Is Peruvian Maca Powder Considered Primal? Pros and Cons? page 2

[CDH]

It sounds like Hopkins berries, acai, raspberry ketones, etc. Probably not terrible and maybe even good if you can easily get your hand on it, but if not, why bother? Eat a good diet, move around, and stop worrying about additional supplementation unless you're an hardcore athlete. Snake oil is snake oil.

I was looking for supplemental nutrition because since starting this Primal diet, I have become very uninterested in pretty much all food and felt that I probably wasn't getting enough of the energy I needed from the food I was eating. I do take a daily MV, fish oil and Vit. D, but I've been tired and sluggish, so I thought I would try it out.

I'm very bored by this diet, especially breakfast since I don't really like eggs all that much. I started drinking fruit smoothies and thought adding this was a little more filling too.

I don't crave sugar, but I really miss many of the carbs, especially potatoes, rice and pasta. My past staples. Spaghetti squash worked for a week, but after eating a whole one over 4-5 days, I was done. Cauliflower mash was also good for a week.

I've bought the PB Quick Meals cookbook and a Paleo cookbook recommended on the site, but I haven't found much that I'd be fond of having often. I don't like a lot of fishes (all the high Omega 3 ones like salmon, mackerel - I hate). I like mostly white fishes, but don't find them filling, even with a plate full of veggies.

Since nothing seems to fill me and I don't like a lot of the PB staples, I'm bored! And HUNGRY!

The good news, is I lost 9 lbs in the first 3 weeks, and another 2 in the next couple of weeks.

Any suggestions?

[Drumroll]

The only way to know if it's useful? Consume it and see for yourself!

It's probably not horrible for you, though you could probably get most of the benefits just by living healthier lifestyle and eating a better diet. But it couldn't hurt to give it a shot I suppose.

[nath5212]

I watched a news special once about Maca root. It was interesting but geared more towards the economic empowerment of the Indians growing and selling it. Basically comes from higher elevations of the Andes mountains and is considered to have a high nutritional value full of vitamins and minerals in addition to carbs, protein and fiber. Seems like the locals basically used it in teas or roasted the bulbs and used it as a spice so maybe if you had it in it's raw form that caused your discomfort. Outside of that local indigenous population I think most people are interested in Maca for its supposed sexual enhancement effects...it's processed into pills and sold as a natural viagra so to speak. Again, according to this show I watched ancient Peruvian warriors were given the stuff before battles in order to get their blood up and allow them to rape and pillage enemies. Whether true or legend is debateable. Believe it or not I actually use a shave cream that contains maca root...not sure what it's supposed to do to enhance my shaves but it's in there none the less. I'd say there's a fair bit of "snake oil" attached to how it's marketed to the world, but as a cooking spice shouldn't be a problem.

I took it for a little while but not long enough to notice anything good or bad differences because we moved on to MA with the doctors and I'm careful about how much I'm taking when on Clomid or Gonal F. I do know there are women on these boards who have been successful getting pregnant and maca was the only change

[spuggygirl]

I've been using it for a few weeks to try and help regulate hormones. So far signs are positive - no major PMT, much less water retention than normal and fewer and less severe cramps. Possibly coincidental so I'll continue and monitor, but it's looking pretty good for me.