So we went Paleo for a month...

As many of you know, Eric and I attempted Paleo for a month. I will say in these past few weeks, I learned a lot. This is just my take on Paleo, by no means am I an expert.

I did not go Paleo to lose weight. I love cheese, beer, wine, and bread. Oh gosh how I love bread. I don't like diets, I don't believe there is a magic solution to losing weight. I believe in eating healthy and in moderation and maintaining some sort of fitness level.

That being said, what inspired me to go Paleo had nothing to do losing weight. Ever since Kendall was born, I started thinking about food differently. I don't want to create a culture in my house where mom is always on a diet. I want Kendall and all my future children to have a positive body image and I realize that it starts with me. I want my family to have a positive relationship with food. Food is not our enemy, it's not a coping device (though after a stressful day at work, I crave brownie batter), and I believe food should be enjoyed! I don't want to have a fridge and pantry full of low fat/reduced fat "healthy" foods. I want it to be full of whole non-processed foods!

Over a year ago, I gave up soda. It was tough for a few weeks, but now I don't even think about it. I never really drank regular soda, I was a diet coke addict! The dentist pretty much told me it was the soda that was ruining my teeth. So I quit it and started only drinking water, milk, coffee, and tea. (ok, beer & wine too) Anyway, my teeth started improving, I have no sensitive spots, and have had three cavity free cleanings! After this I started to think. If I could cut diet coke out of my life, what other crap could I cut out?

Soon after that, I started thinking about Paleo. My pizza loving, beer drinking husband was not fully on board to the idea right away. I mean, could you blame him? Slowly, I warmed him up to the idea. We did paleo dinners, he gave up soda, and we started eating a lot healthier by cutting out a lot of the processed crap we had been eating.

It wasn't until after we vacationed in California when he was ready to take the plunge. We pretty much ate like crap the entire vacation. I felt gross and lazy and was not happy with myself at all. when we got back to Iowa we dove right into Paleo. The plan was to do it for a month, then slowly add in dairy and some grains.

After we got over the low-carb flu, Paleo was actually really easy! Eric got a headache and some brain fog and I had some sore muscles during the first week. But, we pushed through and stuck with it. During that month some amazing things happened. My energy level was up, and I was more regular than I had ever been before. No cramps, no feeling bloated, and backed up! (TMI, sorry!) Furthermore, I've added SO many veggies into my life. I swear it's almost like we're meat eating vegetarians! I continued to drink wine, because I'm pretty sure the cavemen fermented, and if not, then I'm sorry cavemen! We also were able to get creative with the food. Craving pancakes? We found a recipe. My sweet toothed husband was all over the paleo cookies, waffles, and pancakes and they actually taste amazing. Bananas need to be given more credit. I also fell in love with sun butter and pretty much all of Justin's nut butters. SO AMAZING. Also- enjoy life chocolate chips are the most amazing things on earth. It's allergy free chocolate and only has like 3 or 4 ingredients and it tastes so much better than Nestle chocolate chips that has like 30 ingredients.

So anyway, now that the month is over, we are drinking beer again. Last night I had whole wheat pasta but I felt guilty. I don't really have a game plan for adding foods back in. I know I don't want to overdo it and I also know I will avoid bleached flour and refined sugar to the best of my ability. Will I turn down a meal served to me? Yeah right, I still love food. But I LOVE dairy. I need cheese and ice cream in my life so I will be consuming that.

So that is my take on Paleo thus far. I am happy with it and still feel great and know how my body feels. I am also happy that my daughter will grow up eating real food. She won't see me eating Activia or low fat diet anything. Instead she will grow up in a house where food is not the enemy. She will learn to eat in moderation and enjoy amazing food with her family. Will we have In and Out and pizza? Yes, I'm sure of it. But I won't make a fuss about having to spend 3 hours at the gym burning it off..... because we will eat healthy portions! Most importantly, my digestive tract will stop punishing me for good! Well, hopefully. I'll find out more soon and see if it's dairy or gluten that was causing my problems.... or maybe it is soy. There is soy in everything!

So I hope that helps answer any questions or concerns people had over us doing this paleo thing. Trust me, we're not living off of bacon and red meat so our hearts are safe