So I am in pursuit of health... a winding road I know nothing about. I spent the first 33 years of my life eating as much, as often and as crappy as I pleased. In my metabolically deranged body, this was causing a decline in my health. At my heaviest I was 315lb. My motto had always been "at least I will die fat and happy with a chip in my hand", problem was I wasn't happy at all. I was miserable, tired, sore and majorly depressed.
Weight watchers failed because I would save all my points for a box of Rice'a'Roni broccoli and cheese rice. Body for life, seemed impossible to follow, even if I could have one "eat whatever you want day" a week. Plus weighing and measuring anything makes me want to shoot myself. I'm a food addict. I LOVE to eat. I love to feel full. I love to feed people. It seemed I was doomed... ok so at least I will die fat and miserable with happy taste buds.
But I decided that something had to give, I didn't want to get diabetes (which I was well on my way to achieving as I had already been taking pills for insulin resistance for years) I didn't want to feel so shitty all of the time. I was sick of being so depressed and since I recently started to play Rugby I really needed to have better recovery and loose some of the excess weight to make the game easier for me.
One of my friends suggested the "paleo diet". Eat like a caveman? It seemed too restrictive... no more grains, legumes, dairy or sweeteners. What kind of crack was she smoking? I easily dismissed her comments for months and then one day in March of 2011 I decided to look into this "paleo thing".
So I took my butt over to The Whole 9 Life website and read there Whole30 Challenge, I started my first whole 30 that night. I think it was this imparticular that edged me to do this "it is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard." along with the "You can do anything for 30 days". What's 30 days, in 30 days when this dang diet doesn't work (because they never do) I can eat whatever I want again.
So the very next day I packed up everything that was non-paleo approved and I set out on my new health adventure. Week 1 sucked. The headaches and exhaustion, my brain screaming for sweets and begging for bread... I made it through to week two which was racked with more cravings than week one. I craved things I don't even really like. My brain was just trying to get me to eat anything that was non-paleo. Week three something amazing happened. I didn't feel so drained, I had tons of energy and I was so happy I would call it euphoric.
My first whole 30 lasted 27 days and then I went with one of my rugby friends to the movies... I HAD TO HAVE popcorn... I didn't get any chemical "butter" on it so how bad could it be? OH MY GOD... I literally had the flu and was on the couch for over 2 hours after the movie lethargic, nose running, wanting to die... really???
3 months through my paleo-ish diet. I had reversed my insulin resistance and no longer needed my medication for it and I had lost about 25lb. By July my total weight loss on the paleo diet was 59lb. (I started paleo weighing in at about 285lb.) Over the past few months I have been eating like crap again. My diet fell to about 60% paleo and I have been frequently eating Arby's Cheese sticks, Sonic's tater tots and a myriad of other food that I know do not do a body good.
So I'm jumping back on the wagon.
I'm not 100% paleo, I don't always buy nitrate free bacon and grass - fed anything is not very easy to come by in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I'm not always concerned with the quality of my meat at the moment and when it's available and I can afford it, I plan on cleaning that up. Until then I am in a paleo - ish lifestyle. My adventure is not always easy. This past week of coming off of being only about 60% paleo I am going through the cravings and anger that I can't just have "insert crap I want to eat here". However I am determined to improve my health and I know the way to do that is to get the inflammation causing, unhealthy foods out of my diet.
My reason for starting a blog is to let people travel through this adventure to health with me. I plan to post triumphs, eating tragedies and awesome recipes. In the hopes to help keep me on target and share some health with others.
I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in eating like crap recently. I'm newly inspired though. Got a hand blender, waffle maker and new spices. Things are getting more and more paleo around here again. Are you allowing yourself dark chocolate as a treat? I've been into making desserts lately :)Good luck on the blog. Can't wait to read more... Sarajane
ReplyDeleteI tried a recipe for waffles that I have a few weeks ago and tragically failed, they were dense and a bit dry. That one is surely going to need some work. As soon as I figure out how to do that correctly I will post for sure. I made coconut pancakes this morning... and I had a small amount of maple syrup on them. I haven't had dark chocolate at all over the last week and with the exceptions of paleo dessert dishes I am planning on making for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the once a week paleo pancake Sunday breakfast I am pretty much going as paleo as possible. Which means other than my two cheat days, no chocolate. I am really feeling like I need to reset my body and get back to feeling like I was week 3 & 4 of my first whole30. I remember all that energy and happiness fondly. Once I am off of my (mostly) strict 2 months of paleo, I will allow trace amounts of dairy and a lot more dark chocolate and experimenting with coconut and almond flour desserts :) sticking to the things I know my body can handle without getting out of whack.
ReplyDeleteHi, I appreciate your blog for many reasons. I have just been told by a doctor that I should eat Paleo and I thought I wasn't eating that different because I had been on the 17 day diet where I had given up bread and grains and had been okay with it. Of course, I cheat and enjoyed life when I wanted to... but dairy is a different story! No milk in my coffee in the morning? I think I might die.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing I did was listen to Robb Wolf's podcast and read his book. He breaks down exactly WHY you shouldn't be eating the foods on the unapproved list. Dairy spikes insulin, that's the biggest reason it's a no. Heavy whipping cream seems to acceptable in some paleo circles and coconut milk is pretty good and adds a little sweetness too. You can do anything... I don't even drink coffee because I hate how bitter it is, I like sweet an I've gotten used to only drinking water and unsweetened tea. The trek to health is not an easy one but it IS worth it. I'm traveling with you and cheering you on!
ReplyDeleteFound you via PaleoHacks so just dropping by to say Hi and how impressed I am with your lifestyle change. Your body must LOVE you now!
ReplyDeleteAwesome work.
You should still be blogging. you could give lots of information to people who need it. just sayin....
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