Transitioning from carnivorous to omivorious

[sabertooth]

I have been on a mostly carnivorous diet for the past year and a half and had to avoid most carbohydrates because of blood sugar issues.

I will eat coconut, lemon water and an occasional tomato, besides that no other plant foods.

I had such damaged pancreatic and liver function that I couldn't tolerate carbs very well at all, and a piece of fruit would spike my blood sugar and make me feel ill.

It seems that my ability to use carbohydrates has been steadily increasing over the last few months.(I view this as a sign that my organs are regenerating according to AV's rejuvenation theory.)

I am craving more fruit and coconut water, I will now eat a few berries, small pieces of fruit, small amounts of honey, tomatoes; without any issues; and I feel good and I believe that the small amount of carbs I am eating help stimulate my appetite. I have just eaten about 45 pounds of lamb in the last two weeks, and am gaining some weight.

I am still low carb and don't usually go over 50 per day. I am still conflicted about if it is safe to experiment with much more than that. I was still figuring on waiting for the two year mark to start building carb tolerance, although it seems that nature is taking its course and now I crave the taste and smell of fruit, and it seems that I am holding back from eating too much out of fear of how bad I used to feel when I ate sweet foods.

Just wondering, is canned coconut water cheating?

I like to mix a splash of coconut water into my lemon water with a few frozen blueberry's then chase an egg down with it, as a refreshing drink for after work. It seems that canned coconut water is well tolerated and has less of a laxative effect as fresh coconut water, plus it doesn't go rancid after a day like fresh coconut water does. It may not be ethically paleo, but is there any harm in it?

[goodsamaritan]

Love your theory about carbs.

I just stopped eating all honey and sweet fruit when I got a tooth ache... now I'm in ultra low carb mode and of course the tooth ache is disappearing.

I come from coconut land and canned coconut water sounds gross.

But I can't say anything about canned coconut water at the moment since I haven't tasted it nor seen it sold in our stores.  A picture of canned coconut water would be a nice laugh if you can post it here.  In our road trip to the mountains my wife and I laughed and grossed out at packaged coconut milk.

[eveheart]

I am able to buy imported young coconuts where I live. IMO, imported coconuts are not as tasty as fresh young coconuts, which I have eaten on vacation.

 I have tried this brand of canned coconut water http://zico.com/products/benefits and I find it "convenient" but nowhere near as good tasting as actual coconut water. However, in many places in the US, fresh young coconuts are not available.

[TylerDurden]

I've tried canned coconut water over the past year out of curiosity, the taste was awful and I didn't feel too great afterward. I suggest, avoid it.

[sabertooth]

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Monkey-Natural-Coconut-11-2-Ounce/dp/B00451UN84

Not all coconut water is the same I have had brands that taste awful and made me feel bad, but the blue monkey has a real fresh and mild taste to it. I don't drink it straight anyway, I will just use a splash or two mixed into my lemon berry water. It offsets the sourness of the lemon perfectly without raising the glycemic index very much. I also think it improves the electrolyte balance of my RO water

[majormark]

It's interesting, last year I could eat a hand full of fruits and get sleepy and this year I just spent two weeks eating mostly fruits and rarely got that reaction.

At some point, this year, I switched from eating fruits alone with eating them in a smoothie (as in the AV recipes book, but most of the time without the egg or honey), and I noticed I could tolerate a larger quantity that way, without those "side effects". Maybe the smoothies contributed to this increased tolerance.

Anyway, I'm back to smoothies now, because they are very hydrating.

[goodsamaritan]

There are fruits that are just poison carbs just after a little becomes too much.
- pineapples
- grapes
- rambutan

And there are fruit that one can eat a lot of:
- papayas
- coconuts

[majormark]

Well, I ate mostly nectarines, water melon and honey melon during the two weeks.

Grapes are not in season yet, but maybe I'll try grapes for a few days when they are available to see what happens.

[Ioanna]

i wouldn't trust nor touch anything canned.

[sabertooth]

I normally wouldn't be so reckless with bad advice about using canned coconut water, its just that there have been so many times that I bought a "fresh coconut" from the super market only to crack it open and get a gulp of rancidness.

Its nothing I would use a lot of, and perhaps I can use a more raw alternative in the future. I am looking toward some type of fruit smoothy drink, I love to throw a few blueberries into my lemon, coconut water. Perhaps I can experiment a little with other types of fruits to see which ones work best in my hydration drinks.

Important side note, it also seems that fresh coconut water has a laxative effect which limits how much I can use, while canned coconut water doesn't, it also seems to be the case with the coconut butter I use. I can eat a whole jar of it without issue, but if I eat more than a half a coconut then I will have a gut purging reaction. There must be some explanation for this?

[Techydude]

Blargh, the boxed coconut water I had tasted like piss. :/

I wish there were org coconuts in NY.

[zeno]

Sabertooth, I would advise you (and everyone) not to purchase coconut water. You can read more about why here.

Also, aluminum cans are known to contain BPA.

[sabertooth]

Yeah I quit using coconut water and have gone back toward zero carbs.

I seem to feel better overall without too many carbs, so I have gone back to just using coconut butter , tomatoes, and lemon water. Summer is coming to an end and I was using coconut water mainly to replenish electrolytes after a long day of work and sweat.