Category Archives: Thoughts/Opinions

Saving Money Living a Primal Lifestyle

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savemoney_growOne of the complaints I hear most from people thinking about adopting a Primal or Paleo lifestyle is that it’s too expensive. Meat costs money. Coconut flour is expensive and hard to find. Organic fruits and vegetables cost more than their conventional counterparts. How do you make this type of lifestyle work on a restricted budget?

I believe that if anyone can answer this question, I can. We are a single income family with two kids. Technically, we’re below the poverty line, since my husband is enlisted in the Air Force. However, we own our own 4000 sq ft home and have two beautiful (working) cars in the driveway. I have enough handbags and shoes to wear different ones every day for six months and we eat grass fed beef, pastured eggs, organic produce, coconut oil, pastured butter and bacon on a daily basis. I shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Sprouts. We have savings accounts with money in them and while the balance on our credit card is a little higher than I’d like it to be, we don’t have any debt that isn’t manageable.

How am I making it work? It seems like an impossible task, doesn’t it? I’ll tell you my secret: I’m damn good with money. And I don’t waste anything.

I received a request for a guest post from someone who wanted to share some money saving tips with you for a Paleo lifestyle (which I’ve included below) but I thought it would be fair if I shared my tips with you as well, as they’re completely different.

Saving-Money1. I’m realistic. Although I know the benefits of grass fed pastured meat, it’s not always available to me at a price I can afford. When my local grocery store has a “buy one get TWO free” special on meat, I buy it and put it in our deep freezer. I buy my pastured (grass fed) meat in bulk from a local farmer, and also store it in the freezer. I figure that if we eat grass fed meat some of the time and regular meat some of the time, we’re not going to up and die. Having a selection of both in the freezer means that I can rotate the good stuff with the regular stuff and still feel good about what we’re eating.

2. I get all my fat for free from my local farmer, in exchange for writing reviews on how awesome their farm and products are. (You can check out their website here, shameless promotion, cough, cough.) I get A LOT of it at one time. I render the fat down myself, strain it and put it in mason jars, which I store in the freezer. I use this fat for everything from cooking to homemade sausages to hand lotion in a pinch. You’d be amazed how many people are willing to give the fat away for free, as no one else seems to want it. (And you’d be amazed at how well it moisturizes, although it’s a bit smelly lol.)

3. I save my bacon fat. I just leave it in the pan, even overnight. It doesn’t spoil. It’s just there, deliciously waiting for me to fry my eggs in it the next morning. Organic, pastured eggs, which I’ve gotten from my farmer for about the same price as the crap conventional ones in the grocery store. If this grosses you out, think back to how your Grandma used to cook. She had a can next to the stove for her drippings and fat, didn’t she? It never went in the fridge. My dad’s family used to use these drippings to spread on bread when butter was scarce. I am too lazy to wash my cast iron pan every day, so I don’t bother with the can.

4. Any produce that has a thick skin that we’re not going to eat, I don’t bother buying organic. This includes bananas, avocados, oranges and sweet potatoes. (We don’t eat the peels of anything anymore, by the way, but that is another post for another day.)

save_money5. I make everything myself from whole real ingredients. We don’t buy any packaged food, except for the occasional package of gluten-free rice pasta and gluten-free tamari. I make chicken broth and even make my own coconut and almond milk. Why in the hell would I pay $2.99 for a can of coconut milk that has stabilizers, artificial vitamins and preservatives in it, when I can make the same amount of coconut milk for about 35 cents? It tastes better, it’s organic, I use filtered water and I know exactly what’s in it: coconut and water. It’s not rocket science. Neither is making your own coconut butter. If you buy a jar, it’ll set you back 10 bucks. Making it yourself costs…about $2. I make my own beef jerky, because I just can’t find any gluten-free, preservative-free jerky in the store that isn’t $45. I also make my own mayonnaise. It takes less than 1 minute, thanks to an awesome tip from Orleatha Smith, which we will be sharing with you via video sometime in the next month. I can use that mayonnaise for salad dressings and sauces and I even use it to cook with (it’s just oil, vinegar and eggs after all — if your recipe calls for those ingredients, why not use mayonnaise?) It’s amazing how expensive packaged food is. Don’t pay for flashy packaging and marketing campaigns. Stop spending money to have someone else (a machine, let’s face it) make your food for you. Take back your power and save yourself some cash.

6. I don’t waste anything. When I only have a little bit of mayonnaise left in the jar, instead of washing it out I add a bit of vinegar to it and voila! Instant salad dressing. I squeeze out every. last. bit. of toothpaste from the tube before I toss it. I add water to the dish soap bottle to get the remnants out. You know those neat soap dispensers that give you foam? The ones that are ridiculously expensive? Did you know that the first ingredient in that soap is water? I buy the original bottle so I can have the aerator-thingy and when the soap is gone, I refill it with about 5 cents worth of dish soap and fill the rest up with water. I learned these tips from my mom, who really needed to stretch the budget. She learned them from her mom. We’re so wasteful as a society it makes me sick sometimes. We only need to put our garbage cans out about once a month, while our neighbor’s cans are overflowing each and every week.

7. We don’t eat out. A meal for a family of four at McDonald’s costs over $20. For $20, I can make a meal that includes things like bacon wrapped scallops, grass fed steak, organic vegetables AND fruit. We mostly drink water. I don’t spend money on juice or soda or milk or coconut water or whatever you trendy kids are drinking these days. I make my coffee myself, with pastured cream, and take it in a reusable to-go cup. I refuse to spend $5 on a cup of coffee.

8. We do things that are free. Guess how much it costs to go hiking in the mountains? Or camping? Or to the park? When they grow up, our children won’t remember the ridiculously expensive vacations we went on, or the expensive flashy toys we bought them. They will remember the time they spent with us, not the money we spent on them.

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I have more tips, but I’ll save them for another day. In the meantime, Zara Blake, a financial blogger from the UK has some money-saving tips for you:

fruit picBuy from a farmer’s market: Buy fruits and vegetables from the farmer’s market where you will get them for cheap.  Visit the market at closing time when you will get the items for a cheaper price.

Dressings and salads: Make your own dressings and salads at home. Don’t spend $15 to have someone else make it for you.

Buy local foods: Always go for locally grown and seasonal foods. Exotic ones are more expensive and your body is not built to digest them regularly.

meatBulk meat: Buy a whole lamb or goat with a friend. Try meat-shares for larger animals. It will come already cut up and packaged so you can store it in the freezer. Try to buy grass-fed meats rather than the grain fed ones.

Plenty of eggs: These are the best source of protein after meat and are also pretty cheap. Include plenty of eggs in your diet.

Sales: Watch out for clearance sales in different grocery and online stores. Grab them while you can and stock up.

Do some gardening: Grow all the vegetables you need and save money. Use your kitchen waste as manure and practice rain-water harvesting. If you are running tight on living space, try roof-top gardens or potted plants.

Soups: If you find your veggies becoming dry, prepare soup with them. Using homemade bone broth is a great addition to this.

Fishing: Go fishing on weekends and catch as many fish you can. Clean and fillet them and store them in the freezer.

Nuts: Buy nuts in bulk quantities as they are cheaper than prepackaged nuts in small bags. Package them yourself and store them in the freezer.

Home-food: Eat at home and don’t eat out at restaurants too much.

No wastage: When you buy meat, don’t waste what can be eaten. If you dislike a certain part, learn to cook it in a new way. Don’t buy unnecessary prepackaged items as it will make your grocery bill go up very fast.

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These money saving tips were contributed by Zara Blake, a financial blogger from UK. She has written many articles on health, nutrition and finance. Catch her on Twitter: @financeport

Primalgirl Reads: The Primal Connection by Mark Sisson

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I was thrilled to recieve my advance copy of Mark Sisson’s latest book in The Primal Blueprint series, The Primal Connection: Follow Your Genetic Blueprint to Health and Happiness, last week for several reasons. First (and foremost), I was interested in seeing how Mark interpreted a topic that should resonate with us all at our core. Second, I was curious to see how the book was laid out, seeing as I’m writing a very similar book myself. (Thankfully, Mark has covered the bigger topics I haven’t, and my book may end up being a great companion to this one.) Third, I was excited for people to actually read this book and start making changes in their lives — changes that would make it easier for me to interact with them, to connect on a deeper level and to form tribes based on shared human experiences instead of the latest model of a designer purse or the shared love of Nikon cameras.

Why I Need This Book

I’ve been feeling majorly disconnected from modern society for about four years now — about the same length of time that I’ve been Primal. I’ve lost touch with many friends, as I no longer have much in common with them. When I started eating and exercising the way my genes expected me to, something deep in the recesses of my brain woke up. I started questioning why I did everything that I did: Why did I feel the need for a bigger house? What role was television playing in my life? Why did I want to be surrounded by people at certain times and completely alone at other times? Why did I suddenly hate video games and everyone who played them for hours on end — the only ‘social’ interaction they had all day? Why was I depressed after looking at Facebook? Didn’t I have over 500 friends on there? Shouldn’t I be happy to see what was going on in everyone’s lives, including people I haven’t seen since third grade and honestly haven’t thought about since then?

Never before have we been this connected and yet this lonely and isolated. Admit it: we ALL feel it. Something is wrong. Something is off. Something is missing. We were meant for something more. We’ve missed our calling. Something isn’t right.

Our Missing Primal Connection

Mark Sisson addresses this modern societal phenomena in his latest book in the Primal Blueprint series, The Primal Connection. The Primal Connections are organized into six categories in the book:

  • Inner Dialogue: Ten Habits of Highly Successful Hunter-Gatherers and how to implement them in your life.
  • Body: The body and mind influence each other in ways we’re only now beginning to understand. Relearn how to sit, stand, walk and move.
  • Nature: We are hardwired to encounter the sights, sounds, scents and sensations found in nature. Find ways to reconnect with it.
  • Daily Rhythm: Honor your circadian rhythm and use technology without it consuming you.
  • Social: We are wired for meaningful personal relationships. Learn how to create them.
  • Play: Playing is how we learn. Learn how to play without any attachment to the outcome and free yourself.

This book is beautifully laid out and easy to read. There are concrete steps and ideas on how to reconnect with ourselves and how to live simple, happy lives while still embracing modern conveniences and technology. What I like most about Mark Sisson is that he has always been about combining modern society with what our caveman brains expect and need to thrive. This book isn’t about breaking off from society and culture, living in a mountainside cave, wearing bear skins and shunning everyone you’ve ever met (which, I have to admit, does sound good to me on days like Black Friday. Just sayin’.). Instead, it’s about “honoring our ancient genetic recipe for health while still enjoying the comfort and convenience of modern life.”

This is a great book to take with you on a retreat, or to read on the train while you commute to work. It will make you think. It will make you aware. And, if Mark has done his job right, it should make you happier, more connected to the world around you and to your inner caveman. Grok on.

SPECIAL DEAL!

For the next two days only (until Thursday, January 10th, 2013), Mark is giving away special bonus packages and giveaways when you order the book. You can click on the links above, order from his site, from a book store — it doesn’t matter. Click here for more information on the exclusive goodies you will receive if you buy The Primal Connection within the next two days.

November Update

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As we speak, I’m living in 600 sq ft with no oven, two screaming toddlers who are very upset with me and little to no will to live. The last couple of months have been so hectic that we’ve been completely overwhelmed. I’ve gone from a 2100 sq ft home, with full-time day care and supportive family around to this – practically overnight.

My husband is in the military and in August we received word that we were moving to Phoenix, Arizona, ready or not, by the end of October. We spent most of the month of September out of the country and partying as much as possible with friends we’d never see again. That left October for us to get packed, landscape/sod an entire neglected backyard, look after two toddlers, repair damages to the house, clean it, load up the cars and hit the road.

Just parenting these two kids amidst all this other crap has been almost more than I can take. They are out of their normal routine and schedule for the first time in their lives and have turned into little monsters. They demand 100% of my attention, 100% of the time and fight violently with each other if I’m busy doing something else, say, like selfishly wanting to pee in private. Every darling young woman I run into that gushes, “Oh, TWINS! I’ve always wanted twins!” I want to immediately bitch slap into reality.

I know the kids are insecure right now and their entire lives have been turned upside down, so I’m trying to cut them some slack. It’s been hard, though; we’re completely alone out here, with no support, no one to watch them so we can have a break, no playmates and nothing to take the focus off of how freakin’ bored they are, except the TV. All of our attempts at discipline seem to be failing and even taking the kids to the store is impossible without at least 2 meltdown-tantrums per child, per hour.

Mid-October we packed enough clothes and supplies to last about two months – including a crock pot, cast iron frying pans, my food processor and Vitamix – as I was told that we would have a full kitchen in the temporary lodging we’d have on the new base. Since I had so many other things to deal with, I didn’t have time to prepare any of the foods I would normally make before a road trip, including beef jerky, dried fruit, and kale chips. We barely had time to empty our freezer into a cooler and strap it to the car.

This essentially left us naked and powerless on the Generic Interstate that is the United States of America. The very first day of our road trip we were already at the end of our rope, dealing with the whining and the tantrums as well as the stress of driving and securing shelter for the night. I had kombucha SCOBYs with me, a whole organic frozen chicken, frozen lamb liver, condiments the movers wouldn’t pack like horseradish and other equally useless things like whisks. I didn’t have anything to feed my kids except banana chips. I was the one that suggested McDonald’s. That quarter pounder with cheese was one of the best things I’ve had in a long time.

The place we were supposed to stay at on base had a full kitchen, so I had packed with that in mind. I was also supposed to be filmed by TLC during our stay there, cooking and generally being Primally Domestic , so I needed things like cute aprons. However, when we got there and got settled in, we found out we could only afford to stay there for about a week and TLC had pushed us back to Season 3. All the stuff I’d packed was essentially useless.

We had to move and couldn’t find a place in our budget that had a full kitchen so we landed at a craptastic Extended Stay with a single burner, a microwave and a toaster. I’m lucky enough to have a fridge and freezer to keep the useless fucking chicken frozen. The whisks are still in the car; there just isn’t need or room for them in here.

After our initial stint at McDonald’s, we ate wheat for 2 days in a row and then began to regret it. We’ve been surviving on gluten-free bread, whatever fruit and vegetables you can eat raw, deli meats and pickles for a couple weeks now. I’ve also been eating sugar like a junkie. I’ve been trying to stay as Primal as possible, but it’s hard. My sleep has gone to shit, the kids are on me constantly and I feel completely overwhelmed. I also haven’t had the energy to exercise, something I know would really help if I could get up off my ass and just do it!

I have been fairly productive throughout this move, though, when it comes to doing biohacking regarding my HS. For a while, I had been wondering if I was one of those individuals in whom it just “disappears,” but some well-timed experiments and research have provided some valuable insight into the disease, the life cycle of hair follicles and different things that can cause problems. I’ve included all this information in the book, as well as some great tips and insights that readers have sent me over the last few months.

I’ve got 173 pages done on my book and plan on writing another 50. When I first started this process I thought I would simply combine my two blog posts, add a couple extra pages of information and publish it. As I started writing, I realized that this topic is way too big to encompass in a couple pages. I felt that I would be doing everyone a disservice if I published this book without all the information in it that you needed to beat your HS. There are a few more factors at play, other than just “finding your trigger foods.”

The reason I’m mentioning this is that I am getting emails from people every single day looking for help and I can’t write everyone back. Right now I have 54 unread and flagged comments and emails in my inbox and the best intentions to “get to them as soon as the kids go down for a nap.” Which, unfortunately, they have decided they no longer need to do. Ever.

I realize that I am one of the only sources online that offers any hope for those with HS and I am working as quickly as I can to give you the information you need. However, I won’t be able to complete this book or handle any type of consultations or even basic email correspondence until I get some sort of care for these kids. To put it into perspective, this blog post alone has taken me TWO WEEKS to write. I’m not kidding. I really wish I were.

My advice to anyone who is currently seeking help regarding HS:

  1. Educate yourself about what foods contain gluten, wheat and nightshades. If you don’t know what a nightshade is, please Google it. I can’t answer everyone’s questions about things like that. I wish I could but I just don’t have time. Find out what is in the food YOU eat. www.marksdailyapple.com www.paleohacks.com and www.robbwolf.com are great places to start.
  2. Make a list of all the OTC and prescription medications you take and Google them in addition to “leaky gut.” Healing a leaky gut is probably the most important part of putting HS into remission and there are lots of factors at play, including birth control pills and Ibuprofen.
  3. If you have a question you can’t find the answer to, do email me. Just please don’t expect an answer quickly. I will answer your email in the order it was received. We appreciate your business here at Primal Power, please stay on the line and a representative will be with you shortly. LOL

Some things you can do to help me:

  • Please send me pictures, along with your legal name and permission to use them. Let me know the name you would like me to use in the book (or I can use “anonymous”) plus your age and where you live.
  • Send me a short story about your HS, 50-200 words max. You can recount your experience regarding your personal life, surgery, interactions with doctors or what has worked for you. Again, I need a name, age and where you live.
  • I’ve been writing entire chapters in response to some of your emails, and sending you the chapter as my answer. If you’re willing to wait a little while, send me some of your questions and I’ll see what I can do.

We should be closing on our new house in a matter of weeks, so I will have some semblance of normalcy returning soon. I completed my CHEK certification in September and am now an official CHEK Certified Holistic Life Coach so I will be opening up my new business early in the new year.

Hidradenitis Suppurativa Book/Guide

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Hey guys!

I’ve taken a short break from writing my book to write another book. I’m still getting overwhelming comments on my Hidradenitis Suppurativa posts, and I decided that I needed to get all the information and tips I have in one, easy to read — and easy to understand — format.

I hope to have this book finished and available on for download and purchase by the end of the month. I’ll be using a lot of the comments that you guys have posted over the last couple months but I need to know if you have any more questions about specific things that you want me to address.

So, here’s what I need:

1. Questions/comments/testimonials
2. I’m searching for potential names for the book. Some people I’ve talked to refer to their HS as “Bumps.” This is my working title, but if you have a better suggestion, please let me know!! The name is pretty important and I’m at a loss. The subtitle is definitely going to be: “A field guide for surviving — and overcoming — the painful condition Hidradenitis Suppurativa.”
3. Any pictures you have (or want to take) that you will let me use in the book. I can give you credit, or post them anonymously. They do NOT have to show your face. I will NEVER, EVER “out” you if you don’t want me to.
4. Lists of your triggers and reactions. Send it to me with the following subjects: 1. Known triggers, 2. Potential triggers, 3. Major Symptoms (Body Wide), incl. joint pain, endometriosis, 4. Specific Digestive symptoms, 5. Skin conditions, incl. rashes and acne, 6) Mood/Pain Level

You can either comment on this post, contact me directly by clicking on the “contact” tab in the upper right corner of this page. Anyone interested in sending pics, please let me know and I’ll send you my email address.

Thank you! I’m excited to have this book out for you to read and hopefully it will help you out a great deal.

May Day Reflections and PrimalCon

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May Day. A day to herald the coming of Spring with song and dance, a day for children with flowers in their hair to skip around beribboned maypoles, a time to crown May Day queens.

A day for blog posts, apparently. And phone calls, texts, emails, dings from Twitter, pings and pongs from Facebook, returns to Amazon and endless hours in Starbucks.

I’m trying to recapture the feeling I had at PrimalCon a couple weeks ago, sitting in the sweet-smelling grass, basking in the sunshine, surrounded by bare feet with the wind whipping through my hair and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. I’ve written a review of PrimalCon down below. I’m feeling the pull of Harbin Hot Springs, the need to disconnect and get back to nature. To start my cold thermogenesis therapy in their cold pools, to say ‘to hell with the cold, I’m getting in the hot pool and soaking for a while,’ to have non-food related conversations with vegans, to play guitar under a tree. And yes, to put flowers in my hair and dance naked under the stars. I’m a hippy pagan at heart. My heart yearns for these things.

I’ve been trying to figure out what direction to take with my life and this whole Primal/Paleo thing. I know I need to do something within this community but until now, I haven’t been too sure what that something is. I have wicked fantastic ideas that unfortunately require a staff (or at least a partner) to bring to light. This is what I’ve decided to do:

  • I will still maintain this blog, but I’m taking a little break. I’m only answering comments once a week and will only post every so often.
  • I am offering one-on-one biohacking consultations. (Try and sue me, North Carolina, I’m pretty sure ANYONE can call themselves a biohacker. I’m not a nutritionist, nor a registered dietician, nor do I pretend to be. I am a pretty wicked biohacker, though.) I don’t pretend to know everything, but I have tons of contacts that know more than me and I’m not afraid to use them. I know how to use Google like a pro. I also know that individual help is what most people need when starting their Paleo journeys. This lifestyle is NOT one-size-fits-all. I’ll be putting up a consultation page on this blog soon, if you’re interested please let me know!
  • I’m writing a book. I am going to go offline for a bit and get this damn thing written. I’m dedicating a good chunk of each day to writing. I’ll be turning off my phone and even my internet connection during this time. I’m going to go to Harbin to write some of it so I’ll be even further out of touch.
  • I’m considering new partnerships with people in the Paleosphere. I’d love to do something and if you are looking for a partner or a new project, let’s team up. At the moment, I’ll only commit to something I know I have time for, a short-term project for example.

I’m continuing to biohack myself during this journey. I fear I may have something called fructose malabsorption. It would certainly explain a lot. If you have been Paleo or Primal for a while, but are still experiencing skin issues or depression, check out the link from Peggy the Primal Parent. It will blow your mind. It’s a REAL thing! Dr. Emily Deans blogs about it here, too. I’ll let you know how I fare, but let’s just say I won’t be treating myself with honey straight out of the jar anymore. :(

So on, to PrimalCon:

PrimalCon was amazing. Here’s my review in 70 words or less:

AHS was academic. I learned a lot about evolutionary biology. I came home spouting off about IGF1. PaleoFX was academic and practical. I made tons of friends and learned a lot about the lifestyle. I came home spouting off about the benefits of Kombucha. PrimalCon…was amazing. I learned about myself. My limits, my body, my mind. I came home, sore and sunburnt, and was completely silent.

And that’s saying something.

PrimalCon and Preparing for a Road Trip When You’re Paleo

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I’m getting ready to leave for PrimalCon in a few hours and I am super excited. Not only will I be talking to others about how I transformed myself, I’m planning on concentrating on how I have dealt with the litany of doctors I have seen over the years – to date, I have seen about 50 doctors from four different countries for the various ailments I used to suffer from. I continue to visit the doctor occasionally, if only to test their knowledge and spread the word about things like “gliaden” and natural, nutritional interventions as opposed to pharmaceuticals – the go-to of every conventional doctor I’ve ever seen. Perhaps you get to choose the doctor you go to, but as part of the socialized, industrial machine that is military medicine, I don’t. I get to see a new one every time I go to the office. So, I do what I can to be a shit disturber. It’s just what I do.

I’m going to take the time at PrimalCon to relax. I’m bringing my guitar and plan to enjoy the company of my wonderful Primal family, eat everything in sight and eventually let the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach soothe me to sleep. This will be the only vacation I get all year and I’m going to make the most of it.

I was going to say that I’ll be tweeting and blogging from PrimalCon but I won’t. I’m not going to make that promise. Besides the issue of having an internet connection in the first place, I want to concentrate on the event itself and on having fun, playing and connecting with Primal tribe members. Even if I do have an internet connection, I think I’m going to unplug for a few days.

In the meantime, it’s tough planning for a trip. I know that there will be lots of food when I get there, but I have a 9 hour journey each way. In my SAD days, I could stop at a roadside diner or go through a drive-thru, but that is no longer an option. Being Primal or Paleo can be daunting when you’re faced with time away from home, but there are solutions. Here are some things you can do:

    • Bring some lemon or lime juice. If you stop at a restaurant, you can always find salt. Grab some of the little packets to take with you if you can find them. Then, you can make a refreshing sports drink (recipe here) that will keep you hydrated. I find this especially helpful if you’re going to be flying.
    • Make up individual bags of nuts and dried fruit – one for each day you’ll be away. I went to Trader Joe’s and bought cashews, macadamias, almonds, dried blueberries, cranberries and cherries – all my favorites. Throw in some organic dark chocolate and you’ll have a nutritious meal (and a treat!) on hand for when there aren’t any other options. If you have a vacuum sealer, it will keep them ultra-fresh but I do caution you that trying to open one of those packages while you are driving is very, very dangerous.
    • You can also dry some of your own fruit if you own a dehydrator. Organic Kiwi sliced very thin with the skin still on and dried is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.
    • If you have the time, make some beef jerky. If you don’t, there are amazing Paleo options available on the Internet if you plan a little in advance. The only two I have tried personally are Steve’s Original Paleo Kits and Tanka Bars. I prefer the Tanka Bars and here’s why:

     

      The Paleo Kits consist of nuts, fruit and grass-fed meat. They’re delicious, but the nuts and fruit are a little slimy. They taste great (especially when you’re ravenous!) but it changes the texture of the nuts and everything is sticky. I think it’s from the combination of the fat and the fruit. To be fair, I haven’t tried Steve’s grass-fed beef jerky on it’s own, but I’m sure it’s delicious and not sticky at all. You can’t eat the Paleo Kits while holding on to the wrapper, like you can with Tanka Bars. Reaching into the Paleo Kit package results in terribly sticky hands. Tanka Bars are made from buffalo meat and dried cranberries. They’re tender and sweet. I received a sample from Tanka a few weeks ago and I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised. They’re a little sticky, too, but you can hold on to the wrapper so your hands stay clean. I’m used to having to tear at beef jerky with my teeth but I could easily bite into the Tanka Bars. My kids loved them too. Both Steve’s Originals and Tanka Bars have quality, Paleo products and both are companies that you can feel good about supporting. I have banners for both companies on the side of the page; feel free to see what they offer. I’m sure you’ll find they have products that can help you with both convenience and nutrition while you’re away from home.

     

  • Bring a jar of coconut oil. If all else fails, a spoonful or two will tide you over until your next meal. Coconut oil is also great to rinse out your mouth if you don’t have a toothbrush handy. A few people I’ve talked to use it instead of mouthwash and toothpaste. It’s antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and tastes great. You can add it to coffee (best with a blender though), put it on veggies at a restaurant instead of the hydrogenated imitation “butter” most places offer these days or use it as a natural, moisturizing sun screen for your skin. Be careful opening the jar if you’re in a warm environment, though. Look to see if it’s melted first.
  • For veggies, there are great kale chips available at most supermarkets. As long as you’re eating them with some beef jerky, you don’t have to worry about the fact that they’re “vegan.” ;) I make my own. My dehydrator is probably the most useful appliance I own these days.
  • Intermittent Fasting. Always an option and sometimes the best choice.

There are lots of options available to the Paleo traveller, if you do a little planning and preparation ahead of time. Most of us have to do that on a daily basis anyway, so traveling isn’t really a big deal when you think about it.

What do YOU like to bring on trips with you? Any tips or advice for the Paleo traveller?

School Lunches, the USDA and a Review of Eat Like a Dinosaur

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Click here to jump right to my review of Eat Like a Dinosaur: Recipe & Guidebook for Gluten-free Kids by Paleo Parents Matt and Stacy.

Before I get to my review, I need to vent about a couple things. We’ve had a base wide power outage this morning so I am experiencing a rare treat: people who normally meet elsewhere in private on base are having to go to Starbucks, the only place within 10 miles that has electricity.

This is what I am witnessing:

  • a base doctor, studying radiology and drinking diet Mountain Dew. I am itching to ask him if he knows the effects of the brominated vegetable oil he is drinking, but I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t care.
  • a pharmaceutical rep pushing a new drug on a hospital administrator. He even has fancy new toys for the doctors, stethoscopes and models of joints and bones. I’m not sure how that makes the drugs work better, or makes them safer, but they sure will look cool in the doctor’s office.
  • a nurse apologizing for showing emotion when faced with men returning from war without their limbs. She said she will “work on it.” In my experience, military doctors and hospital staff have even less emotion than civilian doctors. I was told by a nurse not to cry when I was in the ER, as it would result in them not helping me. Cause I’m crying. If I was hurt bad enough, I wouldn’t be able to cry. I guess.

I just want to stand up and scream. After being surrounded by Paleo physicians, naturopaths and success stories at PaleoFX, I am once again in the land of Big Government. Make no mistake, the United States Armed Forces is tightly pinned under the thumb of the pharmaceutical industry, the USDA and the FDA. Everything it does must fall directly in line with the guidelines imposed by those (and other) government agencies.

Play it again, Uncle Sam

This whole issue with ObamaCare and the government making us eat broccoli that’s all over FoxNews right now makes me want to pee myself laughing. The government already tells the military what to eat. I wish they would mandate the eating of broccoli. Like I said, the military has to follow the guidelines imposed by the USDA. That includes the food our troops eat overseas AND school lunches for our children. I have scanned in a copy of the 6-week menu served to the toddlers at the Child Development Center (the CDC ironically enough, although I lovingly call it the Center for Disease Creation). Here goes. Brace yourself. (Note the date in the lower left corner of each page. This was when this particular menu was approved. These menus have been in effect at this facility for almost three years. I tried to contact the person who had approved them and was told that she no longer works there. But her menus still exist. God, the lunch ladies must be tired of making this crap over and over.)

In case you can’t make them out, the pictures at the top of each menu are all of things my children don’t eat – (L to R) potatoes, spaghetti, crackers, pizza, sandwich – and wheat makes up the majority of the menu. After two weeks on this diet, my level-headed, patient, loving toddlers were a screaming, biting, tantrum-throwing mess, covered in psoriasis from head to toe. We couldn’t handle them at all. We tried to bring in foods to substitute the wheat and dairy but were told that we weren’t allowed to, in case another child had an allergy. So, we went to the doctors. We had him write up an official diagnosis of wheat and dairy allergy, so that our children became “special needs” cases. Then, we got into the habit of packing ALL their food ourselves. (Note: even though our kids have these “allergies,” it doesn’t stop the school from serving wheat and dairy in front of them.)

We had to come up with all sorts of creative substitutions, since the teachers told us it would be best if the kids were eating foods similar to those the other children were eating. The only catch was that we couldn’t send them to school with any nuts and that we had to loosely follow the USDA guidelines – 6-11 servings of “grains,” shitloads of “dairy” and something green or red that can pass for a “vegetable.” We spent weeks coming up with chicken nugget recipes, tomato-free Sloppy Joe imitations, wheat-free, nut-free cookies and breads and interesting breakfasts. We did that for about two months, then we couldn’t take it anymore. We don’t eat Sloppy Joes at home, not even Paleo ones, so I felt it was an incredible waste of time trying to imitate the SAD diet the USDA imposes. So, we just started sending them off to school with Paleo food. Instead of cupcakes, our kids got a date. The teachers can’t believe our kids reactions when they give them their date. They will ignore the candy, cookies, cake or whatever gluten-filled crap the other kids are eating and act as if though they were given a million bucks instead of something that looks like wrinkly tree poop. The teachers have even told me that they themselves have tried the kids lunches and that our children eat “the best out of every one at this school.” There are hundreds of kids, teachers and staff. We don’t feed our kids that well for lunch. You should see what they eat for dinner. ;)

Eat Like A Dinosaur

Which leads me to my review of Eat Like a Dinosaur by the Paleo Parents, Matt and Stacy. I’ve been pretty much going at this on my own as most gluten-free kids cookbooks don’t work for me. Too many recipes contain nightshades. Or nuts. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on buying this book. I was given a copy at PaleoFX and flipped through it on the plane.

The difference between this book and others I’ve read is that it is written by actual parents with young kids. Those of you that don’t have young kids do not understand how difficult it is to please them. Toddlers have the palates of, well, toddlers. Even though our kids have been mostly Primal since birth, they still want to eat simple foods. They ask for things like bagels, cake and hot dogs, since that’s what the other kids eat. They won’t touch bok choy, often spit out their steak and need a freakin’ dip for everything.

At first glance, I thought that this book had far too many desserts, snacks and treats. It was easy to judge from an adult perspective. However, when I took a closer look and thought about it from a mom’s point of view, I realized that Matt and Stacy have included recipes that their kids will actually eat. Kids want to eat crap. It is up to us as parents to disguise healthy food as “crap” so the kids think they are getting away with something, while at the same time providing top-notch nutrition and setting our children up for success later in life.

The first recipe I made was the “Anytime Cookies.” They are sweetened with a banana and an apple and that’s it. There aren’t even any eggs in them. They didn’t turn out anything like the pictures or the descriptions, but they held together. My husband said, “they taste like they’re good for me.” The kids didn’t care. To them, it was a cookie and they were eating it for dinner. To me (since I knew what was in it), it was a perfectly acceptable meal, along with some ham, olives, pickles and kale chips.

There are lots of tips for getting kids to help in this book and most of the recipes will appeal to both kids and parents. There are colorful pictures and great examples of Paleo lunches. (Hey Matt and Stacy, where did you get those great lunch boxes? I need a couple!) There are sauces, dips, creative drinks and lots of recipes I plan on making. The language used appeals to children, especially little boys who want nothing more than to actually be a dinosaur and eat dinosaur food. This book also contains a storybook, which my children love to read. In fact, it’s been difficult to actually use the book to cook anything – my kids keep stealing it so they can read “The Dinosaur Story” and I have to hunt through their toy boxes for it.

Unfortunately, a lot of these recipes use nuts so I can’t make them for the kid’s lunches. We can have them for dinner, though and on weekends. There are a few that use tomato (the hardest thing to substitute and a real kid favorite) that I wish didn’t, but I can hardly blame Matt and Stacy for including them. If my kids could eat tomatoes, they would be having Paleo Ketchup every day.

I think this is a great book for parents trying to raise Paleo kids. It’s colorful, creative and a great first edition from a couple of people that you should really keep on your radar. I would like to see an autoimmune Paleo cookbook from these two. If they don’t write one, perhaps I will. Adding the autoimmune component in is a real pain in the ass when it comes to options. But overall, I think Eat Like a Dinosaur is a great addition to your Paleo kitchen if you are cooking for children. Pick up your copy today!

The Paleo Movement Sweeps Australia

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As a person who was raised in Canada and then spent almost a decade in Europe, I have seen how the rest of the world pays attention to what’s going on. The United States doesn’t. Watch the news here and you’re lucky to even hear about that 7.0 earthquake in Asia. If you’re American, it’s more likely you know all the Republican candidates by heart and where they stand in the polls.

The rest of the world isn’t like this. They pay attention to themselves, their neighboring countries and the rest of the world. They pay attention to us.

The Paleo movement is starting to gain major momentum around the world. I don’t care where it started, who invented it and who does it best. I care that the message is spreading. People are adapting the Paleo/Primal diet and lifestyle to suit themselves, their families and their nations. Butter is flying off the shelves in Scandinavian countries, the French are talking to Robb Wolf and I’m getting comments from people in the UK, Israel, Greece and New Zealand. Rock. On.

We often hear from Americans and Canadians about what it’s like to live a Paleo lifestyle but what about people from the rest of the world? Ever wondered what it’s like to eat Paleo in Japan or Singapore? Planning on taking a trip to Mexico or Africa? It might be nice to know what you’re facing before you go.

Suz is a British national who moved to Australia in search of a different life. She now runs the Paleo Network for Australia and New Zealand. Here is her story:

“Having lived in the UK for the first 28 years of my life, on a whim, I took the opportunity to see what it would be like to live in Australia when I was made redundant [Editors Note: redundant=laid off].  Four years later, I’m still here – and blogging about living a Paleo life in Australia.  From my life in the UK and Australia – and my travels to the USA, I’ve been surprised at how different it is living Primally in these countries.

SAD Grocery Shopping

I left the UK as a SAD eater (replace American for Anglo and the acronym is just as valid), used to being able to fulfil any culinary whim in my local supermarket.  I was used to a pizza aisle with every type of pizza you could imagine – and plenty that you couldn’t.  Another aisle for fresh pasta; fusilli, penne, rigatoni – you name it, it was available – and probably on a buy one get one free offer.  The ready-made meals spilled out into several aisles.  Fruit and vegetables from all around the world were available on any given day of the year.  Alcohol took up the last few aisles in every supermarket – making the decision of whether to have a bottle of red with tonight’s microwave dinner a very easy one.

I landed in Australia aghast at the complete lack of availability in the supermarkets – I felt like I’d travelled back in time, all that progress in the UK food industry seemed to have completely bypassed Australia.  Instead of aisles of ready-meals, fresh pasta and pizza – there were just a handful.  In fact, everything seemed limited to just a few choices, instead of the endless choices I was used to in the UK.  It isn’t quite as much fun to be a SAD eater (replace American for Australian; it still works) in Australia as it was in the UK.  I was also surprised alcohol wasn’t sold in the grocery store, but in a separate bottle shop; the unplanned alcohol purchases stopped overnight.

Eating Out

Everywhere I worked in the UK, lunch consisted of a pre-packed sandwich, a bag of crisps (chips), a bottle of soda and maybe a chocolate bar.  The only exception to this would be on a special occasion where I’d go somewhere for lunch with colleagues.  I was shocked at the difference when I started working in Sydney.  I don’t know where I could find a prepacked sandwich.  If you want a sandwich for lunch, someone makes it for you, in front of you.  Same story with a salad, roast dinner – or whatever you choose for lunch.  Everything is made freshly for you, to your requirements.  This was one difference I immediately embraced.

After living in Australia for a while, I realised I had to do something about my health.  I was overweight, asthmatic – and I felt generally not healthy.  After considerable research, I changed my eating, initially to a Primal/ Lacto-Paleo approach.  I started to feel healthier almost straight away and dropped three dress sizes effortlessly.  A few months later I experimented by excluding dairy – and soon after my asthma completely disappeared without trace.  No matter what I did to try to provoke it! 

Finding Paleo Food

When I changed my diet, I realised that in fact, Australian food supplies aren’t so bad after all.  There are so many different vegetables I just didn’t see in the UK.  Thanks to the large Asian community, a great range of coconut milk is available in all of the main supermarkets.  Meat has also proved to be good here.  I learnt that Australia didn’t embrace intensive farming methods to the same degree as other countries, so most meat is naturally “grass-fed” (though sometimes grain-finished).  Cheap, lean, un-farmed kangaroo meat is also widely available – I’ve certainly never seen kangaroo in the UK!

On post-Paleo trips back to the UK I’ve been surprised at how hard it’s been to find Paleo food supplies.  The supermarkets I used to think were so well stocked, just aren’t when I shop Paleo.  I also found eating out harder, and had to resort to ordering “the club sandwich without the bread, or mayonnaise” for lunch a couple of times (which incidentally is far better value for money, as without the bread to hide under, they’re forced to provide a more respectable serving of meat!)

The Home of Paleo?

Last year I travelled to the US for PrimalCon and the Ancestral Health Symposium.  These were my first trips to America since I’d changed my diet to a Paleo one.  After doing most of my Paleo research through American blogs and books I had high expectations about these trips!  I was expecting eating Paleo in America to be so much easier than in Australia.  I was quite surprised by what I found and realised my view of American nutrition is completely through Paleo-tinted glasses.

I was really looking forward to eating-out in the States – I found it frustratingly hard!  It felt like everywhere I tried served food that had been “tampered with”.  I couldn’t find pure, real, untouched food!  Where I did find simple meat and vegetables, they seemed to take every opportunity to marinate the food, or coat in it sauce from an ominous looking plastic bottle.  Where I asked for the sauce on the side, it generally seemed to be not possible as it came that way.  I’ve been used to eating in Australian restaurants where food is generally freshly prepared and modifications are no problem.  I ended up eating a lot of omelettes in America!

Another big shock in America was the portion sizes.  It’s no exaggeration to say that American portion sizes are double that of both the UK and Australia.  Not only the portion sizes but the “added extras” that seemed to come with every meal.  Bread, tortillas, corn, more and more food!  One waitress just couldn’t understand why I didn’t want Nachos on my dinner plate, “they’re complementary” – my English reserve found it easier to graciously accept and leave them uneaten!

When I met up with some American Paleo friends however, I saw a completely different side.  The first time I walked into Wholefoods I wondered around in amazement!  Not only at the vast range of everything the Paleo chef could ever want – but at the prices!  If I could do my weekly shop in Wholefoods I would save about a third off my grocery bill, compared to average grocery prices in Australia.  I later found out (whilst telling everyone at PrimalCon how lucky there were to have such a cheap grocery store!) that relative to other grocery stores in the US, Wholefoods is expensive and known as “WholePayCheck”! One of the downsides to living in a Country as remote as Australia is definitely the higher prices that result from the complex shipping and transporting arrangements that the geography requires.

The Outdoors Lifestyle

I think another big aspect to this lifestyle is about being active.  In the UK, it is a lot colder and winter is often long and dark.  This makes it hard to get a sufficient Vitamin D level through sunshine alone.  On dark, cold rainy days it is very hard to leave the couch and warmth and venture outside.  When I arrived in Australia, I was immediately struck by how much happened outdoors.  Better weather makes being outside a joy – the physical activity is almost a second thought.  Winter is over quickly and often comparable to a spring day in the UK with blue skies but cool air – even in the Winter here I enjoy walking to work.  I’ve not spent time in America in the winter yet, but I’d imagine it’s a similar story to the UK, particularly in Northern states.

So, I think the best possible Paleo life could be achieved by moving the beautiful British countryside and the American Paleo-friendly food suppliers, into warm and sunny Australia.  Can that be arranged?

Have you noticed living Primally differs enormously, depending on which country you are in?  Which country do you think lends itself to Paleo more than others?”

Suz with Mark Sisson at PrimalCon 2011

Suz will be attending PrimalCon again this year and I am very excited to meet her in person. In the meantime, she is organizing a Paleo weekend in Australia on May 12 & 13, 2012. That’s right people, it’s not just here in the States that Paleo people are gathering together to form tribes. Jamie Scott (www.thatpaleoguy.com) will be there, as will other leading members of the Australian and New Zealand Paleo network. Early bird pricing ends on March 31st, so if you’re in that part of the world, I encourage you to get yourself tickets and join the movement. It’s easy for us to feel isolated and alone with our bone broth and bare feet, but there are thousands of people out there who feel just like you. Get out and meet them. Form tribes. Get connected.

And Suz poses a great question we’d love to hear an answer to: what is it like living a Primal/Paleo life in your country? How is it different from what you hear about in the States? How is it the same?

Paleo FX 2012: Five People Who Will Change Your Life

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I meant to blog when I was at PaleoFX this past week. I really did. I even had someone ELSE write a post for me but I didn’t even have time to post it.

I also didn’t take any pictures. I realized about 15 minutes into the conference that I was much better off living in the moment, experiencing everything and letting other people take pictures and spend the time uploading them. So, if anyone has any pictures of me, please tag them! I’d love to see them.

I was on the speaker support team for PaleoFX, and just like at AHS, I was constantly running around, trying to make sure the speakers were where they were supposed to be. I tell you, it’s like herding cats. I was run off my feet, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Because in between the panic, the drama and the insanity (which I hope we managed to veil from the attendees) there were moments of pure joy. Moments when I learned things that explained my past, my present and will help me with my future. There were people I met and connected with that I am now proud to call friends. Just like at AHS, those of us at PaleoFX found a family.

Most of us aren’t lucky enough to have a community of Paleo friends living in our neighborhood. Some of us are the only Paleo people we know in real life. This is why events like PaleoFX are so important. Sure, we’re learning. Sure, we’re meeting people that have changed our lives. Sure, we might learn a new recipe or two, but it’s really meeting people that are just like us that is the true value of an event like this for me. We know that our ancestors lived in communities, were raised by the village and had support from all sides. We don’t live in that world anymore. We’re alone in our boxes, separated from family by oceans and even further isolated from society because we wear weird shoes and don’t eat the same food as everyone else. I think joining a CrossFit box is akin to joining a Church for some of us: it’s the only community we have.

So when people ask me to tell them what I learned at PaleoFX, I tell them I learned that I’m not alone. That I’m not weird and that I’m not crazy, either. That there are thousands of people out there, just like me, who are searching for their families. We’ve found some of them on Twitter and Facebook, but it’s nothing like meeting them for real. Seeing pupils dilate, smiles and body language. After all, we’re animals who are programmed to read micro-reactions on the faces of those we encounter. We can smell fear and sense hostility. We can also read joy, elation, surprise and compassion in the faces of those around us. We just can’t do that online.

So what did I learn at PaleoFX 2012? I learned that you should go to PaleoFX 2013. Or the AHS at Harvard this year. Get out and meet more people just like you so you can form a tribe, too. In the meantime, I did come across a few people that I need to introduce you to:

1. Dean Dwyer A fellow Canadian, this guy is a Paleo success story and is really freakin’ hilarious. He provided some comic relief during the conference and was just a joy to be around. He blogs at www.beingprimal.com and has a new book coming out soon called Make Shi(f)t Happen. His presentation was one of the most informative of the week. I’ll be blogging about some of his talk later on this spring; after all, some of his advice is to shamelessly ‘steal’ material, so there you go, Dean, I’m swipin’ from you.

2. Dr. Jack Kruse This famous neurologist was the keynote speaker at PaleoFX. He has stopped his traditional practice and is now in the business of paying it forward. He blogs at www.jackkruse.com. I’ll be starting cold thermogenesis (CT) thanks to him and plan on kicking some serious ass at my next wrestling match. He also highlighted, quite by chance, a medical condition which killed my Nana. We never knew exactly what had happened to her, but now that I have this information, I can try to prevent the same thing from happening to the other women in my family. Thank you Jack, I hope to run out of lighter fluid from all the damn candles I light along the way. :)

3. Orleatha and Chris Smith This power couple is going to take the Paleo world by storm. I have never met such a dynamic, intelligent, good-looking couple who also have world class cooking skills, a head for business like Donald Trump and a passion to help others like you wouldn’t believe. Orleatha has lost more weight than I have and is leading by example. When I first met her, she glowed. As I got to know her, her glow increased and enveloped the people surrounding her. Like I said, watch out for this one. She blogs at www.mrspaleo.blogspot.com. Make sure you check out her post about cooking once a month (COAM) instead of every day. Orleatha and Chris have two young children and they have found a way to make Paleo work for them. Next time you’re thinking about going through a drive-thru, consider COAM instead. Check out her recipes too, they’re first class.

4. Darryl Edwards Darryl was quite clear when we met him that his fitness sessions would change our lives. I’m always up for some life-altering WODs, so I made sure I attended the first one I could. Am I ever glad I did. 40 minutes flew by like 40 seconds. I realized afterwards that I didn’t stop laughing the entire time. Playing piggy-pack tag and hopping like a bunny had me so exhilarated that I actually put on a demonstration for Chris and Orleatha in the Austin airport. Darryl wants people to put fun, functional movement into their lives in a way that enlivens our spirits and makes us stronger. He blogs at www.thefitnessexplorer.com and has a video channel on YouTube.

5. George Bryant George is a Marine. He can also string quite a few sentences together, can cook like a champ and is compassionate, friendly and intelligent. People like George make you question any stereotypes you may have. He is the brains (and brawn) behind Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations, a website full of recipes, tips, advice and great writing. George did a thorough round-up of PaleoFX, so if you’re looking for pictures and a run down of the conference itself, check out his page. Then, make one of his recipes. The only thing missing from his site is pictures of him in uniform. It’s probably a good thing – my husband is already a little worried about the crush I’ve developed. ;)

I also learned about Bulletproof Coffee and making my own Kombucha. I’ll never drink my coffee the same way again, and the Kombucha I had at the conference, well, let’s just say I won’t be buying expensive probiotics anymore. It is quite effective.

I’m very excited about PaleoFX 2013. I plan on presenting there and I would love to see you. I’ll bring the tequila, you bring the grass-fed beef, we’ll get together and literally chew the fat.

Now, it’s time for PrimalCon.

Primalgirl Opens Up: Hidradenitis Suppurativa Part 2

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The response to my last post on Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) has been overwhelming and heartbreaking.

I knew it would be. I know what it’s like to suffer with this. To have so many questions and no solutions. To get your hopes up that something is working, only to have a flare up when you least expect it.

Grace says “I have been on so many websites and in reality, it is the same information copy and pasted over and over. NOBODY has any real information about what can be done for this disease. It is breaking my heart. My daughter is a beautiful young woman and I can’t imagine sitting idly by while this condition takes more and more hold over her body.”

Kori says, “I too have suffered (continue to suffer) from HS since puberty. Since going primal I have noticed a severe reduction in outbreak (mine are mainly underarm, and buttock although occasionally groin) but not a total remission…It is true, though, that diet has been key. I have bad flare ups once or twice a year now as opposed to once a month.”

Debbie, who also suffers from HS says, “I didn’t know the name of it and I’m a nurse.”[*RANT BELOW*]

HS Stage 1. You may have it and not even realize it. It comes and goes.

For those of you that are afflicted with HS, please know that I understand. I understand. I know many of you didn’t comment for fear of “outing” yourself. Others are just waiting for me to tell you the cure. I’m sorry to tell you this, but there is no cure. Like Lyme Disease and Herpes, HS will lie dormant in your system until you give it the right conditions to appear. And then, appear it will.

There is no cure. As far as the medical community is concerned.

There is no cure. But I have a remedy that works.

It took three years to find out exactly what triggered HS in me, but I have found it. My scars are gone. All but the last little scar from my last “experiment” on October 22, 2011, that is. HS scars can take years to fade. Unfortunately, what triggers the disease in me might not be the same as you, but it can give you an idea of where to start.

It all starts with diet.

HS Stage 2. It becomes harder to ignore and the worst pain you’ve ever had.

Diet? The doctors never mentioned this. I was told antibiotics were the only solution and that they didn’t always work. I was told to wear cotton underwear, to keep myself clean, to wash with anti-bacterial body wash, and when that didn’t work to pony up to anti-microbial cleansers like Hibiclens Antimicrobial & Antiseptic Skin Cleanser (more on that later). I was told to avoid shaving. To shower daily. (Don’t do that. Please.) I found old wives tales and remedies that were damn near medieval on HS forums and support groups. My favorite was to take the moisture from a toad’s back during the full moon and apply it to boils. Sure. That’s happening. I was told to give up coffee (Suuuuuuuure, I’ll get right on that one, too.). As crazy as the remedies were, I was willing to try them. Except for the toad one, that is. Everyone has their limits.

For those of you not interested in details, here is the solution in “Three Easy Steps.” (It’s really not as simple as these three steps, so those of you that are interested in ending your outbreaks for good will probably want to read on.)

  1. Start by eating a strict auto-immune Paleo diet. Robb Wolf talks about the Paleo autoimmune protocol on his website which you can read about here, otherwise, I’ll be discussing it later on in this article. Stay on this diet and do not stray for at least 30 days. Longer is better. If you can make it 60 days, that’s great. You will more than likely see a remission of your HS. You will also feel awesome and lose some weight, but that is not our goal here – it’s just a side benefit. If you do not see a remission of your HS, you will need to look closer at your diet and see what else you can remove.
  2. After you realize it’s been two months without a flare up, start adding foods back in, ONE at a time. Do this slowly. Do not introduce different foods less a week apart or you won’t be able to tell what is or isn’t affecting you. If you don’t react to the food, eat it for at least three days in a row and wait four days. For me, the boil/abscess appear the following morning after I have eaten the offending food. This is soon enough to see a connection in me, but it may be different for you. You may be able to eat the offending food once or twice before your body reacts. Don’t rush this step. Make sure you write down everything you eat. Don’t rely on your memory.
  3. Once you have found your “offending foods” don’t eat them anymore, unless the short-term gain caused by that food outweighs the weeks of pain from an outbreak. Sometimes it may. You may find the boils will heal faster if you only have your “outbreak foods” once in a blue moon. Everyone will react differently. You can test out your theory by abstaining from your triggers for 60 days and then reintroducing them. Did you break out? How many days of eating that food did it take for you to break out? Figure out how your body reacts. Then, don’t eat that food anymore.

HS Stage 3. Read this young woman’s heartbreaking story at notdying.wordpress.com

See? It’s really not that simple. Just going on an auto-immune Paleo diet is more than some people can bear. Keeping detailed records of everything you eat for months on end can be overwhelming. You can always do it ass-backwards, like me. I only suggest following these three steps because it will be the quickest way to a solution for you. I did it the opposite way around and it took three years to figure out what was causing me to flareup: potatoes.

That’s right. Potatoes. Mashed, boiled, fried, instant, baked, turned into tots. Organic or conventional, it didn’t matter. Hidden potato starch/flour in Gluten Free products. Potatoes? Really? I had been eating them my whole life and thought they were one of the safer neolithic foods, since they were natural and not causing me any digestive upset. I had also been suffering from HS since puberty, so it goes to show you things you grew up on and have been eating for over 20 years CAN be the culprit; it’s not necessarily something exotic or new in your diet. Here’s why it took me so damn long to figure out my trigger:

  1. I didn’t keep a food diary. I went Primal, cutting out all sugar, processed foods, grains and most starchy carbs, including potatoes. I saw a drastic reduction in the number of flareups I had, so much to where I thought I had the HS under control. However, I would break out every so often without a seeming cause. I followed the 80/20 rule and for the first year and a half would treat myself to potatoes, milk chocolate and even Subway sandwiches once every couple of weeks. I couldn’t see a connection and different things seemed to make me break out, while some things I thought were affecting me didn’t seem to. I wasn’t scientific at all in my approach.
  2. I made assumptions. I read that HS was connected to smoking (which I used to do) and PCOS. I had quit smoking before I got pregnant but it didn’t make a difference. Since my PCOS was caused by super-elevated insulin levels due to sugar intake, I assumed the HS was connected to sugar, too. I was able to eat dark chocolate whenever I wanted, but I seemed to flare up whenever I would treat myself to a piece (or a bar, ha) of milk chocolate or gummy candies. I wasn’t paying attention to the small bag of potato chips I would also be eating with that candy. Or the In N Out fries with my protein-style burger. Why would I? I knew potatoes were bad for my insulin, but who ever heard of potatoes causing zits? Or boils? Not me. It didn’t even show up on my radar. I chalked it up to the sugar in the potatoes, the chocolate, the candy.
  3. I was unaware of the auto-immune nature of HS. Things got more confusing when I cut out Splenda after six months on the Primal diet. Not only did I lose 10 pounds without even thinking about it, but my HS went into remission. I tried an experiment a couple months in by adding a couple packets of Splenda to my morning coffee and I broke out with a boil the next day. I was convinced it was the Splenda. I haven’t touched it since (which is a good thing) nor have I touched anything with maltodextrin in it either (the other ingredient in Splenda besides sucralose). Since I wasn’t keeping a food diary, I couldn’t see that the potatoes I had for dinner the same night as the Splenda might also be a contributing factor. Note: When I had a flare up during this time, it was different. Before I went Primal, a new boil would appear at least once a week. It would take weeks, if not months, to go away. After changing my diet, I would only break out once every month or two. The boil would only last a few days. There was not as much swelling or pain. It would subside quite quickly, wouldn’t even come to a head and didn’t leave a scar. I thought (probably correctly) that HS flareups “feed” on the inflammation caused by the offending food, and the more you put into your system, the longer the boils take to heal.
  4. I wasn’t keeping track of the food groups I was eating, for the most part. After going to AHS 2011, I stopped eating dairy. I lost more weight and felt fantastic, but didn’t really notice a difference in my digestion, skin or anything else. I added some dairy back in after 30 days but didn’t see any change. It was nice to rule out dairy as a cause, but I was still convinced that milk chocolate was affecting me someway. I went to a Hallowe’en party on October 22 of last year. The food at the party consisted of: MacDonald’s and Hallowe’en candy. I didn’t touch the burgers but I certainly ate the candy. I had 4 little boxes of Nerds, some Sweetarts, a bunch of milk chocolate and some french fries. I made sure I stayed gluten free and didn’t touch the burgers, not even the patties. The next day, I woke up with a “hangover” and a boil. Another seeming connection to milk chocolate and candy. I didn’t think about the fries. I was unaware that another food group besides wheat or dairy could even play a factor.
  5. My kid’s diet changed. They were having psoriasis attacks, which we could not seem to get under control. We had made sure that they didn’t have any wheat or dairy in their diet, but they would still break out occasionally. They had full-on allergic reactions to tomatoes – red, rosy cheeks, runny noses and hives. I checked the ingredients in some of their gluten-free products and found potato starch and/or flour in all of them. The kids would scream in pain and claw at their mouths anytime there was chili, hot pepper or even paprika in their food. I couldn’t get them to eat eggplant or bell peppers at all and then they went off potatoes completely and wouldn’t touch them. I hadn’t made a connection to the nightshade family. With a little research, I found out that tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants all belonged to the nightshade family and we immediately removed any nightshades from the kids diets. Since I didn’t have potatoes or tomatoes in the house anymore, I wasn’t eating them either.
  6. My experiments started to fail, or not produce any results. During the holiday season, I ate some milk chocolate. Nothing happened. I ate more. Nothing. Then I ate an entire Pound Plus bar of Trader Joe’s milk chocolate in 4 days. NOTHING. I got super pissed off. I ate some gummy candies. Again, nothing. I started to tempt fate (and the scale) and ate sugar in the form of milk chocolate and sour candies every day for THREE WEEKS. Still, nothing. I was trying to find the “magic number” of times I could eat this crap and not break out. Finally, I got a little zit on my chin and started to feel like crap. But the HS was no where to be seen. Occasionally, I would have a tablespoon of organic ketchup with my eggs but then I started getting canker sores a couple hours later. I asked a Nose Ear Throat specialist about it and he mentioned the words, “possible auto-immune response.” It was then that it clicked: I had had french fries at that party. I had had potatoes for dinner the same night I had tried my Splenda experiment. I hadn’t had potatoes since that Hallowe’en party and I hadn’t had an HS outbreak, either. I was getting canker sores from tomatoes. A tiny zit on my scalp after eating bell peppers. My body was reacting to nightshades, but differently than I had seen in anyone else. If I hadn’t removed nightshades from my kids diets, I never would have figured it out.

It took me three years to muddle through this mess by myself. I’m hoping that by following my “Three Easy Steps” in a slow and scientific manner you’ll be able to figure out what triggers YOUR HS in six months or less.

Robb Wolf’s Autoimmune Protocol:

Google “autoimmune disorder.” You won’t find any mentions of HS, except for some speculation about the connection on www.dailystrength.org. What you find on sites like Medline isn’t encouraging. According to them, “there is no known prevention for most autoimmune disorders…Most autoimmune diseases are chronic, but many can be controlled with treatment. Side effects of medications used to suppress the immune system can be severe. Contact your health care provider.”

They don’t have a fucking clue. It’s a good thing that most people in the Paleo community are as brilliant as hell, ’cause they’ve solved your problem.

For me, the first mention of connecting HS to autoimmunity came from the great Loren Cordain himself. You may not find it written down anywhere as he told me personally at the AHS last year but I believe he had plans to cover the topic of HS in an upcoming book. Thinking of my HS as an auto-immune response got the mental ball rolling for me and I approached combating the condition differently. To learn more about auto-immunity, check out the FAQ page at www.robbwolf.com:

“Emerging research has made clear the link between Neolithic foods (grains, legumes and dairy) and autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis and a host of other less well know conditions. Many people have found significant improvements in autoimmune disease by eliminating the Neolithic foods and building a diet around nutritious Paleo options. If you suffer from an autoimmune disease we highly recommend you start a Paleo diet and let us know what your results are. To give your body its best chance to heal we recommend that you initially limit the following foods:

  • Eggs
  • Tomatoes & eggplants
  • Peppers including bell peppers and hot peppers
  • Spices such as curries, paprika, and chili powder.

Some of these otherwise Paleo-friendly foods have been shown to be problematic in individuals with autoimmune issues. We recommend you fully remove not only these foods but also all Neolithic foods (grains, breads, potatoes, beans and dairy) for at least a month to see if they pose a problem for you.”

~Robb Wolf

Notice how all the nightshades are in there? Also notice the other conditions you can slam into remission if you happen to have them? Or have a loved one who suffers? Please pass this on. I’m writing this because I want to help you and the people you love.

In the Meantime: Taking Care of Flareups

Over the years, scars will accumulate.

I personally have not found a difference with exercise, sweating, how often I shower or shave, what topical ointments or body wash I use or anything else. Lowering the temperature of my showers and only showering twice a week actually resulted in nicer hair and skin, but it didn’t stop the HS. Only getting rid of your trigger foods will do that. But how do you take care of a boil once it appears? There are so many theories out there – some people can’t take the pain anymore and squeeze and then let it scab over and then squeeze (the process can take days and leaves one hell of a scar) and let it scab over until enough pus has been released to alleviate the pressure. Others go to the doctors and have them lanced. You would think this would be the safest solution but from what I’ve heard, this can result in boils that just…don’t heal. Ever. The truth is, whether or not the boil is lanced, popped or just left to its own devices, at the end of the day it seems to take the same amount of time to heal and go away. It doesn’t seem to care what you do – unless you let it get infected. The pain of an infected abscess is about equal to the pain of one that hasn’t erupted; pick your poison. Surgery is always an option if the abscesses get bad enough – but the “after” pics I’ve seen online make me wonder which is worse. You tell me:

Painful infection happens quite often.

One good thing did come out of my original dermatologist appointment – she told me about Hibiclens. It’s an antimicrobial wash that surgeons use. The liquid she recommended turned out to be completely useless, but when I went to the store to buy it, I saw that they also had Hibistat Germicidal Hand Wipes. I picked up some of those as well. They don’t do anything to prevent a flareup, but if one does happen, they are EXTREMELY handy to have. They make the healing process go so much faster and prevent infection. They also really helped with any ingrown hairs, too. I know many people with HS also suffer from ingrown hairs, zits other places including cystic acne and clogged pores.

Since they were pretty pricey, I would take one and cut it into 4 and put the other pieces in a little Ziploc bag and use as needed. When money got tight, I would substitute regular old alcohol wipes from the first aid kit, and they also did the job. They just sting a lot more. I used either wipe at the first sign of a flareup, even before the skin broke. It seemed to help.

The other product I used (and continue to use) is coconut oil. Coconut oil is amazing stuff. It’s antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral and a damn good conditioner. I even use the stuff on my scalp. After I disinfected the wound, I would rub coconut oil on it. The scars seemed to fade faster and the wound healed quite quickly. Then I just started using it all over my body. I don’t use any other products at all and I have beautiful skin.

I heard once that beauty comes from the inside, so it makes sense that beautiful skin comes from what we put into ourselves. I hope this article has helped you. If you have any questions, or need further help, please comment on this post or send me an email.

Resources:

If you’re not Paleo, have never heard of the Paleo or Primal lifestyles or don’t know where to start, don’t worry. You can get all the information you need for free if you just take the time to read it:

BACK TO TOP

I NEED TO RANT A LITTLE:

It’s amazing to me that the medical community is so clueless when it comes to HS. Take breast cancer, for example. We ALL know what breast cancer is. Not that I am belittling the disease or the tenacity of its survivors, but if I have one more person ask me to donate to Breast Cancer Awareness, I am going to scream. We’re all fucking AWARE of breast cancer already. I can’t be any MORE aware of it. (Notice they never say “Give me money so we can find a CURE,” it’s always “Raise awareness!” 230,480 women in the US were expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S. in 2011, according to www.breastcancer.org. What about the upwards of 12 MILLION people in the U.S. alone that suffer with HS? I have heard from people all over the world that are afflicted with HS. It’s not an American problem. Yet, there is no awareness for HS. No funds, no campaigns for the cure, nothing. Your doctor doesn’t even know what it is. We need to come out of the closet, people. HS may not kill you, but I am certain that people have committed suicide because of it. I know this because there have been times I have wanted to kill myself. Times I have been so ashamed of the condition of my body that I just wanted it all to end. Times when I have been so frustrated with doctors and their lack of compassion, making me feel ashamed of myself, like it’s MY FAULT, that I wanted to give up. Like I said in my previous post, I’m lucky. And realizing that I alone hold the key to my health has been incredibly empowering.