At 4:46 +1000 29/9/99, Christy ten Broeke wrote:

>Thank you for answering a few of my questions.  I find it very intesting
>to see people live by ideas like I had them for some time.  I come from
>a family of diabetics and my son and me both have hypoglyceamia.  Also I
>suffer from Reiters disease (a form of arthritis) and  the GP is
>thinking about ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) as well.

You sound like you have a lot of potential to benefit from a Paleo diet.


>So you can imagine that even a carbs junk like me thinks it should be
>enough by now.  What you said about cravings is very true.  I either do
>not eat a cookie or the entire pack of thim.

I have seen several of my friends trying to cut down on various things,
ranging from caffeine and sugar to cigarettes. I have also been trying to
overcome my caffeine addiction for over a year.

I notice that the most successful to change one's habits in the long term
is to go 'cold turkey' and cut out the item completely.

It seems that trying to cut back a little each day allows too much scope
for playing mind-games with yourself. You cut back a little and then treat
yourself to the item. Or you delay eating it for an hour, then reward
yourself by taking it. These actions actually reinforce the cravings for
the item, as taking it is a reward.

Also, by trying to cut back, and control the amount taken, the item is
constantly being thought about. By eliminating the item completely, there
is no longer any need to think about the item - if comes into your mind,
you can ignore the thought and move on.

This works for me, anyway. Whenever I think of coffee, I think "that'd be
nice, but I can't have it", and that's it.


>What I wonder about is what to eat instead of the usual diet.  You give
>a few examples and I would like to know what you vary it with.  Also I
>don't eat pork so would that mean limitation to beef?  Or is poultry
>allowed as well?

Poultry is fine, but try to find organic, hormone and antibiotic free
poultry. I avoid pork for the same reason - the way pigs and chickens are
raised these days is impossible without feeding them antibiotics - they'd
die of disease.

Beef and lamb are generally fine. For some variety, try adding organ meats
into the diet - these are very rich in nutrients, and are the part of the
animal preferred by hunter-gatherers.

Fish is also a very nutritious food - especially cold water fish grown in
the wild and not farmed.


>Dates could be found dried overhere, is only fresh good or would dried
>wothout syrup do as well?

Dates are very concentrated sources of carbohydrates - something like 75%.

All dried fruit contains a lot of sugar - the process of drying the fruit
typically reduces the water content from 85% to 15% of the total mass.
As a result, the sugar content increases from 12% to 75% of the mass.

It is also easy to eat a lot of dried fruit in one sitting. For example, I
could easily sit and eat 1 cup of fresh apricots, containing about 15 grams
of carbs. I could just as easily eat half a cup of dried apricots, but that
would contain 50 grams of carbs.

 ...Richard.