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I did it. I finally jumped on the Paleo bandwagon a good four or five years after a naturopath suggested that I do so. Okay, so I’m a slow learner. At that time I did get off gluten and milk but I had to ease myself into these radical changes.
Back in January I realized I needed to do something. I tried Weight Watchers again but after following it for four weeks faithfully I’d lost NOTHING. Nada. Talk about frustrating. And on top of that I was feeling pretty crappy. I finally realized that I was going to need some tips so I enlisted the help of a nutritionist. She had some good ideas but it was clear I was not ready to change a whole lot of my diet until I hit rock bottom. I was having migraines, my energy was SOOOO low, not to mention all of the gut distress I was experiencing daily. When my sister, Joelle, decided to switch to a Paleo diet I decided to join her. This sort of thing is MUCH easier when you have a buddy so the timing was right.
Before I started I read all sorts of articles and blogs about the Paleo diet and knew I was in for a big change. Eating the Paleo way means getting rid of all gluten, dairy (no cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.), industrial seed oils (soy, vegetable, canola, etc.) and sugar. Sounds extreme, right? I needed a change so I was ready to commit.
Many of those blogs detailed how you would feel day to day as you body switched over from burning carbs for fuel to burning fat. (Going through the carb flu, low energy, cravings, etc.) I figured I could handle all of that. Turns out it was actually much harder than I thought. My gut has been a mess for years. Although I have not been technically diagnosed I have all of the signs and symptoms for leaky gut syndrome (headaches, skin issues, low energy, GUT issues, more than 40 food sensitivities, etc.) and I’ve done nothing about it for years. After continuing to abuse my gut for that long it probably wasn’t reasonable to think that I could fix everything by doing a 28 day Paleo reset, huh? A girl can dream. Needless to say, 10 days into this Paleo adventure my gut felt worse than ever. WORSE!
I met with my nutritionist to get her to talk me off the ledge. I believed I was doing the right thing but I really needed some relief fast. She had some good ideas. Cut back on the nuts (they are harder to digest), stay away from raw veggies for awhile (I doubled my veggie intake and my gut didn’t know what to do with all of that ruffage!), CHEW MY FOOD (I’m the fastest eater in my family. Slow down!) and try a supplement called GI Revive. All of these have been so helpful, but the GI Revive has been such a life saver. This weekend I ran out of it and there was no way to get more over the holiday weekend. Ugh. I had no idea how much it was helping me until I couldn’t use it. I practically accosted my UPS man on Tuesday when he arrived with it! (And no, I’m not paid to endorse them.)
Has it all been hearts and flowers since then? Nope. It has been almost three months now and I am still struggling with some gut issues (they are much better but not gone), my energy still fluctuates (you know it’s a bad day when it’s 9:30am and you already need a nap) and I can tell my joints are still inflamed.
But has it been worth it? Absolutely! I am now only getting headaches occasionally and rarely do they turn into full on migraines. That alone is worth the price of admission. I also have to think that my gut is getting better, slowly but surely. Although I am still waiting for that promised weight loss, that was really just going to be the icing on the cake. (And yes, I have found some good paleo recipes for cake!)
I know that the food I am putting in my body is so much better. I know that because I have to make most of it for myself. There are hardly any processed foods that work on this diet. That means I am cooking a ton more which I thought would be a negative but has really turned out to be great. Talk about a paradigm shift. I went from counting calories and avoiding high fat foods to eating what I want within the diet parameters. One of my favorite things in this world is basil pesto and I used to avoid it because it was so high in fat. So long as I make it without any dairy (no cheese) I can have as much as I want. Yum! Do I miss the noodles? Not really. The noodles were mostly the vehicle to get the pesto into my mouth. I now make zoodles (zucchini noodles), throw some peas, green onions and shrimp in a pan with the sauce and I have an amazing lunch. And the mind blowing thing to me is that it’s all veggies and meat. Awesome!
Do you know how much yummier ground beef is if you don’t get the lowest fat content? It’s fantastic! I can have avocado diced and mashed and blended into every meal if I want. Bacon and eggs? That is my go to breakfast. That is the one breakfast that has NO gut repercussions for me. So good!
Another great side benefit of all this cooking? I save all my cooking and baking for the afternoons when the girls get home from school. My girls sit and do their homework (in the kitchen) and I bake or cook. That keeps me off my device and engaged in their stories and conversations.
Speaking of my girls, no I have not completely converted them to Paleo. This makes me feel endlessly guilty because I know I am eating food that is so much better for me than what they are eating. (I’m a mom so guilt just goes with the territory) I’ve slowly been showing them how good our old treats can taste with the Paleo remake. We have cookies and brownies and muffins they adore and that I would rather see them eat then a lot of the junk we had for snacks before. We also have a chili recipe they like and Char Siu (chinese bbq pork) that is requested. I even found a ‘chicken nugget’ recipe that two out of three will eat and it has REAL meat in it. Amazing! Jill (my oldest) is really paying attention to my changes. She has gut issues of her own so she is trying to make over her lunches and meals too and is gamely trying most of my new recipes.
Pinterest has been a huge help in this journey. I’m a picky eater, no doubt about it. I love that I can put in Paleo followed by any key ingredient and I have access to all sorts of recipes. Paleo pork or Paleo brownie or Paleo kale, etc. I’ve been printing my favorites and keeping them handy in a notebook, but I like knowing they are online any time I need them. Want to see my favorite recipes? You can find them here:
http://www.pinterest.com/michelle_enebo/paleo-all-stars/
And since I am now eating like a caveman I thought I might start exercising like one too. I am going to be hiking much more this summer. Two years ago I dragged my girls on a few hikes and I really enjoyed it so it is time to get back there.
Yesterday I attempted to hike up to Poo Poo Point. (For those of you that don’t live here that is the view that McDreamy has from his house on Gray’s Anatomy.) The trail we took was straight up for almost two miles. The elevation gain was 1700 ft! It nearly killed me and I didn’t quite make it to the top. No matter, now I have a goal for next time. It felt good!
And feeling good is what this whole adventure is all about!