On Mar 23, 2008, at 10:12 am, Edwina B wrote:
> - eating so much meat after being mostly a veg and seafood/fish only  
> eater for the last ten years or so

Hi Edwina

There's no reason why you can't eat mostly fish still, it's all meat  
at the end of the day.


> - feeling guilty about eating so much meat given not really happy  
> with the farming of large animals or the killing of them even when  
> they have supposedly been farmed ethically (the difference with  
> seafood is it lives an unfarmed life and so it doesn't feel as bad  
> to me)

Same applies, although you could also find a local organic farm that  
will sell direct and ask if you can look around.  I'm sure any genuine  
farmer would be happy to spare a few minutes.


> - finding it hard not to feel a bit bored without using some of the  
> condiments I've always enjoyed such as balsamic vinegar, black bean  
> paste, oyster sauce etc, mostly I've gone back to using them

Balsamic vingegar is made from grapes, so it's close enough to paleo,  
right?  Black beans clearly aren't, but then using them as a condiment  
is different from making soy your main source of protein, your  
choice.  There's a type of japanese soy sauce that is wheat free,  
forgot what it's called though.  Oyster sauce is mostly flour and  
sugar, I'd avoid too.  Try Thai fish sauce instead, although it tastes  
completely different.

Don't forget there's a huge range of acceptable spices you can use, so  
you can make most stuff yourself without resorting to prepared  
sauces.  Find a chinese supermarket and read the labels for  
inspiration.  (Actually there's a lot of paleo stuff in chinese  
supermarkets, if you avoid the jars of neon-coloured sauces.  The one  
near me has loads of packs of dried herbs for soup stocks, different  
dried mushrooms etc.  We only eat a tiny proportion of chinese food,  
and it's all westernised, ask a shopkeeper for help if you are  
interested.)


> - finding it hard to find the time to shop and cook Paleo in a busy  
> life

The last 3 weeks I've been working away from home, and working 10  
hours most days without a break.  So when I get back I haven't got the  
energy to do anything complicated.  I've started getting a veg box  
delivered again, so I only have to go meat shopping once or twice a  
week. I only eat in the evenings so that saves a lot of time.  Most of  
my meals are just a piece of roast meat with roast/fried/steamed veg  
or some fried mince meat with veg.  Nothing time consuming, and means  
it always tastes nice because the worst I can do is burn something  
(BBQ flavour).


> - feeling a bit of pressure from my partner who is not interested in  
> eating Paleo and although he respects my choice he says it feels  
> hard for him that it's not so easy for him to cook for me anymore

At a guess I'd say that's because he has no concern for the non-paleo  
stuff they hide in everything, and doesn't want to (a) remember what  
you don't eat and (b) check that he's not using those things.   
Actually (a) is really easy, there's only about 5 things you don't eat  
on paleo; the fact (b) is hard is just a sign of how little the food  
industry cares about the quality of its produce.  Again simple food is  
the answer, don't ask him to cook with anything that isn't clearly a  
whole piece of plant/animal.


> - finding it enormously hard not to eat chocolate when premenstrual  
> which is the only time I'm remotely interested in it.

I eat chocolate, I have no reason to consider it non-paleo - I think  
of it like eating nuts.  Cocoa beans are edible raw.  I prefer to eat  
100% chocolate which I consider paleo enough, but as I have to get  
that delivered I end up eating 85% stuff a lot of the time, so 15g of  
sugar per 100g bar.  Non paleo, I know, but even if I am eating a bar  
a week, I am probably consuming less sugar in one week than many  
people have JUST in their coffee in ONE MORNING.  So I don't fret too  
much.


> I do feel the benefits of the diet have been huge and I'm keen to  
> stay on it. How do others stay motivated?

Make it easy for yourself, don't try to prepare 3 gourmet meals a day  
or do anything complicated with your food.  Get used to eating meat  
and veg regularly and worry about prepared dishes when that is second  
( first :) )nature.

Be strict about it.  I cheat a little, but only because after 4 years  
I know pretty much the exact effect of eating anything.  And nothing I  
cheat on makes me want to binge on bad stuff.  I have a chinese take  
away once a week, and while I go for the most paleo bits, there is  
still soy sauce, potato flour etc in there.  When I first started  
paleo I'd use this as an excuse to eat a bowl or two of rice, now I  
don't care.  The same meal I ate might  have a negative effect on you,  
so might not be recommended yet.

The final thing is make sure you stay physically fit.  You will have  
more energy that way and not feel like you need comfort food to keep  
you going.  Get good at something that uses your body naturally, like  
climbing, swimming, weight lifting, martial arts, gymnastics or  
something.  Think I posted before, but I recently made a comment on a  
weight lifting forum that I put on 10kg of muscle in 10 months while  
eating one low-carb meal a day (that's about 2/3 of the biological  
limit for muscle gain, and higher than many people get eating non- 
paleo).  The guy that replied just could not believe it.  (Obviously  
women don't get bigger like that, but they do get a lot stronger.)   
Anyway, the point is that this has removed any doubt in MY mind that  
that I'm doing the right thing, even if everyone else think's I'm out  
of my tree.

Hope this helps

Ashley