Seven weeks
I’ve only been Paleo for seven weeks and it already feels like forever.
This is not a bad thing.
After Robb posted my story on his site, I made a few new friends. For me, that has been one of the best things to come out of my ordeal. It has enabled me to find people who understand what I have been through because they’ve been there themselves, or have seen first-hand the kind of hell metabolic derangement wreaks on a body. These new friends, and the entire Paleo community, have become my extended family. My real family, of course, thinks I’m kinda crazy right now. Ok, it might be a little true. I do tend to be rather…exhuberant…about my success and about Paleo and health in general. I’m beginning to sound like a textbook and I’m sure that’s more than a little annoying. I think they’ve sort of battened down the hatches thinking this is just another one of my “obsessions” and that any day now it’ll get old. I can’t blame them for thinking that since I do have obsessive tendencies. But if my family thinks this is one of them then they really have no clue just how sick I was.
I confessed in an email to one of my new friends that writing that story for Robb had an unexpected benefit that I could never have predicted. It had an unbelievably cathartic effect. Reliving the misery and pouring out all of that emotion in print enabled me to draw a line in the sand. My life pre-Paleo was over. The Fat Girl who went into the fire is not the same girl who emerged from it.
So when I say it already feels like forever, what I mean is that the Paleo lifestyle is already second nature. I set this blog up so that others could follow a Paleo beginner as she struggled through the transition from the SAD to Paleo. But the truth is that after the first few weeks it became just…habit. It’s no longer a struggle. Honestly. I’m no longer tempted by modern foods, and on the odd occasion when I see something I used to eat all the time and I remember distinctly how good it tasted, my mind immediately recalls how sick I was. Needless to say the memory becomes less sweet. There is a 3 day period every 25 days when my body is screaming for chocolate, but I have found that 1oz of super dark chocolate daily dulls the desire to run out and drive to Hershey, PA to drown myself in a vat of the stuff. I also had a bizarre hankering out of the blue this morning for chocolate ice cream and this is certainly odd since even when I ate crap I never cared much for ice cream. I’m thinking I was just hungry. I have a tendency to forget to eat these days, especially on Saturday mornings since that’s my food shopping day. My first stop is always my local farmer’s market since I prefer to make as many of my purchases as possible there. Today was a light day since it’s Thanksgiving week and I’ll be at my mother’s and so won’t be doing much cooking. Here’s what I got today:
No matter what I buy from my local farmers I always end up with enough for two weeks anyway. I still have a lot of grass-fed ground beef and stew beef left from last week’s purchase so this week was all pastured pork/eggs. Bacon, sausage, bratwurst, and eggs from T&D Farms along with some carrots, mushrooms, and radishes from a vegetable vendor, and I couldn’t resist the fresh-shucked oysters from my fresh fish guy.
This was another aspect of Paleo that I wasn’t expecting – the fun. Who knew food could make you feel so alive? Even tonight when I was hungry and tempted to do something easy like a hamburger patty, I couldn’t get the idea of Mark Sisson’s Shrimp Cakes out of my head. So, as hungry as I was, I went to all the time and trouble to make them and MAN! I was not sorry! They were fab-u-lous. Mm! And I had fun doing it.
Paleo did not just change my life. It gave me a whole new one. And it just keeps getting better. Every. Single. Day.
My first post! Yay!
Saturday is one of my favorite days of the week. No, it’s not because it’s the weekend. Ok, maybe that too, but today is grocery shopping day! I used to hate shopping, but going Paleo has really changed the way I look at food. You would think the fact that it takes me half a day to shop for food would make me despise it, but it’s just the opposite. I almost DO feel like a cave girl out hunting and gathering!
First stop: my local farmer’s market. And this morning I went earlier than I usually do and got a very nice surprise. In the stall next to the lady who sells the grass-fed beef and pastured pork and chicken was a guy selling fresh fish. Seriously. Like fresh off the boat. I was delighted and a little disappointed at the same time since I hadn’t planned for it.
My brain: who’s that? omg he’s got fresh fish. on ice. in a tiny little metal boat. how cute is that? hey, he’s cute too. hey there’s a cute chalk board with the list of the catches with the prices. it’s in all different colors! how cool is that!? that took some time to do. shoot, most of it’s gone. omg he’s looking at you – look away. crap I didn’t plan on fish. i want fish! hey, he’s still looking at you. he’s really cute. don’t make eye-contact. you can’t buy fish today. get your meat and go.
So I bought my grass-fed ground beef and stew beef, pork sausage and bratwurst, and two dozen eggs and headed to the produce stalls. There I bought spaghetti squash, green peppers, red pepper, jalapenos, cucumbers, the most beautiful spinach you’ve ever seen and the most delicious asian pears you’ve ever put in your mouth. YUM. On my way out though the fish guy caught my eye again (like I’m going to deny my eyes a little treat) and we got to talking. I learned that you can sign up for emails which they send out on Wednesdays with a list of the catches. He picks them up on Friday and brings them to market on Saturday morning. He says if I have something specific that I want that I can email him and he’ll get it for me. HOW COOL IS THAT?!
After I walked off I realized – I don’t know how to cook fish. You can be assured that I’ll be spending some time this week Googling Paleo fish recipes. 😀
Second stop: Trader Joe’s. Here I get the fresh veggies and various odd items that I’m unable to get at the farmer’s market. This week I purchased raw almonds, raw walnuts, 65% cacao chocolate callets, prosciutto, salami, mushrooms, and fresh mint and parsley.
Third stop: Earth Fare. I have to drive nearly an hour to get there, but it’s worth it. I just used the time to take lesson four of my French lessons on CD. 😀 (Je comprends un peu le français. Pero puedo entender espanol mejor!) At Earth Fare I got red cabbage, swiss chard, cauliflower, coconut flakes, pizza sauce (Trader Joe’s had corn starch in it – bleh!), and one rare treat – raw milk gouda cheese.
Fourth stop: Wal-mart. Here I got the basic cheap household stuff and finished my shopping for the day.
Thankfully, I had leftover roast with carrots and celery to re-heat since I was starving by the time I got home. Is there a better way to round out your day than with great Paleo food and an episode of The Big Bang Theory on DVR? I totally heart Leonard! I’m such a big geek. :p
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