About appetite: After trying every diet possible over last 20 years, I finally managed to go entirely gluten free and my near-voracious appetite normalized after two weeks, reducing to about a third. I just feel "full" sooner. All health issues disappeared entirely within about 6-8 months, including truly wretched hormonal problems (hot flashes, insomnia, night sweats, fatigue, cramps, flooding, PAIN) and a ton of "little" things everyone attributes to "aging," like stiffness and soreness, aching bones, memory and "fogginess," depression, etc, etc, etc.
This effect is independent of whether I eat meat or not, sugar or not, cooked or not. All I have to do is avoid gluten as if it were pure poison, even the tiniest bit, and I do fine. I no longer crave much of anything "unhealthy" as it seems to have normalized all my taste sensors and cravings too. I don't have cravings at all anymore, which is liberating in itself.
Considering that gluten is now thought by some docs to affect the endorphin receptors of the brain 30 times more strongly than morphine, not only is it addictive but it can really mess up your whole internal balance. Weight loss, a lifelong issue for me, became gradual but effortless--I eat what I want, but the key is that 99 percent of time I don't want any junk or sweets, my body desires mainly foods that, surprise, just happen to be consistent with the paleo diet. I just think of this as "real" food, stuff you don't need a mechanized food-agribiz to create or find: meats, fish, eggs, nuts, mushrooms, herbs, veggies and beans, fruits, raw organic milk, butter and cream, and coconut and olive oils are the only veg oils I use.. the others are too new in human diet and are agribiz. The tastes of foods changed. I lost the desire for sweets after about 3 weeks gluten free--I eat them on occasion but not often. Veggies taste sweet to me now. I am usually never hungry in the morning unless I skipped dinner, and I don't worry about it, I eat when I feel like it. I do eat rice, millet and quinoa, but not often. These aren't a staple for me but I don't avoid carbs or starches on purpose, it's just that I don't feel like eating them so much, they aren't as appealing anymore.
I don't eat tons of meat either, I eat it when I feel like it and that is not every day, nor is it by the truckload like I did on Atkins-type diets. We have a few chickens in the backyard, so I eat eggs but not bucketfuls. Food is no longer a big issue all the time and I just am so much healthier and happier as a result. All this goodness, and going radically gluten-free is what made it possible. Food bills are actually lower although I am eating most costly foods, just because I eat so much less.
I now suspect that gluten is the culprit in virtually all health problems. If we eliminated it from the food supply, universal health care would become irrelevant as nobody would be sick anymore. The entire pharmaceuticals industry would collapse and we'd all be better off for it. Please keep in mind that the same people who own all the big agricultural and "food" corporations are also the same people who own the pharmaceuticals corps.
They don't care if you're healthy, it isn't profitable for them.
May you each find your own path to balance and health. Love and blessings to you all.
