Considering Paleo page

[jfedei]

Hi all! I heard of the Paleo diet awhile back, but never really gave it much thought until very recently. I'm 55 years old, have diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension. I'm on prescribed medications for all of those diseases unfortunately. I would be happy to drop about 50 pounds right now as my eating habits are atrocious and I seldom exercise. I'm a mess!!

The oxymoron in all of this is that I'm a nurse. Much of my job involves educating patients on ways they can improve their health. I have struggled with weight issues all my life and have finally reached the point where it's do or die because my health is suffering. In the past few years I tried going Vegan. While my cholesterol dropped, my blood sugars spiked sending me in to full blown diabetes, but the worst of it was that I felt awful... tired, brain fog, listless. My body seems to do better with a more low carb approach.

This past week, I did a few Google searches, hence how I found this forum. I also picked up a Paleo book for my Kindle and have started reading through it. I'm not one to just dive in without knowing all the particulars first so I do have some questions for you more advanced members...

I would love to get my cholesterol, blood sugars and blood pressure numbers down. Given my age and that I'm in menopause, weight loss has not easy for me. I'm curious to know what others out there have experienced. Particularly for women in my situation.

I'm not 100% sold on the Paleo way just yet, so I'm basically here to 'learn and explore' all I can before I take the plunge. Since lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugars are of the most importance to me, I'm curious to know how others have fared in those areas as well. What other benefits have you noticed since becoming Paleo? Would you recommend this to a female in her 50's and beyond?

I had explored Atkins, but found it to be too restrictive with regard to the consumption of vegetables and fruits. I like the fact that the Paleo way offers plenty of those lovely nutrients! It's looking promising, but I need more information still.

Can't wait to hear all about your experiences.

Best,
Jenny

[Misabi]

Give it a go for 30 days and see how it goes. You can't do any damage in 30 days by just eating veggies, fruit and meat/fish/eggs that you couldn't undo easily enough by going back to the way you eat now..

And if you find that you don't like looking and feeling better, you can always go vegan

[jfedei]

P.S. I downloaded all of Mark's 'freebies' tonight and will take a look at them tomorrow in more detail!

[john_e_turner_ii]

Welcome Jenny. You found this just like I did. I stumbled on the site, read a lot, and jumped in. I will say that I finally have a respect for my body and food. Do your research and find what's best for you.

[bloodorchid]

there are so many success story posts about those very things that i'd be here all night listing them

so i'll just say for myself that cutting out wheat and margarine has led to plenty of positive results. body aches went away, weight gain stopped, some hormonal issues reversed etc etc etc

try it for a month, you might like it

[Warmbear]

Greetings and salivations, As a guy I dont know how much relevance this has but in april I was 360 lbs, 195/135 bp on 3 different max dose meds, had T2 Diabetes, IBS and massive arthritis. Now I am 270, 145/80 bp no longer on meds, the T2 is gone gone gone. The IBS is gone so long as I dont cheat and the pain is 100000000 x less.

On top of this my anxiety and depressive issues are all gone or at least I dont notice them.

Give it a try for 30 days, you wont regret it.

[jfedei]

Warmbear - That's fantastic! If that isn't motivation enough, I don't know what is!!

What exactly do you eat? Do you use any supplements? Amazing!!

Jenny

Greetings and salivations, As a guy I dont know how much relevance this has but in april I was 360 lbs, 195/135 bp on 3 different max dose meds, had T2 Diabetes, IBS and massive arthritis. Now I am 270, 145/80 bp no longer on meds, the T2 is gone gone gone. The IBS is gone so long as I dont cheat and the pain is 100000000 x less.

On top of this my anxiety and depressive issues are all gone or at least I dont notice them.

Give it a try for 30 days, you wont regret it.

[Misabi]

I'm curious to know what others out there have experienced. Particularly for women in my situation.

Sorry, skimmed through your post earlier on and missed this bit.

I've been paleo/primal for 4 years or so now. I came to it for general health rather than weight loss, but some nice side affects have been curing the chronic IBS that I'd suffered for years, lost several inches of fat from my waist and found it the easiest way to maintain a good body composition ( I don't say weight as over the years I've varied from a skinny long distance runner to a body builder and all sorts in between ).

My father has cured his IBS after suffering for over 30 years, life long acne, lost inches, has a visible six pack and gotten off of statins. He's 64 in a few weeks.

My mum's insomnia and restless leg syndrome are both vastly improved. Mum is 63.

Both of the have also noticed improvement in arthritis and energy levels, and while they aren't the strictest adherents they notice the differences when the veer to far from the track. They started emating Primally early last year.

[Annieh]

Welcome Jenny, I agree with above posters - give it a try you have nothing to lose. Overall, I have found this way of eating the best for my general health and wellbeing - smoothing out mood swings, getting rid of bloated feelings, weight loss and maintenance. It's also absolutely delicious and very easy to adhere to.

I am 48, discovered primal in June and jumped in straight away because it just seemed to make so much sense. I was already keen on eating wholesomely, and understood the benefits of low carb for weight loss. With primal I finally ditched the grains and that turned out to be key I needed to unlock even more advantages - digestion is so much smoother, bloating has disappeared, weight lost has NOT come back, etc etc.

I also got rid of processed oils and replaced with the likes of bacon, dripping, butter and cream. Doesn't sound like a diet, does it? I testify that my food is so satisfying that I generally don't get cravings or gain weight, in fact I am finding it a little hard to stop losing any more.

I eat eggs for breakfast (usually as an omelette or frittata with veges and sometimes cheese and/or bacon).
Lunch is often leftovers from dinner. Or a big salad with feta, olives, avocado, cashews etc. Or homemade meat and vege soup.
Dinner is meat and veges. (I often post my menu in my journal if you want some ideas it is called Annie's Primal Highlights).
I don't need many desserts or snacks but if I do then I choose from berries, cream, dark chocolate, nuts and fruit.

Come on, join us and see what happens. Make sure you take your measurements before you start because I warn you, they can change real quick.

[jfedei]

Welcome Jenny, I agree with above posters - give it a try you have nothing to lose. Overall, I have found this way of eating the best for my general health and wellbeing - smoothing out mood swings, getting rid of bloated feelings, weight loss and maintenance. It's also absolutely delicious and very easy to adhere to.

I am 48, discovered primal in June and jumped in straight away because it just seemed to make so much sense. I was already keen on eating wholesomely, and understood the benefits of low carb for weight loss. With primal I finally ditched the grains and that turned out to be key I needed to unlock even more advantages - digestion is so much smoother, bloating has disappeared, weight lost has NOT come back, etc etc.

I also got rid of processed oils and replaced with the likes of bacon, dripping, butter and cream. Doesn't sound like a diet, does it? I testify that my food is so satisfying that I generally don't get cravings or gain weight, in fact I am finding it a little hard to stop losing any more.

I eat eggs for breakfast (usually as an omelette or frittata with veges and sometimes cheese and/or bacon).
Lunch is often leftovers from dinner. Or a big salad with feta, olives, avocado, cashews etc. Or homemade meat and vege soup.
Dinner is meat and veges. (I often post my menu in my journal if you want some ideas it is called Annie's Primal Highlights).
I don't need many desserts or snacks but if I do then I choose from berries, cream, dark chocolate, nuts and fruit.

Come on, join us and see what happens. Make sure you take your measurements before you start because I warn you, they can change real quick.

I like the tempting and enticing way you say "Come on, join us..." Sounds like "Come to the dark side, we have cookies!" I might steal that for my signature! haha!!

Last night I did more research and found a gambit of 'testimonials' out there basically all saying the same thing you've each expounded upon. I went to bed with Paleo on my mind and now I'm sitting here noshing on 2 strips of microwaved bacon with 2 eggs cooked in a bit of olive oil thinking "I could do this!" Veganism be dammed (sorry, but after my bad experience, I had to let that out!)

I think I'm about 90% there, but I do have another important question...

With regard to percentages / ratios of fat and protein, is there a daily recommended amount? I saw posted on another forum that daily fat should be around 50%, and protein around 25 - 30%. I could easily do the 25 - 30% protein, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around a 50% daily fat intake. If following the Standard American Diet, it's projected to be around 20 - 30% daily intake of fat and in some cases I've seen even lower percentages. Is there a recommended range of daily fat and protein for Paleo's to your knowledge? Is there also clinical data to back up the results of these numbers as well?

If I were to follow the 50% rule on a 1800 calorie diet, that would mean that 900 calories should come from fat. That's a whopping 100 grams of fat per day!! I'm freaking out here!! Sorry to be so anal-ytical, but I gotttaaa know before I throw caution to the wind and jump in head first!

I'm sooooo almost there though. I've also been gawking at Paleo food porn and drooling on my shoes. Are you freaking kidding me? This looks so good. I'm jumping up and down thinking about the fact that I can have steak again!!!!

By the way, if I need to present this question to another area of the forum, would someone please direct me?

Thanks!
Jenny

P.S. Motivation #2 - Paleo men are 'hot' looking!!