Hi everyone, It’s my first post to the list. I joined it as a recovering vegetarian, and so far I quite enjoy it The list is informative and at the same time some people get quite emotional about their ideas what IMO makes quite a good mixtue. I became a vegetarian mostly from health reasons (acid indigestion, gastritis) but after a year and a half on a strict vegetarian regime I’ve ended up with much wider spectrum of them: - lost 30 pounds (instead of constant sugar craving and binge eating) but I haven’t been overweight so now I’m pretty underweight - chronic fatigue, and mood swings, deep depression, etc. - IBS - feeling cold all the time, - severe hypoglycaemia, always 'hungry and exhausted feeling', etc. 3-4 months ago when I realised that I felt better eating BigMacs, and pork ribs, then following (perfectly) different styles of vegetarian/vegan eating I decided to change. First I reintroduced some white meat (chicken, poultry) but I noticed that I could not survive on a lean protein and vegetables (fruits give me strong hypo reaction, so I have to limit them) And then I reintroduce animal fat and I start to feel much better (gained back 8 pounds of muscle ), but still have some problems/worries Problem #1Constipation I’m quit severely constipated and it can be a real problem with carrying on this diet, When being on typical western diet I had more diarrahome, than constipation, then during my vegetarian time despite eating a lots of fibre (50+ a day) a started to be slightly constipated, but know I’m severely constipated and it really scares me. Eating more fibre does not work for me (it irritates my bowel), drink huge amounts of water also does not produce any significant results. Raw veggies, nuts also are quite gut-irritating I have read somewhere that in most cases constipation has nothing to do with fibre intake, but rather indicates low gastric acids levels so the food is not digested properly and stays in the colon longer. Is it somehow connected with high carbs/grains consumption? The more meat and fat I eat the better I feel but the more constipation occurs, then I try to eat more fibre and carbs so my bowel starts to worsen, my energy drops so I start eat more meat and fat... I’m a little bit stuck. Any suggestions/ solutions/ ideas kindly appreciated asap (it’s a 3rd day without today, so getting quit irritated) :) Worry #1 Fat intake II keep my carbs intake quite low, (70-100 g a day) due to hypo reactions, and I noticed that I feel the best when the fat makes up to 60-75 % of my calories intake, what concerns me a little ( I know Paleo is relatively high fat diet, but should it be so high fat diet). I wonder if anybody had overcome hypo reaction on Paleo and was able to reintroduce more carbs into the diet to lower the fat intake. I also noticed that when eating lean protein meal I’m feeling very tired afterwards, but when I’m eating the same amount of protein in a fatty meal I feel much better. Anybody with the same reactions? My contribution to raw food discussion: I had food poisonings quit often in the past , but always from eating unwashed nonorganic fruits and cooked meats but at the same time I used to eat (as a child) a lot of raw ground beef and some pork fat and never been poisoned from this. Paul Sand ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com