DoingTheCaveman

RAW at the Earthship

Can you take me to the Earthship? 

Yes the driver did do a double take when I stepped into his taxi and gave this instruction on Saturday.

Time to come out. 

If you didn't realise my post last week nature is bountiful post was related to raw foodism and the fact that it has over the last 6 months become a significant element of my own paleo diet.

Indeed, it's becoming a dilemma as to which direction I'm ultimately going to take myself since, generally, those practising raw foodism tend to be raw vegans/vegetarians, whereas 'the paleo diet' has its obvious meat content.  There is, however, quite a bit of crossover such as foraging, not eating man made foods and, whilst foods on the 'paleo' menu food can be cooked, anything consumed should be edible even when raw.  So, you can see how surfing the web led me to the delights of raw foodism, and it was hard for me to ignore. 

The discovery excited me with its plethora of raw food recipes that take you out of the little cooked food box eg. how to make a cake without butter, sugar dairy or flour.

Although often viewed as quite an extreme and alternative lifestyle raw foodism, for me, is another cuisine, like French, Italian or Chinese.  Simply another way to manipulate food and extension to my diet of natural foods. 

A bonus for me is that living near Brighton, which has been the stomping ground for most of my life, I'm actually near the City which has been adopted as the raw food capital of the UK, and I didn't know.

So anyway to take my raw food 'uncooking' to the next level I'd booked up for a raw workshop to be held on Saturday which was unfortunately cancelled a couple of days before the event.  A little deflated, my motivation flagging and needing a boost I researched and quickly  found another workshop and was fortunate to book into it at the last minute.  This was led by one of the leading UK raw food promoters Jess Michael, and held at the exciting venue 'the Earthship'.

What an inspiring day in a fantastic setting with an absolutely delicious meal and tasters, expertly demonstrated by Jess.  Jess was vibrant and simply radiated good health.  Interesting to note that she'd originally come to raw foodism through illness, you certainly wouldn't know that now.

I walked up to the venue with a lady who's been practising raw foodism for a couple of years now.  She told me that her mother had been morbidly obese for most of her life but had been juice feasting since January and had lost 6 stone. The raw food fast and feasting reportedly can really speed up weight loss. My experience over the last few months is that when I've been predominently raw my weight loss has stopped and stabilised, although I may have been going about aspects the wrong way.  However, when I've been doing 'strict caveman' I've lost weight has returned, probably through the ketosis.  My taste preferences though I must admit are veg/raw.  I am convinced about the benefits of enzymes and vitamins by eating predominently raw, however I have been for a long time convinced about the protein/fat element in my paleo diet.

So where am I going with raw/paleo now. I'm not sure at this moment in time.   When did man discover fire?

As I travelled home a very young lamb was dashing across the field and I looked at his little face and thought to myself I don't think I can eat you anymore.

No decision to be made quite yet but raw food is here to stay.

I guess I still need a little practice with my photography skills!

Liquid gold

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I have *stuff* going on, it's not great so there's not much writing going on this week.  A little light relief after the weekend entry, and thank you to MS for taking the pic and for keeping up my replenishments of Argon oil, sometimes known as liquid gold 

For Argon I'd be up that tree too - this is my ultimate caveman diet treat.

BTW, I couldn't resist and had a sneaky mid month weigh in:  86.5 kilos/188 lb/13stone 6 lb.  So since my end of December weigh in that is a 6 lb loss. 

Why I started on Man's first diet

It's been bought to my attention that new visitors may be completely bemused as to quite what's involved in the Caveman diet, so this post is just the story about why it's my diet choice.

I'm your usual dieting veteran, I've re-joined WW more times than I have fingers (& toes), Slimming world, Very Low Calorie Liquid Diet (medically monitored 400 cals a day); the Cabbage Soup Diet; The Grapefruit and Egg diet; Hay Diet; Atkins and the Greek diet.  BTW I love the Greek/Mediterranean diet (for taste and healthiness), but I didn't lose weight.  Finally, at the beginning of last year I finally went on a medically monitored weight loss diet, with the institution of this both my weight and diabetic control rocketed out of control.

Since I was gradully ticking through a list of weight related medical problems it looked like the next on the list were the biggies, it definitely was time to re-evaluate.

After all the above diet failures I instinctively didn't feel that paying out for another mainstream diet (ones that I'd already repeatedly failed before) was not going to be the answer, for me.  Then I had the most awful and patronizing doctor's appointment, one that left me in tears (I DON'T BELIEVE YOU DIET, YOU'RE GREEDY AND YOU EAT TOO MUCH - yes he did say that to me). The bottom line was, you need to lose weight otherwise you will be starting insulin, and soon .  So, if you know anything about diabetes and you're overweight that's very bad news - insulin will make you gain weight. 

I was an emotional wreck that week.  On the Friday before my grandmother (who had been suffering for a long time) fell ill and they said she wouldn't last the w/e,  Sunday was my birthday and obviously didn't want it to happen that day, Tuesday was the hospital appointment and my grandmother died that Friday.

BUT, that week was also the turning point.  An article was published, a diabetic study on the benefits of Caveman diet. It compared a group on the Caveman diet and a group on the Mediterranean diet.  At the end of the study the blood sugar of those on the Caveman diet had dropped significantly compared to those on the Mediterranean diet.  Secondary to that, the group on the Caveman diet also lost a significant amount of weight. 

When I chose to go onto this diet it as much for getting a grip on the blood sugar issues as it was about weight. 

There was also an element of distrust, I mean I've followed all the prescribed diets, trusted the packaging, counted the calories, taken every bit of advice I could, but for my efforts I simply got fatter and fatter and fatter......

*Light-bulb moment* I was simply expecting too much from my body and it obviously wasn't coping.  I believe I had a false sense of the quantities I should be eating, and additionally I wasn't in control of what I was eating; much of it was canteen, packaged or ready made, or if it had a low calorie count that was good enough for me.  So I concluded that if I took all the extras out the equation (all the man made foods) my body would have the opportunity to be able to work in the way it was designed. 

Why should I expect my body to understand and process foods that aren't natural?  It was time for me to get back into the driving seat take back control of everything I ate.

'A wise man ought to realize that health is his most valuable possession and learn how to treat his illnesses by his own judgment.  Hippocrates

Anyway that's just my little story as to how I've arrived at this lifestyle change.  It may some appear to be a faddy diet but I've read around it and started to follow it after a great deal of consideration. I've experienced a lot of physical changes not just to the diabetes, but also to my gums, my blood pressure, my gums. Heck, even my fat has changed (ie where's the cellulite gone).  It feels right and sustainable (for me) but it has entailed lifestyle changes that may not suit everyone.  It's working for me and I believe it's the healthiest choice for me.

I've gabbed on for far too long now so I'm going to have to save exactly what the diet entails to a future entry, for anyone who's interest a past entry regarding the rules is posted here.

Adventures with alchemy

Something I've noticed over the last few months has been the absence of migraines and headaches. That was until Monday when an almighty migraine struck, shortly before bed and then kept me awake most of the night and lasted until today. It included a few extra symptoms I personally don't experience with my migraines (magnified sound and feeling of separation and distance).

In the past the my migraines strangely seemed appear on Saturdays and could continue through to Monday.  Eventually I built up an embarrassing pattern of sickies!  The doctor's suggestion was that may be the effect of winding down at the weekend.  However, once again I now suspect it was simply diet. 

It was not until yesterday evening that it eventually dawned on me what the trigger for Monday's migraine was!

Over the last week I've been blissed out with the re-discovery of cacao.  I haven't been sure whether it's strictly acceptable on the Caveman diet (being a bean) and hence my slightly bizarre post on Sunday.

I'd eagerly awaited my chocolate bars and have been nibbling these over the last week or so.  There' s no sugar in them, just natural diabetic friendlier sweetners such as agave nectar, lucuma and mequite.  However, they were also extremely expensive so on Monday I decided to rustle up my own pudding (soaking macademia nuts in 1/2 an orange, 1 medjool date to sweeten and cocao nibs and blending to create a small creamy chocolate pudding).  I estimated a measure for the cocao and guess I must have added too much!  Note - a regular Cadbury's bar contains something like 15% chocolate.  In contrast with my own concocotion I was generous with the cocao, extremely generous.  If fact of one thing I'm certain, I have probably never in my life had that amount of straight cacao in one hit - still buzzzzzzing.

October's progress

Yesterday I attended my 4 month review hospital appointment, well timed to record my progress for October. I have to say all is now forgiven since the first consultation. The reaction from my consultant also served to remind me of the achievement and progress I've made overall.

• At my initial new patient appointment I was 102 kg (224 lb). 
• Yesterday I was 93 kg (205 lb)
• Total loss = 9 kg (19 lb)

There are a couple of points I'd like to add in relation to my diabetes and general health.

1. The doctor said my Hb A1c was 'marvelous' at 6.3  The normal range for a non-diabetic is 4 - 6.  Going into some of my domiciliary blood readings I have now started recording readings of 4 which raises the possibility of hypos.  Therefore he said that we may soon think about reducing my medication!!!  You may recall that at my first appointment I was being threatened with the introduction of insulin to my regime.
2. One particularly strange thing is that since I've been on the Caveman diet I have started feeling particularly low and weepy at times, which is out of character for me and contrary to the how I'd expect to be feeling with the wieght loss.  I'd even starting to wonder if the diet wasn't quite right or I was developing some type of depressive illness.  However, I'd also been musing about something else.  When I discussed the problem with the consultant he suggested exactly what I had been thinking - that the mood swings could indeed be cyclical.  My diabetes is related to having PCOS and, although these days I have a normal cycle, I haven't for a long time had all the usual pre-menstrual symptoms and probably wasn't ovulating normally.  The doctor confirmed what I was thinking, that these mood swings would be a sign that my hormones could be kicking back into action and a sign that I am once again ovulating normally.

Finally he said that although he could discharge me back to the care of my GP he doesn't yet wish to and would like to review my progress again in 6 months!  Could it be that he's curious about the effect of a diet that excludes modern day foods?

Learn to read your body's telling you

I use my forehead as a health forecasting tool.  That sounds absolutely nutty doesn't it, but this is precisely how I knew that I was thriving on the Caveman diet. 

Basically, anytime that I've been under the weather and indeed prior to my diabetic diagnosis the skin across my forehead would flare up.  Embarrassingly, it used to become red and inflamed; my skin peels and sometimes gets a little scabby. It looks a terrible sight, plus it's itchy and sore too! This is my outward sign that there's too much sugar in my system.  It was continually like this and whatever diet I was following the irritation would persist.   

Anyway within the first two weeks of starting the Caveman diet my skin literally cleared up and the inflammation disappeared.  The problem has since flared up only once on the Caveman diet; this is when I decided to make a Ratatouille and slipped on the natural products, using tinned tomatoes.  The following morning I woke up and my skin was raging - you could have warmed your hands on it.  Initially I thought that the Caveman diet had actually uncovered an allergy to tomatoes (not having eaten them for a while), but once a read the the ingredients on tinned tomatoes the reason for the irritation became clear - sugar.

You just can't escape it, even when you're trying to eat healthily.  Tinned tomatoes always did seem a pretty innocent product to me, and as such I didn't review the packaging.  This really brings home to me the point that if you really want to control what you're eating it's really far safer just to make everything from scratch.  Thankfully I have my forehead as my own sugar alarm system.

Bad hair days

I had my hair cut last week, nothing unusual about that, you may say, but whenever I see my hairdresser I quiz her about new hair growth.  This is because 2 years ago it totally fell out! 

Over a period of about 3 months wherever I went I was followed by a trail of hair, when I ran my fingers through my hair I would come away with a fistful of it.  My hair was long and fine and there was a lot of it  but over a couple of months it simply become thinner and thiner until eventually there was none. 

When I sought medical advice it wasn't my usual GP. The doctor I saw fobbed me off telling me that all women lost hair from time to time and I shouldn't worry about it; well I was worried, here I was  sitting in front of him almost completely bald (and I really do mean bald since the hair left was sparse), I certainly didn't consider this to be comparable with the usual hair loss 'experienced by most women from time to time'.  Additionally, not only was I concerned about the hair loss I was worried about what condition could be underlying the problem. 

Not long after this I did see my regular GP, and although he obviously couldn't remedy the condition he told me that 'it used to be said that after someone had had a febrile illness they could lose their hair'.    It was so reassuring just to have some sort of answer. However, now I wasn't just fat I was bald and fat.

A couple of weeks later I was choosing headscafs when a friend said that their hairdresser was also a trichologist and had said she would see me.  I went along and met Wendy and she ushered me up and sympathetically took a look. 

'Do you want the good news or the bad news' she said. 

'Well, starting with the bad news it's all got to come off, but the good news is that the follicles are still OK and there is some new growth there already'. 

Anyway Wendy gave me some wonderful advice and support during this distressing and defeminsing period.  Unfortunately I can't properly give her credit as she did a flit back to South Africa, however for anyone experiencing hair thinning problems these are the helpful steps I undertook in a bid to gain a new full head of hair. What was actually left on my head was the new hair growth so pretty much it was the same as baby hair.

1. I had to have my hair completely cut back to a crew cut.  This was cut back back hard like this every 2 - 3 weeks.  The first time it was cut back and the remaining few long hairs shaved away I just went home and wept. However, after the first 4 weeks she excitedly showed me my new hair growth. Even once my hair started growing again my hairdresser wouldn't allow me to grow it any longer for several months.  This is supposedly as it instructs and encourages the future desired hair growth.

2. Hair aerobics - stimulate your blood supply by gently massaging your scalp.  If you do have some hair touch it, lift it and move it around.

3. Use the simplest organic hair shampoos and refrain from harsh treatments. 

4. I used to wash my hair on a daily basis and was absolutely horrified when Wendy instructed me to take this gradually down to once a week or even less - eeek!!

5. There are nutritional supplements that can be taken.  I did try these but they triggered migraine so I wouldn't recommend them.

Anyway I'm pleased to say that my hair did grew back.  It's now in far better condition than it ever was before.  Surprisingly, when it did grow back my once straight but sometimes fuzzy fine hair grew back thick, shiny, curly, and initially quite dark although this did lighten in the sun. 

I wouldn't hesitate to cut it short again it's by far the best treatment and boost to hair that has become lank, limp and dull.

The new hair growth on the top of my head until recently did appear to have stopped, but last week my hairdresser told me that I'm currently having a new bout of growth - I wonder could this be due to the nourishing power of the Caveman diet?

Improved blood pressure

Phew, I've finally made it to the weekend and fortunately managed to get back on track after suffering the blues last week.  I'm also really excited to have some great news both for myself and the Caveman diet! 

I saw my GP on Tuesday and she again seemed surprised by the progress on the Caveman diet and, in fact, when reviewing the home blood readings said 'I don't think I've ever seen some a dramatic improvement before'.  Well I hope this is true, she may of course say this to all her patients this but I think she was actually quite genuine. 

The really good news I mentioned though is my blood pressure.  I've had chronically high blood pressure now for 3 or 4 years now and have been on medication for this.  Anyway, a couple of years ago I weighed about a 1 1/2 stones less than I am now but the diastolic blood pressure I recall was 105 (can't remember the systolic ?/105).  This week my BP was taken and you can see how it has improved:

December 2006 = 160/92

July 2007 = 142/72 (this was a couple of weeks into the Caveman diet).

2nd October 2007 = 120/80

Anyway, last time I saw my GP in July she'd added an additional medication to my regime but when I picked up my script it was literally on the same day there was quite a bit of bad press about Rosiglitazone - I wasn't sure if it was the same thing so opted not to take it.  Therefore, yes I'm still on the  medication I was already on but my BP has come down without the addition of the third drug and my GP has said it's now not necessary now for me to go on it.

Colouring in the changes

I should be having my Hb A1c done pretty soon but meanwhile I've coloured in the changes to my domicillary blood testing.  Gosh, just by looking at the colours illustrates the difference dietary changes have had on my readings from the moment I started eating paelo., hopefully this will reflect in the Hb A1c when I have it done. 

If you check it out scroll down as the improvement is seen on the lower half of the page.      

Download colouring_the_changes.xls

FREAKY HIGH
MORE THAN NORMAL
NORMAL RANGE (5 - 10)
LESS THAN NORMAL

Two simple words

By embarking on the Caveman diet, which I guess some may consider quite extreme or faddy, I've been exploring my feelings about food and its relationship to good health.  Leading to the realisation that possibly I was in some sort of denial about diabetes and it's time to accept that this diet is no short term measure. This time, however, I have the confidence that this is a diet that will work.  It's diet that feels natural rather than extreme and cutting out temptation has slit the throat of my inner little devil.   The Caveman diet has stopped the cravings PERIOD.

I have to admit it - I have always had a healthy appetite, and have sometimes satisfied it with the wrong types of food.  But we're surrounded by an overwhelming amount of choice and some, like myself, want to try it all. Hence, every time I spied a new product I'd have to try it.  Problem is the flow of these products is never ending and the extra calories start to mount up.  Then once we're hooked we're reeled in by the food industry, along with its food technicians who are employed with the purpose of creating ever more choice and indulgences.

The Caveman diet is contrary to most of the diets I've followed.  This is because it's restrictive and limits choice.  You do have to re-educate your taste in order to enjoy healthier food, however it's satisfying and far from tasteless. 

A major bonus is that being man's first diet the Caveman diet is not commercialised.  I believe that too much choice is where many other diets help us to fail.  Hence, I'm finding that limiting choice is a comfort.

Choice is taken to extremes by the diet industry.  If you've ever been to a diet club you will know how many diet products are promoted.   The diet industry simply reproduces a style of eating that we have become accustomed; it supplies foods that are similar to what we were previously eating, and (hooray) you can eat in almost unlimited quantities and they won't make you fat. Ha, if only!  I shouldn't forget to mention that with these miracle products up goes the price alongside the chemical content.

So now we have the low fat foods, low sugar foods and even the low carb diet industry gets in on the act.  We can reproduce the foods once enjoyed rather than tackling the fundamental problem - eating habits.  After all, if all else fails you can control your sugar with insulin or opt for gastric banding.

STOP and remember those two little words - 'No thanks' with practice they become much easier to say.

Something I've learned so far on the Caveman diet is that, if you can change you mindset, you will stop missing the foods you can't have and start to enjoy what you can. Re-educating taste to enjoy the simplicity and savour the flavour. Along the way is the loss of guilt feelings associated with food in the knowledge that everything consumed is nourishment.

I've certainly felt a loss of control along with my increasing waistline, which I'm sure other overweight people can relate to.  Now I'm starting to feel that I'm back in control.  I do think it's true that our taste buds have actually been re-trained by Cooperations who care very little for the few that end up with serious health problems, after all once we've been fattened up they have plenty of products to help us lose weight again.

Whoops, I'm starting to sound like a food nutter, I assure you I'm not, but I am enthused and relishing the sense of regaining control.

The point of this little rant is that at the end of the day if we should be enjoying a good quality of life and it does not need to revolve around food.  We should after all be eating to live NOT living to eat. 

The Caveman diet requires a change of attitude and acknowledgment of the serious consequences of overindulgence, a submission if you like, that this is a way of eating for life.  Returning to old eating habits after weight loss would mean a return to old habits and consequent weight gain.