For me it started when I was a teenager. My mom had gone to weight watchers, and lost a significant amount of weight. She did it with low calorie, high processed junk. I had digestion problems as a teenager, gas pains, bloating. I was assigned the BRAT diet. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. Yum. Bananas are good. Rice, ok. Applesauce--- laden with sugar, and Toast. Really? Digestion problems and they advocate TOAST??? Then, they did my blood work.... as a teenager I had high cholesterol. First of all, what number is indicative of "high" cholesterol. The powers that be in charge of this thing have appointed a specific number. Individuality is not allowed. If YOUR number is off from this set range, then you must be treated. How is that treated? With a low fat, high carb diet mixed with some aerobic activity. Whoever came up with this plan does not understand basic chemistry of food. Did this help? NOPE. I continued to have digestion issues into my early 20s, when I had gall bladder issues. The answer? remove the gall bladder! Whew... it was GONE. To be replaced with diarrhea, urgency, inability to leave a restaurant, or the mall, or any driving route to anywhere, with out knowing where the bathroom is. Yay, such a fun way to live. I tried multiple diet changes to figure out the "allergy". Was it dairy? Was it fat? For years I tried different things. Finally, I settled on carrying immodium with me everywhere. When I was eating and felt that familiar rumble that was indicating a flying race to the bathroom was forthcoming, I started popping pills. I took 2 start. If in 1/2 hour I was still having pains...I took 2 more. I could stop my bowels for up to 3 days. This was great. THEN I could eat whatever I wanted! Sometimes I took Immodium on purpose if I was going to be visiting someplace for the weekend. This enabled me to have fun, and not spend so much time in the bathroom. I am in complete denial, and at this point, I do not want to know what this did to my GI track. FINALLY in 2013 I started doing research about how to heal chronic body pain. I had difficulty when getting out of bed in the morning. Lower back pain that made it difficult or impossible to tend to my own body care. I started the day popping Tylenol/ibuprofen/any other medication to help with the pain. When these pains started to wake me at night, I knew I needed to find some answers. So...to the internet I went. Well, what I found has changed my life. I found information on WHOLE30, Paleo, Primal, inflammatory foods. I learned about how our nutrition affects how we think, feel, deal. I haven't been perfectly paleo since then. I have fell off the "bandwagon" twice. It seems that I heal my gut, and then inflammatory foods don't bother me for awhile. But then, they DO. And when that creeps up on me, well, I know what to fix. Eating the SAD (standard American diet) I have; leaky gut, diarrhea, constipation, indigestion, bloating. I also have emotion issues; labile emotions, depression, anxiety (the newest issue added in the past year or so). I have muscular issues; generalized achiness, unexplained pain, exhaustion, plantar fasciitis, neck stiffness (leading to migraines). Now, those lists sound like a horrible way to live. But, when I was living it, well, it was normal. I didn't know what it was like to live without pain, and GI problems. I didn't know how to cope with anxiety attacks. They just seemed to be the latest symptom in the rapidly increasing train towards old age.
I've been renewing my paleo life for the past month. It has been a month of healing. I am no healed yet. I do not have bloating or indigestion. I am still trying to get the constipation/diarrhea regulated, although it is MUCH improved. My general achiness is gone. I only notice it when I am really low on sleep. Depression? Much less. Anxiety? Much improved, maybe even gone. Neck stiffness? less, but not gone yet. For me this means success. This means that my body is improving. I feel stronger. I do not crave food much at all. I eat when I am hungry, and seldom eat for any other reason. I eat food that is nutritious, and seldom eat for any other reason than that. I have lost a few pounds. But, I am NOT dieting. This is the way I am going to live. If I lose weight, that is a benefit and not the real reason.
I could go on and on about this. Maybe, just maybe, my story will help someone else. I know that reading stories online about people who transition to Paleo, primal, whole foods, and how their bodies change is incredibly inspiring. It brings hope to those still struggling; those going to Medical Doctors and enduring tests without answers. It is YOUR body, it the only one you get! Treat it well, nourish it, and it will inspire you.
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