Hi all, I just joined this list. To introduce myself... I'm a 45 year old woman with a history of autoimmune problems, the worst of which is ulcerative colitus. I had a UC flare-up recently and started experimenting with my diet to control it. From what I've read, there seems little doubt that low carb is the way to go. But exactly how to do this is very confusing. I recently read Ray Audette's book. I'm also reading "The Paleolithic Prescription". And I've read numerous other books on nutrition: Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions", "The Schwarzbein Principle", and the various high protein, low carb diet books. These books are not in complete agreement. "The Paleolithic Prescription" says that paleolithic people ate beans and cooked some of their food. Audette's book says no to both. Fallon's book puts great emphasis on lacto-fermentation as an important way to keep good bugs in the gut. Audette says that this is post-agriculture eating and bad for you--no yogurt, no fermented veggies (since doing this requires whey from yogurt OR huge amounts of salt, which our ancestors definitely did not eat). Interestingly, Audette's recommendations closely correspond to a diet for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which I was on for a month during my UC flare-up. The main difference is that the SC diet allows no-lactose dairy (aged cheese, 24-yogurt, butter). This coincidence (and the promise of weight loss) has made me curious to try Audette's diet. My boyfriend wants to try it, too. He has high blood pressure (despite being an athlete of normal weight), and asthma--both autoimmune problems, according to Audette. But we have numerous questions... - What about beans you can eat raw, like sugar snap peas? Why are these not okay? - There is much evidence that paleolithic people cooked their food 200,000 years ago or even longer ago, so why the rule that we can only eat food that is edible raw? - What about sprouts? You can eat any kind of sprout raw--wheat berry sprouts, bean sprouts? Why are these "forbidden fruit"? I believe that paleolithic people ate SOME beans and grains, just not very much. Most literature I've read disagrees with Audette on this point. - What about nuts and seeds? Why are these so different from grains? Aren't these as difficult as grains to gather in quantity? Did are paleolithic ancestors really eat large quantities of almonds and other nuts and seeds? Flax seeds are teeny weeny. Any insight or experience anyone can offer on these questions would be much appreciated. I would love to improve my health--and also would love to lose weight. I don't have much to lose (15 pounds), but it seems impossible to take it off. - Sheryl