Last year I went on paleo and had amazing results. I lost 70 pounds and my depression, anxiety and ADHD went away. I felt alive and well and that the whole wide world was mine for the taking. There is no good reason that I went off of it. I got bored with the food. I missed my double bacon cheeseburgers and my super large chocolate shake and diet coke and fries. I missed all my 7-11 staples etc. I hated to cook. The excuses go on but in reality, there was no good reason.
Earlier this year I got sick. I mean really sick. The kind where you couldn’t get out of bed and spend hours on the toilet and stomachache cramps and all of that fun stuff. My friend had convinced me to try a low-fat diet and I thought I was eating healthy so I went off to the Dr. He ran a crap load of tests and came back and announced that I was intolerant of everything man-made. For once I am not being my hyperbolic self. I was gluten,lactose AND glucose intolerant. At first I was all like well what the hell am I supposed to EAT? He then outlined a diet that was, you guessed it, the paleo diet. I told him that I was on it and had good results before but I became bored with what I could eat. Then I admitted I had not tried very hard to find recipes and such.
SO with a sigh I resigned myself to this way of eating. Yes, that was my attitude at first. I went through my pantry and guess what my cheap dollar store spices have in them? GLUTEN. Why would anyone put gluten in spices is beyond me. So I gave them to a friend along with my pasta, rice and milk and everything else that I was allergic to. This left me with a very slim pickings for a couple of days. Then I got paid and off I went to spend my life savings at the health food store. OK so it wasn’t THAT expensive but I still experienced sticker shock. I asked the butcher why the grass fed beef was so expensive. Was grass in short supply? He gave me an answer but I could not read his lips so I am not sure exactly what he said. Then I remembered I liked bison the last time I was there and saw the price 10.00 a pound. Well, forget that. I may not be the most frugal person ever but that made even me take a pause. I figured the world must be down to the last of the bison and the farmers must be milking them for every penny possible. Then I moved on to the spice rack. After making the food store person pinkie swear her spices contained no gluten I picked some out and made the mistake of looking at the price. 5 dollars a bottle. OK then. That is the price of good health. I got a lot of other things and I ma not gonna tell you how much it was but needless to say I was unable to post to facebook how good a deal I had gotten. (What is it with people that do that anyway? The I had a zillion coupons and saved a zillion dollars? The whole coupon craze eludes me.)
What IS the paleo diet you ask. Basically it is eating like the cavemen in the past. You eat all natural grass feed lean meat, fruits, vegetables and some nuts. It has been shown to provide amazing benefits to the people that have tried and stuck to it. I am a member of several paleo groups and I have not heard one negative story yet. It is now said that many modern illnesses are the result of inflammation and that the paleo diet can eliminate that. I am doing the Whole30 until my body heals. Then I will add some foods back in my diet and see how I do.
I have been Paleo for 4 days and already I can see an improvement. I am still dog tired but I think that is just because my body has run out of carbs and has yet to rely on fat for fuel. Last year it took about six weeks for the energy to kick in. That was coming off of years of crappy eating so I am hoping that this time it takes less.
I so cant wait until I start feeling human again. For the ADHD, brain fog, anxiety and depression to once again be kicked to the curb. For the feeling that I can take on the world to be mine again. I have decided that instead of focusing on what I cant eat I will make it a game and see what kind of recipes and stuff I can find. And yes, I will learn to cook. I have tried a couple of recipes so far and almost burned my apt to the ground, but it is all in the learning process I suppose.