First of all, let me set the record straight. I am not a nutritionist or a doctor or a certified personal trainer or a chef or psychotherapist. I am a 54-year-old mom of two, who has struggled with my weight and physical abilities most of my life. I am also the daughter and granddaughter of Alzheimer's - so I am always reading research and recommendations that may help me not meet the same tragic fate as my mom and my grandma.
I stumbled on Paleo eating - I was NOT looking for another diet or fitness plan. I was too busy grieving the loss of my mother. But the Universe has a funny way of making you take notice and God has a funny way of answering silent prayers.
Three times in one day, I was face-to-face with information on a new way of eating. That's a sign. To go from something I'd never heard of to having it right in front of me in 3 different formats.
I made the decision immediately. We are going to DO THIS! (We being my husband and two teenagers....they were not involved in the decision, they were told they would be doing 30 days of clean eating. They rolled their eyes!)
My family decided to do a Whole30 - which is a super-clean, super-stringent form of Paleo eating. I loved the concept of a "short term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract and balance your immune system." (from the Whole30 website)
My husband and I did a "Pantry Purge" - boxing all the unopened food items we would not be eating for a month and storing them out of sight, out of mind. We printed out the Whole30 shopping list and hit Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market, Central Market and Sprouts. We were exhausted and poor by the time we got home.
I was actually in the process of job hunting when we decided to go Paleo. I'd been caring for my mom in our home as she went through the final stages of Alzheimer's and she was gone. It was time for me to get back to work - our bank account was making it abundantly clear!
But committing to a Paleo diet is a lot of work at first. I was spending 4-5 hours every day shopping and chopping and cooking and researching and testing recipes and trying to find the best prices on all the new specialty items we were buying. I decided Paleo would be my job for the next 30 days.
It took about 10 days for me to notice a major change in my life. I was sleeping through the night for the first time in years. My clothes were loose on me. My feet and hands and hips didn't ache like they used to. My son's skin cleared up. My daughter's sinus headaches went away. Everyone was looking leaner and had more energy. I had great hair every day - not just on "good hair days".
I was hooked. We finished our 30 days. We did the reintroduction of foods and found out that my son has a soy intolerance (breaks him out). My daughter has a gluten intolerance (causes sinus headaches). And I have a dairy intolerance (think flu-like symptoms). My husband did not discover any intolerances, but says he felt so good - he didn't want to change back to our old eating habits!
Since then, we have eaten a predominately Paleo diet. I actually stick to the Whole30 6 out of 7 days most weeks.
And, although I know weight loss shouldn't be the main reason to switch to this kind of diet - we lost 140 pounds in 5 months. I am personally down 55 pounds as I type this. And I've never felt better.
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| Down 40 pounds in just 4 month thanks to PaleoPlus |
That's when it hit me...
I haven't been this passionate about anything since breastfeeding. I knew I needed to find a way to make a living sharing this Paleo lifestyle with others. I know dozens of people who are constantly trying to lose a few pounds or who are suffering with achy joints or restless sleep or feel tired all the time. I am launching Wildflower Kitchen as a personal PaleoPlus home chef business for people who want to eat clean, but just don't have the time to do all the work. Wish me luck!
But as I said in the beginning - I am not a nutritionist or doctor or certified personal trainer... But I am a Real Life Paleo success story. I thought I had tried "everything" and had pretty much given up. I thank God every day for putting Paleo in front of me 3 times in one day and changing my life.
We are still on a strict budget, so we don't have the luxury of ordering grass-fed, organic ground beef at $10 a pound or buying the boutique avocado oils. But I read, I research, I test products and I shop around. I have become an expert at eating PaleoPlus (that's what I call our diet because it's not all organic and sometimes we enjoy a russet potato or two and my daughter still requires me to make her chicken nuggets with rice flour.) on a budget.
I hope to share my tips, tricks and recipes here and track my journey for myself and my family and any friends and followers who might benefit from a Real Life mom doing the best she can to be her best, healthiest self.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lisa
short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to
unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your
digestive tract, and balance your immune system. - See more at:
http://whole30.com/step-one/#sthash.nAs8REbr.dpuf
short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to
unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your
digestive tract, and balance your immune system. - See more at:
http://whole30.com/step-one/#sthash.nAs8REbr.dpuf
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