A few days ago I came across a very inspiring post on Reddit by user “dinosauru”: a Bipolar sufferer who was able to find peace and health via the Paleo-ketogenic diet. I contacted DreaV (aka dinosauru), I asked her to tell us her story, and she was very kind to reply:

1. Could you describe to us when you noticed that you were developing mental problems? What was your diet at the time?

DreaV: Well, I first felt depressed when I was about 6. I was being alternately yelled at/ignored at home, was bored in school, and couldn’t make friends. I remember crying myself to sleep a lot and wishing I either wouldn’t wake up or that I’d somehow sustain a head injury that would make me stupid so that I could be happy. The first hypomanic episode I specifically remember was when I was ~11 years old. It was short, only about 12 hours, but that is normal for me. I have mainly just had severe depression with short bursts of hypomania and some mixed episodes. I don’t feel that I was truly in “mentally ill” territory until I was about 14, though.

My diet as a child was mainly cereal and 2% milk for breakfast, sandwich and chips/Lunchable and milk/Sunny-D for lunch, sometimes with an ice cream, and some kind of homecooked dinner. Generally spaghetti, tacos, meat with a vegetable and a roll, burgers, shepherd’s pie, or something like that. I only had fast food a couple times a year. I did snack at home after school on junk pretty often. Stuff like cookies, Sunny-D, Capri-Sun, etc. I was always hungry. But I feel like my diet wasn’t awful. We used butter and not margarine, went out to eat very rarely, not too much sugary stuff, etc. But I was chubby and got teased for it.

When I got into middle school, I quickly piled on the weight. I think it was at this point that I started being on my own for dinner most of the time, and I was eating more processed food. Mini pizzas, microwavable chicken pot pies, fish sticks, sandwiches, lots of milk and soda, and ramen. So, a lot of processed carbs mostly. During middle school and high school, I basically didn’t drink water at all, only soda and milk.

I first went to a psychologist when I was 14, and that’s when I received a bipolar-I diagnosis and started being medicated. First I was on antidepressants (Prozac and Wellbutrin), but they made my hands shake. I was then put on lithium as well. None of this seemed to really help at all, though at one point I was taking ~8 pills a day and was dealing with side effects. At 15, I was put in the mental hospital twice for 2 weeks at a time. The staff there were terrible and treated us all with impatience. They acted like we were all faking for attention and would punish us exasperatedly if we got worse. I was put on heavy tranquilizers the first time, sent home, and then when I stopped taking them at home, I immediately launched into the worst and most terrifying manic episode of my life. So I was put back in the hospital and was treated once again with annoyance and impatience. At home during this time, I was eating the carb-heavy processed food listed above.

(I was also dealing with escalating physical abuse at home at the time, and remember begging the hospital staff not to release me back to my mother. I asked for information on emancipation, but they didn’t make much effort to help me, and I was ultimately sent back home. Later that year my mother tried to choke me to death and CPS was called. Luckily, she never touched me again after that.)

At 16, I dropped out of school and, because of money issues at home, I was unable to get medication anymore. So I entered a drug trial for depakote and subsequently gained 40lbs in 2 months. At this time I was also eating mainly Taco Bell and pizza. Then I stopped taking medication for a year or so. In that time, my ability to leave the house degraded horribly and I started hiding in my room because I was terrified of being seen. I gained a lot of weight eating a diet of basically ramen, crackers, salsa, and cheese.

Then I moved, got a new doctor, and got put on valium and trileptal. I also started going back to school again and started doing better for a while. At this point I was eating more (though still not many) whole/organic foods. I lost a bunch of weight, and my depression/anxiety lessened to manageable levels. Then I progressively started eating like shit again and took a nosedive mentally. Unsurprisingly, my mood tanked and I gained weight again. At this point I was eating mainly high-carb processed foods again like pizza rolls, chicken pot pies, chicken nuggets and tater tots, easy mac, ice cream, kielbasa and mashed potatoes and corn, and stuff of that nature.

After this, we moved again, and things got even worse. I gained even more weight and basically shut down mentally. I couldn’t leave the house at all and adopted a nocturnal schedule so I didn’t have to ever see anyone or be seen. I would alternately starve for days and then gorge on huge amounts of high-carb processed food. My ankles were always swollen. I ended up at 300 lbs and was severely depressed. I thought about suicide constantly.

Eventually, I was kicked out of my house, and I began living alone. Because I was still having trouble leaving the house, I often just didn’t eat for days, and when I did, I tightly rationed. I stopped buying soda because it was too heavy to carry from the store when I went. I ate a lot of pizza for the first few months, but I would only eat 3 slices a day and that’s it so that I could stretch it. I lost about 40 lbs in a couple months but still felt just as shitty, probably because I was still eating high-carb even though I was eating low-calorie. When I got back down to around 260, I stopped losing weight. But eating low-calorie made me feel very weak. I had constant problems with my vision going black for 5-10 seconds when standing, feeling dizzy and having tunnel vision, being unable to get out of bed for the most part, I showered maybe once every 2 weeks, had no emotional resources to deal with anything, and was pretty much constantly terrified of anything unexpected happening. I had no ability to deal with even daily tasks, so something like an apartment inspection or running out of food was an emergency situation and took every last shred of emotional resolve I had just to get through. Then I’d have to recover for days afterward.

This stage went on for several years, and I had many close-call suicide scares in that time. At times, I was taking the trileptal, but it never seemed to help at all. So, most of the time, I was unmedicated. Eventually I applied for and was accepted to SSI because even my therapist was convinced I would likely never improve and become a functional member of society.

2. What is your opinion on the mental medical establishment? Did their approach of treatment worked for you at all?

DreaV: In my opinion, the mental health industry is a complete pile of shit. Meds are completely based on trial-and-error, and the fact remains that they are treating symptoms and not causes. Granted, if they had told me at the time to eat a healthy diet and I would get better, I would have laughed in their faces. I did not see the connection at that time between eating badly and doing worse mentally. I felt that any “healthy” low-fat diet they would have prescribed would be completely unsatisfying and take away the only pleasurable thing I had in my life (stuffing my face with junk food). And I know now that a low-fat diet would have actually made my depression worse, because even normal people feel depressed on low-fat diets!

Anyway, my time in the mental hospital, and my experiences with basically every therapist I have ever seen, and my more recent experiences with healing my body on my own, has led me to the sad conclusion that those people have no fucking clue what they are doing. The medication I was on the longest *did not help me*. It didn’t do anything. I took it when I was doing better and had the mental energy to keep up with it, and stopped taking it when I was doing worse to the point that I couldn’t even keep up with feeding and cleaning myself. So, sure, it appeared to others that when I was taking it I was doing better. But it was correlational, not causational.

I am sure that talk therapy can be extremely helpful for people who are having difficulty with a certain issue that would be benefited by thinking about things a certain way. Granted. But for actual mental illnesses like chemical depression and bipolar disorder, I really don’t believe therapy and medication are helpful at all, because they do not address the underlying problem. Contrary to popular belief, the underlying problem isn’t the messed-up brain chemistry! It’s what’s going on to make the brain chemistry messed up in the first place. And I believe that high-carb, high-grain diets are the cause, pure and simple.

3. When did you decide to try the ketogenic diet? What were the typical meals you followed?

DreaV: I decided to try a low-carb diet in January of 2012. I was my “normal” 260 lbs as always, but I had found some info on the mechanics of low-carb diets for weight loss somewhere online, and it just sounded like it made a lot of sense. Also, my dad had gained some weight over the holidays and was thinking about doing Atkins for a few months to slim back down. He had done Atkins several times before, but would then go off it, start eating sugary junk food again, and slowly regain everything he had lost. He was planning on doing another round of this, and I said, “Hey, I have been reading about low-carb diets too. I think I will go low-carb primal while you do your thing, and then we can be moral support for each other since we’re doing it together.”

I’ll be honest, I believed in the science behind what I was doing, but I didn’t really expect to lose anything. (And I certainly didn’t expect it to change my mental state.) I had lost weight before in my life, but it was never intentional, and I pretty much believed that I was “just big” and could never be thin. I was just meant to be big, so why fight it? But I figured I’d try this thing anyway because it sounded like it makes sense, my dad was doing it too, and if it didn’t work, I would have more proof to throw in people’s faces that I was just meant to be big. And it didn’t seem like it would be emotionally depriving, which was absolutely necessary for me to even consider it, because I was still hideously depressed.

I started off with a kind of free-form paleo-primal low-carb diet. I didn’t track anything or count calories or even exercise at all because I considered those things a tremendous burden that would only make me not want to do it. But I switched from my normal shitty junk food meals (living off chef boyardee, shortbread cookies, and ice cream, oh yeah) to a whole food diet. I ditched grains completely. I gave up dairy. No more processed foods. I started cooking all my meals and eating a lot of meat. My meals were mostly bacon & eggs for breakfast + some kind of meat and vegetable and fat dish for dinner. Usually something like shepherd’s pie meat, chicken soup, peanut curry with tuna, beef stew, chicken stir-fry, etc. I preferred (and still prefer) greasy, saucy, piping hot, heavily-spiced, deep and flavorful meals that felt solid in my belly. I’d eat until I was full, usually one bowl of food, and then stop. If I had a dessert, it was berries or dark chocolate. But mainly I was pretty strict. And I started losing weight immediately, which was extremely surprising to me.

4. At what point did you notice that you were getting better and you connected that to the new diet?

DreaV: When I started eating low-carb, I also started reading a ton about people healing their previous health problems, both physical and mental. I found this info mostly on the Mark’s Daily Apple forums and I talked to a lot of people there with the same sorts of problems that I had (albeit less severe than mine). Pretty much all of them said their problems improved with the diet, so I was very excited and became convinced that I could actually fix my situation if I did enough research and tried hard enough in the right way.

So, after about a month of getting the new eating habits down, and after the initial carb flu and subsequent water weight whoosh, I started taking a ton of supplements. Particularly iodine, adrenal cortex, and ashwagandha/rhodiola. I knew that I had hormonal issues; I had been diagnosed with PCOS 6 years prior, and I had an enlarged thyroid with a ton of hypothyroid symptoms (dry and thin skin, inability to regulate body temperature, tired and sluggish all the time, etc). Then I found out about something called adrenal fatigue. Basically, it means you are unable to deal with any kind of stress, are exhausted all the time, find it impossible to get going in the morning, stay up way too late because you’re just not tired late at night, and just feel generally at the end of your emotional rope all the time for no real reason. When your adrenals are messed up, any tiny stressor will cause a fight-or-flight response, which was exactly how I felt all of the time.

(I should note that adrenal fatigue is a controversial condition, but honestly I don’t find it that hard to believe that if my ovaries and thyroid were messed up that my other glands probably were too. All your hormones work together in a system, after all. And I was sure that my inability to deal with anything unexpected was not just due to some personal psychological failing in me, because “trying harder” just didn’t work.)

So, yeah, I started taking a bunch of targeted supplements to try and fix my glands and heal my body. Not cover up or treat symptoms, but help my body to heal itself so that it could eventually function correctly without any sort of ongoing intervention. And within about 2-3 months of starting low-carb, I was feeling noticeably better. It wasn’t some sort of miraculous transformation where suddenly I was out being a social butterfly, but within 2-3 months I was enjoying a pretty stable sleep schedule (with the help of melatonin), had the energy to do things around the house and go to the store pretty regularly, felt actually peaceful and content (instead of freaked out and terrified) most of the time, had a lot fewer panic attacks, and was a lot more able to deal with the unexpected. And things have only gotten better since then.

I want to note here that I tried eating wheat again about 5 months into being low-carb and grain-free (I had a slice of cake) and I ended up having a serious anaphylactic reaction to it. I had one of the worst headaches I’ve ever had, crushing chest pain, my throat got tight, and my tongue started swelling. I did not call 911 out of fear of the financial repercussions of doing so, but if the episode had lasted any longer than it did, I would have. Since then, I have only had small amounts of wheat, but every time I do, I get a headache within 15 minutes. I believe now that many (if not most) of my previous mental problems were due to my wheat intake, because I don’t think carbs could have caused my mental illness all on their own. I’ve also read some compelling things about “leaky brain” syndrome, which is suspected to be caused by gluten/gliadin and other things like MSG. And the fact remains that I ate wheat my whole life, felt like crap and was chubby and depressed even as a child eating pretty well by SAD standards, and at the times I was doing the worst, and weighed the most, I was also eating the most wheat (and processed white carbs in general). Personally, I fully intend to never eat the stuff again. And after reading a lot about it, I truly believe that no one should be eating it at all.

(Also, here’s an article from Psychology Today about possible links between bipolar/schizophrenia and wheat.)

It’s now been a little over a year since I started my new diet. My meals are still more or less the same, though I have reincorporated dairy back into my diet and added in splenda without any issues (aspartame seems to mess with me though). I also track consistently now and try to hit my macros every day, but this is mostly because I’m within 35lbs of goal now and my weight loss plateaued for a while.

My mental/emotional status is still steadily improving. I look forward to leaving the house now and don’t need any down-time to recover afterward. I am optimistic, have many future plans, and the future just seems bright. I am energetic and silly almost all of the time. I sleep on a normal schedule every night now without taking melatonin (I had to for the first 6-8 months or so). It only takes me a few minutes to fall asleep, and I can reliably wake up to an alarm at 7am every day now without much of a problem. Unexpected things are generally no problem at all.

I also have a serious partner now, whom I have moved in with. Previously, I was unable to co-habitate with anyone for more than a couple weeks at a time without wanting to strangle them. I would always feel completely overwhelmed and smothered and needed a lot of time to myself to recover emotionally from the stress of just interacting with another human. Now it doesn’t seem to be a problem, and in fact I feel that my partner has enhanced the quality of my life by being in it every day. I no longer want or need to be alone all the time.

5. How is your life now compared to your old life? How are you planning on keep the new-found health?

DreaV: Overall, I am not even the same person I was before. My family is completely blown away. Before, it would have been pretty accurate to describe me as a husk of a human being. I both looked and felt like an animated corpse. Every day that I lived was, in my mind, just another day wasted until I finally succeeded in killing myself. I had, on average, 2-3 suicide scares a year for close to 10 years. I didn’t think I’d live to see 35. Life was simply pain, misery, failure, disappointment, crippling guilt, self-loathing, and endless sadness. There were a few short-lived diversions where things seemed temporarily not-awful, but I never lost the overall feeling that it would get bad again soon enough, and in the end I would still end up killing myself.

Now I intend to live til I’m 90! Life seems like a beautiful gift now that I can do anything I like with. And I have so many plans! I’m still maybe not at 100% yet, because I’m still nervous about taking on too many responsibilities and getting freaked out and regressing. But I’m really pleased with my progress so far, and I plan to eat this way for the rest of my life. I’ve read that it can take years to fully heal adrenal burnout, so I am not worried and not pushing myself too hard. It’s ok, because I’m light years from where I was, and I know it’ll only get better!

Η παλαιολιθική δίαιτα, πιο συντονισμενη στα Ελληνικα δεδομενα και παραδοσεις.

1. Παντα να διαβαζετε ετικετες! Το ξερατε οτι οι περισσοτερες σαλτσες σογιας περιεχουν σιταρι; Ακόμα και μερικά λουκάνικα;
2. Μην φοβαστε να δοκιμασετε νεα ειδη λαχανικων, μανιταριων, μπαχαρικών, οστρακοειδη κλπ.
3. Στο Ιντερνετ θα βρειτε συνταγες για το πως να “ζυμωσετε” λαχανικα. Επισεις, εκει θα βρειτε πως να μαγειρεψετε ολα αυτα τα νεα φαγωσιμα. Ιστοσελιδα συνταγων: http://chowstalker.com και Pinterest.
4. Μπορειτε να χρησιμοπιεισετε αλευρι αμυγδαλου, ινδικης καρυδας, και ταπιοκας, αλλα σπανίως μονο (πχ να αλευρωσετε κάποιο ψάρι, να κάνετε ενα γλυκο για καμια γιορτή). Ξεχαστε τα ψωμιά, μακαρόνια, πίτσες — ακόμα και αυτά με χωρίς γλουτενη.
5. Να σας βλεπει ο ηλιος χειμωνα-καλοκαιρι. Αν μπορείτε, περπατηστε καθημερινά, ή αλλιώς, κάνετε λιγες επι-τοπου ασκήσεις. Μην πολυ-αναβετε καλοριφέρ! Ετσι πιανονται οι γρίπες!
6. Να τρωτε πιο πολυ οστρακοειδη και (αγρια) θαλασσινα, απο κρέατα! Στρείδια μια φορά την εβδομαδα αν τα βρείτε στην αγορα (δεν είναι αναγκη να είναι παντα φρεσκα/ωμά).
7. Να δοκιμασετε ειδικα θαλασσινα “φυκια”, τα οποια περιεχουν ιωδιο. Μπορειτε να βρειτε αυτα τα ειδικα φυκια που τρωγονται σε μερικα Ασιατικά καταστηματα.
8. Μην κοιμαστε αργα το βραδυ. Κοιμηθητε >8 ωρες απο τις ~11 το βραδυ μεχρι τις ~7 το πρωι.
9. Προσπαθηστε το 40% με 50% των συστατικών της διαιτα σας να ειναι ωμά!
10. Πιειτε και μαγειρεψτε με σπιτισιο ζωμό από κόκκαλα σχεδον καθημερινα! Μην αμελήσετε!
11. Μπορείτε να φάτε ενα μικρο κομματι σοκολάτα την ημερα, αλλά μονο απο αυτές που έχουν πανω απο 80% κακάο (παντα διαβάστε ετικέτες). Οι σοκολάτες υγειας Παυλίδης είναι της πλάκας, έχουν μονο 43% κακάο. Το σουπερ-μαρκετ Lidl έχει μια με 81%.
12. Αν δουλευετε χειρονακτική εργασία που χρειαζετε περισσότερους υδατάνθρακες για να ανταπεξελθετε, φάτε λιγο πιο πολυ άσπρο ρύζι και λιγο ποιο πολλές πατάτες, στις αρχές μονο. Μετα απο 3-4 μηνες στην δίαιτα αυτή, όταν συνηθίσει ο οργανισμός σας, θα πέρνετε την ενέργεια σας απο το λίπος (απο καλες πηγες) και αλλά υγειεινα έλαια, όχι τους πολλους υδατάνθρακες. Μην φοβείσθε το λίπος! Και μη φοβασθε τα αυγά (προτιμηστε χωριάτικα αυγά).
13. Αν είστε ηδη άρρωστος, θα χρειαστεί να πάρετε βιταμίνες. Αν δεν σας βλέπει ο ήλιος κάθε μέρα για τουλαχιστον μισή ωρα σε όλος σας το σωμα σχεδόν, τοτε πάρτε 2000 με 3000 IU βιταμινη D3 κάθε πρωί (γράφει το κουτί πανω ποσά IU έχει το κάθε χαπι). Πάρτε Μαγνήσιο 3-4 φορες την εβδομάδα, μισή ώρα πριν κοιμηθείτε. Επισης, πάρτε 100mg coQ10 Ubiquinol (όχι Ubiquinone) καθημερινά, το μεσημερι, στην μέση του φαγητού. Αν δεν τρώτε πολλά ζυμωμένα φαγητά (πχ σαυερκραουτ, κιμτσι, κεφίρ), πάρτε Κ2-ΜΚ4 μονο 2-3 φορές την εβδομαδα (όχι απλή Κ βιταμίνη, και όχι ΜΚ7). Εαν και μονο εάν δεν τρώτε ψάρια ή οστρακοειδή για κάποιο λογο, θα πρεπει να πάρετε επισης και καλης ποιοτητας omega-3 fish oil, καθημερινά. Αν δεν τρωτε στρείδια μια φορά την εβδομαδα, πάρτε Zinc 2-3 φορές την εβδομάδα.
14. Αν πασχετε απο κάποια βαριά μορφή ασθένειας θα πρεπει να μαγειρευετε και με παρθενο λάδι ινδικής καρύδας (δυστυχως, πολύ δύσκολο να το βρείτε στην Ελλάδα).
15. Μια κούπα απο πράσινα φύλλα παντζαριού, έχει πιο πολύ κάλλιο απο οποιοδήποτε άλλο φαγητο. Μαγειρεψτε τα όπως τα βλητα, συχνως.
16. Αν είστε άρρωστος, τουλαχιστον μια φορά την ημερα θα πρεπει να τρώτε τριων ειδών λαχανικων. Παράδειγμα, ενα πιάτο θα εχει: 1/4 πράσινα φύλλα (με τα ήμερα υπαρχουν και τουλαχιστον 10 αγρια ειδη που φυτρώνουν στα χωράφια μόνα τους και τρωγωνται), 1/4 χρωματιστά λαχανικά (πχ τομάτα, πιπεριά, κολοκυθες), 1/4 λαχανο/παντζάρια/σπαραγγια/αγγιναρες κλπ, και 1/4 κρέας/εντόσθια ή αγριο ψάρι/οστρακοειδή. Δηλαδη, τουλαχιστον 3 κουπες απο 3 ειδων λαχανικα, και όσο πρωτειινη θελετε. Τα λαχανικά προτίμηστε τα πιο λίγο βραζμενα απο συνήθως, για να μην καταστραφούν οι βιταμίνες τους.
17 Αν είστε πολύ άρρωστος, αποφύγετε τον ρύζι, άσπρα φασόλια και φακές παντελώς, και πιείτε μονο σπιτικό, γιδινο κεφίρ απο τα γαλακτοκομικά. Αν τα προβλήματα υγείας συνεχιζονται με την ίδια ενταση μετα απο 3 μηνες, κοψτε και το κεφίρ για εναν μήνα, για να δείτε αν τα γαλακτομικα σας πειραζουν. Αν το πρόβλημα συνεχίζεται, κοψτε αυγά, τομάτες/πατάτες/πιπεριές, και ξηρούς καρπούς για ενα μήνα. Σαν τελευταια λύση, αν το πρόβλημα συνεχιζεται με την ίδια ενταση μετα απο όλα αυτά, κάντε τεστ για παράσιτα και ιούς.
18. Κομμενα τα αναψυκτικά και οι χυμοί, ακόμα και αυτά με ζάχαρινη light. Στειψτε τα δικά σας φρούτα, αλλά θα βαλετε επίσης και την ψίχα του φρουτου στο ποτήρι, όχι μονο τον ζαχαρουχο χυμό του.
19. Βάλτε κήπο! Πολλά απο τα λαχανικά που γράφονται εδώ, δεν υπαρχουν στα μανάβικα, πχ οι κολοκύθες σπαγκετι. Αυτές οι κολοκύθες βοηθούν πολύ να μην σας λείψουν τα μακαρόνια! Η λαχανιδα kale είναι δύσκολο να βρεθεί στην Ελλάδα επίσης, και όμως, είναι το λαχανικό με τις περισσότερες βιταμίνες απο κάθε άλλο.
20. Τελικώς, πιείτε νερό ΧΩΡΙΣ φθόριο (fluoride), ειδικα αν είστε αρρωστος. Αγοράστε μπουκάλια με νερο φυσική πηγής, χωρίς προσθετο φθοριο. Τα φίλτρα βρυσης δεν βγάζουν το φθόριο. Επισης ψαξτε για οδοντοπαστα χωρις φλουράιντ. Το φθόριο είναι σχεδόν ίδιο με το ποντικοφάρμακο.

In addition to learning that I’m possibly celiac (well, more than possible), I also put braces on my teeth this week. I have a crooked tooth since I was a kid, and now this really needs fixing. My parents were very poor, and could not afford braces for me, while later in life I was hit with more serious health problems, so my teeth took the backseat. Well, now that I’m healthy again overall, it’s time for that overdue fixing. But of course, I’m in pain, and I can’t eat properly. But thinking about it, it has its benefits too:

- It teaches you to cut the food in small portions. I used to gulp down huge pieces.
- It teaches you to chew slowly. I used to chew minimally, and have eating manners that would resemble wild animals.
- It teaches you to brush your teeth after eating. I’d only brush before going to bed.
- It teaches you to floss every night. I used to floss 2-3 times a week usually.
- It teaches you to not snack. Because if you do, you’d have to brush your teeth, again.

My new braces, new glasses, and an old friend

So, that’s how I’m going to learn good manners: by having braces for the next 2 years of my life.

I’m living in the San Mateo county for over 10 years now. I don’t know why it took Paleo/Primal, 1.5 years ago, to find all this amazing food around me. I was always complaining that I can’t find this or that in my area (usually sheep offal), but now that I’m actually actively searching, I’ve found nearly everything that I want. Here are my weekly stops now:

- 99 Ranch: most types of fish/shellfish (compared to 5-6 kinds in mainstream supermarkets, these guys are kings of wild fish and shellfish), frog legs, rabbit, pheasant, quail, squab, duck, (old) stewing hens, duck gizzards, pork hearts, cheap mushrooms, amaranth greens, seaweed, avocado, fresh herbs, mung bean sprouts (yes, they’re Paleo).
- Trader Joe’s: kale chips, goat milk for my kefir, organic eggs, cheese, organic chicken, berries, cheap bananas, mache salad, nuts, smoked oyster cans in olive oil, grass-fed ground beef, wild salmon cans, creme-fraiche, European style yogurt, organic sweet potatoes, organic ketchup, mustard, grass-fed butter.
- Mediterranean shop: lamb/goat meat and offal (the butcher there doesn’t know if they’re pastured, but most are), Greek Mountain Tea, feta, chestnuts, canned cod liver, spices.
- San Mateo’s Farmer’s Market: most veggies/fruits, raw local honey, pastured beef & bones (pastured offal runs out fast), duck eggs, French deli.
- Costco: wild sardines cans, seaweed/calamari salads, coconut oil, (true) olive oil, beef for jerky, bacon, water.
- Whole Foods: buffalo steak, organic Tamari, kelp noodles, and some special-interest things that we might need rarely.
- Piazza’s: calf’s liver (more nutritious than other livers), local soy-free dark chocolate, fruits/veggies on their reduced-price aisle, European-style sour cream (probiotic). Too expensive for anything else.
- Draeger’s: Fresh crab, deli meat. Too expensive for anything else.

Our pheasant feast last Sunday

The only things that I still *can’t* find in my area are: sorrel, purslane, wild greens, wild (bitter) fruits, some types of berries, pastured offal, Saint-Jacques shellfish, deer, venison, more buffalo meat, horse meat, guinea-fowl, boar, antelope, kangaroo, emu, ostrich, turtle meat, insects, larvae worms.

I did find alligator meat at 99Ranch though. Not interested…

The Paleo diet has seen many variations since it exploded in popularity about 4 years ago after the release of Robb Wolf’s book “The Paleo Solution”. Paleo is a very balanced diet, resembling as closely as possible the “original” human diet that we evolved with, before Agriculture took hold of our lives and our bellies. Lately though, there have been increased reports of vegans and vegetarians trying to suit Paleo into their meat-free regimen. This article is about guiding these dieters to the closest possible diet that resembles both Paleo and some form of vegetarianism.

But, first things first: Paleo is not just about what foods you remove from the Western diet (namely: grains/gluten, vegetable oils, legumes, excess sugars). Paleo is also about what you add to it: bone marrow/broth, offal of all kind, seaweed, fermented foods, shellfish (especially oysters), enough sunlight, enough sleep, enough exercise etc. Paleo without these additions is not true Paleo. In fact, most meat-eater “Paleo” dieters are not hard-core Paleo dieters! But a muscle-eater still gets enough protein (and vitamins that are only found in specific forms in meat) to get him/her by. A vegetarian needs to try extra hard with the kinds of food he/she must consume in order to come closer to true health that Paleo can offer.

So these are my personal opinions about how an almost-vegetarian diet, or more accurately a reduced-meat diet, can achieve most of Paleo’s well-known health benefits. I present the information in steps, to help you decide to include a specific food or not. But basically it boils down to this: you can’t have the full health benefits that Paleo could potentially offer if you don’t include at least some of the suggested superfoods in your diet.

Meat and fish

1. Offal
Please hear me out for a second. Even if you don’t put muscle meat in your mouth, 200 gr of liver, twice a month, is probably enough to get you most of the needed vitamins that are only found in specific chemical forms in animal meat. This is a sacrifice you might have to do for your well-being. Think about it, it’s just twice a month! I’d suggest pastured lamb liver, because it has the least strong taste (compared to beef, goat), it’s way more nutritious than birds’ livers, and when it’s pastured, you know that the animal has had a good life (so you’re not collaborating with an abusive meat industry). If you decide to not eat offal, consider supplementing with CoQ10 (specifically the Ubiquinol form) and PQQ. These enzymes are not found anywhere else in large-enough quantities (not even in muscle meat).

2. Shellfish
In addition to offal, or if you’re not willing to eat any land-animal meat at all, you should seriously consider shellfish, particularly the superfood that is oysters (and mussels as a second option). That should be at least 200 gr of oysters, once a week (you can also have other kinds of shellfish throughout the week too if you like). From the vegan point of view, oysters/mussels are the most vegetarian-friendly animals to eat, because they don’t have a nervous system, so they don’t feel pain when we harvest/eat them.

3. Fish
In addition to shellfish, or if you can’t have shellfish because of allergies, then you should go hard on fish, particularly on wild salmon. You will need to eat fish almost daily, about 100 gr/day. Wild canned sardines, whole fried smelt (with heads/guts), cod, and any other fish with low mercury levels is good to eat. Overall, it’s better to have fish than not to have any because of fear of mercury (besides, enough selenium intake can clean up mercury from our system — all you need is a single Brazil nut a day to get enough selenium). Occasionally, go for sashimi (raw fish) too! If you’re eating out, just make sure you arrive at the sushi restaurant with your own, wheat-free, “Tamari”, non-GMO, soy sauce (no shame in that, most celiacs do it this way too).

4. Bone Marrow or Fish Bone Broth
You will need either a bone marrow broth (recipe), or at least, fish bone broth (recipe). You can’t find the gelatin required to rejuvenate and heal your insides (and your outsides) in any other kind of food. In fact, bone broth is among the top-line defenses of Paleo, and one of the reasons of why the diet was adopted so quickly (people got healed fast!). If you go for fish bone broth, prefer non-oily fish for slow cooking. Add oily fish towards the end of the cooking cycle (or it could go rancid). For fish bone broth, the fish heads are required to be cooked along the fish bones for full potency.

5. Cod Liver
I put this food at the end of this list, because it’s a bit of an acquired taste. It tastes like foie-gras, and it has a lot of vitamin A. It’s definitely one of the foods you should try if you can stomach it. I’d suggest you eat it out of the can and not fry it, because it will then smell strongly throughout your house for a week…

Notice how I started suggesting liver twice a month, oysters weekly, and fish daily. This is because they’re sorted by some loose, nutrient density.

Dairy

If you’re “mostly” vegetarian, dairy becomes more needed in your diet than for other Paleo dieters.

1. Eggs
Go for pastured duck eggs if you can (4-6 a week are enough — find them at your local farmer’s market), or pastured chicken eggs as a second option. This way, you still get eggs from animals that live a good, natural life for the most part.

2. Kefir, yogurt, and cheese
The original standard Paleo diet does not allow milk products, however, with time, this rule has relaxed under some very specific conditions. If possible, the milk has to be raw, which includes enzymes to digest it properly. If that’s not possible in your area, then the next best thing is this: fermented-only dairy (home-made goat kefir, European-style yogurt, real cheese), and only from A2 casein animals (goat, sheep, buffalo, camel). I would not recommend to anyone to drink pasteurized cow milk out of the carton. If you decide to only do one type of dairy for your calcium and B-vitamin needs, go for home-made goat kefir, which is the most potent of all (10x more potent than yogurt for healing). But it has to be home-made (store-bought is not potent), it has to be from an A2 casein animal, and it has to be fermented for 24 hours (add some RAW honey, nuts, and berries afterwards if you find it too bitter). Well-fermented goat kefir has the needed enzymes to properly digest it too (start slowly though).

3. Grass-fed butter & European-style, cultured, organic sour-cream
Don’t fear it, use it in your recipes! Definitely go for grass-fed butter btw, you will need the K2 vitamin in it.

More Info

1. Fermented foods
Sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented veggies should be eaten regularly.

2. Seaweed
A must-have for good thyroid function, especially if you’re eating the suggested Brazil nut above (there must be a balance of selenium and iodine in your system). I use seaweed in unpasteurized soy-based miso soup (the year-long fermentation of soy in miso makes it benign).

3. Lentils and other beans
This would probably be my least-popular suggestion among the meat-eater Paleo readers of this article. However, there are good reasons why I would suggest lentils (and other beans), 2-3 times a month or so, specifically for vegetarians and vegans. When properly fermented for 36 hours, lentils in particular become almost benign. Given the amount of protein, iron, manganese, B vitamins, and folate they have, beans become a must-have food for those who don’t eat meat. But again, it must be traditionally-prepared, not cooked as-is, or out of a can. Legumes are still legumes, and they contain harmful lectins when cooked without fermentation. But if you don’t do meat, they kind of become a “must”. However, still avoid processed soy products (e.g. soy milk, tofu, tempeh). Ferment your non-GMO soy, and learn to eat natto (which is the best source for protein if you’re 100% off meat).

4. Raw, unfiltered and local Honey
A vegetarian has already cut out the “hunting” part of “hunting and gathering”, so there’s no reason to reduce the “gathering” part too. When the honey is raw, it has significant anti-bacterial properties, and when it’s local, it strengthens the immune system against allergies. Raw honey should be the sweetener of choice for any Paleo dieter.

6. Don’t fear the carbs (too much)
Robb Wolf’s latest series on carbs is an eye-opener. Paleo is a diet first for health, and then for weight loss. Weight loss comes naturally with it as your health improves.

Vitamins

If you’re going for 100% meat/fish-free diet (I hope this article explained why this would not work as a Paleo framework though), then you will need to supplement with vitamins. Unfortunately, there’s not a single multi-vitamin company that gets it right regarding vitamins geared for a vegan diet. I’m not a doctor, so none of these are medical advices. But in my personal research, these are the nutrients that came up short on a vegan diet.

1. D3 (3000 IU, daily, in the morning)
Test your D3 levels via a blood test (do not supplement with high doses without knowing your levels, it can become toxic). Without adequate D3 levels your immune system can not function properly to heal you. In the Western world today, most people are deficient of it.

2. Magnesium (daily, 20 mins before bed)
In the Western world today, most people are deficient of it. Our soil and water are depleted of it.

3. DHA oil (daily)

4. B-Complex (if you’re not eating offal & shellfish, take it 2-3 times a week, the specific B-complex gets it more right than others)

5. Taurine (2-3 times a week)

6. Zinc (2-3 times a week — or just eat oysters)

7. Essential Amino Acids (daily, not a vegan product, but there’s none better than it — Alternatively, definitely go for L-Lysine, and L-Acetyl-Carnitine separately. Creatine and others might be useful too)

6. Protein (eat fermented beans, and natto, but not processed soy like tofu/soy-milk, try to avoid GMO too)

9. Vitamin A (1-2 times a week, before bed — if you’re not eating offal or oysters)

10. Calcium (2-3 times a week, if you’re not eating dairy)

11. K2 Mk4 (the specific form, 2-3 times a week, when you take Calcium or dairy)

12. Iron (1-2 times a week, ask your doctor first though, iron supplementation can be dangerous)

13. CoQ10 Ubiquinol (the specific form, 2-3 times a week)

14. PQQ (1-2 times a week, or eat a heart every week)

15. Finally, if you’re not drinking bone broth, you’ll need Collagen. There are Collagen Types I and III, and Collagen II (two different products). Take them at different days, 2-3 times a week each.

For many people with gut problems like mine (IBS/IBD), following some gluten-free, low carb diet usually alleviates most of their symptoms within a few weeks/months. But sometimes, for some people, it doesn’t. In that case, specialized diets, all similar, but also each more restrictive than the previous, must be followed. Elimination diets are not as effective in my opinion, because some foods can create irregularity as late as 1-3 weeks after they’re consumed, making it impossible to know which food was the offending one.

I’m not a doctor, but I read and I experiment a lot, so here’s a guide:

1. Start with a doctor’s visit
A stool, allergy and blood tests (and possibly a colonoscopy) can find out if the source of your problem is mechanical, food intolerance, auto-immunity, or an infection. If it’s an infection, e.g. C-Diff, some protozoa like B. Hominis, H. Pylori, listeria etc. then you need antibiotics or a fecal transplant. As bad antibiotics are, these bad organisms can’t always be eradicated with diet, because they are capable of eating everything you eat (while most “good” gut bacteria only feed on carbs). However, new research has shown that home-made kefir can help kill C. Diff (commercial kefir has less potency).

2. Paleo/Primal
This is the least restrictive diet, the most balanced of all in terms of nutrients. It has to be 100% gluten-free to see health benefits. Go for up to 100 gr of “net” carbs per day (for net carbs, just don’t count the fiber). In addition to the Paleo diet, also add this list of superfoods (bone broth is super-important for gut health, for example). Reading online, I found that the vast majority of IBS, GERD, diverticulitis, and Celiac sufferers find relief with plain Paleo. Crohn’s and UC patients range from finding full relief, to partial, to not at all. So for some of these more difficult cases, they have to either add 24-hour fermented home-made goat kefir (while cutting down all other dairy for a while), or read next.

3. SCD
If within a month you have started seeing some results (even if they’re not perfect), stay with Paleo. But if you haven’t seen major results with Paleo/Primal, go for the SCD. The SCD is the same as Paleo, but it does not allow tubers/starches as Paleo does. Regarding its suggestion to go with yogurt, prefer home-made goat kefir instead, which is 5x-10x more potent than yogurt. Retain the list of superfoods from the previous diet, avoid vegetable oils, and supplement with vitamin D3 too if you’re not going out in the sun much. Eventually, if this works, you can revert back to the less restrictive Paleo (+ home-made goat kefir), for life (symptoms will return if you stray away from Paleo).

4. GAPS
If within three months you haven’t seen any good result with the SCD, go for GAPS. GAPS has periods of time where you can’t eat any solid food. When you can eat solid food again, it’s just the same as the allowed food list from SCD. Also, whatever I said above for Paleo/SCD still applies when on the phase where you can eat solid food (goat kefir, superfoods, D3, avoid vegetable oils). GAPS is all about bone broths and probiotic pills, trying to “reset” the gut’s flora. It’s a difficult diet, but it’s effective. Eventually, if this works, you can revert back to the less restrictive Paleo (+ home-made goat kefir), for life (symptoms will return if you stray away from at least Paleo).

5. FODMAPs
If GAPS works while in the “intro” phase, but irregularity returns repeatedly when trying to eat solid food (you’d have to try GAPS for 6 months, coming in and out of its broth phases a number of times), try to cut down FODMAPs. FODMAPs include specific food groups (e.g. onions, brassicas, apples etc) that are allowed in all the above diets, but you can’t consume in this diet. Do remain 100% gluten & grain-free, and avoid vegetable oils while on FODMAPs too though. Also, check your D3 levels.

6. Paleo Auto-Immune Protocol
This is the same as #2 above (Paleo/Primal), but without any dairy, nuts, seeds, fruits, yeasts, eggs, shellfish, pepper spices, and no nightshades (no tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, white potatoes). It’s basically just fat (olive oil, tallow/lard/duck fat), meat/fish/organs (preferably grass-fed/pastured/wild), and veggies/seaweed. This diet is best for people with strong auto-immune problems (e.g. Multiple Sclerosis), but sometimes it works for gut problems too. Don’t stay on this diet for longer than 2-3 months though. Revert back to plain Paleo (+ goat kefir), by introducing small amounts of the non-allowed foods, one by one (allow 1 week before you introduce the next one).

7. Fecal Transplant
If you’re among that 3%-5% of the IBS/IBD patients where none of the above works, then it’s possible that your problem is an infection of an unknown origin, that tests won’t identify. In that case, revert back to Paleo (plus home-made goat kefir), for life, and get a fecal transplant from a healthy donor. Until modern medicine catches up, this is your only hope.

Personally, I was lucky to be able to fix my IBS-D with a mix of Paleo and SCD. That is: Paleo + home-made goat kefir, up to 100 gr of “net” carbs per day (I also followed the Paleo-ketogenic diet for a few months, up to 50 gr “net” carbs per day), vitamin D3 3000 IU per day, and only few tubers/starches. Since almost all these IBS/IBD conditions eventually create malabsorption problems (I was very surprised to find out via a blood test that I was short on B12, since I eat a lot of meat/fish), I supplement a few times a week. I track what I eat via Cronometer, so if I seem short on a nutrient on a weekly basis, I supplement with it once. Put money aside to check your CRP (inflammation), B12, iron, calcium, folate and D3 levels via a blood test every year. It’s all about optimization, especially for us with a sensitive gut.

Good luck!

The main reason why we’re so sick today in my opinion is because of “food staples”. I don’t believe in food staples, no matter what the staple is. It could be wheat, rice, corn, taro, whatever. The point is, when a large percentage of your food comes from the exact same food, you got a nutritional problem. It’s not possible to get all the nutrition necessary from the exact same food.

If you’re not willing to cut down wheat completely, at least have 2-3 slices of bread per week (preferably fermented sourdough), and that should be all the wheat that you need. You see, if you’re eating bread today, pasta tomorrow, and pizza the day after that, then all you have eaten is wheat. And given how wheat disables the body from absorbing nutrients from the rest of the foods you eat, you can end up malnourished (like in my case, even if I was as fat as a cow). In fact, researchers say that the problem with wheat sensitivity (that 2/3s of all people have, even if they don’t know it — and the rest will get it onset anyway) is because of too much wheat, not necessarily because wheat is evil. It has an accumulative effect in the immune system, just like GMOs and pesticides.

Having said that about grains and tubers, the same can be said about protein and fats. Humans need a variety of good fats (saturated or not), and a variety of protein. If all you eat is beef steak (as many Paleo people do), then you’ve done nothing to progress your health. You need to eat offal from various animals, different kinds of fish, different kinds of shellfish, and as importantly, different kinds of game (e.g. deer, pheasant, ostrich, peacock, duck, goose, antelope, bison, horse, etc etc etc). Yes, it’s almost impossible to get good game anymore, but variety on meat is as important as variety on plants. If all meat and fish and shellfish were the same, then they would all TASTE the same. But they don’t taste the same, because they’re comprised from different nutrients and elements.

Food staples be gone. But that can only happen if both the market demands it, and if we reduce our human population significantly, because the Earth can’t feed 7 billion people in this manner.

Recently, Dr Mercola’s web site was updated with new information about his nutritional plan. He’s a popular doctor, and people listen to him. I agree with his plan for 95% of what he suggests, except a few points, where he fails to see the bigger picture.

1. Honey

He suggests stevia instead of honey. A processed sweetener over one we actually evolved with eating. Some tribes would put their lives in danger to get their hands on some honey! Raw, unfiltered, and local honey has major anti-microbial and anti-allergen powers — we don’t consume it just because it’s sweet. Sure, if you’re trying to lose weight, avoid it. But from the moment you’re healthy, a few teaspoons per week will actually be beneficial. Nobody suggests to go nuts on it. Regarding stevia: speaking for me personally, it gives me bad stomach ache. Raw honey never does.

2. Juicing vegetables

Unless you eat the pulp with it, then this is a bad idea. Mercola suggests this in order to eat more raw veggies, and that’s commendable (40%-50% of our food should be raw). However, if you’re juicing too much without the pulp, that’s going to leave behind other good stuff we need. For eating raw veggies, I’d suggest a gluten-free vegan book. I’m not a vegan, but for that specific purpose (raw veggies), it’s got good recipe ideas without pushing for juicing.

3. Raw milk

Maybe it’s just me, but I simply can’t trust raw milk. I had a cousin almost dying from fever after consuming raw milk from his sheep. And that was 20 years ago, in rural Greece, away from civilization, drugs and GMO feedlots, with healthy sheep that’d go up in the mountain every day to freely eat, with only 3 dogs as a companion. These were clean, healthy sheep. After that family scare, I simply don’t trust raw dairy products from no farmer in the world.

On a recent video, Mercola also asks people to not eat commercial kefir and yogurt, which I think it’s a bit overreacting. Obviously, home-made goat kefir is the ultimate dairy food, and it’s gotta be home-made to get the full benefits. But while commercial products might be 10x less effective, they’re probably still not as bad as none at all. I’m only against dairy if the product is not fermented (e.g. milk out of the carton), if it’s not coming from an A2 casein animal (e.g. US cows), and if the animals it comes from lived a sick, drugged life. I’m personally transitioning away from all dairy, except grass-fed butter, daily home-made goat kefir (which I consider one of the most potent super-foods), and very rarely, some cream or a thin slice of (goat/sheep/buffalo) cheese if my husband insists.

4. Avoid pork

I’d say that this might have some truth in it, but I don’t think it’s as black and white as he thinks. I mean, our ancestors would even eat snakes, so eating pork sounds like gourmet in comparison. So for this point, I’d say that the truth is somewhere in between.

For all his other points, I agree with him. Too bad he forgot to suggest strict abstaining from grains, and eating more shellfish though. I have personally transitioned to Dr Jack Kruse’s version of Paleo, dubbed Epi-Paleo, which has more emphasis on seafood instead of meat.

Here is some philosophical quantum physics for you: Fate and its possibilities through a variety of setups.

For some illogical (?) reason I believe that certain things are supposed to happen in life, one way or another. But the setup and the machinations that lead to them are not written down. Fate is nothing but a rough sketch. The details are filled up by the players. Us.

For example, if a woman is supposed to get married at a certain age (in order to open a new chapter in her life), she would get married, but there might be 2 or 3 or 4 men who would be competing for the position *without* any of the parties knowing about it. Each one would just live their lives, but depending on their choices, they would be the ones meeting up with the woman (and eventually marrying her) while the others wouldn’t. The others would remain completely unaware of the woman forever, even if fate had offered them a close chance with her.

The problem arises when someone actually becomes aware of the situation. When someone truly feels inside his head that if he makes certain changes in his life, things will change in a radical way (further than the direction he makes changes to). And the things become even more complicated when he “feels” that there’s indeed such competition, and sees and recognizes the said competition, but it’s so far away from the strings he controls, that he can’t do anything to stop these threads of possibilities.

This my friends would be mental torture. To know that you tried your best, but still end up as the loser, just because someone else was able to get a small step ahead of you.

I always try to make people around me see the big picture, but that type of big picture, no one should ever have to know. IF any of that quantum physics crap is real, we are better off living in total unawareness.

It’s been a year exactly. 3rd of September 2011 was when I found back my health, after 10 years of hell and seclusion. The Paleo diet saved my life. I have already written the good things I got from the Paleo diet, first at 6 weeks on the diet, then at 4 months. Here are the remaining problems/fixes a year on:

* Sleep apnea: GONE.
* Asthma: It was coming and going for a few months, now it’s completely GONE.
* IBS-D: It’s very rare to have an incident of IBS-D now, it only happens if I consume over 200gr net carbs for a number of days in a row.
* Period pain: Comes and goes, but I have found that I have an “atypical” fibroid, and a polyp (both existed pre-Paleo apparently). I will have surgery for those soon, and then my period pain should just go away for good.
* Alopecia: More hair, although not way too much. Definitely an improvement over a few months ago.
* High blood pressure: I got this in August because of a medicine I was given for my fibroid (that’s being here pre-paleo). When the medicine went away from my system, so did my high blood pressure. I’m not worried about this.
* Weight loss: In one year I lost 25 lbs. I still have another 30 lbs to lose, but I’m one of these people that their thyroid freaks out if they go too low carb (ketogenic), and sends them to hibernation (excess rT3). 95% of the people won’t have this problem though, I’m a bit of a special case on this (I guess my lineage is Neanderthalian…).
* Fatty liver/high triglycerides (they go together): Still there, because weight loss doesn’t happen to me as easily as for most other people (although I didn’t try to lose weight very hard, I was eating normally). I’m thinking of going raw vegan for most of the day, and Paleo in the evenings to combat this. It’s possible that genetically I have the double e4/e4 APoE gene, which means that I can’t digest/use fats properly. The problem in this case is that half of the researchers about this say “eat more fat”, and the other half say “stop eating fats”. Go figure. Update: I got tested, I’m APoE 3/3, so all is ok in that front.
* B12 deficiency: due to a bad gut all these years I can’t absorb it (I found out about this deficiency in May). It’s gone with supplementation now, and my gut heals over time anyway. Soon I won’t be needing supplementation.

Everything else is peachy.