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Are You a Live To Eat OR a Eat to Live Kind of Person?

June 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Looking For A Different Passion Other Than Food?

I have been a Live to Eat (and drink)  kind of person…

… and changing over to a Eat to Live person has been an interesting… and challenging experience.
I realised I actually needed to find my passion to fill my need for meaning instead of using food for that purpose. No more thinking constantly of what treat to make or to buy or looking in the fridge constantly to see if something have magically appeared that takes my fancy as a way of filling in the space inside.

I think the journey towards my passion is an ongoing odyssey.  It changes and grows as I change and grow and getting healthy and sharing everything I have learnt with anyone who will listen (hence this blog)  is a  big part of my passion.

The more I am on the Alkaline Paleo Diet the more I feel the world is opening up for me.  Some of this is to do with increased energy and brain power but also I feel my 5 senses are working much much better.
I enjoy what I eat more, I appreciate my surroundings more and sex has become  much more  enjoyable.   Orgasms has become a thing of wonder and I don’t remember ever having this kind of experience before even when I was younger.   I think this is pretty good for a peri-menopausal women of 52!  One reason, I’m pretty sure, is that my hormonal system is now much healthier probably healthier than it’s ever been.  Getting those necessary fats has allowed my body to balance my progesterone, oestrogen and testosterone ratios, my sex hormones.
Going Out to a Cafe, Restaurant or Drink at the Pub
Going out has mostly been about having a meal,  a coffee or an alcoholic drink or at least always has been a big part of the outing.

It’s certainly not impossible to go out for a meal as long as I pick the right restaurant and order only the meat and above ground vegetables.  Unfortunately it’s always the better restaurants (more expensive) that will have better quality foods and oils and be more accommodating for my needs.  Forget eating at takeaways or fat food places, they just don’t have anything to offer.

When I eat out I try make sure I get enough good fat in my meal, as there isn’t  the usual potato or pasta as a filler. This will make sure I am  full and so won’t be tempted to order a dessert.  I will ask  for some extra virgin olive oil or I will bring some butter, ghee or coconut oil to put on my meal myself.

I will drink mostly mineral water with a little lemon juice squeezed into it. This drink is amazingly satisfying.  The other really good drink to have, when I can get it,  is a pot of green tea.

Going out for a coffee can be more problematic.   As long as I have a small long black very occasionally I don’t see it as a problem, otherwise a long black decaf.  But coffee is very strong and some people are definitely better off without it.  And the pub?  I really don’t find this is easy at all but as recovering alcoholics can do it well, it must be possible.
Would you be interested to discover how food can either rule our lives or how we can be the captain of our our bodies?  
Looking at, and finding the answers to this question is my passion!
 
Despite access to so much historical information our leaders keep making the same mistakes over and over again.  Why do they do this?
I think the way we have been eating has caused so much problems on a chemical level within our bodies and brains that we haven’t been able to evolve much as a species.  We certainly keep making the same mistakes again and again and never seem to learn anything from our history.  What’s the use of history unless we see the mistakes and stop repeating them?
Filed Under: Alkaline Paleo Diet, Coffee, Dining Out, High fat diet, Links, low carbohydrate diet, Sex Tagged With: , , , ,

Italian Odyssey- Part 2

June 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Jeepers have I been having some adventures here in Italy and now the UK.

I now really know how hard it is to eat travelling if you can’t afford to eat at a restaurant and can’t cook for yourself.

I have just visited my nephew in London and his girlfriend, Lili.   They live what is probably a typical London life in the sense they don’t cook.  They eat only organic foods but the organic foods they tend to mostly eat are organic snack foods. They aren’t vegetarian but I guess for them meat is not really an ethical substance to eat, so there is little meat eating going on.

This fast food chain in London is considered to have healthy food but all foods (except a salad) are bread based

As a result I noticed Lili needed to snack very frequently as her blood sugar levels started to drop.  Her breakfast of  porridge or muesli with oat milk sustained her for, at most, 2 hours then she needed another carbohydrate food fix.  Jonathan, my nephew commented that when they were on holiday away from home, Lili’s main priority was where her next two meals were coming from.

My nephew did, bless his cotton socks, try to do the diet last year, but he had friends who stayed who were ‘great cooks’ so he ate what they cooked.  Who wouldn’t at age 32 or even 52?  Except of course for someone who is rather health challenged and absolutely sick of being sick.

Everywhere I looked in London cafes there was only (except for a salad which only the hardy would choose on a cold summers day!) bread based snacks to eat.  What hope has the average Londoner out and about have?

On the flight to London I looked at the menu offerings interested to see if there was anything that wasn’t bread based and that wasn’t just junk food (like chips).  Not a thing.  Ian and I had bought some pistachios with us and our own water filter bottle so the airline didn’t get any more revenue from us.

When Lilli mentioned to me very quietly that she needed to snack a lot, I said it was because she wasn’t getting  much protein or fats from the foods she eats so she will become hungry often.  She also mentioned she had a chronic sore throat and I suggested to try eliminating some foods to see if  they might be the culprit, as in my experience it usually is.   She told me a friend did a weeks fast and that had fixed her so maybe that’s is all she needed to do.  Maybe it might work short term, but I doubt it very much.

I watched Jonathan opening and closing the fridge often to see if there is something in there to tempt him.  This is exactly what I used to do, looking in the fridge for something to satisfy a craving, but what is the craving?  I think it was probably for protein and fats.

I offered to cook Jonathan the same breakfast that Ian and I had every morning and I noticed after he had eaten this meal he did not snack or indeed didn’t  eat till dinnertime.

Back here in Italy,with my friend Heidi and her partner Mark, there is a continuous snacking also on carbohydrate foods.  Mark is a diabetic as is eating a high carbohydrate diet so of course he needs to frequently snack on these foods.  Diabetics (also now referred to a carbohydrate intolerance) are diabetics BECAUSE of the high carb food they eat, with the end result of insulin resistance, being from your bodies attempts to manage carbs.

Heidi looks at our lunch when we dine together, and says there is no way she would be full enough eating what we eat.

I understand the addiction so well and this is why it becomes so hard to even try to change people’s mind.  Only when the pain is enough, and for some this never eventuates, even with the verdict of cancer in fact.   Just like someone with lung cancer who continues to smoke we couldn’t dream of life without our our high carbohydrate foods.

 

 

Filed Under: Alkaline Paleo Diet, Dining Out, High fat diet, Italy on Alkaline Paleo, low carbohydrate diet, Travel, Wheat

Musings on a Friend’s Dinner Party with Vegans, Paleos, Non Red Meat Eaters, Non Fish Eaters, Non Dairy Eaters, Non Sugar Eaters

April 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

At a recent friend’s dinner party we had all of the above.  I and my beloved are Paleo (me no dairy either),  a vegan couple and the couple who hosted the evening, one doesn’t eat red meat and the other can’t abide fish.  I don’t know what the other four women were or weren’t eating.  Oh… and add to that that the vegans and I do not drink alcohol (not since that hangover that lasted all night and the next day!).

Not to wonder, our hostess friend was starting to lose patience this time round. She had been very patient with her last dinner party, not showing any of the symptoms of fatigue from the lists of  ”I don’t eat…(put in anything you like here)”.

I watched as one of our vegans asked for some barbecue sauce to go on the tofu burgers they had brought for dinner.  Our hostess told her, “No, but I will have it for you next time”.  I made the quip “make a list” (with a laugh),  and she agreed but I was getting the feeling more and more that the idea of a next time was looking much more onerous to her.

I live in an area of the world that is renowned for our picky and evangelical behaviour regarding many aspects of our lives, including food choices. As such,  when seen kindly we are kooky and when not, we are just plain annoying.  I know I feel the same way and I am one of “them”.  I have encountered more than a few testy waiters at eating houses who are sick of our kooky ways!

Our hostess got a bit confused when trying provide a dessert for us Paleos.  The vegans and the rest don’t have a problem with sweet things, (oh… the vegans only eat agave syrup).  Our friend kept asking us what we could have for dessert, bless her heart. The problem is there is absolutely nothing that is a dessert that isn’t sweet (except cheese and bickies but not for me)  As a good hostess she felt responsible for giving us dessert.

This got me to thinking  about social eating and what I have learnt going through my many different incarnations of  ”I can’t eat that” because I don’t want to be left out or leave myself out of social gatherings.

1.  I try now to bring food that I can eat and share that is yummy.  It has to be good otherwise I will feel deprived and may make others feel uncomfortable.

2.  I now try to make my food choice as ‘under the radar’ as I can.  If I can, and this point is hard, I do not bring attention to myself.  If someone asks why I can’t eat something I find a funny way of avoiding the issue.  This really helps in not becoming a problem guest.

3.  When going to a restaurant with friends, I make sure there is something for me to eat and I know what it is beforehand.  Perusing menus, asking lots of questions of the waiter, whilst sitting with friends is not conducive to a happy meal.

Being on a ‘special’ diet can be  be a bit trying for me also, as it can and does preclude spontaneity as I have to plan the food part of all outings in advance.

I have also more than once (this is putting it mildly!) felt a little guilty due to my lack of easygoingness when it comes to food choices.

Far worse though is the long term effects of eating the foods that make me sick and the need to be well, now am in my late middle age, has overruled a lot of the need to fit in.

I am sorry my lovely friends, waiters, waitresses and restaurant owners for my picky ways.  I know I look like a complete pain, but for me it is a matter of either going out and eating anything and then feeling awful for days, not going out at all, as all outings with friends involve food, or doing what I can to go out and still have some fun.

I want fun!!

 

Filed Under: Dining Out, Vegans Tagged With: , , ,

Let me tell you my Story of Italy and How I Lost my Sanity

April 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Italy on a alkaline paleo diet….hmm…. can I tell you about the cakes?  Northern Italy has the best cream cakes ever, well probably not as good as Holland but…France has the crustiest bread and the cherries and peaches in Italia are out of this world!  All these things have been absolutely no no’s for me since I started using the Paleo diet  and getting well a year ago.  Oh, I haven’t mentioned the Italian wines!

I had been a year and a half on the Paleo diet and then….

I had been getting really, really well on this diet.  Yes, I still had some ups and downs but mostly ups.  You know what they say about relationships?  If you have more ups than downs then your relationship is probably a good one.  I think the same thing goes for diet,  my relationship with food was fantastico as I was getting well and there was plenty of good times! I loved my food and my food was loving me.

But First My History in Abbreviation

First, let me tell you where I have been, heath wise. I have had stomach problems all my life.  I was diagnosed with IBS about 12 years ago.   I have and am absolutely intolerant of gluten (from grains) and casein (from milk) .  I hadn’t eaten either of these for quite a few years and didn’t realise how much this fact had aided in my healing and in a much easier transition to the Paleo diet.

Italy

The long haul flight from Australia to Italy gave me little to no trouble.  I slept for a bit the day I arrived and then I was all ok and ready for  adventure.  This story was very, very different to the flight back which I will tell about a bit later.

My Sister and I go insane with the Wheat Gluten and Dairy Opioids 

At the beginning of my European trip,  I joined my sister on a canal barge trip on the Canal Du Midi in France.  There my sister and I went literally insane and out of our minds!   We went on a wheat baguette and butter feeding frenzy.  We pushed the limits and it wasn’t a pretty sight.  We were stuffing the break sticks in as fast as we could buy them and after these for breakfast we then indulged in French pastries, after all, we weren’t going to ever have them again were we?

After leaving her, things got a bit better, but the deliciousness of Paleo food had faded quite a bit and the old gluten and dairy hunger was starting to seek me out and get to me.  Even though I stayed away from pasta, I had convinced myself that the sourdough Italian bread was ok for me.

The oh so lovely fruit

When I get back to Italy the cherry season is on and the farm I am staying at have cherry trees with the most exquisite cherries in the history of cherry taste.  Put some cherries and yoghurt together for breakfast and the normal eggs, tomato and bacon deliciousness, which I had been enjoying enormously, go out the window     Talk about the fructose/ sugar addiction!

And then the peach season arrived…  I have not a problem with peaches in Australia.  They are tasteless and I don’t want them but in Italia?  They are so full of juicy flavour.

But the fruit was starting to really give me obvious symptoms so I gave it up after not too long.

Italian EatingMy Beloved in Italia

For six months I treated my body & mind to sourdough bread,  not a lot, but regularly.  I also ate cheese  and butter and many other little bits and pieces including some pannacotta and cream eclairs.

And then of course we take a sojourn up north.  My beloved and I were so in love with the cakes we had them sometimes twice a day.

The dairy was giving me constant constipation but I was not going to be outfoxed by my body.  I was going to be more stubborn even if it left me for more than a week without going.  Trouble is I tolerate constipation really well unlike my beloved who has a fit even if he hasn’t gone for just one day!

Around the 4th or 5th month I start getting some of my old symptoms back.  I have lasted pretty well so far so I am not unduly worried.  I tell myself I will go back on the diet when I get back to Australia.  No worries!

The Flight Back Home Was Not a Breeze

One of the things that really was different on the flight back home was that my ankles and calves swelled up and this lasted for days.  This is something that has never happened to me on any long haul flights.  Ok I am now 52, but six months ago on my trip over to Italia there wasn’t a sign of swelling.

Back in Australia and so tired

Oh my God talk about jet lag.  So, so tired just can’t stay awake for days on end, but I am in denial and I don’t recognize for ages the correlation between my diet in the last six months and the enormous difference in my trip there compared to my trip back.

Going back on the Paleo Diet wasn’t at all easy

I thought this would be a breeze.  After all I hadn’t eaten all that much carb had I?   I would need to just put up with the usual change over to ketone burning tiredness for a few weeks and all would be good yes?  No!   I had done damage, more damage than I was willing, or could admit to.  I was in a state of mind fog and in that state my brain is not thinking at all well.  Still I thought it wouldn’t take long.  But the gluten, casein and wine consumption had put me back way further than I had been when I first started the Paleo diet 2 years ago.

One thing though, I stubbornly would not given up the dairy, in the form of cream for my decaf coffee.  It was the best cream, pastured cows, organic and I ate a bit of butter.  How can this hurt.  I had conquered my body and was not longer getting constipation the fact the the stuff was a bit odd looking didn’t matter did it?  I was going everyday!  The milk opioids had got me in their clutches and they were fighting for supremacy to reign as king of me.

My liver hurt if I even touched it or lay on my side.  It was working so hard to detoxify my body!

After over  5 months I finally got it.  The tiredness hadn’t left me and so I finally gave up the dairy and wallah ( well after much self pity and a few tears), my energy finally came good again.

The stomach pain which had also started to get worse and worse  got better.

I’m going back to Italy this month, am I an idiot?

I sure hope not.  There is plenty to eat in Italia that suits a Paleo diet.    On the menu there is always  ”secondi piatti” or second plates, which are all meat dishes. I will need to eat plenty of olive oil on it though to make me full.

I can also eat their salami’s.  I will  boil plenty of eggs to eat when there is nothing else.  I will take some coconut oil with me but I will need to order some more from somewhere else as Italy does not have it at all, well, it didn’t 6 months ago.

The San Pelegrino mineral water is nice and alkaline and it is beautiful with a squeeze of lemon.  It replaces wine most admirably.

There is always plenty of good vegetables to eat, eggplant, beautiful tomatoes and plenty of leafy greens and I have an organic butcher close to where I will mostly stay.

There is also plenty of buffalo milk products such as mozarella and butter which I will test out and see if I can tolerate them.

We will see if I succeed.  I know I can’t go back to the way I ate last time I was there.

I will make some movies of my food while I am there and keep you up to date.  What an odyssey eh?  You see I love Italy, I love the way the people are and so this will be a challenge to see whether I can put my focus on other good and wonderful things other than the food.

….oh I didn’t tell you about the coffee……….

 

 

Filed Under: Dining Out, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,