For lent this year Mark and I started a new eating plan. (I have not posted about this yet because I didn't want to put it out there and then fail miserably.) We started off with the slow-carb eating plan, which comes from the book the 4-hour body by Tim Ferriss. This book really spoke to us. It is very well written and most of all gives you the reasons behind why you should do things. (It gives you a clear option when you can skip those parts if you aren't interested in them.)
Anyways, the change in diet had a profound effect on me. For the past, well forever, I have been plagued with a constant headache and full blown migraines at least once a week. I had never really figured out what was going on they were just always there. So a little over a year ago I went to a neurologist to find out what might be wrong. They did an MRI and some x-rays and found that I was completely normal. I guess that was good to hear... I mean it isn't like I would want to have a tumor or anything. It was just a little disheartening to realize there was no real reason for the constant headaches. So they diagnosed my with the condition chronic migraines. This is when I found out what I thought was a "headache" everyday was really a migraine. Just a lower intensity then what is normally thought of when talking about migraines. So they gave me some medication and sent me home. From there we tried a few preventative drugs to see if they could lower the number of daily migraines. It was horrible. The first one gave me a SEVERE panic attack. It happened at work and was so bad I wasn't able to even drive myself home, Mark had to come pick me up. It lasted for something like 3 hours of attack and then the rest of the night I was shaking and feeling on the verge of an attack. So needless to say I quit that after only 3 days. The next one I tried was subtly bad. I had just about EVERY side effect they list on the side plus a few extra. They weren't as severe though so I pushed through thinking maybe they would go away. They didn't and started to really effect my life. So we got off it. After that we decided maybe the preventatives weren't really for me. So we just tried to manage it daily. I tried I few other things... one being a juice fast. (A family friend has had great results with changing her food intake. It allowed her to get rid of MS and go back to a normal life. So turning to food was on my mind.) I know that seems strange but I saw a documentary touting the juice fast and featuring a woman that got rid of migraines with it. Well it didn't work for me, not to mention it was very hard to stick with and follow. Which bring me to the end of my tangent. After just a few weeks on the slow-carb my daily migraines were nearly gone!
The slow-carb diet talking about cutting out basically everything that is naturally white, dairy, fruit, and sugars. So you eat meats, fish, veggies, nuts, and legumes (easy on the nuts). Each week you follow this for 4 meals a day and then on the 7th day you have your "cheat day". I found though that while having the "cheat day" helped me stay on track it also brought back the migraines. So I would have the cheat day on Saturday and then Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I would have the lower intensity migraines. Sometimes full blown ones. Also, I HATE BEANS!!! (Not The Beans if you are reading this Suzy ;)) So I had been talking to my brother about the slow-carb program and noticed that is was very very close to the Paleo lifestyle that my brother lives. So we switched.
Paleo is basically meats (leaner is better), fish, veggies, nuts and fruits. No beans!! So I was all about it! We started after Easter and it was working well. My migraines were going away again. This lifestyle doesn't encourage a "cheat day" per say, but I was still putting it in there from time to time. I did find a WONDERFUL website with great recipes over at Everyday Paleo. They were helping limit the cheating. After talking more with my brother he really encouraged me to do a whole30 challenge.
The whole30 challenge I started last Monday. It has been going really well. It is 30 days of 100% Paleo. No slips, no cheating, no skirting around the rules.... 100%. I am not even eating out this week because I can't guarantee what they are cooking my food in. I think I am up for it, so 6 days down 24 to go. The first week was hard headache wise. I think that maybe it was just leftover from a not great food weekend the weekend before and maybe a little bit of my body getting used to a absolutely no preservative diet.
So that is how I arrived at the switch to the Paleo lifestyle. I am really enjoying it and in our quest to eat preservative free and complete the whole30 we have come up with some seriously dominate dinners. So check my next post about tonights crab cakes and check back to see how I am doing and the best recipes we find.
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