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Update: This is day nine of the paleo diet and I crashed yesterday. I ended up eating a little bit of sweet potato and feeling much better. My boyfriend is still fine. I'm feeling a bit off today and am cooking another sweet potato. I have found that if I want to exercise, I can't go without starch. I hope I can still lose weight.


My boyfriend and I are on day four of the paleo diet (we are following Loren Cordain's menu). I have been off of diary, grains and gluten for years. I got rid of them because I did an elimination diet and found them to irritate my gut and cause me to break out. In fact, after the major dietary modifications, my hashimoto's thyroditis went into complete remission. My medical doctor was so surprised (there's not supposed to be a cure for hashimoto's) that he tried his other hashi patients on my diet to the same success. My boss is a naturopath and inspired by my transformation, put her autoimmune patients on the same diet and they also saw major improvements in symptoms. That's saying something. Anyway, I didn't eliminate legumes because they don't seem to irritate me. Later I found out about the Paleo diet and was excited to see how closely it aligned with what I had figured out on my own. So we started four days ago and are both really excited about how good we feel. In fact, we're concerned that there is some sort of honey moon period and that this awesomeness with eventually plateau. We've done detox diets before where we felt good at first and then crashed horribly. I know this isn't a detox diet, but I've NEVER experienced a diet where it felt great, I am always full, cravings vanish and I have energy. What is the catch? I would like some feedback from people who have been on the diet longterm.

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I would love to know, what is the difference between Paleo and your magic diet - legumes is THE ONLY difference or something else as well? – VB May 14 2012 at 18:14
I ate more beans, chickpeas and pseudo grains than I did veggies. I thought I ate a lot of veggies, but apparently I didn't. Not compared to what Cordian has me eating. Also, I ate either potatoes or sweet potatoes every day. I never felt entirely satisfied though. Perhaps the potatoes were messing with my blood sugar, I don't know. Regardless, this somewhat small change seems to have made a big difference so far. – Marie May 14 2012 at 18:18
I still have pretty bad CFS flare ups. I'm hoping the paleo diet will help, but I'm not holding my breath. I've been sick for a lot of years. – Marie May 14 2012 at 18:22
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Thanks for answering. Eating a variety of veggies is crucial. I would suggest to eat sweet potatoes and squash/pumpkin daily to ease your transition. No white potatoes though. And no beans/legumes. Everything else is the same. Some people (like me) cannot tolerate nuts. – VB May 14 2012 at 18:36
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I've noticed some people crash if they stay low carb for too long. – julianne May 14 2012 at 22:39
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Honestly, only time will tell.

I didn't have a crash - my husband did. Everyone is different. The big thing about paleo is you will always hear things n=1. No matter what people tell you, nobody has walked exactly in your shoes, responds the way your body responds, or will experience the changes the way you experience them.

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That makes sense. I know people who claim to flourish on a vegetarian diet but whenever I tried to do it, I'd get horribly fatigued. It was awful. Everyone is different. Did your husband go off the diet after the crash or did he push through it. If he tried to push through, how did that work out? – Marie May 14 2012 at 18:37
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No, he pushed through it. We did the Whole30 recently and day 4-8 were rough for him. But we committed to an amount of time and actually did it - cheat free. :) – DanielleO812 May 14 2012 at 18:56
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I have Hashimoto's, and I definitely had a honeymoon. I'm not overweight, but I still lost tons of weight and looked great- and then, maybe a month, month and a half later, it stopped and got a lot harder in general. Weight returned, as did, more importantly, most other of my Hashimoto's markers. I have to be a looot stricter now, it seems.

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Interesting. Since I suffer from low thyroid, I have trouble losing weight no matter what I do. Calorie restriction just seems to lower my metabolism and exercise makes me want to eat more. I really want this diet to work for me. What do you mean by strict? Do you restrict carbs? Are you still on the Paleo diet despite the setback? – Marie May 14 2012 at 19:35

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