Day 1 - Paleo

My husband has been (mostly) following this "Paleo" diet that seems to be very popular for the past few months. There's no one definitive set of rules, but generally speaking it is no grains, no legumes, heavy on fruits, veggies, fats and fish/meats, and limit processed foods and sugars. The basic premise is that humans evolved eating certain foods and the rise of various issues, especially obesity and autoimmune disorders, is linked to poor diet especially highly processed foods so many Americans eat. If you want a better explanation I suggest a few books: Everyday Paleo, The Paleo Solution, and The Primal Blueprint. Or just google paleo and you'll get tons of message boards, blogs, etc. Different people have different takes on what is/isn't paleo so you will see sometimes conflicting information. We practice no grains, few legumes (green beans, peas and peanut butter are the exceptions we make), and lots of fresh fruits/veggies, a variety of meats and fish, and almost no processed foods or added sugars.

In addition to losing weight, Husband says he's never felt better. While I'm a healthy weight I have spent most of my life dealing with blood sugar issues, specifically reactive hypoglycemia. When I eat a lot of sugar, especially grainy carbs like bread or pasta and of course actual sugar, my blood sugar crashes and I feel terrible. If I don't eat frequently, and lots of animal protein, throughout the day I get shaky hands, foggy-headed, mood swings, and general feeling of malaise. When I limit my grain-based carbs and sugar I don't get that horrible I'm-going-to-die feeling.

While husband has been fairly strict, I've mostly been tinkering around with Paleo, following the rules some days but not others. And this past weekend I went totally off-course and had toast, beer and (gasp!) pizza. Sunday night came and I felt awful. If you read about why grains are off-limits, you will see lots of discussion about "leaky gut" and how grains basically attack our intestines. Without getting too graphic, lets just say my intestines felt attacked. I was extremely bloated and uncomfortable. So I've committed to following a strict paleo diet throughout October. I will see how I feel at the end of the month and go from there.

I plan to post somewhat frequently about how it's going, try to post my weekly meal plans and probably will post some recipes. Oh and I'm working on an update about my kid's birthday and such. He's 14m now so I'm a touch behind lol.

Today I had eggs/bacon for breakfast, along with a few bites of melon. I have some almonds and a banana for my mid-morning snack. Leftover Roast, yellow squash, salad w/ hardboiled egg and avocado, and some fruit (melon and berries) with coconut flakes for dessert. Afternoon snack is an apple with peanut butter. Dinner is apple-shallot pork chops, butternut squash and green beans.