At 5:53 PM -0800 20/12/03, H James Rhodes wrote:

>Also, I've been diagnosed with osteopenia which I hope will get better
>or at least not worse on the Paleo Diet.

Make sure you're getting enough magnesium. Calcium and magnesium
need to be in balance but in a typical diet calcium intake is way
too high. If you don't get enough magnesium your body will try to
expel excess calcium to re-balance the two... and guess where it
finds the calcium to expel... bones!!

Additionally, weight bearing exercise is beneficial. The tiny
flexing movements in the bones encourage growth, just like flexing
muscle encourages muscle growth.


>I've noticed that I've been more thirsty, drinking more water and
>urinating much more since I started - I'm not sure what the means.

I generally drink between 2 and 3 litres of water per day. Any less
than that and I start to feel tired and 'fuzzy'. If I get that way,
I drink a couple of glasses of water and I'm fine in 30 minutes.

I'm not aware of any reliable reports of problems caused by
drinking too much water. Apart from having to run to the <insert
you favorite phrase for toilet here> every 30 minutes.


>Last night I had a very serious cramp in my right calf like I've never
>had before.  I do my stretching.  There's a possibility that it has
>something to do with getting so much less salt but I don't know.  Do we
>know anything for sure how much salt Paleolithic people were getting?

There is anecdotal evidence that hunter gatherers went to some
lengths to obtain salt. Weston A. Price related in Nutrition and
Human Degeneration the story of an African lady who walked a long
distance to the coast to trade for salt.

Personally I use sea salt in moderation. But I'm not inclined to
high blood pressure... in fact quite the opposite.

 ...R.