Well, here goes!
On the advice and encouragement of a friend, DH and I giving the Paleo diet a go. We've committed 30 days to eating the Paleo way.
We've needed a change for awhile...he suffers from ADD and depression, I struggle with depression, exhaustion and fertility issues. Neither of us live a particularity healthy lifestyle; we eat crap, don't get much exercise, don't look after our bodies and barely sleep. We've both gained an lost a lot of weight in the 10 years we've been together and are getting older...he turned 40 last year, I just turned 33, time to start being grown ups.
I've attempted diets before, tried out Atkins (that was horrible) and have been on and off Weight Watchers (that actually works...but the cravings were too much for me) for years. I've struggled with weight my whole life, and only rarely have been at a healthy weight for my body. Right now I'm at the biggest I've ever been and need to lose a good 75-100 lbs. I feel and look like crap.
A good friend, we'll call her S, went Paleo in January. First she started off with her youngest son and soon the results were so significant the rest of her family joined in and collectively they have lost over 100 lbs!! They feel better, they look better and really are new people. Talking to her last week something clicked, something about how she spoke made me switch from "Crazy paleo...we're not cavemen! We shouldn't eat like them!" to "Wow...there may be something to this!" She's a new person, which she contributes exclusively to the Paleo way of eating...it seemed a little like a cure-all for our problems.
I grilled her about what was Paleo and what wasn't, about what they eat, about the cravings, about the prep, about everything! I was still pretty skeptical when she told me what her oldest had said. When she first went Paleo he was very resistant, refusing to give up his sugar...when he saw the change in them he decided to give it a try and soon said that the difference with this and everything else he had tried to get healthy was that eating Paleo didn't leave him hungry, he didn't feel deprived once he was over the initial sugar detox and that he felt amazing.
That was the clincher for me...every other diet I have tried I felt like I was missing out and was resentful...it seemed too good to be true!
S told me to give it 30 days...she would coach me through...she would be my guru and I would look and feel better than I ever have. I agreed. I could give at least 30 days.
I went home that night last week and told DH the plan...he was pretty skeptical as well but agreed that it was worth a try...we ordered some books online and started the research.
The next few days I tried to learn as much about Paleo as I could...I listened to podcasts, read blogs and continued to grill S. I also tried to eat as much of my precious grains, sugar and carbs as I could! Chips and ice cream for dinner? Why yes! Better scarf down as much of the left over Easter chocolate as possible before May 1st! DH and I strategized and cleaned out the kitchen.
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| The empty pantry...the animals have more food in there than we do! |
We had planned to do the big grocery shop yesterday in preparation, but I was called to work. So today we got up late (I'm on night shift this month) around 3pm and had to figure out breakfast in an empty kitchen.
I lay in bed trying to figure it out...ok...paleo breakfast...eggs! We have them! But what do you eat with the eggs? No toast, no wrap...just eggs...not overly exciting. I manage to hard boil a bunch while putting on the espresso (technically we're not going 100% crazy Paleo...we're gonna keep some caffeine and some dairy) I prepare us one of my mom's specialities "Smashed up egg in a cup" basically a hard boiled egg with butter and salt smooshed up in a mug...so yummy :) Usually it's one egg and toast, but without the toast one egg was pretty minimal...we ended up with 3 eggs each and a little butter. It's weird that I know I've just eaten more than enough, and lots of protein, but without the carbs I felt like I had barely had anything!
We made our way to Costco (after a quick stop at Starbucks for a cappuccino Breve for me!) and stocked up on meats, veg, some kitchen tools, berries and of course a good pro-biotic. As we were leaving I was getting hungry and grumpy...the Costco hotdogs were calling my name and smelled so good!!! Instead we opened the giant bag of baby carrots and had some coconut water...yay. Not satisfying at all :(
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| I've been told that the Magic Bullet is the key to smoothie happiness! |
Next it was onto Superstore...DH hates it there, too many annoying people for him, and as we were already a little grumpy I wasn't looking forward to it. I was shocked by how little we ended up getting, the cart wasn't even half full! Pretty much just veggies, some fruit and lots of coconut!
More carrots on the way home and we were both getting annoyed with the world...after a closed road and a delivery truck blocking our street I thought DH was going to lose it! We quickly got some veg on the BBQ and sliced up the rotisserie chicken from the store and finally had a substantial yummy meal.
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| Our first Paleo meal |
I can't get over how full the fridge and freezer are...the pantry is still pretty bare, but now has some quick snacks we can grab which is reassuring.
So far we're doing ok...but I'm thinking that the true carb/sugar detox will hit tomorrow...I can't imagine that's going to be fun, S has prepped me that berry smoothies are the way to get through...we're prepared, but it's still gonna be rough.
Fingers crossed we can do this!!
