How'd you find your way to Primal/Paleo?

Roseygirl1

Great to meet you Grok Granny. I'm also dealing with my health issues with diet. I look forward to proceeding on this journey with you.

Rosey

I actually stumbled upon Mark Sisson's book, The Primal Blueprint, before it was released. I emailed him and we had a fabulous conversation. We were close in age. I was working at the time with an Integrative MD as her nutritional consultant in the area of food sensitivity. I also was a patient! I had lost 100 pounds but had stalled in my weight loss and had a whole lot of digestive issues. My gallbladder was gone, I was Celiac and Casein allergic...with multiple sensitivities of my own. I had reduced my sensitivities from an all time high of 23 down to 5, but I was prone to Leaky Gut and was sooooo frustrated!

As soon as Mark's book came out, I ordered it. Then the cookbook. I gave it to my doc as a Christmas present and began to counsel my clients in the benefits of Paleo. It's been a process for me (holding out for the one piece of GF toast in the morning!) but I actually feel better when I don't eat it. Also, for me, I still need to take supplements for digestive support (Ox Bile, HCL, digestive enzymes and probiotics.) GI tract does not function optimally without those add-in's. But the proper Primal/Diet is first and foremost what I know my body needs.

BTW...Mark laughed at my name (Grok Granny.) ha ha Those were the early days. I am sure he has seen multiple variations of "Grok" since.

Sabine_Stroehm

I'm not primal/paleo. :flowerforyou: I just find the folks in this group are the most accepting of, and closest to, the way I DO eat.

homesweeths

Increasingly crippling arthritis was what started me on this path. Two years ago walking was painful, I could barely get in or out of a car, driving a stick shift was a misery, I couldn't stand more than 30 seconds without increasing pain. Spent a lot of time sitting down. When the pain started to be constant even when I was lying down, in bed, I finally went to the doctor. He gave me Celebrex and told me to take it for a week and come back.

Miracle! Pain was gone. I went back, happy, for next appointment. He told me I would be taking Celebrex every day until I needed knee replacements, I'd have the surgery, and be fine. I asked him how I'd know when I needed knee replacements. He said, I'd know.

That told me that the Celebrex was just masking pain while the damage to my knees continued to grow.

I researched natural treatments for arthritis and came up with Robb Wolf's website. Got his book from the library and the science made sense. Found his plan a little hard to stick to, though. Then I discovered Primal Blueprint and Mark Sisson's website. 80/20 clicked, and made the plan workable for me. I am such an all or nothing person...

In the meantime, saw an ad for Celebrex on TV and was horrified at the long list of side effects and warnings. Stopped taking Celebrex. On the advice of a pharmacist friend I started taking glucosamine-chondritin and high doses of vitamin C.

It took six months to be pain free. In that time I also started sleeping well, lost the nightly heartburn I'd gotten used to, and lost over 30 lb without trying. (That also was a great help for my knees.) Instead of low-blood-sugar shakes if I didn't eat every two hours, I started going for hours without even feeling hungry.

About four months in my joints weren't hurting but my tendons started hurting like crazy. Another friend advised taking green-lipped-mussel supplements. It took six or eight weeks for the tendon/ligament pain to subside. I wonder if perhaps my body was de-toxing? I wasn't able to come up with any other explanation for that pain, but it's gone now.

I also had to eliminate nightshades from my diet, in order to be completely pain free. After 60 days of auto-immune protocol, I was able to re-introduce nuts, eggs, and full-fat dairy (i.e. full cream, sour cream, and occasional full-fat cheese or ice cream -- I want to try making coconut cream based ice cream, though, and see how my body reacts). Eating tomato, potato, peppers, or spices made from peppers guarantees three days of joint pain and stiffness. Drat.

I dieted for years, was even bulemic for part of that time (in college, and in order to meet the military weight standards after college), but was never able to stick to a diet before.

Being pain-free is incredibly motivating.

cindytw

I used to follow Atkins years ago and found it hard to stick to, but felt my best on it. When the Eating Clean movement came out I hopped on the bandwagon, and sent my system into a tailspin, becoming so sick I was in bed for weeks. I was diagnosed with Celiac disease, and hypothyroid. As I researched my condition, joined support groups online, and read a LOT, I came to realize that Paleo/Primal was the way I needed to be. I feel best grain free, dairy free, and low carb, but I do fall off track regularly. My digestive issues, allergy symptoms and fatigue all motivate me to keep going, or at minimum keep trying!

HestiaMoon1

Mine's both weight and health issue, but mostly it's because I want to stay alive and active for a long time for my children.

I was researching super low calorie diets when I came across primal/paleo eating. It instantly made sense to me. As I researched it, it made more and more sense. Especially since I was already eating a diet of organic and mostly homemade foods. I happened to be making a LOT of bread and eating it, too. I make awesome bread.

After dropping grains and beans, my MS symptoms and menopause symptoms abated tremendously.

The weight has been slower coming off, but my husband swears my legs look completely different. Which is nice - whether or not it's true.

This is not just how I eat, it is also how I live. I own and work a sustainable farm on over 100 acres and I am a food advocate active in groups that promote soil health, water quality, fight pesticide drift, and want the best possible food available for all American families.

Dragonwolf

I'm working on a blog post that has more details on my journey thus far, but here's the Reader's Digest version:

I went Primal as a last-ditch effort to try to lose weight. I've been battling PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) since I was a teenager (though not diagnosed until about 5 years ago), which has kept me from losing weight and has kept me, at best, about 25lbs overweight.

However, that's not why I've ended up staying Primal and even moving toward more orthodox Paleo. Actually, if I went by weight loss alone, Primal would have been a bust, because I haven't lost a single pound on Primal alone (I did (re)lose about 20lbs with the help of Metformin and Primal, though).

Instead, though, I lost a number of other things:

- My daily heartburn
- My daily headaches and migraines
- My mood swings
- The acne I'd had since I was a teenager (not completely gone yet, but massively decreased)
- The "must eat RIGHT NOW" way of feeling hungry
- The eczema that started last year
- The bloating
- The feeling like I need an afternoon nap and other energy swings
- The constant hunger and wanting to gnaw my arm off even when eating 2000 calories
- The tossing an turning every night (I'm a light sleeper since my son was born, so there's still that, but I tend to get to sleep more easily and don't wake up for other reasons when I eat right), and more easily able to get out of bed in the morning (still not a morning person, but it's better)

Basically? It cleared up a number of issues that I didn't even know at the time were related to my diet, or at least didn't seem related in the usual way (you know, like eat spicy food, have heartburn).

So, yeah. This lifestyle isn't going anywhere for me, and I keep working on getting closer and closer to 100% compliance.

DefBrown

To answer the topic question:

For me it just seemed like pure common sense.