My experience with the Paleo Diet

[AZRickD]

From about September 2011 through about a full year, I had been "sick" (intermittent fatigue). Some upper GI (stomach) issues. Nothing to speak of in the lower GI. Aches.

Three or so months of blah followed by a month or so of okay, repeat. All blood tests were negative. Doctors stumped. Riding hours dwindling to the lower double-digits per year. Sleeping 12+ hours per day on the bad periods.

In September 2012, during the beginning of another episode, I decided to dose myself with some pro-biotics. My symptoms reversed within a few days but that could have been coincidental.

In November I met up with a dirt biker during our series Competition Committee meeting. He was looking great (a little pudgy before). He said he had been on the Paleo Diet for the last several months and his weight had dropped (without trying) and his energy was up. He explained, very basically, that it consisted of dropping ALL grains from the diet as well as legumes (beans, soy, peanuts). And the food that you replace it with is high quality meat (fish and ribeye steak for me), veggies (gobs, including the paleo favorite "Big-Ass Salad"), and good fats (animal, olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil). No processed oil (Canola, corn, soy, etc). No processed food. If not cooked myself from raw ingredients, don't eat it. I went home and googled and was on my way.

Results after about six weeks --

I removed grain totally from my diet. I have no idea if I had any kind of gluten sensitivy which is a primary concern to many. On the other hand, within days of dropping all forms of wheat, oats, rice, etc, the biggest change was the near complete disappearance of hypoglycemia symptoms. No beans (legumes), either. This is coupled with removing processed sugar from my menu as well which leads to blood sugar spikes and crashes. No cake, pancakes, sweat tea. Keeping fruit to a minimum.

I also go longer between meals. Not because I'm trying to reduce calories (I'm actually stuffing myself most days - veggies and meat, mostly) -- I'm just not particulary hungry more often than not. Yesterday afternoon I went on a mountain bike ride around Deem Hill (my standard getting-back-into-shape half-lap). Normally I'd have to down a glass of OJ to get me through it and then I'd come back hungry as well. Not this time.

As a bonus, I've also dropped about 20 to 25 pounds without doing much exercise during the period other than stretching (P90-X Stretch) and a short ab workout for my back. I'm fitting into clothes I haven't worn since the last time I was in shape (just before the Sept 2011 chronic illness).

Part of the Paleo program is to go 100% Paleo for a few weeks and re-introduce some foods one at a time to see if there is a sensitivity (not necessarily an allergy). I didn't notice much of anything when I tried a good hunk of bread one day, or dairy at another time. But I got a rude awakening when I tried my fave peppers. I used to cook with them all the time. They were one of my go-to Wok-able veggies.

Peppers (green, red, jalpeneo, etc, etc) are part of the nightshade family (also includes potatos, eggplants, tobacco, tomatoes). They have alkaloids (tomatine, nicotine, etc) which I later found out can cause problems.

This wasn't a re-introduction, really. They were on sale and I grabbed a back of mixed mini-bell peppers. I took two of them to work and munched on one late in the morning. My skin got itchy, my stomach gurgled, a couple of muscle groups started to ache (forearm, shin), and the areas around a couple of joints started to ache. This lasted for about four hours.

I googled "Paleo + peppers" and learned of the nightshade connection. After the symptoms subsided I decided to go guinea pig and munched on another one. The symptoms returned and lasted for eight hours and it sucked. It reminded me of what I was going through last fall when I first got sick. I was going through bunches of peppers back then, not-so conincidentally, I surmise. I've had two accidental re-introductions since (restaurant food). Similar results.