Amadeus Schmidt wrote:

> Sheryl and Lynnet, would you describe the diet that helped you (including
> the "cheats")?

Warning: this is long.....

I diagnosed myself with celiac: have never had the tests.  The problem became
noticeable when I was on a Really Stupid low-fat highcarb diet, and was eating
tons of snackwells and pretzels.  I was extremely fatigued and had bowel
movements
up to a dozen times a day.  One day the light bulb came on: it's the gluten!
This was long before I heard of Paleo, and I was nearly vegetarian.  I was in
my late 40s, having spent a lifetime eating bread and in fact making my own
for many years.  One warning sign for many years was that any plate of pasta, no
matter
how large, left me "famished" when I finished eating it and I ate other food
until
stuffed.  This is an allergic-type reaction.

I did the scientific experiment: for two weeks I ate kichadi: mung beans and
rice
cooked together to a porridge with veggies and spices.  All my symptoms
improved.
I did a noodle challenge and they came back.  After a few more rounds of
elimination
and challenge, I had convinced myself.  I dropped wheat, rye, barley and oats
(though
some people say oats are okay).  My genetic background is
English/Scottish/German.
I did not feel well on buckwheat or millet either, and I know that spelt, emmer,
etc., are
too much like wheat.

Eating vegetarian at this point was a disaster for me: I wasn't digesting soy or
beans well
at all, dairy clogged me up, I was putting weight on like crazy.  One day I just
quit, and
started eating meat, fish, poultry, all that.  I was absolutely faithful about
no gluten for
the first couple of years.  After that I would have an egg roll, or bowl of soup
that
might have been thickened with flour, very rarely, and this seemed to be okay.
Very
rarely and small amounts is the key to this. One day an Indonesian friend
brought me
3 egg rolls she had made at home for me: delicious, but caused symptoms.
I am never tempted by bread, pizza, cookies, cakes, etc., into a major cheat
because
I know how bad I will feel.

When I discovered Paleo I went completely paleo and ditched all grains, soy,
beans,
and dairy; also eating low-carb into ketosis.  I ate a moderate amount of meat
and a lot of nuts.
This worked for me at the time: I felt well and lost 30 lbs. over 6 mos.  Then
my body said
Enough already!  Since that time I have been floundering toward some kind of
diet I can
eat, feel well, and lose weight on.  Nuts are "addictive" to me now, and disturb
my digestion.

At present:
I don't eat soy or nuts; I eat cheese or beans very rarely (beans Very well
cooked).
I don't eat chocolate or any kind of sweets, don't drink coffee or decaf or
fruit juice.  Red meat
is the staple of my diet.  I eat modest amounts of rice and potatoes, in fact
modest amounts
of everything.  I eat veggies and fruits, in season (Apple Season now; yum!);
I make and eat lacto-fermented pickles in the winter months including beet,
carrot
and turnip. This WOE is working the best for me of anything in the last 2 years.

The whole trick is that each person has to find the diet that works best for him
or her.
I used to be a diet bigot with whatever I was doing at the time: no more.  If it
works
for you, fine!  I humbly hope to find something that works for me long term.

    Lynnet