One year ago if you had asked me to go on the Paleo/Primal/Caveman “diet” I would have laughed. Not only because I was 8.5 months pregnant, but I couldn’t even imagine myself making the changes I thought the diet required. Fast forward to February of this year: I was cleared for exercise after delivering another handsome baby boy, and I was determined to lose the baby weight and then some. It was also nine months until my big 3-0 birthday, and eleven months until I was celebrating the marriage of a close friend on the beaches of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Motivation? YES!
Soon after his sixth week, we started to notice that my son was having quite a few stomach issues. I started to eliminate things such as dairy and grains, and soon after we noticed a big difference in his attitude and tummy issues. I also noticed an improvement in my stomach problems, not that I had many, but I felt “lighter” already. Did I mention that I LOVED milk and bread?!? It was rough for a few weeks.
After a multitude of requests from our readers, I finally proposed to take on testing and researching what the paleo lifestyle really was all about. And could it really be freezer friendly? After all, how hard could it be when I was half way there already with the eliminations I was making for my son? I was able to finally get the books from the library, and I was instantly hooked. My preconceived notions of having to actually go out and eat only what I could hunt and gather were out the door. Granted, I have a garden, and we are a hunting family, but my thumb is far from green, and game isn’t easy to get!
I created the May Mini Menu and soon realized there are many options out there for my whole family to enjoy. Not just mock favorites, but new ones that were simple and so delicious! I began to really start to dig deeper and deeper. I started to follow some bigger paleo blogs and a few smaller ones to help gain more knowledge. I soon became hooked and found so many new favorites to fill my pantry and refrigerator. Almond flour for regular flour. Arrowroot for cornstarch. Looking at breakfast as a fuel meal as opposed to an out the door quick fix. The question, “what starch can we have with this meal?” turned into, “what other sides can we create and enjoy?”
And as you can see from the photos above, I have results I can be proud of. I have energy even when my baby still isn’t sleeping longer than 3.5 hour stretches. I find myself snacking on almonds, cashews, and macadamia nuts. Yes I’ve had “cheat” moments. Yes I still feel like I have work to do to be where I really want to be. I like the 85/15 rule outlined in The Paleo Diet because it works for me, but I still make real food choices. Most importantly it’s not a diet that I will crash from. It’s not a system I have to pay someone to teach me. It’s a lifestyle change that is working for me. I love my body more than I ever have, and at 30 years young, I say that’s an accomplishment in itself.
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