Where to begin? The journey to finding the healthiest way to eat has been long and even tortuous at times. I never really had a weight problem until about age 30, but something was awry even before then. I had migraines for as long as I could remember, at least back until age 5 or so. When I was little, I sometimes had weird rashes on my hands - almost blister-like red bumps under the skin on the fingertips. I had frequent mouth ulcers which my mother blamed on excess sugar. I had anxiety attacks in junior and senior high. I kept them under wraps and no one noticed but me. My migraines continued and were classic with visual and physical cues - sparks, wavering zigzag lines, floaters, numbness or tingling in a hand. I had one incident in college where I completely lost feeling on my right side for a couple of minutes. I thought I had a stroke. The doctor said it was a severe migraine reaction, probably due to caffeine. I gave up caffeine drinks for the next 30 years, but the migraines continued.
Life moved on and my husband and I had our daughter when I was 29. During the pregnancy, I had gestational diabetes, luckily controlled by diet. That was the first clue that food was playing a big part in my health. I met with a nutritionist and went on the diabetic diet (I remember measuring serving sizes and blocks for carbs). I felt fantastic. The fatigue, bloating, irritability that marked the early part of my pregnancy was gone. The diabetic diet in those days (1988) was not at all like the one recommended by the ADA today. Back then, restriction of carbs was the norm. I had no sugar, very little fruit, few grains. I felt wonderful. My pregnancy ended with a beautiful baby girl on the day before Easter. The doctor said all restrictions were over and I could have sugar again. I remember the Easter candy everyone brought me tasted almost sickening sweet, but it didn't take long to get back in the sugar swing of things. The migraines, which had abated during the latter half of the pregnancy, came back. I thought it was the pregnancy that had deterred them for awhile. It never dawned on me it could have been the diet.
I made it sound as if I was sickly all my life. In reality, I think I was fairly healthy. I was born before the advent of processed foods being the staple of the American diet. My mother made meals from scratch every night. There was meat, often "stretched" with additives like onions and bread, usually two - three vegetables per dinner, sometimes potatoes. We always had a stack of white bread on the table next to the stick of butter (later to be replaced with margarine, not because it was better for us, but because it was cheaper). We did not have dessert every night, but often had homebaked cake or pie on weekends. A six-pack of coke had to last all week, so we were used to icing down our glasses - at most, we were probably consuming 4 - 6 ounces once a day at dinner. My mom had to make meals for eight people and she knew how to get the most out of every food. Her food was delicious and hearty and compared to today's typical American fare, fairly healthy.
Despite the gluten-filled meals, as I said before, I think I was pretty fit. We spent our free time playing outdoors. Not much was on TV in the 60s and 70s to keep us occupied indoors. I had a pony from age 12 on up and spent hours riding through the fields and woods with friends or alone. I think I am lucky that I had what would have been called in the old days "a good constitution." I went through some typical short periods of pudginess, but overall, I was fairly trim and very strong. In college, I weighed 102 pounds.
My first real overweight time came around age 30. I had a baby the previous year and I began putting on weight a few pounds a year. I'm 5'3" and I've never topped 165, but that looks bad on my small-boned frame. I carry all my weight on the top half of my body (errm, shall we say I am a bit busty?). I tend towards appleness, not pearness. I decided when I was about age 30 and 135 lbs that I should lose weight, so I began my weightloss journey that ended up making me weigh 165. Here's the list, as far as I can remember, that spans the next 20 years:
- Diet Workshop - did pretty well on this one until they changed from high protein to high carb/low fat
- E-diets - lots to choose from; almost all were high carb, low fat; none worked
- The Zone - seemed to make sense, but I couldn't eat 6 cups of broccoli at a meal and it was too tedious measuring out block upon block
- The South Beach Diet - again, seemed to make sense - did fine until stage 2 when you add back in some grains (duh!)
- Atkins - again, worked until stage 2 and lots of frankenfoods (starting to see a pattern - add back in the grains and weight returns - double duh!)
- Weight Watchers - total disaster; constant hunger and guilt; lost a total of 7 lbs, gained it all back and then some; felt terrible the entire time
- There were more - The Beck Diet, The Abs Diet, several I can't even remember.
I wasted lots of time, money, and self-esteem on these programs. I kid you not, I had every book, every recipe collection, every website. About 5 years ago, I said enough is enough. I took all the books to work where they were snapped up by my co-workers in a shark-like frenzy. I ate what I wanted, put on 10 more lbs to my high of 165 and was disgusted with my lack of willpower. Headaches became more common - at least 2-3 per week. I was puffy, bloated, felt fatigued all of the time. I had aches and pains in my joints. My feet killed me at the end of the day. Despite this, I kept going to the gym and walking for miles, which didn't help me lose weight either. I was 45 and feeling old.
Finally, I came across a website called Normal Eating. It was my first step back to normalcy. If you have ever felt guilty eating, go to that site. Sheryl, the developer of the program, is wonderful and she coaches you back to the real world. Eating is normal, natural, necessary. I didn't lose weight, but I learned that a lot of the conventional diet wisdom was just plain wrong. And, one day Sheryl mentioned that wheat made her feel bad and it all just seemed to click. I googled migraines and wheat and found several research articles on the connection between gluten, the protein in wheat, and migraines. I jumped on that like a flea on a dog, and bought, read, researched every thing I could find about gluten. I have a library of gluten information. Every symptom of non-celiac gluten sensitivity fits me.
But there was a problem: Most doctors don't recognize non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Without intestinal damage or overt celiac symptoms, how would I know for sure that is what I had? I found Enterolab on the web, run by Dr. Kenneth Fine, a gastroenterologist who has done extensive research in the field. Dr. Fine developed genetic and stool tests that detect antibodies to gluten, casein (protein in milk), and several other materials. I sent my money in, got the tests done, and sure enough, he determined I had gluten and casein sensitivity as evidenced by the stool tests and I also had the alleles for non-celiac gluten sensitivity. That was enough to put me on a gluten-free diet. Guess what? The migraines became almost extinct (sometimes, hormonal changes will cause a very mild one, but nothing like those I had before that incapacitated me). If I get a migraine once or twice a year, that is a lot and they are very mild. Something else happened: Almost every ache and pain I attributed to getting older disappeared, my bloated stomach was flat for the first time ever, my skin was clearer and healthier, restless leg syndrome disappeared, some annoying plantar warts went completely away, I lost ten pounds doing nothing, etc. etc. I could list 20 more things easily. Gone, all gone.
So, finally after that long-winded explanation, I have been gluten-free for 18 months now. About 4 months ago, I found the last key. I stumbled across a website called MarksDailyApple by Mark Sisson. I had read some information about paleo diet before, but some of it didn't make sense to me. Mark's approach did made sense and then some. I bought his book, The Primal Blueprint, and my life has changed.
Living the Primal Life
About two years ago, I came across some internet sites that discussed the paleolithic diet. Unfortunately, the sites I ran across were into raw paleo and I dismissed the diet as too restrictive and even a little bit crazy. When I went completely gluten-free and joined a couple of forums to discuss the GF lifestyle, I ran across several people who followed paleo eating. Most were GF people who found that GF solved some problems but not all and they found that cutting out all grains was even more helpful. That piqued my curiosity.
I did a little exploring. I found Loren Cordain's site and ordered his book. Evolutionarily, it made sense - perfect sense to this biology and anatomy teacher. I found his diet a bit restrictive though. Why restrict saturated fats? Surely, paleolithic man took advantage of whatever calories he could? I doubt if he was trimming the fat from his meat before eating it.
I did more digging and found Mark Sisson's site: MarksDailyApple. Mark's congenial style of writing, his own background story, and his willingness to share information without charging you for it, convinced me. I bought his book, The Primal Blueprint, and was pleasantly surprised. As I said, most of his information is on his website, but it is nice to have it all in one place and this is a well-written, even entertaining book (Grok On!). This was a change in lifestyle that I could see myself doing forever. I already did some of it: gluten-free, fresh local or homegrown vegetables, humanely and properly raised meats and eggs, good fruits. And finally, someone told me I do not have to kill myself to exercise and this was from a guy who is a lifelong athlete.
Am I totally primal? Yeah, right. There are parts that need to be worked on. I still have the occasional serving of rice or corn. I don't really like beans, so they were not a problem to delete. I consume very little dairy anyway (what other mammal drinks another mammal's milk?), but I do eat some cheese and butter and I don't plan to delete that. I have discovered coconut oil and I save bacon grease and lard, like my mother once did. Sugar is the main culprit, but I think I have cut back considerably. I am working on the exercise part.
So, this is a work in progress. Some days I am 100%, some days 80/20, some days 50/50, but I am much better off than I was and it just seems right to me.
