As for telling your mom, I find that any time I bring up a new possible way
.

yesterday i mentioned this whole thing to my coworker.  she's trying to lose
weight, too, and we have both been reading excercise tips and stuff in SELF
magazine.  she brought out a copy of Prevention yesterday and said, "robin,
i've got more magazines for us to look at.  i just subscribed to this and
Fitness."  well, i have been telling her about this paleo thing ever since
the article that AOL showcased on bison meat.  the article mentioned the
paleo diet so i wanted to read up on it.  i have been telling andrea this
stuff little by little...in sort of an 'oh, isn't this interesting' manner.
she actually got mad at me and said that she'd tried a high-protein diet and
it didn't work for her...and that the only thing that really ever helped her
was going vegetarian, although now she does eat meat.  "i don't know...but i
think if you just follow the food pyramid and watch your fat and calories,
you'll be fine," she said, and then got busy doing something so she didn't
have to talk to me anymore.

i am going to avoid telling my mom.  that seems best.  and i'm not doing the
strict diet right now.  i can't afford to buy all my own food.  i eat 2 meals
a day mon-fri at work, and if i take advantage of the free food, i am
limited.  my house manager is my friend, so that helps.  she doesn't care if
i pre-cook a bunch of chicken and take it to the day program.  but also, i
have to take our disabled clients out to eat once a week, and we have gift
certificates for places like mcdonald's, burger king, and KFC.  we have to go
there.  yesterday i got a chicken sandwich and a salad.  any other
suggestions???  and back to the mom thing...she so seldom cooks for me that i
think i'll just eat a little of whatever she wants me to eat.  i know i might
catch heat for this, but it is only my health i'm messing with, and other
than being overweight, i'm okay.  i'm just going to do the best i can.  the
dairy/grain menace is just a very small part of my diet now...although so far
today i have eaten only paleo...

oh, and marianne, thanks for the nut butter ideas....  and actually, i don't
think i'll really miss milk now.  i had some last night just for the heck of
it and it didn't taste as good to me as it used to.  i've been drinking a lot
of water.  luckily, i love water.  ;-P  and as far as italian food goes, i'll
just tell myself that if i go back to italy, i can eat pasta and gelato if i
still want it (i have been to italy twice...i adore it).

-robin