30 Day Challenge: Paleo-ish diet.
Okay, so now that I've warmed up with the yoga challenge, I'm ready for a hard one! Any change to my diet is surprisingly difficult for me. Obviously it's difficult for a lot of people, or else there wouldn't be such a huge diet and fitness industry (not to mention so many fitspo blogs), but it surprises me how I am 30 years old, and still can't quite get a handle on my own food cravings and intake! Especially considering how many times I've read that a diet change could make a real impact on my health, and how I've gained so much weight I live in a perpetual state of self loathing.
I came across the Paleo diet, otherwise known as the "Cave Man Diet", or the Primal diet, when I was googling about diet plans for hypoglycemia. I've had really awful hypoglycemia my whole life. It manifests itself as blood sugar crashes every two to three hours in which I feel dizzy, tired, cranky, confused, disoriented, and sometimes, faint. It has effected my whole life:
It obviously effects my schedule... I have to have a work or a school schedule that allows me to have snack breaks to boost my blood sugar back up.
It effects my weight and diet... being forced to eat constantly does nothing good for the waist line... Additionally, when in the midst of a blood sugar drop you need something, and you need it NOW, which results in a lot of unplanned meals on the go, i.e. the dreaded fast-food, or the dreaded vending machine...
It effects my judgement and behavior. I can't even begin to recall how many times I've snapped at those close to me, only to realize later that I just needed a snack. It worries me to think how many dramatic or upsetting situations have happened in my life simply because my judgement was not sound.
And lastly, it's getting downright dangerous! This past year I've gotten lost driving in my own home town for no reason other than my blood sugar was so low I couldn't even think straight!
I've seen doctors and their answers are not helpful. After dozens of blood tests at the Mayo Clinic I think the best answer I got was: "Carry snacks in your purse!"
I want a cure, not a cover up! I want to be able to eat like my friends and not feel like I'm about to pass out on a daily basis. Having a full meal, and then feeling like you can't even walk or talk correctly three hours later is NOT NORMAL. Why Mayo (or countless other doctors) couldn't help me I'll never understand, but I'd read enough literature about the condition to know that many people simply manage it with diet alone.
The common prescription for a hypoglycemic diet is to eat low carb, low sugar, high protein. The thought process is that the body of a hypoglycemic is very sensitive to glucose (i.e. blood sugar), creating a situation in which insulin (the chemical that lowers glucose) is pumped into the blood way too liberally whenever it senses sugar, thus driving blood sugar down way lower than it needs to be. Hypoglycemics (and many doctors actually) tend to use the logic that if blood sugar is low, one needs more sugar, and load up on a glucose heavy snack when feeling bad. The problem is that a high dose of glucose just triggers that over active insulin, and perpetuates a cycle of spiking and crashing blood sugar levels.
I've known all of this for a long time, yet, when I read books about hypoglycemic diet plans I was instantly turned off and intimidated. These texts literally wanted me to monitor the "Glycemic Index" of everything I put in my mouth. I knew myself better than to think I would ever have the patience for that. I needed something that was a no brainer.
Eventually my searches took me to the Paleo diet. The Paleo diet works for hypoglycemics because it coincidentally meets the same requirements: low carb, low sugar, high protein. The gist of it is: if our cave-man ancestors couldn't have ate it, then don't eat it either. The philosophy being that, evolution is a slow process, and it's unreasonable to assume that our bodies have evolved quickly enough to learn how to digest some of the agriculture products and processed foods we ingest every day. A lot of buzz is going on currently in nutrition communities basically stating that gluten and grains, the product of the agricultural era, are poison to our bodies and loaded with so much glucose that it's no wonder everyone's obese.
All of it makes a lot of sense to me, and so with a lot of sadness I've abandoned my vegetarian diet for a Paleo one.
I am not going to follow the Paleo or Primal diets as strictly as some do however. Many Paleo sites say to avoid dairy for instance, because dairy was not consumed by our cave-men ancestors... they hadn't yet domesticated cows. A similar idea goes for beans and legumes, cave-men would not have been able to soak and prepare those foods, which are inedible in their raw state.
I personally am only eliminating grains, gratuitous sugars, and processed foods. I'm keeping some dairy, like yogurt for example and cottage cheese. I'm keeping some sugars, like fruit, my natural soy coffee creamer, and natural yogurts (think Trader Joe's Greek yogurt, not things like Boston Creme Yoplait). But I'm eliminating things like oatmeal, pasta, bread, desserts, sodas, and fast food.
I'm scared. I started yesterday and I could already feel myself on the verge of tears... I had a very long, stressful day and all I wanted was a goddamn ice cream bar! But I drove down to Trader Joe's and got some of their seasonal Pumpkin flavored Greek yogurt. It was great!
I'm worried about my will power.. I haven't shown a lot of strength when it comes to challenges like this in the past, but I'm excited to see if there's a reduction in my hypoglycemia symptoms or any weight loss!
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