Where Did Susan Go? Paleo?

dear readers,

I wrote the following two weeks ago and didn't finish it, but
reading it now I realize that I am greatly improved from my
first two weeks attempting a completely new food exploration.
Here is what I was feeling two weeks ago. Then I will update you:

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For the past two weeks I have been traversing the dark forest of a Paleo diet.
I only call it a dark forest because it seems so foreign to me and
difficult to adjust to.

But I am trusting the wisdom and diagnosis of Amy Jenner regarding my
state of depletion which is great according to my low pulses - and
according to my very low enthusiasm for my life.

This seems like a very unlike me thing to say,
and yet, I am so tired that I find once I have done the things
of each day that must be done, I have nothing left to give to my own life.
Fortunately, I really enjoy the people I get to work with, so work has become my
entire social life. I am not getting in contact with beloved friends and even
family that I have been out of touch with for a very long time
because I simply can't pick up the phone. And when I get home I can barely
keep this three room  apartment together.

(Instead I am reading an  unconscionable number of stupid novels.)

So I am believing the diagnosis of insulin resistance and poor digestion
and cold damp spleen and I am giving the Paleo diet - which has been
prescribed especially for insulin resistance - my honest best effort.
I am told I am too weak to do cleansing or eat raw foods for a while.

Most readers probably know that the Paleo diet is quite similar to the Atkins diet.
I never liked the idea of Atkins and therefore never studied it enough
to be able to give an accurate comparison, but a couple of things I do know.
The main aim of each of these protocols is to switch the body's metabolism
from carbohydrate burning to fat burning. And that means severe
restriction of carbohydrates.

I takes a while, and in the meantime (and I'm still in the meantime)
one feels unsettled and unsatisfied and tired because the old energy fuel -
carbs - isn't there anymore, but the new system hasn't kicked in.

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Well, I guess all that exhaustion is why I couldn't finish the blog.
It is true, I had a very difficult time adjusting but I now realize that
compared to two weeks ago, I am feeling pretty perky.
And not discouraged with my life anymore, which is the most
important thing.

Because of my macrobiotic and raw foods experience,
with animal protein in moderation added in later years,
THIS diet - which consists of animal protein, fats and
low-carbohydrate vegetables with NO grains in any
form and for the first month, nor any beans,
and worst of all, no raw food and almost no fruit -
has been RADICAL, to say the least.
Sorry for that difficult sentence.

At first, as written above, I had no energy, and I knew that
until I began using fat for energy I was going to stay FAT.
Since being fat - and incidentally unhealthy - was my original
reason for the experiment of eating only
my favorite strong 33 foods for 33 days,
and since I have been promised weight reduction
as a sure side effect of this regime,
I  am being very strict with this diet,
since I figured out how to do it - even though
part of me is shocked to be eating a Paleo?! diet.

*Also, of course, there is the fact that my beloved brother
has diabetes, and insulin imbalance is not to be ignored,
nor all the other belly fat related conditions.*

I haven't been able break my three year
long streak of gradual weight increase, so
I decided to go against all my predudices
and former understandings and try what was the only way
my parents ever lost weight. A very low carbohydrate diet.
Besides, I trust Amy. I think she is wise and I am willing
to obey for a serious trial run, even though I have been
grumpy and rebellious verbally.

And slowly my body has begun to change shape.
A little less  bloated around the middle more
each week, and finally I was able to button a
previously unbuttonable pair of pants.
Allelulia!
 
But no weight loss. Hmmmmm.
I don't actually know if I lost weight those first two weeks
because I didn't have a scale, but now I do. For the last three weeks
not an ounce of difference. Discouraging, but still
I look a little thinner to myself. And much more importantly,
(to everything except my ego) I am feeling better. More stamina.
I am sleeping more soundly and regularly.  This is also the
result of ceasless downing of my muddy chinese herbs, given to me
by Amy, and which I am actually developing a likeness for.

The most important result, however, is that I have recovered
some interest in life again.  I am, for instance,
really happy to be doing this blog again.

 But no weight loss. Since I was waffling around the
first two weeks trying to figure out how to do this and
giving myself too wide parameters, I decided to do the
Whole 30 program for a month which is a honed - down
version of paleo - stricter - which consists of mainly
animal protein, low-carbohydrate vegetables and FAT.
(Other versions of a Paleo diet are a little more broad,
including some beans and some fruit, etc.
but I needed the rigid parameters while settling into it.)

I think it is typical to over indulge in the fat part when you feel
so unsatisfied in the first two or three weeks of this regime.
And I have been typical. The first three weeks I allowed myself
as much fat as I wanted. Shockingly, I didn't lose weight.

One of my favorite snacks has been, for instance, a little 
peanut butter for taste mixed with twice as much coconut oil,
some chipotle pepper and salt, spread on daikon slices -
my justification for eating so much unnecessary but delicious
fat is that daikon radishes help dissolve, digest and move fat.
Uh Huh.

And I didn't skimp on coconut oil in the frying pan either - or ghee
on my vegetables, for that matter.

Somewhere along the line my body did move into fat burning, but
it couldn't get around to burning it's own fat because it had so much
readily available daily dietary fat.

I realized that all the people who have assured me in the past that
one never gains weight on this diet (and it's true, I haven't gained)
are all skinny. And never had been fat. And were mostly men.
I knew my fat indulging days were numbered.

After every meal I felt dissatisfied and every morning
I would wake up craving carbohydrates. So I didn't worry about
indulging in too much fat those first three weeks.

THEN my breakthrough.  After a month of being
very strict about limited raw and no cleansing,
for the health of my cold damp spleen (?) and my
general state of depletion, I disobeyed.
I did just one day of the raw cleanse I usually run without the
wheatgrass or the carrot beet juice, both of which are
very high in carbohydrates. So just a quart of the sprouts
and greens smoothie and a quart of rejuvelac (and a handful
of brazil nuts just to keep my fat up) and a colonic.

I had been feeling kind of - I don't know how to describe it-
gluggy, thick, meaty, too dense from eating at the top of the
food chain, dare I say a shade toxic? Not wonderful.

The day after my simplified cleanse, I woke up two pounds
lighter, two pounds which have stayed off so far,
and feeling cleaner -and here is the most important thing -
NOT THAT HUNGRY!

I am able to feel satisfied without eating so much.
I will tell you the truth, I wasn't sure that was going to
happen.  My fat intake has decreased dramatically,
and my Appetite is o.k. with that.

I am very glad to be writing again and I have been wanting
to share exactly what my creative mind has cooked up for me each
day, and I have to do that with pictures and stories - not recipes
exactly, but my early exhaustion combined with my resistance
to the simplest technology - in this case my lost camera battery
charger - has prevented me thus far.
  
I am dedicated to solving this problem this week
and then I will give you a blow by blow record of my meals
(most of which have been pretty tasty despite the low carb content). 
Because I have more moons ahead of me with this diet.
The 33 days will be Paleo. With a little forbidden cleansing
thrown in for good measure and good health.

And when this phase is over, I will still be searching for
my true diet. There must be some texting code for laughter
I should employ here.

 

cleanse protocol

I apologize for my long absence.
Several posts are partially done, but I have
lost the charger for my new camera and have been
stymied by this, not wanting to buy a new one, but
not being able to find the original.
And the blog needs pictures so I can truly record
my Paleo diet ordeal.

But this little blog is for the people who have expressed
an interest in doing a cleanse with me.

I frequently run four or five day raw and live food
cleanses combined with colon hydrotherapy and
am running one next this June 15th - 18th.

The cleanse takes a couple of weeks to prepare for because
everything is sprouted, grown or fermented ahead.

Here is the protocol, derived from the Hippocrates
Health Institute with colon-hydrotherapy added.

         

Food for Each Day:

1 quart of rejuvelac    This is a drink made from soft wheat berries that have been
             sprouted for a few days, then water added to the jar and
             fermented for a few more days.  It is very high in enzymes,
             protein, and natural pro-biotics. It tastes tangy and fermented.

1 quart of “Energy Soup”
             This is lovingly called “the green glop” by most of my clients.
             It is the mainstay of the diet and consists of 1/2 an avocado,
             an apple, lentil sprouts, mung sprouts, buckwheat and sunflower                
             sprouts, pea sprouts, a little dulse and greens like kale, spinach, etc.
             This is all blended.

1 pint of either fresh carrot, apple, beet, celery juice and/or, depending on weather,
             a pint of root broth.

one serving fresh wheatgrass

1/2 cup unsalted pink sauerkraut, laced with juniper berries. This is a liver cleaner.


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These foods are prepared fresh each day and can be eaten in any order throughout the day, but I recommend leaving something for just before bed to give yourself a feeling of fullness (relatively speaking) - preferably a cup of the green soup.


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Each day participants also receives a colon-hydrotherapy session which helps release toxins quickly and efficiently.   The food  part of the cleanse and the colon-hydro therapy enhance the effectiveness of each other.            

If anyone has questions about it, please feel free to call me at 207 701 1817.