We know that there's something seriously wrong with the standard North American diet.
We know that fresh is better than processed.
We know that empty calories are just that ... empty of nutrition.
We know that what we eat does indeed affect our bodies ... probably more than we can possibly imagine.

Give or take a few facts and/or opinions, this is what has drawn us toward a Primal/Paleo type lifestyle

...Totally stolen from Susan's 2011 kick-off post & thread.

Athena....I too would love to hear what the naturopath did for you.....I too fear I am hypothyroid......I am just so tired all the time and my little one started full day kindergarten this year so I can't blame it on him anymore.

Anyway, I would love to hear what they did for you. I have a gyne appointment in 2 weeks and was going to bring it up to her.

I'm glad you liked it

Hey gang .... be back later to post...

Whole 30 results: lost 4lbs – my usual weight loss of 1 lbs/week *sigh*...All in all I enjoyed the Whole 30 but am a bit disappointed in loosing only 4 lbs ....lost 2 inches between my waist, hips and thighs, no loss on my chest which really surprises me because I usually lose it there first... . On the up side do feel really good, skin is soft, celulite is down, clothes is slightly looser, no gas, no more grumbles, I’m never hungry, I am finally sleeping better... I had two cheats during the Whole30, once I ate a bit of lasagna at a conference, then at a party I ate a bit of cheese... When I say a bit it was just a tad...

I’m going to take a break this coming weekend since I am going to a conference, it’s a fitness conference so there won’t be any junk food there. The girls I am going with are also very health conscious so it will be no biggie when making choices, I will have some wine though that is a fact ... I`m almost afraid to have wine and be very hung over, so I’ll have to pace myself.....

On Monday I am back on the Whole 30ish bandwagon... It may not be a pure W30, here are my rules:

• Never gonna have grains again, I really don’t need them...
• Keep my coffee SEXY
• No dairy
• No sugar
• Keep reading labels
• Count calories, maybe that’ll help the weight loss more
• Add more intensity to my gym workouts.
• Wine only on occasions, not when just sitting in front of the TV watching a favourite show...
• Go out, but eat as clean and whole as possible....
• Keep making home made Mayonnaise

Major snow storm here

Ilene, a huge congrats for losing 4 lbs!!! That's 4 bricks of butter you will Never have to carry around again (except in the grocery order!)
As for cheating I always hated that term. How about thoughtful break or informed indiscretion? Lol when I was on a local diet with a local chain of wlc's, my only time, they too called them cheat meals and I always subbed for treat meals.. Sounds much nicer )

Last night I went to the grocery store and got some ricotta. I was craving ricotta creme from the s bd days. It's a little different but reminds me of the mascarpone filling in tiramisu, my fave dessert. Although I had a huge bowl it was still within my carbs and cals for the day--- plus, a planned indulgence in something lowcarb? That's a victory to me!! Continuing to stay off the scale too.

Snowstorm here and another snowday for ds!!
Talk soon!

I'm interested in the whole Primal/Paleo concept. I don't know if this is what I'm doing, but I am a big believer of very little or no processed foods and I am doing low carb because it makes me feel better.

I just wanted to say hi and to let you know that I'm following this thread!

Rana ....

WHOLE30 ROUND-UP

Hi girls -- finally February! I am thinking about all of you who may be snowed in. I hope you keep power and have plenty of primal/paleo treats on hand. What a mess it must be!

Ilene - Fantastic job! You did an awesome job, and I like your plan for a break and then getting back on. In fact, I'm going to use it except for the counting calories part - for now.

Guess who else lost 4 lbs? Yup, that's right, and I am happy, happy with that. The whole size thing/clothes fitting far supersedes the actual poundage lost for me. Body composition truly changes eating like this. I am absolutely SMALLER than I was Jan 3, and I really wish I had tape measured myself. Although I have not been weight training or doing any exercise besides walking, my upper arms look more toned - crazy but true. And I wore a pair of pants today that I haven't worn for 4 years or so -- good thing I'm such a pack rat with my clothes

I feel like I stuck to the true Whole30 really well but definitely NOT perfectly. I had whipped cream 3x -- twice here at home as a dessert - 2-3 tablespoons of the squirt kind with a teaspoon or so LIQUID GOLD (i.e. real organic maple syrup -- it's the nectar of the gods!), and I don't think I mentioned my Starbuck's date on Saturday with a former student. I considered going SEXY, but as I've been having coconut milk in mine and not black, I ordered an Americano with whipped cream. I love whipped cream, can you tell? I know Starbucks puts vanilla syrup in their whipped cream -- it was SWEET but good! I think I had a couple other off whole30 items, but I'm forgetting what they were.

I have NO REGRETS whatsoever, and I'm proud of myself for doing it. I have gotten into a groove (most of the time) with cooking and planning, and can I just say again, I feel great. I am not hungry, I eat till satisfied, and I LIKE what I've eating. That's a +1,000,000 for me!

Ilene - ditto on the drinks! we are going to a dinner party Saturday and my birthday is next week - I am planning to have the Norcal margaritas Sat night and who knows... maybe wine or margaritas again for my birthday.

So, I'm going to relax and go more primal for a couple weeks and then go back to stricter paleo. I dug it. I really did.

Stay warm ladies, and here's to a great month for all of us!

What's Sexy Coffee?
Natalia that sounds Divine!!!!
ok so last night I was flaring super bad and I was seriously considering having a piece of bread Serotonin yadda yadda
However when I changed into my pajamas I noticed my swelling was less
I have edema my legs swell
I even showed DH who agreed it was less
No bread!
a Small victory but a victory nontheless!

Ilene and walking 4 pounds rocks!

Kiere - that is a huge victory! I hope you find that you'll get fewer and fewer flares without the gluten. Great job!

Sexy coffee -- ha,ha - black coffee. Help me, girls, who coined it? Was it you, Natalia? Or Athena?? Can't remember, but we must find their description and copy it here for all to see. Classic.

Natalia - I LOVE, love, love ricotta. I have not had it since whole30, but that is good stuff! Good job on the low carb treat.

Rana - welcome and please come hang out with us!

Ok, going to get off my duff now... just read MDA (he has a great post today) and then cruised back to 3FC. Being lazy and need to get up... so see ya later!

svelting: thanks for the kick start!

KO - that's great! Any thing you find that helps you improve is a victory. Even if you don't achieve perfection (and as I say it's hard to like perfect people anyway), knowledge is power.

Rana: You're among friends. Welcome to our friendly little club.

Walking: That's great. I too love this WOE and plan to continue, but no plan in the near future to repeat the W30 thing.

My W30 achievements: I am practically 100% off processed foods, grains, sugar, artificial sweeteners and diet coke (which has been my go to thing for many many cans per day until January 2 2011). I had a few off plan moments, now having about 1 per day which I think is my norm. Lost only about 4 lbs, but they were easy pounds on a sustainable plan. I couldn't ask for more. I can't believe what is second nature now to not have! I only eat off plan if it's something I REALLY REALLY want. Not just cause it's there. My clothing was looser, but I'm coming up on TOM which does lotsa not nice things to me every month so I can't evaluate properly until after it's over.

Today: On target breakfast of eggs, sausage, 1/2 orange, coffee. Lunch: Chicken strips and a small salad loaded with veg and light on dressing, unswt tea (yep, chicken was iffy there, but I LUV our ckn strips at work). Afternoon snackage: 2 leftover ckn hot wings, banana, cashews, more tea. Supper: Totally lost it. Pizza at a meeting including dessert pizzas. I ate it ALL. Now, here I sit bloated, belchy, wondering if ALL that was really the best decision. Why didn't I just have a piece and stop. Why 3 pieces pizza, 4 pieces dessert pizza (well they did keep passing it around). WHY WHY WHY. Anyway, tomorrow I'm doing a Whole1 LOL. One day at a time.....

My thought from yesterday: If cheating on a meal makes you a failure on your diet, then keeping one meal on track makes you a success! Glass half full or half empty kinda thing.

Hey girls!! Good morning!!

Claire, congrats on the 4 lbs, and inches lost . That's exciting!

Arkansas kel- I wouldnt fret about the pizza, what's done is done.. The negative thoughts suck but they never help anyone.. I wonder if lunch and snack may have been a contributing factor: each thing got progressively less onplan. I cant have bananas at all as they make me crave; I'd be better off having sugar out of the dish I think )

Kierie- that's great that you were able to avoid the bread. Is there anything else you can have or do to get your seratonin up? I don't know a lot about fibro treatments

As for me. I kePt ds home from school today as the roads are still horrible.
Last night I tried the diet Italian soda and it was pretty good!
Breakfast was ricotta creme that kept me full for many hours,
Late lunch of 2 breakfast sausages and a hb egg with a tsp hellmanns,
Supper was taco salad without the taco on a bed of greens

Still being patient.. Geez not even fruit and almost no dairy and my carbs under 25 you'd think the scale would move.. Then I finished taubes new book and he said a smallnumber of people, mostly women, can't even lose weight on this level of restriction. Too little too late kinda thing. Greeeeeeat , that's just what I needed to hear. He said what remains to be seen though if maybe if they had stuck with it more than a month or two without giving up maybe the disorder of fat metabolism would work itself out over time .
I am not giving up!!!!!! I feel good... Body, HEAL THYSELF!! Lol

Drs appt today.
The good news ... my cholesterol is fabulous.
The bad news ... my blood pressure blows!

I have to go back in March to talk about that. He's funny though. I'm not allowed to have a stroke because there's already a nursing shortage.

It's really bad to be "out" of food when you are paleo/primal. I have frozen solid steak and a few bags of frozen veg in the freezer. As much I don't want to, I'm off to the store. Will do a proper shop at Trader Joe's this weekend.