A few years ago I stumbled on a website while looking up whether artificial sweeteners trigger insulin (they can). The articles looked interesting so I kept reading. And discovered the paleo/primal/caveman eating/lifestyle.
It seemed to make logical sense so I started trying out some recipes. The food was delicious and made me feel great. I made the leap and cut out grains and refined sugar. I was far from perfect (mostly my addiction to sourdough bread) but still slimmed down some and had more energy.
I even tried a two week elimination/autoimmune diet to check for dietary causes for the eczema I've had since I was a kid and the more recently appeared hs pimples I was getting on my inner thighs and armpits (they were also on my butt - I'd had them there before as a teenager without realizing what they were).
When I started adding foods back in starting with those I was least likely to have issues with. Or so I thought. I added dairy back second and withing 12 hours had crazy itching and hs bumps forming already. And I kinda went 'screw this, I'm not doing another two weeks of deprivation to calm the reaction down'. So I know I have issues with dairy and eggs are fine but everything else (I'm mostly thinking of nightshades) is still a big question mark.
I was doing pretty well, even starting a whole30 with a dance friend when I got pregnant. And then nauseous. And I fell off the healthy eating into 'you feel sick all day so just eat whatever makes you feel better'. I ate a lot of my childhood favourites along with a ton of fruit. And creamy coleslaw (something I used to hate).
Anyway, the point is that I stopped thinking about eating whole foods and just ate whatever I craved. Which was mostly okay while the boy was on the inside. But once I was a sleep-deprived new mom? Bring on the cookies, muffins, and chocolate.
I wrote down my waist size 8 weeks after giving birth. It was 44.5 inches (just to be clear this was measured an inch below the belly button). Before I got pregnant my waist was around 41 inches. In the past I'd felt pretty good at 38 or 39 inches but my body seemed to settle at 40-41 unless I was super strict with the food.
Unfortunately, almost two years of motherhood has reduced my movement/exercise time to almost nothing and while I've tried a few times to ease myself back into paleo my eating habits still include a lot of grains, processed foods and sugar. Currently my waist is between 47 and 48 inches.
So now I try something different. Starting tomorrow I go paleo cold turkey. I am still breastfeeding, so I'm not going to reduce carbs a crazy amount or anything. But I will focus on lots of produce with meals. I'll probably do a bit of paleo baking too - I have apples and rhubarb that need using.
I'll try to post my meal plan for the week tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great Canada Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment