My Paleo Diet Experience

A few weeks ago I came across the lovely paleo recipes @kiwideb has posted on her blog. I had heard of the paleo diet before but since I'm more of a traditionalist I tend to run away from anything that resembles dieting. Unfortunately, after a couple of years of extreme life stress and drama, my eating habits had become anything but traditional. In fact, they were SAD (Standard American Diet) and it happened without me even realizing what was going on. It was all a matter of convenience.

After reading through some paleo recipes I decided it was time to further investigate what all goes into living the paleo lifestyle. From what I gathered the diet leaned more towards a traditional diet as in nothing that comes in a box, nothing unpronounceable, and no sugar. It sounded totally doable and even something I could do for my kids and husband without too much aggravation on their part.

After explaining the ins and outs as best I knew them to my hubby he was on board to give it a go. We ordered the second edition of "Practical Paleo" by Diane Sanfilippo. We chose this book because it was touted as the paleo bible and that's just what we needed. The book did not disappoint! It contains 30 day meal plans for weight loss, hormone imbalance, Thyroid issues, heart health, etc. I have to say I am very impressed by the book and the plethora of information it contains.

We cleaned out our fridge and pantry of any potentially sabotaging foods. I was a little surprised to find out that legumes are not on the menu for paleo. Other things, though, were more obvious such as flour, sugar, certain sauces. There are a few cons that I could see which with the right solution could make it a lot more convenient for a busy family to adhere to.

For instance, preparing meals ahead of time for the week and having some grab and go snacks for the kids would do wonders. I spent most of each day cooking because everything is made from scratch and it seemed like as soon as one meal had been prepared and consumed it was time to make the next one.

The only other real issue my husband and I seemed to have with the diet plan was there seems like a lot of meat. We have never been heavy meat eaters. Although, it makes sense because by the time we ate breakfast, we had no desire to eat lunch and even dinner was a struggle. The protein in the meats and all the good fats you are consuming stick with you so much longer than any carbs ever did that you sort of have to learn how to pace yourself so that you are still getting a proper amount of calories during the day. The rule in paleo is 20% meat to 80% veggie on your plate.

Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes...these were a huge hit with the whole family and completely gluten free!

By the end of the first week, I have to say, I felt absolutely wonderful!! I had also dropped 10 lbs! I felt lighter too, not just in weight, but in core, as if I wasn’t being bogged down anymore. My husband on the other hand, still had the pain in his joints, was tired and was having serious issues with not wanting to eat an entire bag of nuts and jerky. In fact, we went on a hiking trip and while I packed snacks which consisted of jerky, dried fruits, and nuts everyone was starving by the time we got home. We also figured out the hard way that my husband, myself, and any sort of beef, do not mix. I always sort of knew it was an issue for me. In fact, about 4 years ago I lost my gall bladder at 33 years old due to beef consumption and my body just not being able to handle it. My husband became sicker than a dog! No more beef for him!

So, after a few hiccups and sort of feeling like the joy of food was being lost, I gave in for a few days and my husband ordered pizza and the neighbor dropped off an order of Girl Scout Cookies. Mind you, this was after a solid week of clean eating and following the diet religiously. It was now my turn to be sicker than a dog. I don’t know what got me, but I will never eat anything that is not in the paleo plan ever again after being sick for two straight days. I am a total convert! My husband probably needs to eat more calories, perhaps dairy is something that needs to be included in his plan because it seems we narrowed his joint issues down to that being the missing link.

Overall, I am happy to have taken the leap into paleo. I feel that it will be a lifelong commitment for me because obviously there are things that have been contributing to my illnesses over the past couple of years in the SAD.

Have you tried paleo? If so, what were your pros and cons?