High Carb Paleo

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_stephanie0
_stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
Hey everyone!! I have a question... I've done paleo in the past but stopped because I realized my body responds better to lower fat and higher carbs ( like 40c/40p/20f ) I want to try paleo again as my stomach is always bloated and gassy at night (sorry tmi) and it may be because I have a lot of oatmeal and dairy... I also didn't think higher carb was healthy since it would all come from sweet potatoes and fruit which is high sugars.... Has anyone had success with higher carb paleo and do you have examples of meals or food??

Thank you x0

Replies

  • Cerebrus189
    Cerebrus189 Posts: 315 Member
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    Maintenance should be around 150 grams max of carbs daily. If you work out regularly, and do so with lots of passion and energy, you can easily go to 150 grams and still lose. Any more than 150 grams of carbs from veggies and tubers seems excessive unless you're a super athlete and can burn through it.

    For meals, I'd suggest tubers such as rutabagas, sweet potatoes, squash of all varieties, steel-cut oats, and more veggies than fruit. I love fruit but the only way I can shut the sugar monster up is to not feed it. Another food that is high fat plus adequate carbs are whole avocados.

    I have to shoot for 80-100 grams of carbs a day but I hardly ever get there. I must do this for my thyroid, as there is a conversion of T4 to T3 that has to happen to ensure my thyroid is being supported.
  • spirit80
    spirit80 Posts: 327 Member
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    Sorry about your situtation but when you say your body "responds better to lower fat and higher carbs " however you "bloated and gassy at night"

    I am confused... Sound like your body does not respond better to lower fat and higher carbs.

    Read the Book " it starts with food"

    http://www.amazon.com/Starts-Food-Discover-Whole30-Unexpected/dp/1936608898

    Good Luck
  • alaskaang
    alaskaang Posts: 493 Member
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    You definitely don't have to be low carb. One of the things you might try is following Paleo + rice. It's not strictly Paleo, but is pretty easily tolerated and fairly common addition. As far as what you are describing, you might be lactose intollerant. I can tell you from experience that the gas from dairy will put me doubled over in pain.
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
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    @cerebrus189 thank you! Great suggestions! No clue what rutabaga is lol but ill expand my options!! And I aim for 120-150 carbs is so not super high I just don't like how I feel on under 100.

    @spirit80 I see what you're saying. But I don't think it's the carbs it could gluten. I did paleo for a few months but don't feel as good on high fat. My body looks and feels leaner on higher carbs. I will look into that book though. Thank you :)
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
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    @alaskaang thank you!! I agree it may be the dairy. I had oats 4 hours ago and feel fine. Usually I have Greek yogurt or cottage cheese around 5 pm and my stomach gets uncomfortable from 6pm on... Thanks for the rice suggestion!! I've noticed a lot if sample plans include white rice :)
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
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    You could have a tad bit of a dairy allergy, do you happen together most of or a good percentage of your fats from dairy when you try the high fat path?

    High carb Paleo-er over here! Well, Primal. And, well, I wouldn't call myself "high carb" as much as I call myself "eating foods I enjoy in moderation". Paleo is not low carb, so long as you get your carbs from 'good' sources - these include fruits, vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes and white rice - you're in the clear. Eat dem carbs.

    I would never recommend going in a traditional SAD "low fat" diet, however, and a 40/40/20 split of P/C/F is is.... kinda pointless. After a certain threshold (I don't know all the words or science behind this, only the baseline facts, so bear with me here), excess protein is converted into glucose. So by consuming such a vast quantity of protein, you're basically just paying for expensive carbs. Yep. Expensive carbs - I'd wager a steak, chicken breast or scoop of whey protein costs more than a potato. So don't go by ratios, and keep protein consistent.
    I'd recommend what I always recommend - 1g of protein and 0.5g of fat per lb of bodyweight (or LBM, if you know your BF%) as a MINIMUM, then fill the remainder of your calories with whatever you like. Following a Primal/Paleo lifestyle, just eat whatever whole food you feel like - feel like egg and bacon? More calories from fat. Feel like sweet potato fries? More calories from carbs. Feel like chocolate avocado mousse on top of frozen bananas? A mix. Whatever works for you.

    To what I just said into example, let's use me. I weight 54kg (roughly 119lb) with a set calorie goal of 2200 that seems, apparently. To maintain my weight.
    Required Protein = 119x1 = 119g
    Required Fats = 119x0.5 = 59.5 (60)
    Calories from minimum required macronutrients = (119x4) + (60x9)
    = (476) + (540)
    = 1016
    Remaining Calories: 2200 -1016 = 1184

    I now have 1184 calories to do whatever I want with. Homemade ice cream? Here I come! :D

    Sorry if this post is like reading a page of a novel. Or a text book. A math textbook. But I'm just doing my best to explain here. Long story short? Just make sure you're getting enough protein and fat, eat real, good food and enjoy yourself. Paleo isn't so much about macronutrients as it is about health.

    Good luck, and I ope you have success with a Paleo lifestyle. :)
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    Ya - I think that going higher carb Paleo is fine. Nothing really says that it needs to be low-carb.
    As someone's mentioned, adding white rice to the diet could help (white rice has little negative effect for most).

    You can also get carbs pretty easily from fruit.

    Personally, I find that losing weight is a tad more difficult while doing higher carb (always hungry if I limit my calories), but give it a shot!

    (Note that from my understanding, a lot of the bloat is from carbs. Water molecules attach to carbs (4 to 1, I believe), so without dropping the carbs at all, it might be harder to lose the bloat - same reasoning that people lose a lot of water weight after a couple days of low-carb.
    As others have mentioned, it could be that your body doesn't handle dairy or gluten well too. Only one way to find out I guess! :)
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
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    @ howel_shadowkn THANK YOU!! Such an amazing reply. When I was high fat paleo I didn't eat dairy. I eat 1% cottage cheese and low fat Greek yogurt. I'll try to cut out the dairy though and add fruits... I just keep hearing things like restricting fruit cause of sugars. I'm not overweight and in my head it seems ridiculous to limit fruit... It's natural!! I also like your point of not setting macro goals. You should eat what you feel like!! :)

    @fufonzo thank you for replying :) and you know what maybe the bloat IS from carbs!! I'll try cutting out dairy next week (ya I have a lot of cottage cheese left LOL) and see how I feel from there... :):):)
  • Christie0428
    Christie0428 Posts: 221 Member
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    bump
  • jennaworksout
    jennaworksout Posts: 1,739 Member
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    oatmeal does it for me..cannot eat it ....major gas and bloating , i think high carb paleo is fine...as long as your eating whole foods
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
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    oatmeal does it for me..cannot eat it ....major gas and bloating , i think high carb paleo is fine...as long as your eating whole foods

    Maybe it's the oats then!! Which sucks cause it's my fave meal of the day (besides my sweet potato with almond butter mmm) but I actually noticed so far today I've had:

    10am- 1/2 cup oats w/ 1 tbsp psyllium husk, 1 scoop protein and berries

    Feel fine

    1pm- 2 hard boiled eggs and 2.5 oz chicken

    Feel fine

    3pm- 3 oz chicken, 50g sweet potato, 1 pepper, mushrooms and a tomato.

    Stomach is turning

    Now it's 5 pm and I just had cottage cheese. So no dairy before my stomach issues started but I'm thinking its either the whole eggs or the oats. The oatmeal lover in me wants to believe its the eggs lol but the realistic part of me thinks it's oatmeal.

    It's just such an easy breakfast to make at work!!
  • jennaworksout
    jennaworksout Posts: 1,739 Member
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    oatmeal does it for me..cannot eat it ....major gas and bloating , i think high carb paleo is fine...as long as your eating whole foods

    Maybe it's the oats then!! Which sucks cause it's my fave meal of the day (besides my sweet potato with almond butter mmm) but I actually noticed so far today I've had:

    10am- 1/2 cup oats w/ 1 tbsp psyllium husk, 1 scoop protein and berries

    Feel fine

    1pm- 2 hard boiled eggs and 2.5 oz chicken

    Feel fine

    3pm- 3 oz chicken, 50g sweet potato, 1 pepper, mushrooms and a tomato.

    Stomach is turning

    Now it's 5 pm and I just had cottage cheese. So no dairy before my stomach issues started but I'm thinking its either the whole eggs or the oats. The oatmeal lover in me wants to believe its the eggs lol but the realistic part of me thinks it's oatmeal.

    It's just such an easy breakfast to make at work!!

    yeah, i think food takes about 4 hours to get through your digestive system, so 5 hours after you ate your oatmeal .....I could be wrong....I love oatmeal too, before I went paleo I seriously missed it , but don't miss the effects, also protein powder mixed in with oatmeal is ALOT of protein, that could be doing it as well. It sucks cause it is easy to make, hope you find a way to keep eating it without the stomach issues, I just started Align probiotics today for my stomach issues.
  • justaspoonfulofsugar
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    on the bright side,there are some great no oatmeal,oatmeal recipes.look on pint rest.they are everywhere!
  • sunnylv
    sunnylv Posts: 42 Member
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    Read Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis. Or check out the Wheat Belly Cookbook. He explains how the fruit, oats and wheat and other carbs (even the white rice) spikes blood sugar. He explains how this is not good for us and encourages the body to store the excess glucose as visceral (belly) fat.

    Wheat belly is similar to paleo (no grains). Check out the facebook page: Wheat Belly (almost 40,000 people).

    I follow paleo and moderate carbs. The sweet spot for me is between 50 to 100 with no grains. Not even oatmeal, corn or rice.

    The only way for you to really find out is to get a paleo meal plan with moderate carbs and try it out for two weeks. I would suggest you give up dairy during this period and eat these foods: meat, vegetables, small amounts of fruit, nuts, and some potatoes. You might check out Paleoparents on google and look up their autoimmune protocol.

    Lisa
  • Cerebrus189
    Cerebrus189 Posts: 315 Member
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    Are you sure you're not sensitive to nightshades? They are a direct cause of stomach issues, just so you know. I'd bet, hands down, that it's the nightshades and not the oats.
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
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    @sunnylv that books has always been one I wanted but I never did buy it!! I will look into it. I don't like the though of cutting out things I enjoy that's my problem. Like yeah I'll cut out cheesecake ect because its obviously unhealthy but I'm someone who hates veggies so to cut out/limit the amount of fruit and potatoes I eat would just leave me hating the food I eat. I want to make a lifestyle change and I can't see myself cutting it out for long. I will look into the book for sure though thank you for the recommendation.

    @cerebrus I've never heard of nightshades but I will look into it now!! Thank you!!
  • happy_travels
    happy_travels Posts: 51 Member
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    @ howel_shadowkn THANK YOU!! Such an amazing reply. When I was high fat paleo I didn't eat dairy. I eat 1% cottage cheese and low fat Greek yogurt. I'll try to cut out the dairy though and add fruits... I just keep hearing things like restricting fruit cause of sugars. I'm not overweight and in my head it seems ridiculous to limit fruit... It's natural!! I also like your point of not setting macro goals. You should eat what you feel like!! :)

    @fufonzo thank you for replying :) and you know what maybe the bloat IS from carbs!! I'll try cutting out dairy next week (ya I have a lot of cottage cheese left LOL) and see how I feel from there... :):):)


    Hello there! Just a a word about fruit: it is not as natural as we think. In nature fruit is no way near as sweet and full of sugars as what you buy at the store. Over time we have bred sweetness into fruit. Not that long ago apples were not even edible, that's why all we used them for were cider. Fruit for the most part is man made food. That is why you hear about so many people having a problem with it and about fructose being the leading cause of diabetes.

    I hear you on the high fat diet not working for you. I upped mine recently and realized (again) that high fat does not work for me. I really wanted it to! That is ok because moderate fat with lots of vegetables DOES work me. Makes meals more tasty, too :)

    Good luck finding what works for you. You have had a lot of great advice on here.