Blog | Ten Months No Dairy: Life on the Quiet Paleo Diet 🥩

A Daunting Start, A Quiet Relief

Autoimmune conditions suck. A flare up of Psoriasis throughout 2024 inspired me to drastically change my diet, again. This time I made my most impending and reluctant change, quitting dairy.

When I first stepped into Quiet Paleo, I’ll be honest, I was scared. Cheese and butter had been two of my biggest calorie sources for years, and the thought of giving them up felt challenging. But within weeks (arguably days), that fear turned into relief.

For the first time in a while, I regained control over my skin as I watched my Psoriasis fade more and more, day by day.

Why Quiet Paleo?

Walking the fine line of remission from Crohn’s means I have high interest in any modern nutrition that claims it can calm autoimmune diseases. Through the wonderful Heather Rosa at ION, I came across Dr. Georgia Ede’s book Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind.

The quality of the research instantly struck me, particularly the perspective of looking at nutrition from her psychiatric background. One point that jumped out to me was that many of us can “grow out” of dairy before the age of 10. For me, that timeframe matched perfectly with my own Crohn’s diagnosis as a child. It felt like a potential lightbulb moment that I had to explore.

What is Quiet Paleo?

Quiet Paleo is Dr. Georgia Ede’s refined version of the Paleo diet you might have seen already.

It’s a model that helps you to cut out hidden food stressors and focus on calm, nourishing foods:

🌳 No grains, dairy, seed oils, or nightshades (tomato, white potato, pepper, aubergine).

🥩 High-quality animal proteins, traditional fats, low-irritant vegetables, and fruit as tolerated.

It’s a model that is designed to bring the body less stress, fewer cravings, and more stability.

The Benefits

Ten months in and the biggest win has been my skin. My stubborn psoriasis has finally disappeared. And while my energy and strength feel about the same as always, I’ve noticed a steadier rhythm in my mood and focus (maybe our house move has had something to do with that too).

The Challenges

Quiet Paleo hasn’t been perfect. I call myself 98% faithful. The 2%? Mostly social meals, where I’ve leaned on ChatGPT to help me check menus and plan ahead.

And sugar… dropping refined sugar has been massive, though at times bordering on rough. Those 2% cheats kept me sane, and the wild fruits from our new home in Eryri have been a lifeline recently.

But dropping dairy has been the true revelation. I’d tried the carnivore diet before, but I was eating cheese every day. Looking back, it’s clear that all that dairy was holding me back. Now, without it, I feel a freedom I didn’t expect. Do I miss grass-fed butter and good cheese? Absolutely. All I can say is, thank goodness for coconuts.

A Day on My Plate

My diet now is simple, grounding, and surprisingly satisfying:

🥚 Breakfast (if I eat it): mince or eggs.

🥑 Lunch: steak or bacon with mince, along with a fatty side like olives or avocado, and maybe a piece of fruit.

🐂 Dinner: fresh meat or fish with Quiet Paleo–friendly veg.

Alongside main meals, some useful supporting players include tallow, beef broth, electrolytes, and MCT oil from Hunter & Gather.

The Journey

Though this has been my personal experiment, Amber has been following her own dietary path too. Our diets are aligned in spirit, but different in detail. In fact, hers is currently more restrictive than mine. That parallel journey has made sticking to Quiet Paleo easier.

If someone asked me what makes Quiet Paleo different from mainstream Paleo, I’d keep it simple: it cuts out the big hidden stressors, like nightshades and dairy.

I’ll never go fully back to dairy. That much I know. And recently, since moving to Eryri, I’ve also cut down on eggs. I expect my diet will keep evolving. But Quiet Paleo feels like a sustainable foundation, one that supports my Crohn’s, my skin, and my sense of calm.

If you’re curious about exploring this path yourself, I recommend starting with Dr. Georgia Ede’s book: Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind or her website Diagnosis Diet.

Or reach out, and I talk you through the diet in more detail over a phone call or Zoom.