"Life Without Bread"

[Stranger]

I see that RedFox addressed the cholesterol comment, which is important since pretty much everything we've been told about cholesteral is wrong. I also wanted to add that there is bacon and ham available without nitrates or nitrites. Most health food stores carry an ample selection.

I also remember Laura saying it's possible to remove some of the nitrates by boiling the bacon in water. Sorry, I couldn't find a reference for that.

A lot of bacon that you can buy contains so much water, that when frying, you end up boiling it! And this bacon is the one that is usually containing nitrates and nitrides. It is best to source organically if you can.

Well, I just tried it and it really worked. Most salt (nitrates/nitrites) was devolved into the boiled water and the bacon tasted good, not salty at all. Of course, the organic version is preferable.

 

[Laura]

I use pretty much only skinless chicken, salmon, and organic high omega eggs for protein , and liberally use olive, flax and coconut oils, skewing my fats towards plant based rather than animal based.

You may definitely want to reconsider this stance and start getting a lot more animal fats and a lot less vegetable fats. Your body was not designed to use plant fats. There's plenty of info on the forum about this.

 

[Manu]

I see that RedFox addressed the cholesterol comment, which is important since pretty much everything we've been told about cholesteral is wrong. I also wanted to add that there is bacon and ham available without nitrates or nitrites. Most health food stores carry an ample selection.

I also remember Laura saying it's possible to remove some of the nitrates by boiling the bacon in water. Sorry, I couldn't find a reference for that.

A lot of bacon that you can buy contains so much water, that when frying, you end up boiling it! And this bacon is the one that is usually containing nitrates and nitrides. It is best to source organically if you can.

Well, I just tried it and it really worked. Most salt (nitrates/nitrites) was devolved into the boiled water and the bacon tasted good, not salty at all. Of course, the organic version is preferable.

This is very interesting. I didn't know that boiling could remove the nitrates. I love bacon but I decided to stop eating it because of the nitrates. So far I've been unable to find nitrates/nitrites free bacon. After boiling, do you fry it?

 

[Stranger]

After boiling, do you fry it?

Yes. By the way, I boiled it for 5 minutes or so.

 

[Laurentien2]

After boiling, do you fry it?

Yes. By the way, I boiled it for 5 minutes or so.

Or you can let it soak overnight. I do this when I need unsalted lard for a recipe but find only salted one.

 

[Gaby]

Oh, and forgot to ask ... has anyone experienced joint pain with coconut oil?

You might want to read this:

3 reasons why coconut milk may not be your friend
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229789-3-reasons-why-coconut-milk-may-not-be-your-friend

For me it is anti-inflammatory.

 

[Gaby]

I removed buckwheat after reading the anti-nutrient research from the Paleo Solution. I'm eating only carbs from veggies and roots, and occasionally dark chocolate sweetened with xylitol. I'm feeling even better! I'm at 40-50 grams of carbs at the most per day.

 

[agni]

Hi RedFox ! Thanks for the advice. I've been re-reading the Sluggish Liver thread again. I hope it's just some sort of adaptation period though :) But we'll see.

My pain got so bad at one point I thought I may have gall stones....but an ultrasound showed my gall bladder to be completely empty (the pain persisted).

So, what happened to you ? Did your pain disappear eventually ?

It may be related to a food allergy, candida or bacterial overgrowth, or a slightly ulcerated small intestine. I even wondered if perhaps the gut wasn't use to that much stomach acid/bile being used?

Hmmm... I've never actually tested Coconut Oil to see if I have an allergy. That could explain joint inflammation (if allergic). Now that I think about it, I've had a strange taste from having Coconut Oil from day one when I've added it to quinoa. What stood out that it pretty much gave me dry dry mouth right away and left astringent taste for a while. I thought it was just a specifics of that oil. Is it a normal taste that Coconut oil leaves or is it something else ? I do not get dry mouth or that taste with any other oil.

Thank you !

 

[SolarMother]

I removed buckwheat after reading the anti-nutrient research from the Paleo Solution. I'm eating only carbs from veggies and roots, and occasionally dark chocolate sweetened with xylitol. I'm feeling even better! I'm at 40-50 grams of carbs at the most per day.

Looks like quinoa is a NO-go as well? How quickly did you eliminate buckwheat? We have been having it 2 times a week. I just made quinoa blinis with some buckwheat a few days ago...I just want to clarify that we should be eliminating these for sure???
:/

 

[SolarMother]

Threshing. Unlike beans or true grains, quinoa and amaranth have no hulls to remove. However, quinoa is covered with a bitter substance called saponin, which birds and deer won't touch. Because of this coating, quinoa requires thorough rinsing before cooking. One method is to put the grain in a blender with cool water at lowest speed, changing the water until it is no longer soapy. It takes about five water changes to achieve the desired, non-frothy result. Another way is to tie the desired amount of quinoa in a stocking, a loose weave muslin bag, or a pillowcase and to run it through a cold water cycle of an automatic washing machine. You can also get away with less or no rinsing by mixing quinoa with other grains or pulses, rendering the saponin hardly noticeable.

Commercial quinoa has had the saponin removed.

Amaranth has no saponin and no hulls, so can be cooked without additional preparation.

Just found this on the
Re: Quinoa and its cusin fat hen
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2011, 12:26:31 PM » thread...comments anyone--Psyche?

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=23384.0

 

[Gaby]

I removed buckwheat after reading the anti-nutrient research from the Paleo Solution. I'm eating only carbs from veggies and roots, and occasionally dark chocolate sweetened with xylitol. I'm feeling even better! I'm at 40-50 grams of carbs at the most per day.

Looks like quinoa is a NO-go as well? How quickly did you eliminate buckwheat? We have been having it 2 times a week. I just made quinoa blinis with some buckwheat a few days ago...I just want to clarify that we should be eliminating these for sure???
:/

I get very bloated with quinoa, for me it's a no no. But others tolerate it just fine. I feel much better without buckwheat as well, but have the occasional birthday cake made out of buckwheat. Actually, the last one Laura did had a lot of fat and just enough buckwheat to make it stick together. It was absolutely great! If it has more fat than flour, I'm still open minded about it. But I definitely stopped having blinis everyday and the day I tried them, I felt like craving carbs for the rest of the day.

I think it's best to stick to whole foods and leave the processed buckwheat or quinoa flour for special occasions. The research about it is certainly food for thought. I'm aware there are flours made out of roots like tiger nut flour, but it is not widely available. This is probably what our ancestors had. There was an article on sott.net, I can't find it anymore, but it was reporting how our paleo ancestors had like a type of blinis made out of roots.

 

[Nienna]

But I definitely stopped having blinis everyday and the day I tried them, I felt like craving carbs for the rest of the day.

This is my experience also. When I eat quinoa blinis, I crave carbs and always feel hungry. Also, after quitting the blinis, I no longer have any back pain. I had eliminated most of the back pain, but still had a little in my upper back. After stopping the blinis, it's gone. :)

 

[Stranger]

But I definitely stopped having blinis everyday and the day I tried them, I felt like craving carbs for the rest of the day.

This is my experience also. When I eat quinoa blinis, I crave carbs and always feel hungry. Also, after quitting the blinis, I no longer have any back pain. I had eliminated most of the back pain, but still had a little in my upper back. After stopping the blinis, it's gone. :)

Same here. Once I start eating carbs, especially blinis or other grain products, I can't stop eating , feel hungry all the time and crave carbs for the rest of the day, too. But I noticed, the "thirst for carbs" is always an underlying desire for since I began restricting carbs 2 weeks ago. Hope it gets better and I don't get weak everytime I see buckwheat bread or pancakes, apples, bananas, etc.

 

[SolarMother]

But I definitely stopped having blinis everyday and the day I tried them, I felt like craving carbs for the rest of the day.

This is my experience also. When I eat quinoa blinis, I crave carbs and always feel hungry. Also, after quitting the blinis, I no longer have any back pain. I had eliminated most of the back pain, but still had a little in my upper back. After stopping the blinis, it's gone. :)

Same here. Once I start eating carbs, especially blinis or other grain products, I can't stop eating , feel hungry all the time and crave carbs for the rest of the day, too. But I noticed, the "thirst for carbs" is always an underlying desire for since I began restricting carbs 2 weeks ago. Hope it gets better and I don't get weak everytime I see buckwheat bread or pancakes, apples, bananas, etc.

Yes, me too-- craving carbs does occur on blini days, but the next step for us would be to have them one day a week instead of two. On non-blini days I notice I want to have a yam. I also noticed while hiking today that I did not have any knee pain coming down the mountain, so that's a big thing. :)

 

[SolarMother]

Dr. Lutz (author of Life without Bread) recommends to go easy on the diet particularly during the first couple of weeks. Considering that we are changing not only the fuel but also the way we have been processing it, it will likely take a while before full adaptation is achieved.
I don't know your age, but it is also mentioned in the book that people beyond 45 years should start somewhere between 8 to 10 bread units, which is equivalent to 96 to 120g of carbs per day, and then gradually decrease. Basically, the older the longer it will take to adapt.

I am below 45 and even though it is mentioned that younger people are likely to adapt within days or a few weeks, it took me more then a month, perhaps even 2 to adapt. I felt fatigued, with difficulty to concentrate, my legs felt incredibly heavy and I kept having leg cramps, something I had never had before. I'm usually very fit, but it got to a point that I was walking so slowly because I just couldn't walk faster that everybody, including older people with canes (!) was passing me by on the street. Since about 2 to 3 weeks my energy levels have just skyrocketed. I find myself with so much energy it's almost ridiculous, honestly.
Leg heaviness and cramps is totally gone, lethargy and difficulty to concentrate is gone, and my mind is sharper then ever.

Life without bread really brought A LOT of things home for me. I'm beginning to understand some bowel issues I've always had and that I've always considered normal, it also explains how with high consumption carbohydrates basically start to function as a laxative, instead of the very common view that carbs are healthy for the bowels. It seems that it is exactly the opposite, it promotes permanent constipation where you find yourself dependent on carbs (as a laxative) to have daily bowel movements. Once you transition to the diet constipation is expected initially as a withdrawal symptom from the carbs, much as one would expect from withdrawing from a drug. This is exactly what has been happening to me but that has been greatly helped by increasing probiotics.

I am glad I found your posting today Gertrudes. I must be somewhere close to a breakthrough since the leg cramps have lessened. I have a tad more energy today, but was exactly as you described your energy level being for the last 4-5 weeks--very low, walking slow, lethargic, etc. Then these last 4 weeks I increased the fats and decreased carbs. I am still constipated, so I need to go back to the probiotics it appears(along with continuing the magnesium.) Thanks for explaining that so clearly (bowel functioning) as its been worrisome.

Today I cheated and had some sugar (agave in some coconut ice cream (all good ingredients except for the agave) and an espresso (hardly ever had coffee to begin with, but succumbed to an urge) and a little later my head felt stuffed up (nose dripping) and still is, so that was a big NO NO and a lesson. Very bad for me, but its also good to see the reaction happening in an increasingly purer body-- and take note of it, to do no more
Not quite off the fruit yet, have it occasionally, and now understand that the blinis need to be eliminated as well as mentioned above (as Psyche pointed out above.)