I'm confused about diet now more than ever

[big brown horse]

Good point BB! We did the full blown elimination diet and added raw milk back in after a month. I will be turning raw milk into my own cheese if I want it, but we are staying far away from store bought cheeses.

My daughter is doing great, thanks for asking! How about yours?

 

[okiegirl1]

she's good. She had to do a swallow study because she gets choked very easily, but it looked good, so we'll just have to change her reflux meds. can't post on facebook because she'll see it and I try to protect her as much as possible.

k, no store cheese. got it. I'll work on the raw milk cheese. I buy two gallsons at a time, so I'll try to make a vinegar cheese with one. see how that goes.

 

[big brown horse]

Sent you a pm...

I forgot to add to my list fermented things like kefir, kombucha and kraut or pickles.

I do just about everything in NT except the grains and legumes.

 

[okiegirl1]

I'm trying to not do the grains thing, but my Paleo diet says no pickeled stuff.

do you see why I'm so confused?

 

[Wifezilla]

You weighed yourself, but dd you MEASURE yourself??? I never lost a pound for over a year and lost many many many inches

 

[big brown horse]

I'm trying to not do the grains thing, but my Paleo diet says no pickeled stuff.

do you see why I'm so confused?

Yes, I see it can be confusing and complicated as well. That is why I modified it for us. If I remember to just stay away from grain/gluten/cheap dairy and legumes I still lose weight.

Marks daily apple will send you a free cookbook just for signing up to his newsletter.

I eat store bought pickles sometimes AND use vinegars in my dressings.

 

[okiegirl1]

yep signed up for the newsletter. I'm really hoping to learn a better way for our family to eat. We all need to lose a few pounds.

k, no grain/gluten/cheap dairy and legumes. got it!

 

[CrownofThorns]

For adrenal issues and general hormone issues I would check into Chaste tree berry. I have found that most people are totally wrong about CTB. Most say it only makes your body increase progesterone levels and reduce estrogen levels. Which is what most women need, especially in their luteal phase, a common cause of early miscarriages. However for me I was VERY low in estrogen in my luteal phase and probably low in progesterone also, so if what most people say about CTB is true then my estrogen levels should have gone WAY down when I started taking large doses of CTB shortly before a new cycle started. Nope! I noticed an IMMEDIATE relief in my low estrogen symptoms. Intrigued I started doing some research and found out that the way CTB works is by helping out your pituitary gland. If you look into what your pituitary gland does, it regulates nearly all of your hormones, adrenals, thyroid. Lots of things many women have mega problems with.

My sister has been taking small doses of CTB for months now. Before she would only take it when she felt PMSy and it would take away her symptoms, but for the last couple months she has been taking 2 3x a day and has been slowly but surely losing weight with no effort. Both my sister and I gained weight when we went through puberty. Mine wasn't that much, 20lb but my sister gained to the point where she was obese and had nearly 100lb to lose. She has been working on losing weight for two years, and by the time she started the CTB daily she had dropped to 200-190ish. She is now down to 180, effortlessly. She still eats junk food, tons of candy etc, and when she starts exercising and eating right she drops the lbs off faster. It's also really helped her lose inches. She is 40lb heavier then me right now, and yet is only 1 size away from me. (she has a bit of a larger frame and is 1" taller then me) She is wearing mostly 16's and few 18's, and one or two 14's. I am borderline 14's.

Last month my hormones were so far off that in desperation I started taking large doses of CTB, and as I said before, I found immediate relief of the symptoms, which I had not experienced before when taking 2 capsules 3x a day. My symptoms were extreme brain fog, poor memory, clumsiness, extreme emotionalizes (crying at the drop of a hat for no reason) and there are more. I was about 3 or 4 days away from starting a new cycle so a lot of it was PMS. I never got the usual bloating, sensitivity, etc that I usually get in the last day or two before starting. Because I was taking such large doses however it did through my cycle WAY off. But I think I needed it at first, just not for how long I did it. I didn't end up starting until day 44, which I am a usual between 28-32 dayer. I also know it was too much because it effected my sleep (pituary). I didn't get a decent nights sleep until I dropped the amount down to a maintenance dose. Now if I feel any of my symptoms that I know are hormonal, I'll take 4, but if I feel fine I take only 2. If I feel REAL bad (which hasn't happened for a while, yay!) then I take 6. But that is only for that time.

I HIGHLY recommend you take CTB, every women who has any symptoms of hormone inbalance, thyroid or adrenal problems should IMO.

ETA: I'm really hoping the CTB will take care of my infertility. We haven't had the money for me to see the Dr, but since my infertility is seemingly unexplained, and I know my hormones were WAY off, I'm hoping it's just my hormones.

For losing weight. Check out the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat, by Sally Fallon and Mary Ewing? I know I have the last name right, not sure about the first. That has helped my parents lose over 40lb combined in less then 6 months, and when I stick to it I lost 10lb in 2 months. It's not hard, but finances have been really tight so I couldn't afford to get more coconut oil for a while. It's basically following a NT diet with some pointers for specifically losing weight.

Also one thing that I know we did wrong when we first started eating NT style is that we ate way too much cooked food and way too little raw food. I think it's a common blunder a lot of new NT types make. I'm am trying to adjust our diet to being about 75% raw and my husband and I have both noticed an immediate HUGE improvement on our energy levels, general healthy feeling levels, and I'm pretty sure I'll start losing weight again.

When your trying to lose weight it's also a good reminder to keep your dairy portions small, as I have come to see that to a certain point calories do still matter, especially if you aren't working out much or don't lead an active lifestyle. When I'm working out, or doing heavy farm work I can drink a couple glasses of raw milk a day and be just fine, still losing weight. But if I'm mostly sitting on my duff and drinking several glasses of milk a day, then I end up gaining.

ETA: Kombucha and ASpple Cider Vinegar are also great ways to help you lose weight. I don't know how they do, but they do! I make my own kombucha, before I bottle it I pour in a tiny amount of concentrated grape juice and then let it fizz up for a couple days before refridgerating it. It tastes almost just like grape soda, and my husband and I when I have my kombucha going good will drink 2-3 bottles a day, and feel FANTASTIC! For ACV I make a "tonic" that is really yummy, but a it's a taste that grows on you, I have had something similar since a child so I'm used to it and love it. I make a hot tea with about 1 T vinegar, 1 tsp honey (use more if it's too vinegary for you), a dash of ginger powder, and if I have it, about a T lemon juice.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I Have Eat FAt, Lose Fat. It is by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. And i basically followed it, but found that it pushed coconut oil way too hard. I substituted other healthy fats in lieu of that much coconut oil. I lost weight. Eating that way is a way of life for me now, (not to mention that I am now GF)

 

[CrownofThorns]

I Have Eat FAt, Lose Fat. It is by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. And i basically followed it, but found that it pushed coconut oil way too hard. I substituted other healthy fats in lieu of that much coconut oil. I lost weight. Eating that way is a way of life for me now, (not to mention that I am now GF)

Thanks for the name correction, guess I didn't have it right! I forgot to take my CTB last night and havn't yet this morning....