Lynnet Bannion wrote:

>I changed by groups: this week no grain, next week no potatoes, week
>after no dairy, which was pretty successful for me.  I also took digestive
>enzymes at first going from a near-vegetarian grain-based diet to one based
>on meat and vegetables.

This makes a lot of sense. I think I'm going to do it this way.

>A book to support you here is Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution.  It
>only makes sense that if you eat fewer carbs, your sugar lowers, duh! If
>you're on insulin, you'll need less, and this is good. If you're
insulin->resistant (type II), lowering carbs increases your insulin
sensitivity, and >this is good.

I'm reading his book for the second time. The first time I wasn't "ready"
for it. I have come to the end of my rope with all the competing
information. What finally turned the tide for me was his (and a couple other
people's) evidence that it is not protein that hurts kidneys, it is high
blood sugar - and I was really convinced by the fact that vegetarians have
the same amount of kidney disease as meateaters.

I agree that Dr. Bernstein's ideas make sense. The more I think about it,
the more incredible it seems to me that the entire diabetes treatment
"industry" is advocating the very diet that makes it nearly impossible for
most people to lose weight and get their blood sugars under control.  "Eat
tons of carbs so your body, which can't handle carbs, can handle carbs." Uh,
yeah.

>Good food does cost more, but all the extra medical care and
>prescriptions you'll need due to bad food is even more expensive.

I totally agree with you on this.

> Baking will definitely decrease on a paleo diet.  Most modern paleo eaters
>just don't bother with trying to recreate cakes, breads, cookies, pancakes,
>etc.

I suppose I will adapt (no pun intended) to this. Actually, it does seem
like an easier and more efficient way of eating too.

>If the ethical question still bothers you, you may want to pay a premium
>for grass-fed beef, which basically lives in cow-paradise until the day the
>truck comes, instead of standing shoulder to shoulder on a pile of their
>own manure being fed unnatural foods like corn and soybeans.
>Even more so for free-range chickens and eggs, instead of caged.

I don't have an ethical problem with eating animals; my main reason for not
eating them back then was the factory scenario you described. I don't think
humans are wrong to eat animals, but I think it's wrong to mistreat them. I
do like the idea of them living on a happy little farm chewing on clover or
whatever. :)

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around eating beef again. I feel so much
better when I eat a steak - I have been ignoring that fact for years!

>Good luck with your transition, and welcome to the cave!

Ugga ugga. ;)  Thanks!