Why am I doing it?
I'm doing it to try and get rid of the pain that I've been experiencing. My MRI came back normal, a blessing and also very frustrating because no one can tell me why I've had pain for 4 years!!!! The Dr claims the pain is coming from inflammation and he wanted me to take a prescription strength anti-inflammatory for 4 weeks, or my other option was to get an epidural shot.
I decided I didn't want to head in that direct, at least for now. So I decided to change my diet and see if I could cure myself this way. The Paleo diet eliminates a lot of foods that cause inflammation so I thought I'd give it a shot.
*I would normally never subject myself to this kind of strict diet, I'm not a fan of diets and I believe in moderation in all things. Also...I love chocolate, and carbs too much to get rid of them *
Here are the basic things you can't have on the paleo diet:
Dairy, Grains of any kind, Refined Sugar, Legumes, Potatoes, Refined Vegetable Oils
I'm one week and a day in. Here are my thoughts...
- Life without desserts and carbs is hard! I love my morning toast with butter or peanut butter and jam :( Oh yeah speaking of peanut butter, life without peanut butter is also hard! *I can't have peanuts b/c they are considered a legume*
- Almond butter and sunflower seed butter are great alternatives
- I really don't need a treat after lunch or dinner
- I can only eat so many eggs and meat before I feel sick (I don't love meat and I've eaten a lot of it on this diet.)
- Days 4-6 were brutal, my pain was awful
- I saw a glimmer of light on day 7 when my pain decreased a bit
- I can do hard things
- Blogs, pinterest and awesome friends who send me paleo friendly recipes are my saving grace
- Husband has been a huge support. Him: "Are you sure you can eat that?" Me: "Yes for the 10th time I can eat nuts, just not peanuts"
- I realized I eat a lot, at work, out of boredom. A habit I hope to break.
- I think I've lost a few lbs, which is never a bad thing.
- Fruit is now my dessert
Could I eat this way for the rest of my life....Maybe, but only if I was allowed to have a few cheat meals a week. And I would want to reduce my intake of meat and add in beans.
The verdict is still out on whether or not eliminating all the foods that cause inflammation will cure me. My pain is still there, but I'm hopeful that the diet can get rid of it, and if it does, I will know that it was inflammation. Cause at this point, my only way of knowing that it's inflammation is the fact that I took Aleve, an anti-inflammatory, for 2 weeks and it got rid of the pain. But, the pain came back 2 days later.
My initial goal was to try it for 2 weeks. If I see more improvement I'm going to continue to do it.
4 comments:
I'm going to keep praying for you. I'm so sorry you're in pain :( that's the worst!!! You CAN do hard things. But I feel your pain, I'm not a big meat-eater either and I think cutting carbs out of my diet might kill me! Hang in there girl.
That is so hard! I hope this works for you!
Oh no! Jess feel better!! I recently just cut out carbs and sweets too. Day 4 was really hard for me. I realized too that I didn't need a treat after every meal. Tomorrow is day 8. I haven't lost anything but I do feel a lot better. Hope paleo starts working for you! Where is the inflammation that's giving you pain?
So glad to hear your MRI came back normal, but sorry to hear you still don't have any answers!
I really hope the new diet works for you, keep me posted on :)
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