Episode #81: Salt, Shakeology, yeast infections, & calorie counting

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Episode #81: Salt, Shakeology, yeast infections, & calorie counting

Don’t forget to pre-order your copy of the amazing new book Gather: The Art of Paleo Entertainingby Hayley Mason & Bill Staley (The Food Lovers) – releasing everywhere on April 30th!
Topics:

1. Salt on a Paleo diet? [9:30]
2. Yeast infections [18:18]
3. Pre-workout nutrition for early morning workouts / fat for fuel? [26:04]
4. Paleo = weight gain?? [31:04]
5. Counting calories on Paleo [31:47]
6. How does Shakeology shake up? [49:30]


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1. Salt on a Paleo diet?

Megan says,

Hi ladies – I have three questions for you. (Side note: they’re all long and totally unrelated to each other, so please feel free to pare down if you can’t accommodate all of them)
First, Loren Cordain feels very strongly about not adding any extra sodium chloride to one’s diet, but no one else in Paleo-land seems to talk about it at all. Dr. Cordain’s was the first book I read when I originally went Paleo, but making salt-free recipes resulting in BORING FOOD. I’m much happier with the Practical Paleo recipes, but I’m concerned that I may be missing something important. Can you explain whether or not you agree with his position on table salt, and why?

2.Yeast infections

Second, my health has uniformly improved since going Paleo two months ago – lots of little niggly symptoms like breakouts, heart palpitations, and stuffy noses have disappeared completely. The one thing that doesn’t seem to be improving is my yeast infections. I get one about once every month or two. I can sometimes trace it back to a bacterial exposure (during sexual activity, for example), but not always. I treat them pretty successfully with vaginal probiotic suppositories or Monistat for the external ones, but I feel like Paleo nutrition ought to have decreased the frequency of my candidiasis breakouts. Is there something in a Paleo diet that could be exacerbating the yeast balance, or some other change you’d suggest?

3. Pre-workout nutrition for early morning workouts / using fat for fuel

Third, for Diane: you suggest in “Practical Paleo” that eating before working out leads the body to use the energy present in the food rather than stored fat get you through the workout. But does this same rule apply to fat- and protein-based pre-workout meals? I work out at 6am and feel a little icky if I don’t eat at least a little something when I wake up. I don’t actually need the food energy to get me through the workout; eating is just part of the ritual of waking up for me. So if I eat an egg with avocado, or make Coco-nutty Grain-Free Porridge (OMG BEST THING EVER!!), will my body be using that fat and protein immediately as an energy source, or will it be dipping into stored fat?

Thanks to you both for all your great work!

4. Paleo = weight gain??

Michelle says,

What the Heck! Why am I gaining weight on paleo?!?! After years of a crap diet, skipping meals, and what I now know are unhealthy eating patterns, I started eating paleo in Sept of 2012. It took a few months to transition fully, but I now eat 95% paleo. I have also GAINED 15 pounds, when I need to lose around 30. I am trying to heal a leaky gut after years of low calorie diets and low fat, reduced calorie foods, but the gaining weight makes me want to revert to old habits of meal skipping and calorie counting. I do have a cheat meal occasionally, like a cupcake on my birthday, or maybe some organic corn chips with salsa, but my boyfriend does this as well, and he has LOST weight since we have began eating paleo. What gives?

Sleep is 8 hours a night. I recently joined the YMCA behind my house, but am trying to stick with only yoga and walking to keep cortisol levels down. Supplements are .125mcg synthroid, 80 mcg potassium, 650 mg ferrous sulfate (iron), and magnesium if I want any hope of going to the bathroom on a regular basis. I recently began taking marshmallow root and drinking peppermint tea in hopes of helping my gut heal.

Thai food 3x/month, tortilla chips 2x/month, dairy 2x/month

5. Counting Calories on Paleo

Jodi asks,

In order to lose weight on the Paleo diet, do I need to be counting calories?

6. How does Shakeology shake up?

Rachel says,
I’m just wondering what your take on Shakeology is and if you feel its safe for Paleo diets? I understand whole food is better than any form of shakes but I just started ordering the vegan form of Shakeology and would like to continue using it along with trying to eat as close to Paleo as possible. I’m just beginning to understand more about the Paleo way of eating and there are times that some of the info gets to be a lot, so any insight from you would be helpful and greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Thanks for listening!
Liz & Diane

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8 Responses

  1. GREAT show. You gals are so fun to listen to, and funny– love it all.
    Thanks for my weekly Liz and Diane (:

  2. Just listened this afternoon and enjoyed it. I love it how you tell it like it is, even if it is hard for some of us to hear. I’m one of those that are stuck having protein smoothie for breakfast because of the easiness and how fast I can get it together and out the door with me in the mornings. Everything you chatted about on Shakeology I know in my head but I’ve been to stubborn to change my habit. Thanks for helping me get one step closer to being over the morning protein smoothie.

  3. Exciting stuff about the homesteading! Chicken and goat shopping sounds fun (:
    A couple things about Michelle’s question on weight gain really jumped out at me that I don’t think you guys touched on, and I just wanted to comment here in case it gives her some other ideas for things to try! First of all, she mentions a leaky gut, and says she has trouble with regularity. She’s also taking iron, and I sure hope the amount is a typo. I can’t remember the number you said on the podcast, but 650mg is a TON of iron! Most normal iron pills have closer to 65mg, so maybe there’s just an extra 0?
    Anyways, to me those things signal some serious gut dysbiosis, and I think that could be playing a huge role in her weight gain. Michelle, if you’re reading this, I’d highly recommend checking out this post: http://syontix.com/can-gut-dysbiosis-sabotage-weight-loss/
    And I mention the iron just because bacteria LOVE iron, so supplemental iron can often worsen existing gut dysbiosis and digestive issues. (You can look at the ‘iron’ section of this post: http://syontix.com/symptom-relief-from-gi-issues-part-two-foods-drinks-and-drugs-that-inflame/) And no, I’m not affiliated with that site, it just has a ton of good info (:
    Anyways, just some thoughts I had! Hope some of it is helpful.

    1. Thanks Alyssa! You should leave this comment on the Balanced Bites post too! Goodness, that’s quite a miss on our part! I think we got on a tangent and left this one half-answered???

      1. Okay, I’ll do that! Haha I’m sure it’s hard to NOT go off on tangents on a podcast! My brain is just wired to perpetually think about gut bacteria (totally normal, right?) so it was the first thing I thought of (:

  4. Very late to the party (catching up on podcasts!), but I wanted to mention something about the frequent yeast infections poor Megan is suffering through. I went to a similar period in my early twenties and tried all sorts of things to fix it. I was at my wit’s end when somewhere I happened upon a reference to Nonoxynol-9 (spermicide) in condoms occasionally being a culprit for some people. So, I decided — as I was using condoms with it in there — to switch to spermicide-free ones as an experiment and I haven’t had any more yeast infection issues for about 15 years since! So, sometimes it’s not even a diet thing. Sometimes even if your diet is very clean (which mine was), an *external* source could be affecting things.
    Anyway, not sure if Megan will ever see this (or if it is relevant to the type of condoms she uses), but I wanted to post anyway, just in case.

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