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Hello, i get chronic charlie horses / pinched nerves in my left foot to where my for is trying to fold in on itself or my middle toe gets a mind of its own and points down as the rest of my toes are reaching for the sky. Its quite painful and likes to pop its ugly head out when i am trying to do floor exercises, if my leg stretches out while i sleep, and any other random moment. I am thinking this is a result of a vitamin deficiency i just don't know which ones. Has anyone else ever had this problem? If so how did you get rid of the problem?

Hello fellow paleo dieters and normal folks I have been experimenting with my diet for quite a while now, trying to eliminate foods and products from the menu which either seem to be healthy, but in fact are not or full of hormones, starch/carbohydrates, were genetically modified or produced in an unnatural way (like orange carrots). I read several articles on the paleo diet and even though I do not agree with everything that has been stated (more on that later - see end of post), I thought it overall a very good and healthy approach to food. Thus, one day about 2 1/2 weeks ago I went paleo cold turkey - as an experiment. So far so good. Everything went well I didn't really have any adjustment issues apart from the occasional slip up (I went to work with too little food as I was running late and I was starving - what can I say?). But then two days ago it happened: I came home starving for bread (I had bought for my flatmate and ended up eating half! the loaf in one go - and the other half the next morning). I felt like I hadn't eaten in days and my stomach was making sounds and was rumbling (which is another sign that I am starving - otherwise you wouldn't hear a thing!). So, assuming some deficiency due to my new diet I googled 'craving for bread with butter' and found out it was triggered by a protein deficiency. And it made perfect sense: I am a vegetarian and therefore do not eat meat apart from fish. Why? Because of all the growth hormones used in the food for cows, pigs and chicken (that's why I try to leave eggs aside as well), the whole ethical issues with cage system housing, agricultural/economic issues of wasting tons of food to 'generate' x amount of meat - and I am generally against killing (I know, I eat fish - my best friend convinced me it was better for my health and it is actually not that easy to get sufficent amounts of vitamin B12 from other sources). Plus, red meat is supposed to be quite unhealthy as it loads your arteries with bad fats and cholesterol. I could buy organic meat, but unless you have actually seen the farm conditions with your own eyes they can tell you all sorts of things (apart from that it's ridiculously expensive and I am already spending too much money on food - will have to look into that as well... but, let's stay with the topic). Thus, my problem as vegetarian who doesn't consume eggs, dairy products and (now) bread etc. as well is: 1) Where do I get my protein from? I used to eat fish (salmon) twice a day, but I don't feel like eating tons of fish during the day. I tried a whey protein shake for the first time today and it was delicious and I felt better immediately. The only downside: it contained soy which gave me a major headache shortly after (i. e. if my powder I bought today for 9 pounds contains soy as well it's goobye whey protein powder - even though I am usually against ANY supplements as it is way healthier to get these substances from natural sources and the it is easier for the body to process them). 2) The rest of the meat eating community in here: aren't you worried about all the hormones etc. 'corrupting' the quality of your food (and I am not even talking about ethics here)? 3) Staci, if you read this: you are my hero and role model (very insiring transformation story - I read it sooo many times - amazing!) Do you take your whey protein with water or milk (or something completely different like orange juice :S)? ----------------------------------------------------------- Things I about paleo I disagree with: - How come some state the Neanderthal as a good example for 'a healthy paleo diet' when a) we did not decent from the Neanderthal and they became extinct (more as a side note, but not one of my 'disagreement points') - If animals manage to adapt to changes (in a biological way - not talking about one finds out how to use a stick and teaches his decendants how to do it too) within a few generations then I am bloody hell convinced that humans are also capable of just the same. Ergo, in my opinion, there has been some adaption to dairy and corn/wheat products over the time, but I agree that this does not necessarily mean it is the best food option (if you want an actual proven example of the adaptions I talked about I will look something up for you - I just remembered the bird one from a documentary I saw on the telly). - I am sure that the our ancestors from the stone age did not differentiate between legumes and veggies etc and woulddn't have eaten some of the foods that we consider as paleo, simply because they would have had to cook it - I mean who would go up to a raw bundle of broccoli and eat it just like that? Probably doesn't taste very great and as taste was an indication of whether something was edible or not it is not very likely it was actually on the menu (we feel 'disgusted' by some foods/substances for the same reason: our body wants to prevent us from eating it as it might be potentially harmful to our health). All in all, I figured that the underlying concept of the paleo diet is: avoid carbs and eat foods rich in protein or foods high in fat or with little calories.