User curious - PaleoHacks.com

PCOS, Paleo, and Menstruation: what's your experience and what might the science be?

2011-11-18T22:50:54Z

I know there's a contingent of ladies with PCOS on PaleoHacks, and I was hoping some of y'all might be able to help me out here.

Basically, I have PCOS, and for my adult life, without medication (the Pill until a few years ago, more recently Metformin) I have not had a regular period. But today I started my period, and it's just about a month after my last one, and I haven't taken Metformin since August (I struggle with getting adjusted to the GI side effects). I've been far from perfect in paleo eating over the past two and a half months or so that I've been working on it, but to have two periods at regular intervals without medication is kind of a miracle, and I'm wondering if this has anything to do with moving towards a paleo way of eating, but I don't know exactly how that would work. Might it have something to do with addressing insulin resistance (I do eat pretty low-carb, usually under 50g/day—this is the biggest macronutritional change I've made as I've "gone paleo"), or avoiding the hormonal disturbances of conventionally raised meat? I'm just spitballing here, but I know that some of you are much better versed in the diet/endocrinology connection than I, and I was hoping you could share some experiences of your own or lay some science on me.

Either way, I'm psyched to take this to my endocrinologist when next I see her.

Answer by curious for Struggling with acne and just want good skin

2011-12-10T19:22:50Z

While I do have the best skin of my life on paleo, it's my understanding that serious acne is only moderately related to diet. Testosterone is your culprit, I believe, and the thing to do is see a dermatologist. But the people at acne.org will have detailed thoughts on what you can do with diet to improve your skin.

Answer by curious for What's your top paleo feast meal?

2011-12-10T18:42:22Z

There are so many paleo feasts to love! I'm a big fan of bone marrow, and it's kind of a special-occasion food for me, so I'd say maybe lots roasted marrow bones with parsley salad. On a more regular basis, I love a big skirt steak with garlicky chimmichurri. Also bacon-roasted vegetables (brussels sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, etc.).

Answer by curious for Cosmetics and Skin Care

2011-11-21T19:46:24Z

Have you tried Tarte, or MAC's Mineralize products?

Answer by curious for Single person with VERY limited funds and no time to cook

2011-11-05T18:46:44Z

Budget cuts of meat are where it's at. Pork shoulder costs about $1.29/lb (not pastured, but still). Dry rub it and roast it for 7-10 hours at 225, and that's a week's worth of delicious, tender, filling pork. Get familiar with slow-cooking methods like braising and slow-roasting. You do need to put in extra time with these cuts, but it's not active time—just time in which your oven or crockpot or stovetop does its thing unbothered.

This is a great Chowhound link about cheap cuts of meat, with lots of ideas: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/668666

Answer by curious for Hack my Paleo Butt

2011-11-05T00:59:26Z

I'm also working on this. I can't link every carnitas recipe I've read (a LOT), though you could try searching for it on Chowhound, but I have noticed that many of them suggest chunking the shoulder but NOT trimming the fat, then adding enough liquid (stock, water, whatever) to cover the pork and braising it low and slow for several hours. The trick is that you cook the pork in the liquid long enough to render the fat, so the pork ends up cooking to crispness in its own fat.

Answer by curious for What percentage of your monthly budget is spent on food, vs., say, housing/car/etc.

2011-10-09T16:26:54Z

I spend about $500-$600/month on feeding myself (one adult), including eating out. It's about 30% of my post-tax monthly income. General American food spending is artificially reduced by government subsidies, and most of the subsidized products aren't primal-compatible, so I don't find my numbers cause for concern—as you say, they're on par with much of the world. I'm quite new to primal eating and shopping, and my grocery bill has gone up a bit, but I just remind myself that my health is worth the investment (though I don't eat 100% organic and grass-fed—yet, anyway—because of price concerns).

Answer by curious for Help! I'm an "obnoxious glutard". (and you may be too!!)

2011-10-04T21:12:02Z

I think the thing to do here is not talk diet as a subject of casual conversation. I hate hearing other people's unrelenting talk of their own consumption and nonconsumption, and I won't burden other people with my thoughts on what and how I do and don't want to eat unless they have specifically asked, and even then, I give the Cliff's Notes and keep it casual. There's no reason to add to all the informational noise around eating that everyone in our culture is exposed to all day long—people will come to what they believe for themselves on their own, and evangelizing is always intrusive, whether for diets or for gods.

Answer by curious for I want to grow a plant in my apartment in Manhattan

2011-10-03T00:55:40Z

Kitchen herbs grow beautifully inside. Try basil, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme...I used to have a windowbox in my apartment in Brooklyn, and they all did just fine, provided they were getting enough water and sun.

The farmer's markets (Union Square if you're in Manhattan, Grand Army Plaza if you're in Brooklyn) can sell you seedlings and young plants, but really, it's probably cheapest and barely more work to buy seed packets.

Answer by curious for Do you use coconut or other oils on your face? Your Paleo facial skincare methods?

2011-10-03T00:06:41Z

I use jojoba oil—which I've heard is the closest oil to natural skin oils—as a night moisturizer, and it's improved my skin immensely. I do still wash with gentle Cetaphil cleanser and use a day moisturizer with SPF, but as with my food, I'd always been afraid of putting oil on my face and have learned that it's nothing to be afraid of.

Also, edited because you mentioned salicylic acid—have you looked at trying spot-treating with benzoyl peroxide instead? When my acne was more serious, I never got any kind of results with salicylic, but BP, though drying, works brilliantly. Alpha hydroxy acid is also helpful—you should check out acne.org if you're interested in non-paleo solutions (they also have a great cheap jojoba oil, and I really like their AHA product, too).

Answer by curious for Do you think that so long as you prepare all your food from scratch you don’t have to worry about CIH, food reward, obesity, etc?

2011-10-02T13:56:17Z

I'm fat. I've cooked the vast majority of my food since I was 19 or so (I'm 28 now) and I've lost some weight, gained some weight, been more and less active, but always been fat. That said, I do also have a kind of broken endocrine system (PCOS, HGH deficiency), so I may not be a great test case. I am also healthy by other markers—blood pressure, cholesterol numbers, triglycerides, hip/waist ratio, etc.

I do think that home cooking (from quality, whole ingredients) goes a long, long way towards health, but I don't think it's a guarantor of thinness. Then again, I also don't think being fat is in and of itself a death blow or that thinness is an indicator of health, but that conversation is probably not worth having here.

How Soon Did You Feel Results?

2011-09-27T00:27:21Z

I've been reducing my intake of grain, sugar, and seed oils slowly over the past couple of weeks while increasing my saturated fat intake. Today, I came home from a meeting during which I passed up pizza and ice cream sandwiches, and heated myself up some carnitas with a little melted cheese for dinner. Today was nearly a zero-carb day (though I had both sugar and wheat over the weekend, while visiting family), and immediately after dinner, I felt like I was having a burst of energy: I leapt off the couch and rocked out to the song that was on for a few minutes. I'm certainly eating way less grain and sugar and way fewer carbs than I've been used to, but given that I've been reducing, but not eliminating, sugar and wheats this is probably psychosomatic, a kind of paleo placebo effect, right? Or is it possible that my battered, sluggish, insulin-resistant PCOS-afflicted metabolism is already switching over to burning fat for fuel?

Answer by curious for Heading to New York: does anyone have any recommendations of where to eat?

2011-09-29T18:08:40Z

BBQ has been a trend recently in the New York restaurant scene, so there are a few places that will just pile meat on your plate until you tell 'em to stop—Fette Sau, which is already recommended, is one; Hill Country is another great option. The Breslin, also already mentioned, is meat-heavy and does most of their cooking in animal fats, not vegetable oils. Craft is also another great choice—I had one of the best steaks of my life there, and the menu is so simply written that you can always see what you're getting. (I hear Craftsteak isn't as good.) Incidentally, one of the great things about the locavore trend being so big in NYC is that you frequently get notes on ingredient sourcing on the menu. The General Greene, in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn is a good example of that. For a great raw bar and seafood menu, try the Blue Point Grill. Sushi is a good option, too: I like Jewel Bako.

Answer by curious for How Long For Hormones To Normalize Post-BC?

2011-09-29T04:11:57Z

Just to give you my own experience, I had several (maybe four or five?) rough periods after I came off of (~9 years) of hormonal birth control, and my PMS is still worse than it was when I was on it, but the first two were definitely the hardest, by a long shot. In hindsight, then, six weeks in, the worst was over. I do have PCOS, so that could be why it took me awhile to settle in, and I took solace in the fact that my sex drive shot through the roof as soon as I went off hormonal BC. Seriously, having a whole lot of sex is hormonally helpful, so...I recommend that. I can also pass along that my endocrinologist recommended strength training as a way of smoothing out hormonal swings.

Good luck!

Answer by curious for Forks over knives

2011-09-28T21:37:13Z

Of course it's offensive. And anyone who has an interest in dispelling the myths of the nutritional establishment has a vested interest in dispelling the bad science, ridiculous conventional wisdom, and stereotyping that surround fatness and fat people in our culture.

Answer by curious for Hack my bare cupboard.

2011-09-27T23:40:17Z

Two options that are imperfectly paleo but still relatively nutritious:

If you don't mind using a little bit of flour (1/2 cup total, so really very little per puff), try gougeres: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/01/gougeres-french-cheese-puffs/ They'd be great with shallots, shredded cheese, & maybe an extra egg.

You can also roast those chickpeas—drain and rinse and dry them, coat liberally with fat (olive oil is great, coconut oil might work as well) and spices and salt, and roast at 450 until they're blistered and crunchy.

Answer by curious for Large amout of Duck and/or Pork Fat?

2011-09-20T14:54:24Z

Roasting ducks throw off an enormous quantity of fat. If you got into duck between now and Thanksgiving, you would certainly be able to reserve enough fat yourself to fry a turkey in.

Other than that, I'd consult your butcher. I know that Mexican grocery stores often sell good lard for low prices, too. Alternately, you could look for specialty suppliers on chowhound.com, which is great for sourcing ingredients.

What paleo habits have the highest payoff:effort ratios?

2011-09-18T23:19:48Z

I'm new to paleo and incorporating at least some paleo elements into my diet (increasing fat and meat intake, eliminating grains and sugar, decreasing industrial oil intake), shooting for fat loss and, more importantly, improved well-being (including reducing my tendencies toward food obsession). I may not ever be "all the way" paleo (loath to give up dairy and legumes—except peanuts and soy—entirely, loath to vow that I will never, ever eat wheat or sugar again even when I'm drunk and it's 4:30a.m. and everyone's going for pizza), but I'm definitely interested in what paleo has to teach me, and even just in the couple of weeks I've been tinkering with paleo principles in my diet, I've felt an improvement in satiety and a reduction in food anxiety.

In my recent reading about paleo eating, I've heard a fair amount about the 80/20 rule—do you think this applies to eating paleo? What do you think are the 20% of behaviors that have 80% of payoff in paleo eating?

Answer by curious for Beverages...what are your paleo friendly beverages?

2011-09-18T21:32:22Z

Thirding the carbonated water—I also have a SodaStream and love home carbonation. I add a few drops of concentrated sugar-free juice (pomegranate, cranberry) or a spritz of citrus.

You can also do flavored waters in a pitcher in the fridge. Just a few slices of cucumber, grapefruit, mango, apple, pineapple, etc. is enough to give a whole pitcher of water a great zing. Many herbs are great for this, too—mint, rosemary, and basil are my favorites.

If you do dairy, steeping some herbs (cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom, cloves, allspice berries) in it and adding some vanilla extract is a great warm wintery drink.

Answer by curious for Hack Crystal Light

2011-09-16T19:04:36Z

What about flavored water? You can put all kinds of stuff in water, and a little goes a long way—just a couple of slices of citrus (don't stop at lemon or lime—there's orange, grapefruit, pineapple...) or other fruit (mango, kiwi, apple...) in a big pitcher of water in the fridge adds a nice kick of flavor. You could also try adding cucumber, mint, ginger...there are tons of options, all of which break up the monotony and taste great.

Answer by curious for Most legumes are not bad?

2011-09-16T18:56:28Z

I would tend to agree with maurile that these non-peanut, non-soy legumes' status as a staple in the traditional diets of "very healthy cultures" is a point in their favor. And I can add the anecdotal evidence that despite my very touchy digestive system, beans (soaked, then cooked in fresh water) have never given me gastric distress—I've always found reports of flatulence and other digestive issues overstated. I am told that those effects may be more pronounced in people who have been eating a low-fiber diet (like SAD, and some VLC paleos), though, so paleos introducing these legumes might have some initial trouble adjusting—this seems to me comparable to "low-carb flu" as an acceptable transitory discomfort rather than to an indicator that humans and legumes just aren't meant to live in harmony.

Answer by curious for No Poo and oily back of head

2011-09-15T15:10:12Z

I've been shampoo-free for about eight years now (not for paleo reasons—it's a fairly common curly hair approach), and while this never happened to me, I know people who've dealt with it.

You don't say what hair products you're using—the first thing to do, of course, is to check those products' ingredients lists and eliminate anything with non-water soluble ingredients. The next thing you could do would be trying a rinse with lemon juice. I've not heard of putting cornstarch in your hair, but again, it's been a long time since I did this.

And it could certainly be the scented oil—I'd try skipping it and seeing if you get better results.

Other than those things, I do know that a lot of people have had an adjustment period that they've had to get through before their scalp's oil production calms down.

Is VLC necessary for weight loss with PCOS/insulin resistance?

2011-09-15T04:34:10Z

I'm new here, and looking into paleo as a way of helping to manage my PCOS (and concurrent insulin resistance). I've been cutting simple carbs and industrial oils out of my diet and increasing my fat consumption, though I'm still eating legumes and dairy (in addition to fruits and vegetables, including tubers), and finding that I really like the resulting increase in satiety and decrease in cravings. I'm working on figuring out where I'm taking my diet with the goals of both improved health and fat loss, but I am disinclined to go VLC unless it's really necessary for one or both of these goals. Do people have experience or research indicating whether or not PCOS requires lower carb intake (<50g/day?) for weight loss? Thanks very much!

Edited to add that I do take Metformin, though I'm not sure if that's relevant, and since I've been on it my A1C has been quite low.

Answer by curious for Best fish? For taste/enjoyment

2011-09-15T04:08:41Z

As people have said, whatever's freshest is usually the way to go. That said, I really will go for salmon (which I like best raw, smoked, or just seared) or for hard-shell shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels, scallops) when I have those options. Yellowtail and swordfish are also great, hearty, "meaty" fish varieties.

Comment by curious

2011-12-10T20:50:41Z

I say testosterone is a culprit in serious acne because it's generally medically accepted. Yes, one can reject CW, but there's plenty of medical research on the connection between hormone levels and acne (starting with the observation of acne's general onset at puberty). Anecdotally, I've seen two friends go through transition from female to male, and when they started taking testosterone, both had fierce acne for months. See also: steroid users. My understanding is that more severe acne is likely to be primarily hormonal, and will only respond to dietary changes to a limited extent.

Comment by curious

2011-12-10T18:39:36Z

See, this is what's weird to me about this—we don't know what other people's circumstances are. Maybe they're buying for a picky significant other or houseguest. Maybe they're buying for a party. I don't know. For me, as a fat woman who's aware of the stigma of social judgment, it's been really difficult to work up the courage to buy tons of meat and butter. I know how people are looking at me.

Comment by curious

2011-12-09T17:57:13Z

Yep. I'd agree with this and also that the downsides of döner are comparatively minor. I always go for the garlic yogurt sauce. Mmm. Döner.

Comment by curious

2011-11-22T19:53:44Z

If you're actually healthy (and it sounds like you are), using a number on a scale as an indicator that you're unhealthy seems slightly backward, no?

Comment by curious

2011-11-18T23:48:52Z

Me too! I got one for my birthday, and have been eating grass-fed local beef all month courtesy of my generous parents. It was a great present.

Comment by curious

2011-11-18T23:36:04Z

Also, was one of the the improvements in your endocrine condition the resumption of regular periods?

Comment by curious

2011-11-18T23:34:35Z

Thanks for sharing your experience. When she said you "no longer had PCOS," did she mean you no longer have metabolic syndrome, or did a transvaginal ultrasound actually reveal that cysts on your ovaries had vanished?

Comment by curious

2011-11-18T14:22:02Z

Weck makes all-glass jars, or you could use Ball or Mason jars, for which you can always buy new metal lids.

Comment by curious

2011-11-16T15:55:32Z

It's "voila." Sorry to be nitpicky, but it's a major pet peeve.

Comment by curious

2011-11-15T16:15:42Z

Or possibly weight is not the perfect indicator of health that the CW holds it up to be? Nah, couldn't be...

Comment by curious

2011-11-08T06:17:40Z

Aside from the nutritional benefits of gelatin and all the other stuff the presence of which it connotes, the gelatin in homemade stock gives it a better mouthfeel than commercial stock.

Comment by curious

2011-11-07T08:12:33Z

I don't think it's true that US restaurants are enjoined from frying in animal fats. I know it's trendy at the moment for nice restaurants to offer duck-fat fries. They're all over the place in Brooklyn, but I've seen (and eaten) them as far afield as Harrisonburg, VA.

Comment by curious

2011-11-05T18:38:18Z

If I could +1 this twice, I would. This is exactly right. Braising and slow-roasting are your best friends.

Comment by curious

2011-10-19T17:35:52Z

Or a great flavor profile for stewed beef or chicken.

Comment by curious

2011-10-15T20:25:04Z

#1 is definitely no myth demographically. I remember trying to find fresh vegetables in urban New Orleans...it quite literally could not be done.