Larelle (& List),
Your story meant a great deal to me. It even inspired me to introduce myself
after lurking for a number of weeks.

I find it very interesting the variety of ways folks come to explore paleo so
I appreciate hearing the details of your journeys. I am a little burned out
on my own story however so I'm going to try to keep it brief here (that could
be a joke because I get very wordy - sorry in advance).

I came to Paleo recently from LowCarb - I'm very ecclectic so a little bit of
all the LC plans. I discovered Ray/NeanderThin on St Johns LC list. I was
already feeling moved to drop dairy (a tough one for me) and AS, everything
else I'd already eliminated so I was thrilled to find intelligent discourse
in support of the new restrictions I was adding to my already restrictive
diet. Like Larelle, I too have a history of overeating, in fact for me the
full gammut of eating disorders. Even though I was introduced to the benefits
of LCing when I was 14 (now 35) and diagnosed with hypoglycemia and put on
Atkins, I felt too deprived to maintain that way of eating. While I
understand that some folks make great change in their lifestyles with a
simple rational decision making process, my process of developing the freedom
to eat and restrict certain foods has taken a long time. In fact, it's become
my profession to study and support (I'm in research and education not
clinical psychology or psychotherapy) this process of change in other women
who struggle with acting on their own behalf in relation to their
body/food/weight even when intellectually they know change in their own best
interest.

I'm currently working on my dissertation on this topic. My work is motivated
by the fact that my having the knowledge of WHAT food felt best in my body
didn't correspond with implenting permanent change in my life without a great
deal of attention on the HOW.

Anyway, I now feel great freedom to eat or not eat, without relying on my
willpower and without feelings of deprivation, whatever I know nourishes my
body best. At this point I'm finding great health and well-being w/Paleo.
Also, like Larelle, I've discovered that I can only eat a small amount of
fruit a day, 1/3 to a whole, in order to continue with my weight loss. I've
lost a bit of weight over the last 3 years primarily low carbing with periods
of liquid protein fasts (in the beginning) which I deeply regret for the
effect of the low calories on my muscles mass and metabolism. I went from 290
(5'8" small frame) to 155 reducing carbs and calories. I stopped reducing
calories, had more energy to exercise aggressively, and spent the last year
rebuilding muscle and gaining weight (now 175) but with only a slight
increase in size - all my 155 clothing still fits comfortably.

My weight comfort zone is lower still, perhaps 40 pounds or so, but it feels
impossible to predict by scale as I've never had this much muscle in my life
due to lots of years of dieting.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my experimentation with paleo food prep. And am
delighted to have just made my first batch of chicken/coconut oil pemmican
which was surprisingly delicious. I did invest in a dehydrator that I'm
thrilled with and am looking forward to trying beef pemmican this weekend.

One of the traits that I find refreshing and unique about this approach is
that it supports the eating of simple natural foods while including meat.
I've endured a great deal of pressure in my doctoral program (which has a
psycho-spiritual orientation) to become vegetarian/vegan. I experimented with
veg. too and gained 40 pounds in one year without overeating. Reading Ray's
presentation on paleo was the first time I encountered a perspective which
approaches the inclusion of meats as not only natural but ecologically sound.
Despite the pressure in school, I was clear and unconflicted about abandoning
vegetarianism based on my body's response, but I still felt ill-equipped to
discuss how the earth's resources and the quality of life for animals might
be enhanced by my body's chosen style of eating.

Recently I've experienced an added bonus. My husband (Chip) has a very
different type of body than I metabolically and he really suffered when
trying to eat LC. He read NeaderThin however and nearly overnight decided to
change his eating which delights me because (1) I care about his health AND
(2) because it means having only one style of eating in our tiny kitchen. He
eats a lot more fruit than I which corresponds with our natural desires -
I've never been much of a fruit or sweets fan. I love cooking but can eat the
same thing everyday without getting bored but Chip can't so discovering new
meals to satisfy his tastes has given me the added luxury of having more
variety in my diet. I'm very grateful to this list for providing an
invaluable resource to me in that regard!

Well as I suspected I've gone on way longer than I had intended so I'll stop.
But first a question, I don't watch TV (have TV for video only) and couldn't
contact someone to tape Dateline for me last night - Was the Paleo segment
aired? Did anyone see it? Any comments?

Best Regards,
Becky (& Chip)