I like blogging because I enjoy writing. I've wanted to start blogging again for a while now (I've blogged in the past about food and gardening, and our pets but I've tried to stay away from anything too personal) but I just couldn't figure out what to write, that others may actually want to read.
Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unassuming situations, and other times, it hits you like a brick between the eyes. Brick between the eyes is the inspiration I've had over the past week, so here I am writing again.
Pallid to Paleo is the name of my blog. If you've never heard of "Paleo" or "Primal" nutrition as a lifestyle, I highly suggest before reading anything more on my blog, that you visit www.marksdailyapple.com or www.robbwolf.com and get the lowdown on the specifics of what these terms mean in the world of nutrition and health.
I've always loved cooking, and anything involved in homemaking. I learned from the best, I like to say, my Mom. Great cooking, and baking have been the center of life for me and my family. My mother always said "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Turns out she was right in many ways.
My first insight into actual nutrition, though, I guess I'd have to say was when I purchased my first Vitamix (www.vitamix.com) I absolutely love my Vitamix. It opened my eyes to health in a way I'd never really paid attention to before. I was probably in my early twenties, married to my first husband. We were very young and we were both pretty healthy, or so I thought. Now I know better, knowing that me being under-weight with a plethora of female reproductive issues and illnesses, and my husband having severe allergies of every kind - indoor, outdoor, food allergies which we didn't know he had at the time, was not actually the picture of health we thought we were. I remember back then saying "I want to be a nutritionist/dietician" but college didn't really fit with my dream of being a housewife so I never persued that line of study.
Around the same time, I began studying organic gardening and natural nutrition for dogs and cats, topics which both just seemed to "click" for me. They made total sense to me, and seeing the effect of feeding my dogs natural raw diets based on their ancestors' feeding habits, I knew I was doing the right things for them. This was all in or around 1996-1997.
Fast forward ten years. I'm into my thirties, now married for the second time. Still with the multiple female reproductive issues, taking one medication after another, doctor finding nothing really "wrong" with me, exploratory surgery after surgery to relieve me of scar tissue which the doctor said would return in five or so years anyway, looking for endometriosis which was never found, etc. Turns out he didn't know what to look for, but that's another story. I wasn't overweight, but now not underweight anymore. Eating a SAD (Standard American Diet) of mostly breads and sugars, cokes, candy, and still, somehow thinking I'm "healthy."
When I met my new husband (AKA - Mars), he was overweight, 6'3" and around 300 pounds, multiple respiratory issues, including severe asthma, severe allergies (the glands beneath his ears swell up to the size of golf balls and are hard as rock when he's having seasonal allergies), both of which he'd had all of his life, along with debilitating back pain and keep-me-up-at-night snoring. He would frequently get sinus infections and bronchitis probably at least twice a year. He also has attacks of what we think is probably a form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, where sometimes for a week he will be off work due to severe stomach cramps, migraine headaches, constant diarrhea, nauseous stomach and bloating, and nauseating (for everyone else around) gas. We have both suffered from depression and anxiety for which at one time (separate times in life) we have both taken medication.
I often jokingly say that I haven't slept in six years (since we've been married) due to his snoring, but I know that's not the only reason why I don't sleep well anymore. I'm 5'0" and I was inching up the scale myself, I was a size 6 when we met up from a size 2-3 ten years prior. In 2007 I had an outpatient surgery that should have only kept me out of work for a day at the most, and I ended up being out for a week. Still finding nothing wrong with me, I carried on with life, thinking the pain I felt just meant I was insane. In 2009 I finally found a doctor who knew what she was doing, and within 20 minutes, had me correctly diagnosed with Adenomyosis. A week later, in August of 2009, I was in surgery having a partial hysterectomy removing my uterus and leaving the ovaries, at the ripe old age of 35, never having had children. I must say, for the most part I do not regret having the surgery. Since the very first day of my first period, the intense pain and abnormal cycles had me wishing I could have a hysterectomy for the next 20 years. So it was finally done. However, had I known then what I know now, I wonder if just changing my diet could have prevented all of it. But, we'll never really know.
Two weeks after the surgery, I started getting sick. I had a sinus infection, and for the next four months, progressed from allergies/sinuses to bronchitis and then my first bout with pneumonia, diagnosed in February of 2010. I attributed this to an already weakened immune system after the surgery. Since then, I don't think I've ever really been completely well. I had never had allergies before in my life, but since then, every three months, the allergies flare up, and I get another sinus infection which almost always leads at least to bronchitis, and usually pneumonia. I've had pneumonia now three times in the past three years. There may be folks out there who have it worse or get it more often, but to me this seems pretty excessive.
My husband and I "went primal" for the first time in 2011. I had read Mark Sisson's book, The Primal Blueprint and it just made sense to me, just like the primal nutrition for my animals made sense to me ten years before. So we "tried" it. Trying it was our first mistake. We weren't fully committed, so of course, we fully "fell off" after about maybe two months. Life and finances get in the way of progress sometimes. Actually they don't. We are the only things that actually get in the way of self improvement. We just use a lot of outside forces as what we think are good excuses. Either way, working two jobs and going to school was not helping me in my quest for wellness. The thing was, we weren't actually doing it for wellness, or else we may have fully committed to it at that time. We were mainly "going primal" to help us lose weight.
So we yo-yo'd for a few months. Then again in January of 2012, we decided not only be "primal" again, but to go fully "paleo" (there are a few differences). We did the "whole 30" program, starting January 1, 2012, and by February 14, Mars had lost upwards of 30 pounds and it was noticeable, and I had lost 10. But, being Valentines Day, guess what happened? You got it, we fell off the wagon again.
When our son (my step-son) came to live with us, at 15, almost 16 years old, in July 2012 he was severely malnurished, underweight, and on medication - antibiotics for cystic acne. Big shock, the kid is a walking sweet tooth. We have introduced him to the Paleo lifestyle through having him read "The Primal Blueprint." He also attempted it for a month or so, but decided it was just too hard to stay away from the sugar. Since moving in with us, he has gained about 10 pounds and is looking healthier, except for his skin. So at home, I've done what I can to make sure he's getting at least some of the right nutrition, but being that we haven't even been following the plan correctly, it hasn't helped much.
About two weeks ago, our son decided he'd finally had enough with the extremely severe acne on his face, chest and back, and that he wanted to finally make a change. He doesn't want to be this way the rest of his life, and he doesn't want to continue scarring his skin if he can actually do something to imrpove it. I told him we're going paleo again. He has, probably about 90% in the past two weeks cut out the extra sugar in his diet, and although his acne isn't gone, it is visibly getting better.
The last time I had pneumonia was in November 2012, and since, have continued on with two sinus infections, and bronchitis. I currently have a sinus infection now. Last week, Mars had another attack of IBS. He's been almost bed-ridden for a week.
These things are my brick-between-the-eyes inspiration. We are not trying Paleo. We are paleo, as of today. Something has to change in our lives, or we're all going to continue with this slow, painful death which cannot be called anything but suicide, if we continue on our current path, knowing how to combat all of these illnesses.
I have read so many testimonials and success stories over the past week, on both Robb Wolf's and Mark Sisson's websites - every ailment experienced in our house right now, can be found on someone's testimonial of how they used to be before going Paleo. I can't know this, and not put it into action in our lives. I am the one in our family who controls the food, the meals, the diet, and in turn, the overall health of my son and husband, and I would be a very irresponsible wife and mother, and disrespecting of myself if I don't take this seriously and make changes today.
So this is it. We really begin our journey with Mars weighing in at 300 currently suffering an IBS attack and sinus infection. I am now as heavy as I've ever been at 138, sinus infection, and anemic, and developing joint aches like arthritis. Our son is 5'9", 145 pounds, and pretty scrawny with still severe acne.
If you continue to follow us, you won't only see before and after, you will be with us through this journey. You will get to know week by week, if not day to day, the changes we're making and the effects they have on our physical well being, and our emotional health as well. I will be posting recipes throughout our journey, as well as food logs for each of us.
I hope you enjoy reading as you follow us on our journey to health, and if you're experiencing these symptoms or any other ones not mentioned above, consider going Paleo for thirty days and see what happens!
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