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[Charlie Primal]

Hey,

I Started exploring primal a fortnight ago, then went away for a couple of weeks.

Now back home and ready to do to this for real.

Background info: I am 23, 6ft tall, 140lbs, male. Have suffered from health issues all my life. Allergies, fungal infections, hair loss, consistent low energy, consistent low mood (grumpy smurf syndrome), sinus problems, skin eruptions, difficulty gaining weight, and generally feeling like crap.

I have been searching for a way to get better since my teenage years and have tried what felt like everything to get rid of these vague symptoms that the numerous doctors I saw would hardly even acknowledge, let alone diagnose and treat. The most specific advice they gave was, eat more and vacuum your room. Riiiight, thanks for that. I tried raw food diets, organic/whole food diets, anti-candida diets, anti fungals, nutrition supplements, weight training, week long fasts, enemas, yoga, faith healing. You name it, I've probably tried it. Nothing helped, not significantly anyway, although I learned a lot along the way. Even though I had spotted the pitfalls of conventional wisdom in other area of life, social, career etc, I was unable to step outside the 'eat grains' paradigm. Driven by conventional 'wisdom' (aka random nonsense) I avoided lots of fats and ate only lean meat. Sigh.

Enter Mark's Primal Blueprint: I came across this site while searching for info on sleeping posture and here it was, finally, the missing piece, the holy grail of my seemingly endless quest. Two pieces of info that rocked my world. 1) Grains/too many carbs are bad (My diet was 70-80% carbs, mainly whole grains). 2) Chronic cardio mauls your health (I was training 1-2 hours per day). All the other stuff Mark recommends I already did as a consequence of my personal health mission.

Mission statement: I will state my goals once, then get on with it. I aim to improve my health over the next year to the point where I no longer suffer from most/all of the current symptoms. I also want to gain 40lbs of weight, to bring me up to 180lbs. Beyond that I want to have the great quality of life and health that Mark and others here attribute to the primal lifestyle. I have many interests, passions, friends and ambitions and want the well-being to explore and pursue these without getting dragged down by my physical condition.

Ready, get set, gggGROK ON!

Charlie Primal

[Charlie Primal]

Day 1 food intake.

B: Eggs, bacon, butter + mixed berries. Orgasmically good! 600 calories

L: Steak mince, lard, coconut oil + onions, carrots, fennel, + olive oil + apple. 900 calories

S: Nuts and seeds. 300 calories

D: Leftover lunch as above + chard + parsley: 900 calories

S: Protein shake w/ banana: 300 calories

Total calories = 3000. Protein = 190/200g. Carbs = 110g. Ouch my wallet! Need to get a part time job to fund my munching.

Exercise: Hour long lie in and partial concentration during my uni lectures. Hardcore


Notes: CARB FLU IS LAME. My head feels fuzzy, and everything sucks. But I feel cleaner underneath somehow. Less bogged down by the food I'm eating.

For anyone who's interested I get a weekly veg box delivered to my door. Full of fresh, seasonal, organic, pesticide free veg, herbs, and lots of free range eggs. I also went to the local farmers market and got stocked up on hormone, chemical free, grass fed beef. YUM.

I'm also aiming for 3 x 30 min weight lifting sessions and 1 x 20 min sprint training per week. Calculated my daily caloric requirements to be 2600kcal maintenance + 500kcal to gain weight, so will aim for 3100kcal daily.

[Charlie Primal]

On third day of primal eating/living

Was up all night last night with crazy amounts of energy and little inclination to sleep. Feel quite knackered today, carb flu is still lame! Feel like hundreds of flies are buzzing round my head, and my shoulders are really tight and sore. Also am having mahoosive cravings for things like chips, and bread. On the plus side oil/fat is getting a lot more edible and is now actually enjoyable. Coconut oil, olive oil and butter are my staples. Good times.

Stewed an organic, grass fed lamb heart today for 3 hours (cooked with the blood in the packet, beetroot, onion and fennel), have NEVER had meat so tender and satisfying. Hmmmm with hindsight that's actually a bit worrying: blood, lambs and internal organs...Hannibal Lecter much?!

On the topic of food, I have eaten organic/chemical free/free range meat and veg from local farms for many years and it doesn't take a genius to notice the superior quality. I bought normal Tesco carrots the other day and they had no consistency and just tasted like water.

Just sorted out a weightlifting program which I will start in earnest next Monday. Involves lifting heavy things, moving them around and then putting them down again, followed by a ten minute cold shower. Bliss.

Ciao for now,

Charlie P

[CocoaNut]

Hey, Charlie! Good luck in your journey. I'll be watching this thread.

Yeah, the diet can be fairly expensive. It's why I'm doing what I call sub-primal, rather than full primal. I just can't afford the meat.

I have no idea how you manage to get so many calories. I have trouble consuming the amount I do (a little over 2,000).

[Charlie Primal]

Hey, Charlie! Good luck in your journey. I'll be watching this thread.

Yeah, the diet can be fairly expensive. It's why I'm doing what I call sub-primal, rather than full primal. I just can't afford the meat.

I have no idea how you manage to get so many calories. I have trouble consuming the amount I do (a little over 2,000).

Hey CocoNut thanks for the luck!

Yeah I went to see a couple of local farmers and managed to get amazing deals on meat and veg , definitely worth doing.

I just power down the fat: coconut oil, olive oil and butter, nuts and seeds. I get 1,300 calories from those alone. Works well.

How is sub primal working out? Is it mainly veggie?

[Charlie Primal]

Day four.

Head feels sore, nose is blocked, can't concentrate and am generally knackered. Anyone know why carb flu is so unpleasant and how long it tends to last for?

Dark chocolate and almond nut butter for desert. Très tasty.

Peace,

Charlie

[CocoaNut]

Hey CocoNut thanks for the luck!

Yeah I went to see a couple of local farmers and managed to get amazing deals on meat and veg , definitely worth doing.

I just power down the fat: coconut oil, olive oil and butter, nuts and seeds. I get 1,300 calories from those alone. Works well.

How is sub primal working out? Is it mainly veggie?

Essentially, yeah. I don't get nearly as much meat as I think I should, and I end up with quite a bit of dairy.

[NZ primal Gwamma]

Hi Charlie, welcome to MDA. The carb flu differs for everybody. I had it for about a week, but you might find that you are starting to feel a wee bit better every day. Drink heaps of water to flush those toxins out.
Good luck on your journey
G

[Charlie Primal]

Hi Charlie, welcome to MDA. The carb flu differs for everybody. I had it for about a week, but you might find that you are starting to feel a wee bit better every day. Drink heaps of water to flush those toxins out.
Good luck on your journey
G

Cheers for the advice. Water and salt seems helpful! Still feel mauled though... hopefully will get through it soon

[Charlie Primal]

Day 7.

End of week one! Argghh I feel nuked.

Over the wk I have some chocolate, a small bowl of rice based cereal and some fish fingers at 5am after being out all last night. Apart from that I have been fully primal. This wk, my goal is to stick to primal 100% to allow for the whole fat burning mechanism to kick in quicker.

Am finding it hard to organise high calorie primal lunches and meals on the fly. Anyone have any ideas or methods that they use?
Breakfast and dinner tend to be fine.

I am finding some interesting psychological effects of switching to primal eating/living. Mainly that I am re-evaluating what is important in my life, and how to cut down on unnecessary rushing around and stress. I hate feeling overwhelmed by the amount I have to do, but I often find I go into my head and think think think as a coping mechanism. This means I think I am not stressed out but actually my body and emotions tell me different, and I'm only just realising this!

One way I thought of dealing with this is to spend my cooking and eating time as a meditation. calmly and slowly make my food and eat it without watching south park, talking the phone, or generally thinking, planning or worrying etc. Gonna start that tomoz.

Good evening from the UK!

Charlie Primal