How did you begin? page

[Screamer]

Hi everyone,

So i've bought the primal blueprint book and the 21 day total book as well. The plan was initially to just rock into that 21 day thing to get started, but it seems there are a few different ways of doing that?

How did you do it? How did you find out what foods you can and can't eat, and i mean all the foods as i understand the things you should cut out but also portions etc?

Would appreciate any help any of you can give.

Thanks
Jodie

[primalrob]

i started reading mark's posts well before i bought the book, and shifted to primal after reading through the primal 101 posts. all the information you need is right there on mark's page...it's great how he just gives out tons of health information for free. i read some of the beginner posts, learned about the ten primal laws, and went to it. it was at least a few months before i bought and read the book.

[Screamer]

Thanks Rob.

Did you buy the exercise heart rate monitors and any primal fuel as well? Or just do without?

[PaleoPanda]

Hi,

I'm new and have gone to it gradually. First I cut out grains and legumes. Then I ran down the other things in my cupboards that didn't fit in with the diet, whilst increasing the things that did. Financially, that was a better way to do it for me.

I have bought some Kinetica whey protein, which is from grass fed cows apparently....and easier to get here in the UK than Primal Fuel. I do use a HRM when exercising but not all of the time, I don't like to be a slave to it, sometimes it's more important just to be outdoors and enjoying it.

[shep68]

I dove right in and gave up grains, legumes, dairy etc cold turkey. My introduction was reading Cordains book on paleo eating. In it he lists numerous foods that are ok to eat and several recipes and weekly diet planners. After that I took to the web which of course led me here. There are thousands of recipes and and food recommendations. Half the time I will just do a Google search to see if a food is paleo...for instance: "are olives paleo"? They are by the way! Also a friend of mine who's been Paleo for a couple years said something once that made sense. When eating any meal half your plate should be red (meat) and half should be green (veg). Pretty accurate descriptor for portions.

[naiadknight]

I was primalish before I bough The Primal Blueprint. I bought it and I was sold. I was Mark's version of Primal for a good 6 months before I started tinkering. Mind you, I started primal before any of the kits or Primal fuel, or any of that, so I have no say on how much those help. After my intro period, I start experimenting on carb loads and rapidly discovered Whole30 is not my friend (history of undiagnosed eating disorders), and neither is ketosis. I swung the other way and fond my groove at 75-150g carbs. It's all in your experimentation, but first, give the original PB a shot before you start messing with it.

[Credodisi]

I had decided I needed to make fundamental changes to my diet/lifestyle as I could not lose weight, I could not sleep through the night, my skin looked terrible, I had no energy, etc. I decided that I would likely find the solution to my problem by confronting the thing that scared me the most about changing my diet, which was giving up sugar. I had a sweet tooth my whole life.. my worst nightmare when i was younger was that I would be diagnosed a diabetic and would have to give up sweets.

So I read a bit and gave up not only sugar, but wheat as well, as I thought it would help control my sugar cravings. I told myself everything else was fair game and I wouldn't worry about losing weight, I would just stay away from sugar and wheat.

The first month of this, I read a lot on the internet and kept coming back to Marksdailyapple. Finally, I decided to jump in, got the Blueprint book and jumped in about 1 month after giving up sugar/wheat. The transition at that point was not difficult as I had already dealt with the scariest part....

I've embraced various aspects of the blueprint over time (it's now been about 15 months) and have made adjustments as I went along. For example, I've increased my vegetable intake for the last 5 months and feel much better. My alcohol consumption has gone way, way down. I made big changes in my job/career to address my stress levels and sleep issues. I could not have made all these changes at once though... I eased into them over time.

[Dirlot]

You don't need the primal fuel - sorry Mark.
If you are wanting to step in cut wheat first
Then cut all grains
Then focus on tasty whole foods. I know potato are ok but for me I find them quiet bland now so try to stick to sweet potatoes.
Enjoy the ride.

[upupandaway]

I started by listening to a bunch of podcasts by 2 (self-described) paleo/traditional foods nutritionists - Balanced Bites.

I did 2 days of lower carb to get into the swing of that, then cut out grains, potatoes, sugar, and legumes. Even continuing to eat a piece of fruit and a very small (1 tsp?!) amount of honey per day, I went into ketosis. However, I felt a bit speedy and weird and due to certain things I need to do currently (I have a job interview next week and don't want to sit in it feeling high as a kite!), I've added back in some more carbs - butternut squash and bananas.

When my schedule has cleared slightly (i.e. the end of next week), I intend to do 2 weeks of v strict, low carb paleo, just meat, green veg, eggs and good fats and see how that goes. The PB book should be in my hands any day now and I've read a bunch of blogs.

Even with 'relaxed' primal, my taste for sugar, bread and lentils has been nuked and I feel better physically, so I'm very happy now.