[Right on!  Yea I'm 6'2" 243lbs. I can see my abs so I assume I'm less than 12%BF

There are too many men your age that can't see their toes!  

16ounces = 1 pound

I haven't watched the videos, but Marika's quote said 6 ounces of protein, not 6 ounces of meat.  Meat is only about 25% protein, so 6 ounces of protein is about 24 ounces of meat, or a pound and a half, as I said.

It's funny that this thread has been brought up again because I just decided to go this month (so I'm only 4 days in) with following her recommendations closer than I have in the past. For this month I'm not eating anything that will spike my blood sugar - so no fruit (except a bowl of berries once a week), and no starchy vegetables. I am however still eating more meat than she recommends but I have upped my animal fat intake at meals which has made me want to eat a little less meat. I've been eating only green leafy veggies vs. starchier veggies which she also recommends because leafy greens help flush out spent hormones and toxins. She says that eating greens is more important now than it was to our ancestors because there are so many toxins in our current environment. I agree with this too - I think it's a big problem. I let you know my thoughts at the end of the month. So far it's been pretty easy - very satisfied, no cravings so far.

Sarah, this is exactly what I've found to work for me.

little to no fruit
fatty meat
green leafy veggies
walnuts

Every time I try to change things up or adds things it doesn't go over well.

How have you been feeling this month?  Maybe I should buy this book.  I could use another viewpoint.

It's funny, because the more meat and fat I eat, the more I crave bitter greens!

You could be craving alkalinity?

Quote from: Sarah on September 04, 2009, 05:36:49 PM

It's funny that this thread has been brought up again because I just decided to go this month (so I'm only 4 days in) with following her recommendations closer than I have in the past. For this month I'm not eating anything that will spike my blood sugar - so no fruit (except a bowl of berries once a week), and no starchy vegetables. I am however still eating more meat than she recommends but I have upped my animal fat intake at meals which has made me want to eat a little less meat. I've been eating only green leafy veggies vs. starchier veggies which she also recommends because leafy greens help flush out spent hormones and toxins. She says that eating greens is more important now than it was to our ancestors because there are so many toxins in our current environment. I agree with this too - I think it's a big problem. I let you know my thoughts at the end of the month. So far it's been pretty easy - very satisfied, no cravings so far.

Sarah, this is exactly what I've found to work for me.

little to no fruit
fatty meat
green leafy veggies
walnuts

Every time I try to change things up or adds things it doesn't go over well.

How have you been feeling this month?  Maybe I should buy this book.  I could use another viewpoint.

I've actually been feeling quite great! I thought I'd really be craving fruit by now but I haven't at all.  I had plans to  have a berry treat once a week but the truth is I haven't had any yet - just don't really have the craving for them. I also seem to want less and less greens and more fat at my meals. In some way I can see myself liking an all meat diet. I guess we'll see next month when I start that.

A year ago if you told me I could go without eating fruit I'd think you were crazy. I've always really really loved fruit. Now that I've been cutting back on it over the last couple of months and have gone three weeks without it completely I know it's something that I shouldn't have everyday. It does effect my blood sugar and makes me want another piece of fruit, wait a half hour and then I'd be thinking about having another. It's really nice to be without the cravings! 

Other things I've noticed - I will warn that some of this might be TMI
• more stable mood
• less effected by stress
• softer hair and skin
• clean bowel movements (not much of a need for TP - I think Marika has had this experience too)
• less body odor
• mouth feels cleaner when I wake up in the morning
• lips stay moist without lip balm
• more energy (which in some way is a bad thing considering I have a desk job - I'm having a really hard time sitting in one spot for 8 hours a day  )
• heavy menstrual cycle but with very little cramping (I have a theory about this - see below)

My theory about the heavy cycle is this. If Nora is right about greens clearing out spent hormones then this means my hormone levels would be higher now then when I was eating more fiber. I can assume that this would build more of a lining in the uterus causing a heavy cycle.  Now at first I thought this must mean that I should be eating more greens but then I realized that it's kind of the "chicken and egg" story. Does the fiber clear out excess hormones or does fiber require your body to make excess hormones to overcompensate for the effects of fiber? Because I feel so great with less fiber I think it might be the later. I'm assuming that after a couple months of eating this way my body would adjust and make the correct amounts of hormones no longer predicting that I will be washing them from my system with fiber. I think it's also important to say that I did not feel  worse during my cycle than I normally do -  actually maybe even better than normal.

I also think I need to stop eating raw nuts. They seem to mess with my clean bowel movements. I'm going to try soaking and roasting them to see if that works.

I also have cheated on two occasions both at social events and with a glass of wine. The next day I did crave carbs even though I would not give myself any as to stop the carb/insulin cycle. And again my bowel movements were not as clean.
I should probably stay away from both nuts and wine. 

Reading your post made me think of the book Natural Health & Weight Loss by Barry Groves.  I bought that book thinking I would get a laugh out of how absurd I thought it was going to be with all his talk about eat fat, get thin.  I was shocked at how much sense it made when I read it.  I think I need to re-read it to refresh my memory.  It's an easy read too (unlike Good Calories Bad Calories which is laborious!)

I haven't read the book by Barry Groves yet. I think I'll have to get it. I'm like you - I like to hear different viewpoints.  Thanks for mentioning this book. Are there any others you'd recommend?

unlike Good Calories Bad Calories which is laborious!

Heh, so true.  I'm about two thirds of the way through after a month.

There are some interesting tid bits, though.  For example, the other day I came across a mention of blood sugar causing the partially reversible loss of collagen elasticity through cross linking.  That could help explain why people find that their skin and eyesight improve when they switch away from the high carbohydrate standard American diet.

Neanderthin is the best paleo starters book that I have read.  The Paleo Diet is pretty poor by comparison.