Well, another year has passed, or two...or three. Amazing how quickly time can fly by! Some events between the beginning of this blog and now? Well, returned to the States from Korea, back to the same town, job, etc. but with a new view on things. New relationship, followed a year and a half later by an engagement. Vacation in Mexico, met the in-laws in New York, visited Las Vegas, my family in Montana, New Orleans, San Francisco. Started and completed my Master's degree in Linguistically Diverse Education. Added a wonderful new little man to our family - Oskar - a Bernese Mountain Dog. Got a new job at a very old High School. Lots of other day to day stuff...
Health? Up and down - but what matters is that it is up again. :-) With Master's degree behind me, and as I begin feeling more comfortable in my new job, I am again focusing on how to make the most of my health. Last year we discovered that my fiancé has gluten "problems" - to what degree we don't know (cause he won't go to the doctor :-) ) but let's just say we are all happier when he stays away from gluten (and dairy). So, over the last year we have learned how to live more or less without it. I had gone through a several months of cutting out all sugar from my diet when I first returned from Korea, so I am not stranger to leaving out pastas and breads. There are a lot of great alternatives available such as rice pastas, gluten free breads, etc. and we were able to do pretty well without gluten (aside from the occasional desire for a good microbrew! We have, however, developed a strong affection for wine, which has been a lot of fun!)
Fast forward to the New Year. Both of us had pretty much stopped working out, though we were staying away from gluten and dairy, our diet was not great, and we generally were feeling fat and unhealthy. Browsing Amazon one day in search of some motivation for the new year, I came across a book The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf. I was hooked immediately, mostly because the diet recommendations (more of a lifestyle than a diet) just made sense to me, and it fit nicely into the way that we already eat in our house.
We officially started following the Paleo "diet" last week, and I feel so much better already! I have read about half of the book, we have started working out more regularly, and really cleaned up our diet. The first couple of days I struggled a bit with the whole "hmm...I really think I am hungry. I just ate, but something sweet or salty sounds so good. Maybe a slice of bread?!" By this weekend I have lost most of the cravings. We have eaten really well - guacamole, steak, salmon, salads, scrambled eggs, nuts galore, shrimp and squid. I even bought a beautiful cookbook Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking for a Gluten Free Kitchen by Julie Sullivan Mayfield. The photos are awesome and the recipes are great - can't wait to start making some of them! We went to Whole Foods this weekend and got some seafood and some buffalo - delish!
What is Paleo? Well, exactly what you might think. Basically, the way I understand it so far, it is returning to the way of eating of our Paleolithic ancestors - hunter/gatherer style - meats, vegetables, fruits, fats, herbs and spices - no grains...at all. Eating foods that our bodies are genetically designed to eat. There is an amazing amount of research and information available out there to learn more about eating "Paleo", and I am still in the process of figuring out exactly what it means for us and our lifestyle. So far, we am really happy with how it is going, and I think it is a great lifestyle change for us both. I think this is really the way I would prefer to eat, but didn't have a guideline to use. I may occasionally add some rice, sweet potatoes, wine, but right now I am more interested in the changes that I am feeling in my health and already seeing in my body. The first week or so I lost a few pounds - most likely just water weight at this point, but it feels fabulous. I have been really frustrated by bags under my eyes the last several months, and they are pretty much gone, I have more energy so far, and my poor bloated belly is back to normal. Yay! Looking forward to the next week, and the week after that, and ...
That's all for today. Hoping to actually following up and write more regularly about our dietary changes, and resources we are finding that are helpful and interesting.
