Decided to try primal...rough start page

[s-piper]

I was introduced to Paleo just under two months ago when my low-carb nut father put a Paleo cookbook on his Amazon Wishlist around Christmas time. It was affordable so I ordered it, wrapped it, and slapped it under the tree when I got to their house.
A few days later I decided to tumb through to get an idea of what my gift actually was. It didn't seem too outrageous. I was no stranger to low carb, having lost 100 lbs on a low fat Atkins diet as a teenager. However, I've gone off it over the years and with the stress or college, job hunting in a lousy economy, and graduate school... the weight has crept back on.

A few days ago they were having a sale on diet books at my local big name bookstore, so I bought Primal Blueprint and Primal Body Primal Mind, and devoured both.
I took the first step last night by tossing out the remains of my bag of bread (I'll get rid of the other stuff later), and cooking a dinner of stew meat with taco seasonings and veggies. The dinner didn't turn out so well. The fat on the meat was chewy and not very nice, so I had trouble swallowing it. Then had heartburn later that night.

This morning I was woken up by my "alarm clock" (aka: pet cat) an hour before I set my actual alarm clock to go off. As I went out the door I was tired and grouchy, and decided to hit up Starbucks for breakfast. After getting my fix of caffine and sugar, I went to work feeling sane....but disgusted and remorseful. At lunch I decided to give it another shot. I got a sandwhich at the cafe, but just ate the meat and veggies out of it. So far so good on dinner. Plus, I got some half-and-half on the way home and made a smoothie out of fruit with it to get myself used to consuming more fat. Since I'm a girl who is used to drinking skim milk, I think I'll have to work my way up to things like butter and cream.

I'm looking foward to getting the hang of Primal and getting to know you all!

[Hedonist2]

Welcome! I hope primal goes well for you.

If you have food that is non-primal but not terrible, e.g. rice, consider giving to a food closet for hungry people.

[s-piper]

Welcome! I hope primal goes well for you.

If you have food that is non-primal but not terrible, e.g. rice, consider giving to a food closet for hungry people.

That's a good idea. I have several 'healthy' but non-primal foods. An unopened can of oatmeal, 2 bags of brown rice, several packages of whole wheat pasta (my favorite food!), and 2 jars of natural peanut butter.
Don't really have any junkfood in the house, ironically. Mostly because I'm a binge eater and they never last that long!
I also have a bag of lentils although, after seeing some online tutorials, I may keep that and try to sprout them. Does anyone know if brown lentils are okay to sprout? I really love bean sprouts, but since contamination is scarily common with them I never feel safe eating store bought. I'd be awesome to make my own!

[magicmerl]

The fat on the meat was chewy and not very nice, so I had trouble swallowing it.

The higher quality a meat is, the rarer you can/should eat it. The reverse is, the lower quality the meat is, the more you should cook it to death. I personally LOVE fatty meat cooked in the slowcooker for 8 hours. The fat/gristle turns gelatinous and soft.

Since I'm a girl who is used to drinking skim milk, I think I'll have to work my way up to things like butter and cream.

Dive right in.

When you stop eating wheat and related baddies, you need to replace them with good foods. Almost everyone I know *loves* cream in their coffee or on dessert and makes the transition quite easily. Our kids still eat cereal, but it's still with a mix of cream and raw milk poured on it. So good.

[s-piper]

Thanks for the tip with the meat. It looks like I'll have to invest in a cockpot, so it's first on my shopping list come payday.

When you stop eating wheat and related baddies, you need to replace them with good foods. Almost everyone I know *loves* cream in their coffee or on dessert and makes the transition quite easily. Our kids still eat cereal, but it's still with a mix of cream and raw milk poured on it. So good.

There's another reason I'm leery of jumping in too quickly besides just personal taste. For me high fat food sometimes equals stomach pain and...well...the adjective 'explosive' is sometimes used to describe it.
I actually swore off buttercream frosting years ago after one night I had stomach pain so bad I seriously thought I was going to faint!
I've had my gallbladder checked and it's okay, though almost every woman in my family over 35 has theirs taken out so I kind of always felt like it's only a matter of time.

I tolerated the half-and-half smoothie fine though, and did already feel less cravings today. The whole grain waffles I couldn't bear to throw away were not nearly as appetizing this morning as I remember them being.

[Amethyst42]

I've worked in the retail end of the meat industry for years, so I can say with confidence that low and slow is the way to cook the tougher cuts of meat. Stewing is fantastic. But stewing by definitions takes hours, and it's hard to be patient. Crock pots are fantastic for just that reason. Throw your stuff in, go to work/school/gym/visit/whatever, and food comes out.

[magicmerl]

There's another reason I'm leery of jumping in too quickly besides just personal taste. For me high fat food sometimes equals stomach pain and...well...the adjective 'explosive' is sometimes used to describe it.
I actually swore off buttercream frosting years ago after one night I had stomach pain so bad I seriously thought I was going to faint!
I've had my gallbladder checked and it's okay, though almost every woman in my family over 35 has theirs taken out so I kind of always felt like it's only a matter of time.

I tolerated the half-and-half smoothie fine though, and did already feel less cravings today. The whole grain waffles I couldn't bear to throw away were not nearly as appetizing this morning as I remember them being.

Fair enough. Everyone tolerates things differently. I just LOOVE cream. Being a bear of little brain it's hard for me to comprehend someone whose body is cruel enough to reject it.

[ShangriLulu]

Our kids still eat cereal, but it's still with a mix of cream and raw milk poured on it. So good.

My husband makes me a latte every morning that uses a cup of milk. Now it's half organic whole/half organic half-and-half. To save him the trouble of having to pour both, I pre-mixed and poured back into the containers.

Last night at dinner: "Gosh this milk is good. How have I never known how good organic milk is?"

"Um, that's mixed with half-and-half."

"Oh, well that's probably why my cereal tasted so good yesterday..."

[Hedonist2]

I often drink cream. yummm

[s-piper]

My husband makes me a latte every morning that uses a cup of milk. Now it's half organic whole/half organic half-and-half. To save him the trouble of having to pour both, I pre-mixed and poured back into the containers.

Last night at dinner: "Gosh this milk is good. How have I never known how good organic milk is?"

"Um, that's mixed with half-and-half."

"Oh, well that's probably why my cereal tasted so good yesterday..."

Hehe, that's funny!