Paleo Eve

The kitchen has been busy all afternoon. Now, with every pot clean and the fridge packed to its fullest, I can sit down for my last glass of wine before this whole journey begins.  I must admit, I'm a little scared.  I haven't touched red meat in over a decade and now beef is on my menu twice in one day this week. If you're wondering what got me to this crossroads, here's the quick story.

Food and I haven't always gotten along. We've had a funny relationship for a number of years.  Sometimes, it's been my best friend and my source of comfort. Other times, I've controlled it to the point of squeezing out all of its joy.  More often than not, though, it's been something that I've fought against, not something that I've allowed to work for me.

In my 20's, food basically equated to calories in my mind.  It was a way to gain weight or lose weight, and that's about it.  Now, at 33, if that was how I viewed what I put in my mouth, I'd be doing pretty well.  After two kids, I'm the same weight and wearing the same clothes I wore before Sawyer came along.  Job well done, right?

Not so much. Behind a reasonably shiny exterior, things get a little more dull.  Between kids, husband, work, church, friends, the gym, and the house, many days I just don't feel like my body and mind are keeping up with my life.  As much as my days are filled with things I love, they still leave me exhausted and wishing I could tap into some energy source that I just can't quite seem to find.

When I picked up the book It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, it was like dots started connecting as I read each page.  The Paleo-based diet and lifestyle they were describing was pretty much the opposite of the way I was feeding my body.  A self-proclaimed "cereal-aholic", I measured my diet for the most part on quantity vs. quality.  Sure, I downed my fair share of veggies, but mostly because they didn't make much of a dent in my calorie quota for the day.

For a full explanation of the Paleo diet, see my page, but if you don't have time for all that reading, the plan that It Starts With Food outlines, called The Whole30, "is designed to change your life in thirty days. Think if it as a nutritional reset, designed to help you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation, and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food." (It Starts With Food, pg. 204-205)

Basically, the plan eliminates sugar, grains, dairy, and legumes from your diet and consists of eating meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats for 30 days straight.  At that point, you start reintroducing the restricted foods to see how your body reacts and then plan your lifestyle diet around your individual response to foods.

Day One is tomorrow, and it's not just Day One for me. It's Day One for our ENTIRE FAMILY. Yes, even sweet little Emery is going Paleo for these 30 days.  (Well, the kids are actually going lacto-paleo, as pulling all dairy from their diet doesn't sit very well with Ryan and me. And for anyone about to pity our poor children, wait till you see the yummy Paleo treats I have planned for my little darlings!)

I look forward to sharing this journey, with all of its triumphs and failures, hopes and doubts, good days and bad days, lessons and progress, and, at the end of it all, having a greater awareness, understanding, and appreciation of how something as simple as our food can change our lives.

So here we go! Happy Paleo Eve, everyone!