Hi Everyone,

        I've been lurking on this list for awhile and learning a lot.  I am
very attracted to the idea of eating the way my hunter-gatherer ancestors
did.  I've read several books that have been mentioned here, and one I found
on my own especially moved me--Coming Home to the Pleistocene, by Paul
Shepard.  I've also read Neanderthin and Charles Hunt's Diet Evolution, and
The Omega Diet.  My motivation is not weight loss--though I wouldn't mind
that--but a desire to improve my health.  The more I've read the messages on
this list, the more I've gotten the impression that most people here want to
be in ketosis.  Do you believe that hunter-gatherers ate/eat such a low
carbohydrate diet that they were/are regularly in ketosis?

        I have had rather extensive experience with ketogenic diets and
ketosis, and I've found that this metabolic state doesn't work well for me.
In fact, I'm convinced that staying on these diets when my body was sending
me messages that they weren't good for me contributed to my eventually
getting very fat.  I was on the Stillman diet in the late '60s.  I lost
about 35 pounds, but I felt sick and miserable most of the time I followed
the plan.  When the Atkins diet came out, I went on that too.  I stuck to
the diets even though I didn't feel good.  I stayed thin for years, but
eventually for various reasons I began gaining weight--I even gained about
90 pounds in one year.  In the '80s I was on a doctor-supervised ketogenic
diet run through a hospital.  I lost about 80-90 pounds very quickly, but I
didn't feel good or healthy.  After months of faithful adherence to the
all-meat/fish diet, I learned that I could cheat and eat some carbohydrate
and still stay in ketosis, if I walked quite a bit (we were tested for
ketones with sophisticated medical equipment).  And I wasn't eating salads
when I cheated!

        I won't bore you with any more of my story, but I eventually turned
my life around, got into therapy, and healed much of the emotional pain that
caused me to eat more than I needed.  Over the past several years, I have
lost 100 pounds--very slowly.  I did that by deciding never to diet again,
listening to what my body needed, and exercising.  The reason I want to
change the way I eat now is that I developed some severe digestive problems
about a year ago.  I realize that I'm getting older, and the way I treated
my body for so long is catching up with me.  In fact I think my intuition is
guiding me in the direction of a Paleolithic diet.

        Questions:  Do people here stay in ketosis when eating generous
amounts of vegetables, fruits, and nuts?  Didn't our ancestors eat those
foods often?  From what I know about hunter-gatherers, they don't usually
hunt on a daily basis.  I read parts of The Foraging Spectrum, by Robert
Kelly, and he says there is wide variation in the percentages of protein,
fat and carbohydrates consumed by different groups of hunter-gatherers.  Do
you guys disagree with this?  Would I get support here if I didn't want to
be in ketosis?  From experience, I've learned that I do best when I eat
quite a bit of fat.  I do very well eating nuts, and a don't do well if I
don't eat any meat--I've tried it.  Low fat just doesn't work for me.  But I
need more than 40-60 grams of carbohydrate.

        I've decided I'm ready to go to a different level with my eating,
but with my history it's very important that I trust my body and not be
guided by absolute rules and a "one size fits all" attitude about diet.
Over the years I've learned that there are many individual differences in
human beings and between males and females--in terms of reactions to
medications and to foods as well as behavioral differences.  Some people
also gain weight more easily than others and react to exercise differently
than others.  I'm the best expert on my own body's reactions.

        To anyone who read all this, thank you, and I'd appreciate any
helpful responses.

Ann