(Part 2) Best products from r/Paleo

Yes, Paleo is absolutely right for you.

I'm also 21, also very underweight (weighing just 46kg), and living with an autoimmune disease. I've suffered anxiety most of my life, and think I can offer you some really useful tips.

Eliminating gluten 100% has done a lot for me (but was incredibly difficult at first), in fact I've eliminated a ridiculous amount of stuff due to my illness, I now avoid all nightshades, refined sugars, gluten, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, and high starch vegetables (I suffer from a leaky gut and have to follow the Paleo autoimmune-protocol).

An important question to ask yourself is, why are you underweight in the first place? I didn't used to be underweight, but as my gut health deteriorated, I developed food malabsorption, gut dysbiosis, and bacterial overgrowths, meaning I could barely tolerate any sugar, even from fruit, but especially not carbs. Being underweight - this was a big problem, I lost about 10kg, and I'm only just starting to recover and make sense of it all. It sounds like you're in a VERY similar situation to me, so perhaps we can help each-other out.

The most important thing is to accept that you're ill, and that things will only get worse unless you take action. However, no matter how hopeless you feel, just remember that by understanding the science behind your illness, you have the power to get better.

I strongly reccommend you buy this book: LINK

If you haven't yet been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or leaky gut, chances are you are at high risk of developing one or the other. What you will find, is that by following some version of the Paleo diet, you will give your body everything it needs to recover back to it's natural state. Your gut is possibly the most important aspect of your health, once your gut is damaged, you don't digest food properly, and toxins are able to enter your blood stream, causing an immune response, leading to problems like allergies and a weakened immune system. This all has an affect on your hormone levels, and that is a very likely cause of your weight loss. I myself tested low for Testosterone levels.

Here are some quick tips:

• Increase your protein intake (I have nearly 100g protein daily), don't worry about the myths of excess protein being harmful, as long as you get your protein from healthy sources such as Salmon, Grass fed Beef, Shellfish, Poultry, Insects, ect, you will be fine. If you plan on following a low-sugar, low-carb Paleo diet (which I highly recommend), increasing your protein intake is a must, otherwise you simply wont be getting enough calories necessary to gain weight.
  
  
• Increasing your protein intake might cause you constipation at first, especially if you aren't digesting food properly, if this happens, there are several things I found which help. First, buy yourself some digestive enzymes, I recommend this brand LINK. Other things which help are stomach acid supplements LINK, and Ox-Bile LINK. I cannot stress how important it is that you properly digest your food, there's no point in eating if you aren't capable of digesting it. Always keep things moving, having a bowel movement at least every 1-2 days is important, so if constipation is an issue, don't be afraid to take supplements like magnesium 1-2 times a day LINK, or Glycerin suppositories. Also, it's important to have some vegetables with every meal, if you can tolerate starchy vegetables - great, if not, try and include plenty of food like broccoli & salad.
  
  
• Increase the amount of fat in your diet. Try and ensure you maintain a healthy omega-3 to omega-6 fat ratio, this can be done by avoiding grain-fed meat, always choose grass-fed meat when possible. Try and eat a portion of grass fed beef every day, this will help with gaining weight. Salmon is also very high in protein, as well as omega-3 fats. Don't be afraid to drizzle oils over your food, I personally like Garlic infused olive oil, avocado oil, flax-seed oil, walnut oil, macadamia oil, etc..
  
  
• Variety is important! Going on a restrictive diet can be really really stressful, especially when modern-day society shoves all these irresistible hyper-palatable foods in your face every minute of every day. It's super important to make sure that you ENJOY your food, otherwise you will be a slave to temptation. Plus, when you enjoy your food, you feel better, and you digest better. At first, going Paleo felt horribly restrictive to me, but after a while, I realised it has actually opened me up to a whole new world of wonderful foods. Eat like a king, enjoy the full variety that nature has to offer, here are some of the things I've learned to love since following the Paleo approach: King Prawns, Razor Clams, Frog legs, Octopus, Kangaroo, Offal (heart, liver, kidney, tongue, tail), Sardines, Sea Bass, Trout, Swordfish, Cod Roes, Crab, Lobster, Insects (dehydrated Crickets, Super-worms, Silk worms, Meal-worm), I could go on. Many of these things sound gross at first, but trust me - it's all completely natural, and tastes delicious!
  
  
• Although adopting a low sugar diet is important, it's also important to consume some sugar/carbs with each meal, in order for your body to produce insulin for storing that energy as fat. Having some ripe banana or pineapple with each meal is best.
  
  
• Space out your meals. Allow yourself to feel hungry before each meal, this will make you enjoy your meals more, and help with hormone regulation.
  
  
• Focus on sleeping more. I always leave myself at least 10 hours, in case I have a bad night. Sleep is when your body recovers and grows, even if you have the perfect diet, gaining weight will be impossible without adequate sleep.
  
  
• Go for walks in nature. Nature is a wonderful way to clear your mind and bring you back to your roots, it's wonderfully calming and healthy, it will do wonders for your anxiety. Listen to some calm music during your walks and try to meditate and allow yourself to absorb into your surroundings. Use this time to connect with yourself and make important life decisions. Walking also stimulates the digestive system, relieves stress, anxiety, and regulates your hormones. Try and go for at least one 30 minute walk per day, or two if possible.
  
  
• Try and connect with someone. I started seeing a nutritional therapist, and she did wonders for my self-esteem and is still helping me get my life back on track. Feel free to message me any time if you have or questions, or simply want to chat. :)
  
  Hope this helps, best of luck! Enjoy the journey to good health!
  
  Edit: Oh, and I recommend taking L-Glutamine every day, it will help you gain weight, and it's extremely good for healing your gut. Also, home-made bone broth will do wonders for health, I can't recommend it enough.

I would REALLY recommend reading the book It Starts With Food as it not only explains, in simple terms, what Paleo is all about but also goes in to our psychological relationship with food.

It might also be worth checking out the free resources on their website;

• Shopping List
  
• Meal Planning Template
  
• Guide to Sneaky Sugars
  
  If you're interested the Whole30 Program is a great introduction to Paleo - though it's not an easy challenge. I would recommend anyone new to Paleo at least have a look at it.
  
  In regards to your questions;
  
  

1. This depends on your goals but, honestly, if you're completely revising the way you eat then I would focus on that and try to avoid anything else at the moment. Once you have the hang of the food then I would start introducing more exercise.
   
2. I haven't found any apps that are that good. My strategy is to sit down on a Saturday to make a meal plan for the whole week. I browse through my favourite Paleo sites and choose recipes, then write the entire shopping list. I spend Sunday shopping and prepping food for the week. I've found that preparation is the key to not falling off the wagon.
   
3. If your diet has included a lot of sugars and you're going pretty strictly Paleo then you'll notice headaches in the first few days. If you're a coffee drinker then keep drinking coffee, just have it black, you don't need to add caffeine withdrawals to sugar withdrawals. Give it a week and you'll be fine. After two weeks you'll be feeling better and after three you'll feel like a new person.
   
4. Like /u/skullydazed said, drink beer or cider if you want to but don't try to pretend it's Paleo. If you're really looking to lose weight and you NEED to drink alcohol then drink something like Vodka + Soda Water + Fresh Lime. I would recommend skipping the alcohol at least for a few weeks to see the difference it makes. Beer is full of crap your body doesn't need and it really can be hard to lose weight without removing beer from your diet.
   
   Most importantly; figure out what works for you. 80-90% healthy but maintainable is better than 100% healthy but unrealistic.

I know you said something about salads not filling you up. This is troubling because either one of two things is happening to you. 1) You are not really burning fat instead of carbs because the combo of healthy veggies and meat/fat isn't filling you up. or 2) You are making really lame salads. Let's assume 2 and fix the problem!

Mark Sisson (yes I'm a really big fan of his) has a giant salad every day for lunch and I tend to also because it's so easy, so versatile, and so Primal! You can literally put whatever you want in it so you don't get bored, and it's basically just the combo of whatever greens you want, topped with sources of other healthy vitamins/minerals, protein, fats, and flavor! And, if you have a decent-sized salad with enough in it, you'll get full/bored long before you run out. If you're not, then ADD MORE.

Here is Mark's article about some classic recipes (including a video for his "two minute salad", another article discussing the "create your own salad adventure" concept, and one for 10 DIY dressing ideas. There are also tons of recipes on the site if you get bored.

My advice? Prep work! Buy enough tupperware to last you an entire week: put the salad greens (and any dry-ish veggies that won't get weird) in a big one, and then use little ones for different toppings, or combine the toppings into one (depends on what you're putting in it), then use a small one for dressing. Grab one set each day. Done. Or, you can get compartmented containers to do this all in one container. I have this and it works nicely (you can freeze the green thing so it keeps your salad cold without a fridge).

So yeah, I'd really lean to that. Otherwise, your options are leftovers, or just collections of meat/veggies that aren't a salad (here's another cool freezey container I have and like, and one for soup that stays warm). Again, regardless of what you do, prep work makes it much much easier. Make it for a whole week, and then you don't have to worry about scrambling and compromising later.

Another (last) thought, you mention the "snacking on non-paleo snacks". Grok didn't eat constantly; he ate a meal and didn't eat again til the next. If you are an efficient fat-burner (as all us Primal/Paleo folks work to be), you won't really get so hungry in between meals anymore. The snacking, then, really is more of a function of either dehydration or boredom. I'm not sure if this applies to you, but it certainly did for me, so I just wanted to throw it out there as something you might want to examine. And/or get yourself some fairly non-perishable Paleo-approved snacks to keep around (fruit, nuts, jerky) so that you don't have to turn to the other stuff. But, like I said, one of the awesome things I've encountered from this process is not having to carry a snack anymore. Not messing with your glycemic loads means you can keep a fairly even-keeled system all day without worry about suddenly getting hungry and needing a snack.

Ok, seriously: last bit of advice... read Paleo/Primal blogs! I get tons of ideas from that about how to fine-tune life as well as tons and tons of recipe ideas so I don't get bored. My favorites?

• Mark's Daily Apple
  
• Everyday Paleo
  
• TGIPaleo
  
• PaleOMG
  
• Paleo/NonPaleo
  
• Paleo on a Budget
  
• NomNom Paleo
  
  Each of these has its own angle and awesomeness that it brings to the table. Yes I listed a lot. However, they post with different frequencies and with different intensities, so it's really not much to keep up with. I use Google Reader to subscribe to them all and then I can read it all in one place. It works pretty well for me!
  
  I know that was long, but i hope it helped :)

I like The Eater's Manifesto. It's not a documentary, I know, but it's the best, most sensible, and most easily understood work I've found.

Also, it's a little unorthodox, (and is more a 'lifestyle' book than anything else), but The Gnoll Credo inspired me to take better care of myself health-wise, and to live more fully.

That's a tricky set of conditions for sure. The instinct for how to throw things together just comes with time and practice really. At the beginning, especially dealing with allergies, following recipes may be necessary.

Paleo will be challenging with no eggs and dairy, and many recipes also rely heavily on coconut and cashew.

Realistically it would be best to start with paleo autoimmune protocol (AIP) cookbooks and build from there.

A great reliable cooking fat is pastured lard. Rich in vitamin D also.

Gelatin is a good replacement for eggs to act as a binder, also it is gut healing.

For the most part you should be able to replace nuts with seeds. Hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds etc.

Lots of books out there, here's a popular one: https://www.amazon.com/Autoimmune-Paleo-Cookbook-Allergen-Free-Approach/dp/0578135213

$15/lb for grassfed beef sounds really high. I can get grassfed ground beef for $5/lb at Wegmans & Trader Joes. Maybe there are cheaper options near you for that.

Diane Sanfilippo created a nice document (PDF) that breaks down the best quality to baseline quality in food choices. That can help you make choices as far as what meats to buy, etc. Here's her blog post that expands on the PDF.

If you do end up going away from grass-fed meats, try to supplement with fish oil if you can afford it (to balance your omega ratios). Amazon has Carlsons at a pretty good price.

Good luck!

>What do you do when you encounter a vegan who goes after your dietary choices?

I say, well yes, I used to think that, too. I was a vegan for years.

I have zero interest in debating vegans, as it seems like a waste of effort to me. I'd rather find common ground, like the fact that my vegan friend and I both think that the standard North American diet is crap, and we're both against farming practices that shove too many animals into a tiny space.

Convincing people to switch diets or religions is a pain in the ass, and why would you bother?

If my vegan friends browse through my bookshelf and want to borrow anything like Meat: A Benign Extravagance, they are welcome to do that and to consider the content within.

But as for me, I'm going to put my energy into making yummy paleo things to eat, and providing help for those who ask about how to switch to a paleo diet.

every try beer can chicken?

i'll buy a whole chicken, slather it in good seasoning and bake it in the oven "beer can method".

one of my all-time favorite meals.

there's a really good cajun restaurant close to where i live. they sell their blackening seasoning. i sprinkle a healthy dose of that on my chicken and i get a good 4 meals out of it.

i bought one of these stainless steel beer can racks so i wouldn't have worries about all the chemicals & toxins that probably come off a beer can in a 400 degree oven.

it pays for itself pretty quickly. i used to buy a can of Bud every time i would bake a chicken.

I'm not really that sciencey about it to be honest. I just eat good natural food. I probably eat more meat than I should, but I like it.
If you're not a high level athlete I don't think getting the exact ratios of carbohydrates, fats and protein perfect is really necessary for most people.
Of course I'm just some guy on the internet. Robb Wolf's book is well worth a read as he goes into a lot of the science but still keeps it very accessible. LINK!

this article has very few facts, no real data, etc. the best thing about it is the link at the end to Lierre Keith's book.

something like Simon Fairlie's Meat: A Benign Extravagance would make a similar case in a much better way (and would be a far more interesting read....)

lots of bloggers wanting to cash in on some easy traffic w/ the newfound popularity of the word "paleo"......

Any activity >%70 V02max will require glucose for optimum preformace. If you were running ultra-marathons, where its lots of slow miles you might be able to follow a keto/LC diet. If your an athlete any are not trying to lose weight I'd recommend carbs both pre- and post workout

Good sources of starch: Yams, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, parsnips, beets, squash, white potatoes, etc. as well as all fruit.

I recommend The Lore of Running by Tim Noakes its a great (albeit technical) read on this, as well as other exercise prefomance topics.

Yeah, we have Wallace Farms bacon every morning. Our hack to make it easily is to use a microwave bacon plate with its lid add-on. Load it up and 4-5 min later, perfect bacon. It helps to let it sit a little after cooking too. Their beef bacon (which I didn't know was a thing before ordering from Wallace Farms) is pretty good too.

I've found this grill from Cuisinart holds up better than the George Foreman: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-GR-4N-5-in-1-Griddler/dp/B002YD99Y4

I've really like using rubs for meat, this one is my favorite, though you could just as easily make up a mix yourself. http://www.amazon.com/Rub-Love-Roast-3-5-jar/dp/B007456L2K/ref=sr_1_16?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1405136500&sr=1-16

You might consider chia seeds for fiber, 1 ounce of chia seeds is about 11 grams of fiber. Soak for a bit in a glass of water, juice of a lemon or lime, some honey/maple syrup/sweetener of your choice and you have Chia Fresca, a super hydrating high fiber drink.

On the urges, I find that the urges are reflective of habits--and you have to treat them as such. There's a trigger, which can be anything, people, time of day, something, that corresponds to a reward; find that trigger, change the behavior, and then associate a new behavior with the reward. tl;sr: The Power of Habit.

As for the gum, if you look at the nutrition on various gums, there's some sugars/other weird stuff. If you're trying to lose weight, I would think that gum would hurt a bit, especially the sweetened stuff--I think of it like berries and nuts--if you're worried about weight loss, do them sparingly, and try to find the best gums that fit with paleo guidelines that you can.

Hope that helps.

This is basically how my 4.5yo eats. A bunch of finger foods/small portions thrown together. I picked up Eat Like a Dinosaur a few weeks ago and love their recipes. My kids were thrilled to flip through it and pick out recipes that look good to them.

The Griddler ftw. (Would also be a great Batman villian.) We love ours.

There are two good, scientific books that have nothing to do with cavemen and everything to do with the science of how our bodies work that are worth reading. If she doesn't want to read them because its "too hard" or "time consuming" she really doesn't care that much about her health and its not worth pushing the issue. Sounds harsh, but its true. If she really wants to be healthy and wants to take the time to change, she should look at these resources.

Why We Get Fat

The End of Overeating

*Deleted my name at the end of this comment. I signed it like an email, and don't know why!

• Chicken Thighs for days.
  
• Chili.
  
• Lettuce-wrapped burgers.
  
• Paleo Spaghetti (with Spaghetti Squash)
  
  Robb Wolf's Paleo On a Budget would be a fantastic resource for you to get started.
  
  Sarah Fragoso's Paleo Pals, or Eat Like a Dinosaur are known to be great books to get the kids on board.

First off, I would highly recommend the Tim Ferris book "Four Hour Body"

http://www.amazon.com/The-4-Hour-Body-Incredible-Superhuman/dp/030746363X/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1346184779&sr=8-1

It's huge and worth every penny. His take on the Paleo lifestyle is a "slow-carb diet" kind of modification. It is not strict Paleo, but he gives you guidelines in the book. His recommendation is for a splurge day once a week. I did this last year and shed about 30 lbs. A friend of mine did it and lost about 100 lbs! Secondly, fasting is a good thing done intermittently. Fasting for up to 48 hours has been shown to increase the natural release of HGH.

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/50/1/96.full

Also as a healthcare professional (Paramedic) and a medical student, I would advise against the use of Albuterol for your purposes. (That is unless you have asthma. Even then only using it PRN (as needed))

In short, you are on the right path. You just need to make a few tweaks here and there and I think you're set.

My diet, however, is for the exact opposite purpose. I have always had a bear-like frame and have had no trouble with lean gains. It's those pesky "non-lean" gains that have always plagued me so I'm constantly cutting.

To replace the soy sauce, I used liquid aminos. I'm not sure if it's strictly paleo, but there is a coconut "soy sauce" alternative out there, too. We don't use that, though. I also used fish sauce for flavoring, and the pork belly took care of any need for extra oil- the fat did a fine job of coating the wok.

Instead of the sriracha, i just chopped up some ghost chiles. You can use any chiles you'd like. Serranos if you want it pretty mild, and so on. I also have harissa infused olive oil. I used a touch of that with some lime juice as seasoning. We're not super strict- we make some concessions with the kids, but if you wanted to be strcitly paleo, leave out the olive oil and the liquid aminos and just use fish sauce as flavoring. Our fish sauce (from an asian market) contains: anchovies and salt.

Technically, yes.

I'll admit that I pull chicken from the fridge and put it in my baggie to eat throughout the morning. I would be more concerned since your are starting with warm chicken your food is starting out in the 'danger zone'

I would recommend cooking a big batch of chicken at the beginning of the week and then put it in the fridge. Take the cold chicken each morning and put it in something like this that has a reuseable ice pack and is BPA free.

I have an awesome bacon maker that you stick in the microwave and it drains the bacon grease off as the bacon cooks

My dogs love bacon grease in their food :D

http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Microwave-Sided-Round/dp/B00004W4UM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1321865233&sr=8-5

I love the stuff but I've never made it. I've been to dozens of nice restaurants that will have some version of it on a charcuterie plate.

This is basically the cured meat bible, I'm sure it addresses head cheese.

I would recommend The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss. While this may not touch on everything that you mentioned, it's quite the interesting read and he explains a lot of the technical sides of how your muscles and proteins work. I have it and have found it quite interesting, though I have not yet read it entirely.

As someone who had a similar bedtime ritual (pour scotch, read in bed, repeat until tired), I was able to break the cycle simply by substituting another drink for alcohol. In my case, tea worked perfectly as a replacement beverage. It was more about the habit of sipping something while I was reading.

Check out "The Power of Habit" for a good read on the subject.

I would recommend a simple julienne peeler instead of one of those giant plastic spiralizer: http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Kitchenware-Julienne-Peeler-Vegetable/dp/B00FF75XG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414156664&sr=8-1&keywords=julienne

It doesn't take much time and it's much easier to clean. I can do an entire zucchini in under 60 seconds with one of these things.

Well played. Get yourself some red boat fish sauce and really kick it up a notch :) I did off the recommendation of Nom Nom Paleo... adds some umami to your food!

I read The Paleo Solution and found it super helpful.

Maybe try a book on charcuterie?

I haven't read that one in particular, but that kind of book is quite fascinating in general.

There's an excellent book on the topic. (Note: author wasn't happy with the title the publishers chose). Dr. Kessler's book goes into detail about the billion dollar food industry which seeks to maximize food flavor - through sugar, fat, salt, and crazy crazy chemical combinations allowing more complex flavorings that essentially deaden the American palette to more natural, subtle flavor. How food is made to be textured (in some ways like it's already chewed) so that consumers don't have to work hard to eat it. It's somewhat depressing and an EXCELLENT reason to not eat frankenfoods! Here's his interview on NPR.

I used to have a great article on fish oil that I can't effing find right now. Basically, you have to make sure you're getting the right amount of EPA and DHA from your fish oil. The majority of the capsules won't get you enough of a daily quantity.

This is the fish oil I use. It's just tolerable. The capsules are far easier to take but I had a lot of trouble finding capsules that had enough. You want anywhere from 2-4 grams of EPA and DHA, and the ratio has to be correct.

You can also find more information on the proper amounts and ratios of EPA and DHA in some of the reviews on that page. If I come across a good link I'll post it here. Check marksdailyapple.com

I have one but never use it because it's a pain to clean. Then I got one of these Jillian peelers. It does a great job and you just throw it in the dishwasher.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FF75XG4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1397414380&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

I am certainly biased, but I think It Starts With Food (whole9life/whole30) is pretty much the smart/rational approach. The book addresses the basics, lays out the science of why they approach things the way they do, explains that at low and high detail level, then presents "the plan" to set up an elimination that starts out as strict paleo and ends with you figuring out what you personally tolerate well/poorly.

Staffan Lindeberg's book. He's the doctor who did the Katava Study.