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Hi everyone! I'm new to PaleoHacks and I started the Paleo diet a couple days ago after a recommendation from a family friend. I have pretty bad acne and I was hoping that eating Paleo will clear it up naturally (the other option was to take accuntane or a variety of other medication..). I am also looking to lose some weight (right now I'm 5'7" and 145 pounds).

However, after being on the diet for a couple days, I've found that I'm starving and craving carbs (and all the other bad stuff we aren't supposed to eat). Any suggestions on easy foods I can make/eat/find? I can make pretty simple stuff but I'm no chef! This morning I had a hard boiled egg and a piece of fruit. Last night for dinner I had a piece of salmon and half an avocado... At this rate I'm going to starve to death.

*Please keep in mind that I'm going from eating about 2500-3000 calories of meat, carbs, and junk food to 100% Paleo

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sounds like you're not eating anything lol? Incorporate some sweet potatoes/yams/butternut squash etc for good starch sources :) – Paleo_BLaZeDRas Jul 28 at 22:30
+ make sure you are eating enough protein, 0.8 - 1g per lb bodyweight is a good starting point to try out – Paleo_BLaZeDRas Jul 28 at 22:31

4 Answers

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Good for you!

You need to eat more protein (and more food in general). Eat protein, along with fat and some starches 3-4 x day and you will not be hungry.

I learned here that you should be eating 70-100 grams of protein per day.
Divide that into 4 mini-meals and I bet you will not be hungry.

If you are hungry, then you didn't eat enough protein.

Good luck.

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It's easier to eat protein until you're a little more than full. And eat some fat every meal and veggies 2-3 times a day. Like Crowlover stated I eat 4 times a day and am never hungry. Obviously don't gorge yourself, but one egg is not enough. – Lcourage Jul 28 at 19:07
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You need to eat more food, period! More fat will help, but you need to ease into it slowly.

Agree w Crowlover that protein helps satiety!

Carbs are not evil, just get them from starchy vegetables (potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes) & fruit.

For example (What I might eat):

Breakfast: 3-4 eggs fried in butter with sauteed spinach

Lunch: burger with potatoes of some kind

Dinner: Salmon on a salad with fruit or dark chcocolate for dessert.

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I agree with everyone else: you need to eat more. A lot more. And it's fine to have starch - try potatoes or white rice (if you tolerate it well). Don't try intermittent fasting or anything more complicated at this point; focus on getting the Paleo thing dialed in before you start getting fancy.

As for easy foods, a slow cooker is about as easy as it gets, if you have (or can get - they're super cheap) one. Throw a chunk of meat in there, turn it on and leave for school - when you get back, dinner will be waiting for you.

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There is a teenage girl in my household who is eating just about the most pure paleo/primal diet I can think of. (Due to autism, and with buy in from the medical Authorities, she's on a very pure diet- better than mine!) Meat, eggs, meat, fish, salad of assorted dark greens and seasonal green vegetables twice daily- meat- no dairy, NO grains at all- - fruit is about 3 servings a week.

Lots of energy, no meltdowns, no pimples. Great health. Not a trace of acne. (and her sister and mother, both older, both still have plenty)

Okay- here's the thing I found when I first went "paleo" (back then it was Natural Only Aktins because it wasn't paleo yet.)

A sugar addiction is a sugar addiction is a sugar addiction. Go cold turkey for a few weeks- including the fruits. Especially the fruits! Get the physiological sugar addiction under control (yeah, you can be addicted to sugar on mangoes, orange juice, and apples) and replace the psychological with meat binging for a few weeks. For me it was cheese omelettes. Take 3 minutes to make, and I had probably 40 of them in 3 weeks before I got over everything. That and homemade beef jerky.

Unprocessed starches are okay after a while, but a lot of people- more than will admit it even in the paleo world- come in with a sugar addiction. It's an elephant in the room that the moderation approach can't see. Sometimes you need a week or two of extreme to get past old habits.

An extra bonus? you would not believe the difference in tasting sweetness in things after. We make an unsweetened coconut milk and wild berry ice cream that tastes sweeter and better than when I was eating 15 cent thrifty drug store scoops!

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Christof - while its awesome that your friend with autism is doing great, your advise to this young women really doesn't make much sense to me. Seems pretty obvious she is craving carbs since she has been eating WAYyyyyyyy too little. Im unclear why you are your recommending to this teen that she eat virtully no carbs. Makes no sense. – Crowlover Jul 28 at 22:06
Okay, let's try it this way. "I'm craving nicotine" Obviously, not getting enough nicotine! ---- until the addiction is broken. IF- and yes, it is an IF- there is a sugar addiction to get past, then whether or not she is getting enough carbs is measurable much more by ketone level than by "desire" – Christof Jul 30 at 21:34
(Um, because some details may have been missed- a couple days is not enough time to have a Real carb deficit. I'm NOT advising eating less food, and a temporary break from fruits ain't going to hurt. -- She's "not eating enough" but it's been a *couple days*- eat more omelettes and sausage and jerky for a bit. The point here was that the feeling of carb craving and starving is very likely a reaction to a sugar addiction. Obviously not a certainty, but ... where am I advocating eating less food, anyway?) – Christof Jul 30 at 21:41
Christof I never said or implied that you are advocating that she eat less. I disagree with your nicotine analogy in whole. People will crave carbs when they have not eaten enough. This person has been eating way too little. Craving carbs when you are hungry (and/or have not eaten enough protein and fat) is VERY common. She may or may not have a sugar addiction as you say. There is nothing about the info. she gave that indicates a "sugar addiction" to me. Anyway the cure for carb craving is protein with fat in sufficient amounts and ideally 4 meals per day - in my opinion. – Crowlover Jul 31 at 19:21
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Crowlover- Ah, I got the sugar addiction from "couple days" combined with "craving carbs" --- people will also crave carbs when going through a sugar addiction recovery. Nothing significant pointed at the sugar addiction besides severe acne and junk food. Neither are definitively direct, I understand that. – Christof Aug 1 at 0:37
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