and chocolate. i also eat more seasonally as it just works out that way and often different veges and meats are seasonal too.

[JoanieL]

My initial journey started on the tail end of the pink slime debacle. I started to read. I mean really read. Every morning with my coffee, I'd set up my computer and just read. Sometimes, except for bathroom breaks, I wouldn't look up 'til almost noon. To say I was appalled at the shit going on in the agribusiness industry would be an epic understatement.

At one point it almost seemed like I wouldn't be able to eat anything healthy unless I switched to vegan and organic. But I knew in my heart that not only would I never be able to never eat flesh again, but it would be difficult to get all the nutrients I needed - especially once I read about soy.

Eventually I found PB, and it spoke to what I was looking for. It was sane. It was logical. Nothing about it seemed goofy, stupid, or unsustainable.

Even before primal, I had thought I'd done a good job of getting the garbage out of my home. I had three holdouts because these three lower calorie substitutes tasted fine and one even had "vegan" on the label, and that one must be heathy, right?

Anyway, one day while scrubbing out my fridge, I looked at the contents of these substitutes, and every one of them had corn oil. For someone who was ranting about the Monsanto conspiracy to anyone who'd listen, I was doing a shitty job of walkin' the walk. So I tossed them and found real, pastured replacements for two of them, and learned to make a good healthy substitute for the third.

This is becoming too long. Biggest changes. From emphasis on low carb to honestly healthy low carb. From CAFO to pastured and wild. Lower fruit intake with the emphasis on eating berries rather than sweeter fruits. Also, I now have oil (avocado) and real (pastured) butter in my home. Honestly, it had been a very long time since I'd had either in my home. I don't force myself to use them daily, but I'm no longer afraid of them.

[Barefoot Gentile]

Still eating pizza and pasta, so life is good!

[JoanieL]

My mom ate lots of pizza and pasta right up 'til the day she died. From a stroke from uncontrolled diabetes. And a good 10 years younger than either of her parents had died. Life was good but short.

[qqemokitty]

Don't mind Barefoot Gentile. S/he is just here to poke at us, since they are not themselves primal at all. =P

My diet is ever evolving, too.

Lately I've been experimenting with baking breads and things with primal ingredients, which I find a lot of fun. I really missed baking, for myself and for others. Now I can do it knowing that (nut allergy folks aside) I am giving others something relatively nutritious and filling.

I eat WAY less fruit now than I did at the beginning. I was eating a ton of fruit at first. An apple every day, and grapes and strawberries. I was also cheating a lot "one peanut butter cup is okay because at least i am not eating 6, right?" but I don't do that as much now because I can feel the effect of ONE peanut butter cup and it is not good. I've found that large quantities of sugar affects me REALLY negatively, bringing on headaches and joint pain. That being said, I've learned to experiment with using real honey and maple syrup in very small amounts to sweeten my baking and that is going well.

I completely quit coffee and alcohol. It is nice not to be dependent on the coffee anymore.

I've learned to determine when I am hungry versus when I just want a delicious flavor all up in my mouth.

I've learned how certain things I ate or ways of eating were only done out of habit, and with very little thought.

[TLoRu]

2 years ago a coworker introduced me to the primal blueprint thinking it would be something I'd be interested in.... Wow she knew me well! Did the 80/20 thing for awhile. My 20 included SAD foods and wine. I cut out all grains and I felt great.

Discovered Whole30 and cleaned the rest of my diet up. For the last 4 months I have ditched dairy, sugars, alcohol, and all grains. I feel amazing and haven't really gone of course. I've evolved into 100% paleo. I'm trying to find a good balance w being "too strict" and easing up. I'm not looking to lose weight and my BF is around 18% now.

Exercise has been a huge constant. Always trying new things and love Crossfit!

[Mr. Anthony]

I was 'primal-ish' for several months, just having the barest of ideas about how it worked starting out (wait, Chick-fil-A strips are chicken...those are ok, right? Hold on, I can't get through this without a protein bar), but really got it figured out the last 4 months or so. Eating more fat FTW! I feel very dialed in now, and make like 97% of the food I eat. I was never looking to lose weight or anything, but my abs are pretty awesome and on the way to 'raging 6-pack' and haven't lost much (any?) muscle. I've slowly turned into naturally IF (wake up, work out, eat, work, eat) and have to make a good effort to get enough calories (I need nearly 3K to maintain weight).

I'm sure things will change up over time, but I've been cutting back on sugars and fruits (didn't eat many to begin with), slowing down the nut intake, etc. Still like some good raw cheese or 90% dark chocolate as a treat, but only a couple times a week. Feel awesome all the time.

[qqemokitty]

Oh yeah I tried to make myself eat lunch all the time, and nuts a LOT even though historically I am not a person who likes to eat nuts.

Now I never eat lunch unless I have a hankering for a piece of beef jerky, and the only nuts I'm eating are the ground ones I'm baking with. :P