Hello Dear Reader. Here are questions from real people I know, people who’ve charitably listened to what I have to rave about in my Born-Again delirium. There are also questions from my imaginary interviews, where someone like Oprah or Jimmy Moore probe deeply into my soul, fascinated and slack-jawed with awe and wonder.

My answers stem from personal experience and information I’ve found that rings true. Feel free to decide for yourself what sounds true to you. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, email me at eliseamiller@gmail.com. I will answer you and add your Q to the Q & A. Thanks for indulging me.

I can really eat a lot of fat and not gain a ton of weight? How is this possible? I’m scared. It is only possible if you go low-carb. And if you avoid industrial seed oils. Adding fat to your carb-load will fatten you. It happened to me. Eliminating carbs and adding fat will slim you. This happened to me too. Eating fat will also satiate you for long enough periods of time that you might find that you no longer need snacks. Or breakfast. Or maybe you skip lunch or dinner. This is not about counting calories, though. Fat is calorie-dense. Carbs aren’t, which is why conventional wisdom lauds them. Here are some links that explain why fat is your new BFF—Eat Fat, Lose Fat, know your fats, junk science, saturated fat is good for you, 5 great cooking fats, NY Times article about saturated fat by Gary Taubes. If you want more, Google “saturated fat is healthy.” You will find a treasure trove of useful information. Oh wait. I went and did it for you. Click here.

What about booze? I like to drink. Wine is okay, Whiskey and bourbon are even okay, just not huge amounts. I don’t drink at all anymore. I am possibly (probably) really boring, for which I apologize. I rarely go out these days what with the mom gig, so overdoing it is not an issue. Temptation is not an issue. If I drink I’m likelier to say something I shouldn’t and eat something that will make me feel horrible the next day. Do what you gotta do, but at the beginning of a Primal journey, I’d steer clear of alcohol. Let the lifestyle become second nature before setting yourself up for potential failure. For a definitive guide to Primal-friendly spirits, click here.

What do you eat? Today I had a few sips of decaf with heavy cream. Then I warmed a mug of homemade bone broth. I also devoured a tablespoon of Artisana coconut butter, which is so good that I moan, “Oh my God are you KIDDING me?!” whenever I eat it. My family is ready to punch me in the throat. It’s butt-expensive but if I think of it as a supplement I feel fine about it. Swamp Chicken might not rationalize so readily… I eat eggs almost every day, sometimes with apples and cheddar and fresh whipped cream (sans sugar). For lunch today I had two pastured eggs scrambled with Kerrygold butter, grass-fed cheddar cheese (from Trader Joe’s), garlic, pine nuts and spinach, with a side of pastured bacon, two strips. Dinner will most likely be ground beef. Or maybe leftover pork shoulder with more broth. Vegetables on the side like broccoli roasted in bacon grease or cauliflower roasted in chicken fat with caramelized onions. I’ve become a big fan of caramelized onions. I also like to sprinkle sliced carrots with salt, pepper and fennel seeds and roast them in coconut oil on 400 for a half-hour or so. I eat salad too—arugula or Boston bibb with avocado, Roquefort, red onions and homemade balsamic vinaigrette. I’ll do a lunch salad like this and top it with a half can of tuna or leftover chicken. We eat a lot of chicken thighs too—dredged in egg and spiced almond meal and roasted or slow-cookered. My favorite dessert these days is organic raspberries drenched in heavy whipping cream. Sometimes I eat a square of 85% cacao organic chocolate. I also like to make chopped chicken liver pate.

What about dessert? Berries in heavy cream. Little squares of 85% cacao chocolate. Spoonfuls of coconut butter. Homemade raw almond butter.

What don’t you eat? Industrial seed oils—canola, corn, etc. Legumes. Grains, except for white rice now and then. High glycemic plant matter like white potatoes. Maybe once in a blue moon. Like in homemade gnocchi. Same goes for mangoes, melon, pineapple. I don’t eat processed foods or sugar. This diet is low-to-moderate carb. It is a high percentage fat diet. Its basis is in real food. Traditional food. Shop-the-perimeter food. Here is Mark Sisson’s definitive guide to Primal eating for more information.

Keep in mind that you will tweak the diet as you learn what your body thrives on and what makes it feel crappy. I added bits of potato and white rice for example after learning more about Paul Jaminet’s Perfect Health Diet, to see how I would fare. The potatoes didn’t affect me negatively but the rice wasn’t so good. I’ve also recently cut out milk, yogurt and kefir because the insulin rush put me to sleep a few days in a row. In the Paleo world, a lot of people eschew all dairy and even nuts. Nothing is written in stone. Listen to your body. Once you’re low-carb, you can’t help but hear your body loud and clear. It might seem like a hassle at first but feeling amazing will eventually win out over the restrictions.

How do you afford this? Barely. Seriously, our biggest expenditure besides mortgage is food. That said, I’m a terrible budgeter. That said, the rest of my family are not Born-Again Eaters. I am still buying bread, oats, tortilla chips and maple syrup. Which brings me to:

So the rest of your family isn’t Primal? No. I’d say my family eats a Weston A. Price style diet. I’d LOVE to get Spike to go Primal with me. All of them for that matter. It would be so great. We’d all not snack incessantly together. We’d all be less irritable, get better sleep, have steadier energy and higher self-esteem. The kids wouldn’t fall apart over the littlest things.

Sigh. 

Spike reminds me so much of me with his potential for high levels of frustration, anxiety and anger that lead to self-sabotaging behaviors, and I’d, well, I’d just love to see how he operates without grain and sugar in his system.

So why do you allow Spike to eat oatmeal and bread and tortilla chips? Because I don’t want to punish him. He feels terrible when his friends can eat breakfast bars and Wheat Thins while his loony mom makes a fuss over it, and though he’s sensitive and smart, he’s not ready to really embrace what I have to say on the matter. And because he has not been tested or diagnosed with celiac or gluten sensitivity, I guess my backbone is soft about it. I realize that I am the one with the wallet and the driver’s license. This is a blood sugar issue as well, and that overwhelms me, to take sugar and grain away from him. Really the best way would be for the whole family to do it together. Swamp Chicken is supportive of me and whatever I want to do regarding feeding the kids, but he is not rah-rah supportive. He will go along, but he might glower along the way. Or maybe I’m just a spineless wuss.

So how do you feed your kids? Here is the good news. We’ve already made great strides. My kids do not partake in the USDA-approved school lunch and snacks program. If you have kids in public school, you know the deal: soy chili, cheesesteaks, pizza, chicken nuggets, French fries, bagels with pink cream cheese, mini pancakes, French toast sticks, orange goldfish crackers. None of the school’s fare is cooked in healthy fat or sourced from decent farms. It is garbage, IMO, and unjust. The USDA also approves hospital and prison food. Wait, did I say good news? Here is more on the subject, including a video.

Yeah, but what do they eat? Since I am vested in honesty, here is the lowdown: the grainy and/or sugary foodstuffs my kids eat at home include Trader Joe’s sourdough Tuscan loaf, Crisp Rice cereal, sprouted bread, organic tortilla chips, rice crackers, slow-cooking oats, gluten-free gingersnaps, maple syrup or brown sugar in their oatmeal. Trader Joe’s does not use corn syrup in any of these items as far as I know. I no longer serve pasta, not even rice pasta, though I did make potato gnocchi one day that was sublime. We ate it with homemade pistachio pesto and leftover chicken.

The Primal foods they eat include homemade raw almond butter, eggs, beef, chicken, pork, plain, full-fat organic biodynamic yogurt and raw milk. They eat apples, bananas, pistachios, green beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. I even reintroduced them to avocados. They eat potatoes. Squash seeds. Additive-free strawberry jam.

If I sound guilty about what I am feeding my kids, it’s only because I feel guilty. At least I’m on the right path. My personal journey took over a year and I was gung ho. I will try to be patient on the path for the rest of the family. Here’s a post that delves deeper into Primal parenting.

Did you always cook? No. I defrosted. And I made pasta and stir-fries. Which is cooking, I admit. I shouldn’t bash it. My mother did not cook much when I was growing up either, so I was never tutored in the culinary arts. It was more like the microwave arts. Now that I love good food, I enjoy being in the kitchen and feeding my family. It’s a true source of joy and accomplishment, satisfying on so many levels—creative, spiritual, practical, communal… I didn’t know that cooking could be so easy with meat. Meat used to intimidate me, but all that has to happen is that it gets cooked, whether it’s pan-fried, grilled, roasted or slow-cookered. Unless you like it raw. I like raw ground beef, but I’m not a raw Primalist. They’re out there though. Meat used to gross me out too but I realized that I really like how it feels in my hands—tactile, intimate—whether I’m mixing burgers, rubbing a chicken with spices or cleaning livers.

Isn’t it healthier to be a vegetarian? Not in my experience. I was veg for12 years and I suffered from anxiety and depression every one of those years. My skin was worse, my back hurt, and I was frequently bloated and wishing I were thinner. I also ate a ton of crap, so don’t take this as science, meaning, this is not a real study. It’s just my personal experience, but it speaks volumes to how I live my life now. Of course back then I wasn’t equating my health, mental especially, with what I ate. That was a revelation.

Furthermore, many sources expound on the fact that there is not one traditional culture on the planet that does not rely on animal products. You might think of the Hindus, but they eat a lot of dairy, plus their health is reported to be worse than their Muslim neighbors. Here are some links that detail the benefits of a diet that includes well-sourced animal products—RIP China Study (Chris Kesser), Denise Minger, Let Them Eat Meat, Weston A. Price, Dr. Cate Shanahan.

How much protein should I eat? Some sources say don’t exceed the RDA. For women that would be around 60 grams tops. Others say eat one gram per pound of body weight per day which would be around 120 for me. I say, pay attention to how you feel. Eat enough to feel energized and satisfied, but not so much that you can’t sleep at night or take a crap. Born-Again Eaters are self-experimenters.

How many carbs should I eat, especially if I want to be slim? I stay between 60 and 75 grams per day and though I don’t weigh myself, my jeans are looser. It’s a gradual weight loss and I am happy with that. Mark Sisson’s carbohydrate curve informs my carb-intake decisions and so far it’s working out very well.

Great. Now I’m constipated. Is it normal to poop every three days? What can I do about it? I am sometimes constipated, meaning I go every few days UNLESS I take steps to poop. Poop-steps include: taking a magnesium supplement. The soil is mineral-depleted, and magnesium is a great poop helper, among other things. My favorite supplement is Natural Calm. It’s $22 at Whole Foods but is only $13.99 on Amazon. You mix a heaping teaspoon (or two) with filtered water and drink it before bed. The next morning will be like Christmas in your toilet. After a few poopless days this is very exciting. Lucky for you I haven’t photographed the event.

Other poop-steps include taking a probiotic supplement to repopulate your ailing gut with the good kind of bacteria. Poop is made of dead bacteria, by the way. Did you know that? If you don’t have good digestive bacteria helping you digest your food, your food doesn’t get digested. It just sits there and makes you feel like shit, no pun intended. Most Americans have compromised gut health, seeing that we all took courses of antibiotics and consumed crap in one form or another growing up.

Are we screwed? No. We can take back our health.

I also take a pill called a Super Enzyme, which is stomach acid. Ox bile, specifically. Sound gross? Well I think it’s working. Stomach acid is a good thing, contrary to what the Prevacid people will tell you. We compromise our gut health with every Tums we pop. If you want to know more about why gut health is so important, you may want to read this.

Food-wise, add fermented foods to your daily grub. Fermented foods are already partially digested and they will add even more healthy gut flora to your intestinal forest. For more gut-wrenching information, check out this video.

I’m sorry, you’re saying we don’t need grains? I thought whole grains were mandatory. We don’t and they’re not. I’m living proof. I haven’t keeled over yet and neither have these guys, who outline in detail why this is so—Sean Croxton, Nora Gedgaudas, Mark Sisson.

Why am I bloated?

Maybe you licked a gluey, gluteny envelope or swallowed a bread crumb from your kid’s plate.

Maybe you ate too much fiber.

Maybe you ate too much food in general because you’re just embarking on your Born-Again journey and still believe like I did that you have to eat three meals a day.

Maybe you are discovering a food sensitivity.

There’s also this thing called FODMAPs which is a list of bloatation-causing baddies. Possibly too many caramelized onions in other words. (Boo.)

If you were a vegetarian for years like I was, you might not produce enough stomach acid, which is especially bloating when you’re trying to digest a meal full of protein, or that included starch and protein.

And there’s a condition called SIBO, which could be relevant. Primal eating is an elimination diet. This means that you will become sensitized to harmful foods.

Give it time. Pay attention to what you’re eating. FitDay is a great, free resource for your nutritional investigation.

What do you do for exercise? A couple times a week I try to do a dozen pull-ups, a couple dozen push-ups, a 60-second handstand, and 60 fast squats. A couple times a week I go walking around my neighborhood barefooted. I will probably wear shoes in the winter. There are two steep hills on my walk. I run up the hills and call this sprinting but it probably looks like jogging. I walk to pick my kids up from school most days. It’s a half-mile away. I more or less follow Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint Fitness. The thing is, since learning that 80% of our body composition is determined by what we eat, I’m not in a hurry to get my work-out on. It helps that Sisson also debunked chronic cardio. Maybe when both kids are in school full-time I’ll explore CrossFit. It intrigues me. So does MovNat for that matter.

What’s this I hear about intermittent fasting? Intermittent fasting is not as dramatic as it may sound. Some people get fantastic benefits from fasting 36 hours or more. I’ve never fasted more than 18. A 16-hour fast amounts to eating an early dinner and skipping breakfast the next morning. It does not feel like deprivation. I wouldn’t do it if I were hungry. I’d eat. But I am not that hungry most mornings anymore, especially if I have a little decaf with heavy cream. I usually break my fast around noon, and I always note that my energy level is high and that I feel markedly optimistic. I might like to skip dinner one night and see how that goes. I heard it’s important to surprise my body. Intermittent fasting can help boost weight loss and a initiate a process called autophagy, where cells get recycled, refreshed and renewed. This is a good thing. It means increased longevity. If you clicked on that link please note that the monkey on the right was the calorie-restricted one. The thing is, you CANNOT perform intermittent fasting on a carb-based, low-fat diet. You will be too hungry. Intermittent fasting on a Primal/Paleo/Born-Again diet is, perhaps ironically, a cakewalk. Here are some relevant links to learn more—The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Mark’s Daily Apple, The Perfect Health Diet, Robb Wolf.

Why do I feel like shit when I drink a Pepsi now? Like I said, Primal eating is an elimination diet. After going a week or two without sugar or processed garbage, you will feel every evil molecule in that soda if you reintroduce it. You can try this with a piece of bread too. Anything formerly in your repertoire. It might seem like a huge bummer, but in the end your body will thank you by being healthier than ever.

Is eating Primally going to make me super-sensitive to everything I put in my body? It might. That’s how I’ve become. This is why Swamp Chicken remains on the fence. He worries about potential poker games with his buddies. What about you?

I could never be that self-disciplined. Where do you get your will power from? I think it might have something to do with the fact that I don’t watch television, read newspapers or magazines. After forty-some years on the planet, all the news looks the same to me now—war, destruction, disaster, poison, celebrities, scandals and sex. If the big corporations started reporting on how duped we all are by the medical, pharmaceutical, wellness, government, health insurance and agricultural industries, I would probably be glued to the tube. But that would be stabbing themselves in the foot. The fact is, when I do get a glimpse of mainstream media, I feel assaulted with patronizing bullshit, lots of which has to do with our well-being. I frequently want to hurl Glamour magazine at the wall for instance. By not filling my head with corporate media, I don’t have to wrestle with mainstream views regarding my Born-Again path. I get my relevant news from facebook. Seriously, if I need to know, the news will find me. By the way, Jimmy Moore’s low-carb doctor blog is a great resource to help you start healing outside the box.

A bigger reason for my self-discipline is sanity. All I see anymore when I look at a cupcake, slice of pizza or pint of beer is my crumpled body in a heap on my bedroom floor. I remember what it felt like to feel ashamed of my mere existence, to hate myself, to want to die instead of burdening my family. I see my kids looking wide-eyed and concerned for their mommy. It’s a state of being I absolutely refuse to go back to. With that in mind, there is nothing more empowering than feeding myself foods that make me feel confident, happy, and that don’t scare the children.

How long have you been Born-Again? I’ve been officially Born-Again since July 1, 2011.

Should I go Primal in one fell swoop or can I do it gradually? I went gradually. First I eliminated processed foods and soy, and added clean meats. I felt great for a few months but my anxiety and depression returned. With a vengeance I might add. Then I cut out wheat and felt better for a while; then worse. Finally I went whole hog, eliminating grains, legumes, sugar and milk. My experience says, if you’re thinking about going for it, go for it. However, if that’s not going to work for you, do it in a way that will. This can be a scary ledge to leap from. You can climb down slowly if you want. Chances are, you’ll want to dive in sooner than later once you start reaping the benefits.

How is Primal different from Atkins? From what I’ve read, Atkins advocates the use of processed lunch meats and artificial sweeteners. It’s primarily low-carb but not all about avoiding industrial, post-agricultural foods. Hunt Gather Love explains the difference in depth as well as the difference between Primal and Paleo with a cool graphic.

Do you get all your information from Mark Sisson? I get a lot of it from him, I admit, because his site is filled with useful, well-sourced information and is so easy to read and navigate. His writing is clear and clean, he retains his decency and humility despite his popularity, and his philosophy makes a ton of sense. I don’t agree with everything or buy his supplements, but he’s my go-to source on most occasions.

How do you know this isn’t just the latest fad? Maybe someone will discover something completely different in a year. It’s possible. But I feel so good and this diet is so ancient that I doubt it. As Nora Gedgaudas says in her book, Primal Body, Primal Mind, “If this is a fad diet, it’s the oldest fad in history.”

Is anyone paying you to say all this? No. I am just really passionate about it, and make time to share what I’ve learned here. Eating Primally gave me my sanity back. I want to pay that forward. I hope this information helps. If so, please let me know!

Thanks for tuning in,