A few months back I vowed to go to crossfit and train for a half marathon to whip myself into shape. Well, here I am, almost done with January, still barely able to run a mile. I asked myself so many times, why isn’t this working and what am I doing wrong, but I kept coming back to one thing: nutrition. Random, right? Well, as you may know from my about me or by knowing me personally, I have some dietary restrictions that I need to adhere to in order to feel healthy and happy.
For the longest time I though I had my gluten allergy under control and figured my stomach was just sensitive to other foods I was eating (like dairy which I know makes me ill and small amounts of soy) but I figured if I got those under control as well, I would be symptom free and healthy. Notsomuch. I have still been getting sick, and by this I mean extreme, painful bloating, and all the wonderful not-to-be-mentioned accompanying symptoms from bloating. All I could think was, “SERIOUSLY?!” What now? It was so beyond frustrating and for a while I thought I would always be the burping, bloated person I had become. But then I thought maybe there was a less dramatic (who, me, dramatic?!) way of dealing with these issues.
I’m going paleo. I’m removing all of the things I have been noticing that have made me sick.
But that’s not all, I have already been paleo for 10 days. I needed to make sure my will power was there before sharing this big news!
OK, no I will not be 100% strict paleo for the rest of my life. Yes, I will have cheese and yogurt again in my life. Yes I will also probably reintroduce some grains that have never made me feel ill. But I will never rely on these foods as I was. These will be few and far between. Cheese will be a luxury, as I feel it should be. Grains such as quinoa and brown rice will make appearances every once in a while. But that’s it.
10 days ago, I went to bed with a stomachache (a normal occurrence) and made up my mind that I was committed to making it through 30 days of paleo. If, after that 30 days, I didn’t see an improvement or change, I was going to have to figure something else out (i.e. a serious talk with my doctor). I am a third of the way into that commitment. I feel great. My skin is starting to clear up after some pretty bad months, I find myself less fixated on food and what to eat, and in the first 7 days, I lost 3 pounds. Who knows if the weight loss was a fluke or due to the fact that I’m eating less processed foods, but it is the first loss I have seen in almost a year (and yes, I’ve been trying). This is major.
I made only one New Years resolution and it was to cook every recipe in the Against All Grain cookbook. It has been fun, challenging and DELICIOUS thus far!
Since this post is getting lengthy, I will continue in another post on Saturday to get down to the nitty gritty of what it takes to go paleo. I’ll leave you all with some pictures of my eats lately!
PS Now that my nutrition is focused and under control, I am working on the exercise portion! Crossfit has been awesome so far and running is just as much of a struggle as it has always been, but I’m hoping to change that!
bakingmehappy 