Going Paleo

In January I wrote that one of my “intentions” for the year was to try eating Paleo for 1 month.  I certainly have not followed through with all of my intentions but with this one,  I actually have…surprising to me as I know my outlook towards this idea back in January was that it was crazy. Life without cheese? No way. 

At the end of January we were finally in a place where our kitchen was functional- ie: we had a stove again- so we figured it was as good a time as any to jump right in. No grains, no dairy, here we go. I passed on some of the research I had found to Greg and he was willing to try it with me. I don’t think it would have worked otherwise because let’s face it- I can barely manage to make one meal, let alone two. At this point Greg didn’t have much of a choice to join in on the fun if he wanted to eat.  Little did I know he would end up going all in on this way of life.

I probably didn’t go into it with the right attitude- I thought it would be next to impossible to give up these things that are staples for most people- me included. But after reading all that I had even I had to admit that there was something to this. At least enough to try it out and see what happened.  Even so, I found it surprisingly easy to give up rice, pasta, cheese, milk... I actually had the toughest time giving up Greek yogurt but that pretty much passed after the first couple weeks.

I’m not going to get into all the specifics of why this way of eating is considered to be the “right” way- you can certainly Google “Paleo” and find loads of information on it. I also don’t believe that anyone should impose their form of nutrition on anyone else- although I do encourage everyone to research it on their own. I believe that each person has to come to their own decision. What’s right for one person may not be right for another. 

So am I eating 100% Paleo 100% of the time? No. I am a firm believer that you should never deprive yourself of things you love- however, everything in moderation. I thought I would end up around the 80/20 mark but I'm actually more around 95/5 right now. 

  I also don’t believe there is only one right way of eating. There are a lot of “hardcore” Paleo people out there and that’s cool for them but I am not all aboard the Paleo train just yet. I am still questioning many of the ideas behind it and continuing to research- because for every argument there is a counter-argument- and I believe one of the most important decisions you can make for yourself everyday is what food goes into your body. 

We are coming up on our 3 month mark of starting this way of eating and overall I feel really good about it. Even when I treat myself to banana bread, pancakes, muffins- all the "Paleo way" of course- I don't have that feeling of regret that can sometimes happen when indulging. And it's actually really fun to experiment with all these new recipes- it's made me remember why I love cooking so much.