"Life Without Bread"

[Laura]

Since I also had similar reactions to xylitol in the beginning (and so did Ark), but neither of us does now, I have a theory that, since xylitol is anti-microbial/anti-candida, what is happening is that the candida/microbes are getting zapped when there is bloating and gas.

 

[Tina]

On another note, I had to stop the black tea as if found out it started causing back pain. I now drink peppermint tea if I want something hot to drink and, so far, no problems.

While drinking black tea I started having pretty severe pain in my left side. I think I developed a kidney infection, so I stopped the tea, took some cranberry, used a lot of garlic in my food and it cleared up. I was drinking a large amount of iced tea when it happened though, not just a glass or two, more like 5 or 6 glasses every afternoon.

 

[Laura]

While drinking black tea I started having pretty severe pain in my left side. I think I developed a kidney infection, so I stopped the tea, took some cranberry, used a lot of garlic in my food and it cleared up. I was drinking a large amount of iced tea when it happened though, not just a glass or two, more like 5 or 6 glasses every afternoon.

Ooooh! That's a lot! I try to keep it to a couple cups hot in the morning, and then about two - max three - glasses iced during the day, none after 5:30 or so.

 

[Tina]

Ooooh! That's a lot! I try to keep it to a couple cups hot in the morning, and then about two - max three - glasses iced during the day, none after 5:30 or so.

Yeah, it was a lot and I was really enjoying it too! If I drink it again I'll certainly do it with some self control and stop myself at one or two. :)

 

[Weller]

Whoa, folks are drinking a lot of tea! Not sure if it's been mentioned here already, but strong tea (especially black) is high in tannins and can block iron absorption, so this can be important if anemia is a concern.

I learned this the hard way and was anemic for a long while before I realized how tea was zapping me (though I was mostly vegetarian then...). Not sure if this iron absorption problem is only if you drink the tea with meals. I still love it but keep it at 2 cups a day.

My trick to cut down was to replace most of my daily cups with a little lemon juice squeezed in water, which is not as enjoyable as tea to me, but lemon water is a great tonic and mimics the acidity/refreshment of iced tea. Keeps teeth white too. :D

 

[ScarletBegonias]

My trick to cut down was to replace most of my daily cups with a little lemon juice squeezed in water, which is not as enjoyable as tea to me, but lemon water is a great tonic and mimics the acidity/refreshment of iced tea. Keeps teeth white too. :D

You could consider mixing in stevia or xylitol (whatever your system handles) to make some lemonade out of it. ;)

 

[beetlemaniac]

Whoa, folks are drinking a lot of tea! Not sure if it's been mentioned here already, but strong tea (especially black) is high in tannins and can block iron absorption, so this can be important if anemia is a concern.

I learned this the hard way and was anemic for a long while before I realized how tea was zapping me (though I was mostly vegetarian then...). Not sure if this iron absorption problem is only if you drink the tea with meals. I still love it but keep it at 2 cups a day.

My trick to cut down was to replace most of my daily cups with a little lemon juice squeezed in water, which is not as enjoyable as tea to me, but lemon water is a great tonic and mimics the acidity/refreshment of iced tea. Keeps teeth white too. :D

It's a diuretic too, and combined with a paleo diet it could spell dehydration.

 

[loreta]

I am reading the book Life Without Bred (very very good!) and I wanted really to follow the diet because I think I have "irritable bowel". Even if for some months I cut carbo's I want now to follow the Units and not surpass the 6 Units. My question is concerning sweet potato: I know they are very good to eat but how to count unity with them? Like a normal potato? Like a Yam? In the Carbohydrate table of the book there is no sweet potato.
Sorry by the way if I did not put this message in the right section?
Thanks for your help.

Loreta

 

[Goemon_]

Loreta,

There is 20 g of carb / 100 g of sweet potatoe.

So, 60 g of sweet potatoe = 1 BU

 

[Gimpy]

About the Stevia: I KNEW that stuff was evil!!! It just tastes SOOOO nasty to me!

Well, let's not jump to conclusions, here. It's a bit of a stretch to assume anything that stimulates insulin release is evil. Certain proteins cause insulin release, too, but we're hardly going to be swearing off of protein because of that. The real question is to what extent stevia causes an insulin response. It's also worth finding out how the insulin response of stevia compares to the insulin response of xylitol, or any other sweetener, if people are going to be using them.

I don't really use much stevia or xylitol (quite rarely, actually), but I'll use either one sparingly without any noticeable negative effects. I think it's likely that some people are just suited to one over the other, some can probably do neither and some, like me, seem fine with both.

Yeah, I've been using stevia pretty much every day in my vitamin C water for over a year now and not had any visible problems with it - and my weight has continued to drop consistently over that time. So, I'm not wholly convinced that it's bad. If I use too much xylitol (which for me means over one teaspoon a day) then I gain weight because I appear to be really carb sensitive and stevia doesn't make me gain weight, in fact I am still losing weight after a full year on this diet. So, I think the jury is still out on this.

Yep. Same here. FWIW, xylitol goes right through me. Too much black tea causes nausea, as bad or worse than coffee does.

Through testing with a blood glucose meter, Hubby and I were able to determine that stevia doesn't do anything to our blood sugar, and neither does coffee, or tea.

It seems my digestive system doesn't like strong doses of anything too often. Hubby thinks it has to do with having no gallbladder, and sometimes I regret caving in to the pressure to get it removed years ago. I do use Gabby's protocol for a sluggish liver, though I've had to cut down on Vitamin C once I went to an all meat diet.

In my case, weaning off various medications is going to make any kind of food tolerance/intolerances strange, osit.

 

[Ben]

Since I also had similar reactions to xylitol in the beginning (and so did Ark), but neither of us does now, I have a theory that, since xylitol is anti-microbial/anti-candida, what is happening is that the candida/microbes are getting zapped when there is bloating and gas.

I have had the exact same experience and this theory makes a lot of sense. When I first took some xylitol I was at the very beginning stages of dietary changes and the bloating and discomfort was quite noticeable, and also something I was experiencing occasionally anyway. Now I have virtually none of these symptoms, I had a pretty large amount of xylitol yesterday and there was no problem whatsoever.

 

[loreta]

Loreta,

There is 20 g of carb / 100 g of sweet potatoe.

So, 60 g of sweet potatoe = 1 BU

OK, I will try to go with that.

Same incognito with Equinoa. I suppose I measure Equinoa as rice?

Thank you!

Loreta

 

[SeekinTruth]

Besides everything else that was mentioned about tea, it's somewhat high in oxalic acid, so drinking too much can also lead to kidney stones -- probably more so for people NOT on the Paleo diet, but still. So lower back pain can be indicative of this, FWIW.

 

[SeekinTruth]

Loreta,

There is 20 g of carb / 100 g of sweet potatoe.

So, 60 g of sweet potatoe = 1 BU

OK, I will try to go with that.

Same incognito with Equinoa. I suppose I measure Equinoa as rice?

Thank you!

Loreta

Do you mean quinoa? If so, probably best to avoid it all together because it's a kind of grain.

 

[Mikey]

Regarding Stevia: In black tea I prefer the Stevia taste to Xylitol but noticed that after a certain amount (like 3 pinches) I constantly have this actually annoying sweet taste in my mouth that only goes away after a few hours. So it seems my body cannot really digest it and it accumulates.

I'll try a few days without Stevia.