It's no secret that I'm a big fan of primal eating. Some of my readers have asked me to blog about it so I'm obliging. :) I've been gluten free for a long time but truly primal for about nine months.
First off, let's define a primal lifestyle. It's eating what our ancestors ate. Vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, and nuts for example. I also eat dairy but some stricter paleo people don't. Just shoot me now if I ever have to give up heavy cream in my coffee! Or my favorite--
cauliflower pizza like in this picture. I just had it for dinner. It's totally yummy in spite of the name. I will never go paleo because I like my dairy. But primal I can do. :)
The main thing with primal eating is the elimination of grains and sugar. Yes, you heard that right. No wheat, oatmeal, rice, potatoes or corn. I do have a tiny amount of grains once in a blue moon but it's very rare. So what do I eat? Yummy things like grilled chicken topped with pepper jack cheese, Greek yogurt and avocado. Carne asada made with beef, avocado, Greek yogurt and peppers. Lots of fish which I love. Lots of salads and green vegetables. Greek yogurt with blueberries. Brownies made with almond flour. Chocolate made with coconut oil, cocoa and xylitol. There are lots of great recipes out there that make the transition painless. In addition to cauliflower pizza, there are recipes for cauliflower tacos and other yummy things. :)
The biggest question I hear is why would anyone want to do that? Health is the primary reason. Since going to a primal diet, my C-Reactive Protein dropped from 5 to .1. That's POINT 1. My homocysteine levels are in the normal range for the first time in forever. I'd been trying to get that inflammation down for years without success. Tied in with the
Kruse primal eating was the leptin reset I was on as well as having lost weight with hcg. What is the leptin reset, you ask? It's a way of fixing your metabolism. You start with a very large wallop of protein in the morning--50 grams. That's 5 eggs plus steak in an omelet. But it fixes cravings and helps you normalize your metabolism by going a minimum of 4-5 hours between food intake. It only takes about 6 weeks usually, then you can move to a more normal breakfast of about 25 grams of protein. Most people will also lose weight on this regimen. Grains drive bad things like insulin levels, fat storage and heart disease.
All grains cause some amount of inflammation but gluten is the worst. If you want to see what changing your diet can do for you, watch this
video by Dr. Terry Wahls. She's a doctor who had progressive MS and she totally reversed it by diet alone. She began eating protein plus 9 cups of greens and colored vegetables and fruit a day. The video explains more and it's astounding.
So how do you go primal? You can do it in small steps and in any order except for the first item. It's primary and should be done first.
1. Give up gluten. This is not negotiable. Read
Wheat Belly by cardiologist Dr. William Davis. The wheat we have today is not the wheat of the Bible. It's incredibly damaging to our bodies. Do this for a month and see how much better you feel. If you want to bread something, use ground flax mixed with just a little rice flour. I made fried chicken (fried in coconut oil) last week, and my gourmet son actually asked me how I'd made it because it was so good.
2. Add good fats like real butter, coconut oil and olive oil. Repeat after me: Real fats are my friends. Eliminate fake fats from your fridge like margarine. Again this is non negotiable. Margarine is incredibly bad for you. My diet is about 65% fat (which includes the fats in meats.)
3. Begin adding more greens to your diet. Start with a green smoothie if you hate vegetables. Blend together berries with spinach for example. Set a goal of 3 cups a day, then 6.
4. Add colorful vegetables and fruit like carrots, beets, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli and berries. Choose veggies high in sulfur. The cabbage family is especially good for you. Try to get in 3 cups a day including the fruit.
5. Switch from potatoes to sweet potatoes topped with lots of real butter. Yum! I adore sweet potatoes with salmon!
6. Start cutting back on other grains like rice and corn and legumes. Save them for a special occasion. It's not that you can never have them, but you want to cut out the inflammation in your body the majority of the time. They are higher in carbs so they drive insulin levels and fat stores. I save my carbs for Mexican! :)
7. Begin purchasing quality grass fed beef, as much as you can afford. Many can't afford to use only grass fed beef but it's your best option when you can.
8. Start adding organ meats like liver and onions. I know, I know. But they are super good for you and you'll develop a taste for them. I adore liver and onions. :)
9. Start eating less chicken and more fish. You want to get your Omega 6 levels down and your Omega 3 levels up. As you do this, you'll start getting comments like, "Wow, you look great. Are you using a new skin moisturizer?"
10. Give up fake creamer in your coffee and go for straight heavy whipping cream. You'll never go back! Consider adding some cinnamon to that coffee too--it helps your insulin levels.
Read up on the science behind eating this way. www.MarksDailyApple.com is a good site with tons of information and recipes. His book is great too.
Just to give you a taste of how great primal eating can be, here's the recipe for what we in the hcg community call cocoa crack because it's sooo good!
3T coconut oil
1 1/2 T cocoa
1 1/2 T xylitol or sweeten with KAL stevia to taste (will need VERY little stevia!)
2 T unsweetened coconut
walnuts or pecans
Melt the oil and mix in the cocoa and sweetener. Add the other ingredients and pour onto wax paper and freeze. Break off pieces to eat. It's terrific!
My protagonist in Rosemary Cottage is very into health issues so you'll see her talking about these things too! :)
So what about you? Is there anything in your health profile that's telling you a change in your diet is needed? What change are you going make to get healthier? And if you already eat a primal diet, got any tips?
Labels: Jack Kruse, lower C-Reactive Protein, Mark's Daily Apple, Primal Diet
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of primal eating. Some of my readers have asked me to blog about it so I'm obliging. :) I've been gluten free for a long time but truly primal for about nine months. 
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21 Comments:
I need to do this. I am SO GLAD I came across this post. Many years ago my environmental medicine doc tried to put me on it but I couldn't stick with it. Can't have the dairy but otherwise I think it is time for the white knuckles!!!
You can do it, Carrie! It's easier than you realize. Get some good recipes and plunge in. :) If you have to at first, cut the gluten items and replace with gluten free breads for example. Gradually you can give up the other grains.
Thanks so much! I enjoy this a lot!
I have been trying to go Primal/Paleo for a year and its the sugar and Dairy that get me. I am addicted to ice cream and I do not like the almond milk or coconut one at the store. I have really been doing bad for the past two weeks but I am getting back on track this week. Cutting out the chips, french fries, and ice cream again. It is so hard sometimes but I do feel better since I went grain free 13 weeks ago. :)
Brittanie, for now, have you thought about making your own ice cream with heavy whipping cream? You can sweeten it with xylitol. There are lots of recipes floating around.
Or are you allergic to dairy? If dairy doesn't bother you, you can eat it.
Colleen, this absolutely works. We went GF after my husband's spine Dr. recommended it. Unfortunately, we stopped after about a month because it was quite pricey.
However, while we were on it:
-We both felt "lighter"
-We both felt happier
-My daughter's anxiety lessened
-I got compliments about how much slimmer I looked (even though the scale didn't move much).
My only question - with two kids and a husband, what is the easiest way to do this on a budget? We finally added potatoes and rice (I know, bad), because we needed cheap fillers that weren't pasta.
Iva, it CAN get a little pricier but if you shop for bargains, that can help. Check out the meat counters for sales of meat that are nearing their end of life. Freeze them or cook them and then freeze them. Do you have a Sam's membership? That's super helpful and I get fish at a great deal there. Walmart has good prices on shrimp and fish too. And fill up on veggies.
But even adding back in rice and potatoes isn't as bad as the wheat. Think about sweet potatoes instead of white. And squash. I love spaghetti squash and I can fix some mean pasta that way.
Is it possible to make a grain-less bread for primal eating? Just curious
You can make sort of a bread out of ground flax. If you look online, you should be able to find some. And there's almond flour to make bread but it's pretty heavy.
I've been gluten-free for several months now- after over a year of daily non-stop migraines, I now only get hormonal headaches (or when I decide I'm just going eat pizza anyway). I'm curious why you need to cut back on chicken. Potatoes & sugar would be the biggest problem for me to give up. How do you stop the cravings?
Chicken is omega 6 instead of omega 3 so it's not beneficial to the 3/6 ratio. That's also why grass fed grain is better-it's omega 3. I eat mostly fish though.
I don't have craving for much of anything anymore. If you eat the very large protein breakfast, it kicks cravings out the door. I love sweet potatoes so that's a good thing for me and I don't miss regular potatoes, though like I said, I DO have potatoes, rice or corn on occasion. Not often but sometimes.
I am humbled by all this. I've been working on cutting out sugar and cutting back caffeine for about a month. I couldn't give up dairy.
Maybe, I'll start with giving up bread.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Jackie
I won't give up dairy either. That's why I do primal not paleo. :) You'll pry my heavy whipping cream from my cold dead fingers!
Okay, Colleen I fixed salad and placed chicken strips on it with Feta cheese and salad dressing. Half-way through I wondered if you eat salad dressing. At least I didn't add croutons!
I eat salad dressing but I make sure to buy some without soybean oil. You can find it in the refrigerated section. :) But no harm done tonight. You're making progress!
Thanks, I'll look for that!
Have a great night!
Jackie
Colleen, Do you know anyone who has had success with implementing this diet with a child? My son has IBS and chronic gastro problems. My husband is having an allergy to wheat and I'm glucose intollerant.
It sounds like this might help all of us but I'm not sure how successful I'd be implementing it with a 12 year old.
Sabrina, check out the Everyday Primal website. She converted her kids. I think you have to do it in stages. First I'd take out the wheat. There are lots of good gluten free breads and treats out there now. Once he sees how much better he feels without gluten, you can try some more plans.
Wonderful information! Thanks for sharing, Colleen. I've been transitioning my diet for about four years now. I eat gluten free and cow-dairy free. I love my goat butter, milk, and cheeses. When a recipe calls for cream, I used organic, canned 100% coconut milk. My home also stocks stevia and a recent addition is xylitol. Recently I've started making my own gluten-free, dairy-free soft serve ice cream. It's so good I sometimes eat it for breakfast. Freeze 2 peeled, ripe bananas. Combine bananas with 2 cup of coconut milk in a food processor, add a splash of vanilla, and blend. If you want chocolate, add some cocoa powder. Sooo good. Sometimes I use one banana and some frozen strawberries.
Don't think this diet is limiting. It's only as limiting as your imagination.
I'm going to try that, Megan!
Whoops. I didn't mean 2 cups of coconut milk for the ice cream. I think it's more like 1 cup. Sorry. And also, this ice cream has less of a coconut flavor (IMHO) than the prepared coconut ice cream you buy in stores.
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