Ironically, I didn't get rid of carb cravings (potato chips and bread) until I eliminated sugar. It was a few tough days, but once I was off... ALL carb cravings went away. Do I slip occasionally? Yes, but at least it's not an every day or 2x per day occurrence.

I know for a fact it was the sugar causing the cravings. Hard to tell what could be causing it with you since we can't see your diary.

So when you say you cut sugar, do u mean processed or refined sugar or ALL sugar. I mean, I currently have some fruit in my day as it is one of the only things I can have for breakfast. I would be interested to hear more. Thank you.

I currently am having an outbreak so bad my whole face body is spotted my lips, face and eyes are swollen. I look like a science experiment gone totally wrong today.

But the sugar/carb connection makes sense and I have still been eating chocolate. Although it is dairy, nut and soy free I don't think that is helping.

Google "paleo autoimmune" and "Whole30" for some good info. Someone posted a link in one of the recent paleo/primal discussion threads to an intro to the paleo autoimmune protocol but I don't have time to look for it to tell you more.

I'm currently doing that to help with joint pain, but it can help with skin and gut problems as well. For the last month I've eliminated grains, dairy, potatoes, sweeteners (sugar, honey, maple syrup, stevia, etc.), eggs, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, chili powder, paprika, oh yes potatoes fall under this category too), nuts, and caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate). It might have been a bit hard at first but pain is a great motivator. Sounds like there's almost nothing left to eat but I've discovered a wide variety of vegetables to go with my meat and poultry. (And a little fish. Once in awhile we have salmon for a treat. Since I stopped using mayo -- eggs -- I don't really care for canned tuna anymore.)

It might not be the best idea to have fruit for breakfast. I know when I do that it makes me hungrier for the rest of the day. I don't know how sound the practice is, but I tend to eat fruit or a bit of yam at the end of the day if I'm coming up short on carbs. I've read I don't really need to eat fruit as I can get all my vitamins and fiber from veggies, but I still try to have some every day or every other day. (I had half a grapefruit this morning because dd wanted to share... and it was delicious! ...but I may get hungry before my usual time. Then again, I had a fair amount of fat in my breakfast (bacon and avocado) so maybe I won't.)

Without eggs, it's been interesting to find breakfast fare, but I've gotten in the habit of saving some meat left over from dinner and making a big salad for breakfast with meat and avocado, on mornings when I don't have time to fry up some bacon or sausage meat. It sounds weird but it's working.

Peanuts (and therefore peanut butter) are legumes, not nuts, so they are not actually paleo.

Those are all the foods I have yet to eliminate....plus there are some other foods that are shown to aggravate hives which I have to be careful of.

So onto eliminating potatoes, nightshade veggies and seeds and nuts (Which I was eating a lot of before) I know eliminating seeds and nuts but can I have nut butter such as almond butter or natural peanut butter since they are ground? Are they easier to digest if they are ground?

Thank you.

It's not the whole vs. grinding, it's the chemical compounds in the nuts themselves that can aggravate autoimmune problems. Leptins, maybe? Something else, that maybe starts with "P" -- phytates? Besides the fact that nuts (except for macadamia nuts) are high in Omega 6.

Lectins and phytates.

Leptin is a hormone that affects fat storage and use.

The Omega 6 levels probably don't help, since too much Omega 6 and polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) leads to inflammation. Also, almond butter actually has one of the worst Omega profiles of the nuts (but it's still better than a lot of other foods, and it's one of the cheaper nuts to be had, which is why it's popular). According to Dr. Cordain's chart in The Dietary Cure for Acne, Almonds have 66.6% monounsaturated fats, 25.3% poly, and 8.1% saturated, and no Omega-3 fats.

Therefore, if you want to use nuts/nut butters/nut milks, you're going to be better off with macadamia nuts (6.3:1 O6:O3 and only 2% PUFA) or coconuts (4.4% MUFA, 1.3% PUFA, 94.3% saturated fat).

Just wanted to say your local library probably has a few paleo books. Rob Wolf's Paleo Solution or Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint are fairly common. Also the Hartwig's It Starts With Food is popular as well.

Any if those will give you a good understanding. Also each if their websites has a ton of good info. Just google.

If you want to skip all the reading and keep it simple, don't eat it if you can't pick it or kill it yourself!