Hooked on Paleo Worked For Me!

I’ve often wondered why modern Americans have such a love-hate relationship with food. Instead of viewing it for what it is – fuel for our bodies – it has become almost personified as a force for good or evil in our lives and how we relate to it says more about our emotional state than our bodies’ need for nutrition. We look to food for comfort, reward, happiness, etc. We make our food choices more often out of a concern for convenience than for health.

My own history with food is similar to many people my age. As a kid, breakfast consisted of some sugary cereal with a cheerful cartoon character on the box. Lunch was whatever processed slop the school was doling out that week. If I did pack my lunch, it consisted of a peanut butter sandwich, fruit roll-up and a Little Debbie snack cake for dessert. No wonder I grew up carb-addicted. I was raised by a frazzled single mother, so fast food was a staple. Eventually, we moved in with my grandparents. They kept a garden in the back yard and made almost everything from scratch. Simple, Midwestern farmhouse suppers like stews and casseroles became routine, but fast food was still a reliable weekend treat. The food at home was much healthier, but my Grandparents’ insistence on clean plates at the table was not. They had both been raised during the Great Depression and had known what it was like to be hungry. Waste was not tolerated. To this day, I feel a twinge of guilt if I leave any food on my plate. What would all those starving kids in China think?

As a teenager, I got a job at the mall and became more food-independent. I also unleashed my inner party girl. During high school, my four food groups were basically alcohol, mall pizza, chocolate and caffeine pills. I was skinny but far from healthy. I was working too much, partying too much and with the invincibility of youth, I never really thought about my health. I was burning the candle at both ends. I was pale and tired all the time. My grades suffered but I didn’t care. I lived in the moment and never once stopped to think about what I was doing to my body.

By the time I entered college, I was burned out, mentally and physically. My studies gave me a focus and a sense of discipline. I cared about my courses and I wanted to do well. I stopped partying and got serious about life. I was working multiple jobs to put myself through school, so that didn’t leave time for much else. This hectic schedule brought convenience eating to a whole new level for me. By this time I had a serious boyfriend, so I kind of let myself go. I wasn’t on the market anymore, so no need to keep the man-trap shined up. We settled into a comfortable routine of work, studying and bad eating. After we moved in together, dinners were all-American crap classics – Hamburger Helper, Chef Boyardee Ravioli, Kraft Mac n Cheese and our weekly rotation of all the local fast food joints.

It was during my college years that I decided to become a vegetarian. I thought I was making a healthy lifestyle decision, but I was still eating a lot of processed crap and carbs. I was still pale and tired all the time. I still depended on caffeine to survive my demanding schedule. Cutting meat out of my diet didn’t actually make me feel better, but the sense of moral superiority seemed to make up for it. At least for a little while.

I eventually ended my vegetarian experiment after gaining quite a bit of weight, but the carb addiction was stronger than ever. I did slim down a bit for my wedding at 26 and walked down the aisle at about 15 pounds above my skinny high school weight. Not too bad. As we started our life together, the hubby and I decided to eat healthier. So, we bought the whole-grain bread, rice and pasta. We traded regular dairy products and condiments for the fat-free versions.

For exercise, I would take my dog for long walks in the park. I joined a ladies’ fitness center. After work, I would go to the gym and walk on the treadmill for an hour while reading a magazine. Then I would go home and make a healthy whole-grain pasta dinner with fat-free cheese and have a diet coke. That was healthy eating, right? Conventional wisdom told me that whole grains were good, your body needed carbs for energy. Fat was bad, it clogged your arteries and led to high cholesterol and heart attacks. Sugar was bad, so the latest artificial sweetener was the miracle answer that would let me enjoy my junk food guilt-free. During this time, Snackwell cookies made their appearance on the grocery store shelves. We would finish a whole box in one sitting. But it was ok because they were low-fat. Even though I was eating the way all the magazines and TV doctors were advising, my weight was creeping up and I was tired all the time.  I still depended on caffeine to get through the day.

When the kids came along, I was determined to establish good eating habits in our household. I made sure they had lots of fresh fruits and veggies and we did not keep sweets or sodas in the house. We would go out for a treat like ice cream once in a while. Our ‘healthy’ diet included things like yogurt, cheese sticks, whole wheat bread and pasta and bagels. It also included a lot of kid convenience foods like chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pasta in a can, toaster waffles and various other processed but easy crap.

When the kids started school, I began to pursue my interest in herbal medicine. I started taking some classes locally then gradually expanded into more comprehensive programs. I also had a health scare that made me re-examine every aspect of my life and my health. I didn’t like what I found. I was determined to make changes and I discovered the clean eating movement. Well, basically, I read the Clean Eating magazine. We greatly reduced but did not completely eliminate the processed food from our diets. We still ate out about once a week. The occasional treats were a little more frequent. We did incorporate more fresh fruits and veggies, but the whole-wheat products remained a staple in our diets. We were still buying into the notion that the whole grains were good for us, so it was not surprising that the changes we made did not result in big progress on the scales or in our overall health.

I first learned about the Paleo diet around 2010 or 2011. It seemed a bit drastic and crazy to me. At that point, I was still more focused on replacing processed foods with real foods and the thought of giving up grains and dairy seemed impossible. My herbal studies had given me a new perspective about holistic health and what was really good for my body. I wanted to get back to a more natural way of eating. I just wasn’t ready to give up bread and cheese. Besides, what about everything that I had ever read about nutrition? Grains were good, fat was bad. Now I was hearing that grains might be bad and fat might be good. It took a while to wrap my head around that possibility.

Still somewhat skeptical, I read The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf and started inching my way into the Paleo lifestyle. I did not go completely grain-free, but I made an effort to be gluten-free. I cut out sugar and replaced it with Stevia, a natural sweetener. I cut back my dairy consumption by about 75%. I had never been a milk drinker, but yogurt and cheese were longtime favorites. I made them occasional treats. I used almond milk or coconut milk in my coffee and smoothies. I planned meals around meat and veggies. Snacks were fruit, raw veggies or nuts.  I did my best to end my addiction to Coke Zero. That has been the hardest thing to give up, and I still break down and have one once in a while. Yes, I am fully aware of how horrible the artificial sweeteners are and how much damage they do to my body. I’m working on it.

After making these changes, I began to notice a huge difference in how I felt. I had energy. I was sleeping better. No more headaches. No more mood swings. No more afternoon slump. No more brain fog. I could function better, think more clearly and began to have a more positive outlook overall. The pounds starting coming off. With more energy, I could exercise more. That made me feel even better.

It has taken a while to get on board with this new lifestyle. I have been at around 60% - 90% Paleo over the last year or so. When I have a rough week and get overwhelmed trying to juggle work, kids, housework, etc., it is easy to slip back into the old patterns of convenience. When I am exhausted after a long day, it is still easy to pick up something quick and crappy to eat. Sometimes I am just too stressed out or tired to care. But I know that when I eat better, I feel better, so I am determined to keep at it until it becomes habit.  Realistically, I don’t think that I can sustain a lifestyle that is 100%  Paleo, but I think that a consistent 90% is achievable.With a little discipline and planning, it can be done. The results are well worth the effort.