The Paleo, 30 Day, Primal Hybrid Diet Thing

My family is on the “eat whatever you want whenever you want" diet.

Unless what you want to eat involves sugar.

Or grains. Or dairy. Or alcohol. Or preservatives. Or Legumes.  Or soy. Or processed food. Or vegetables oils.

But other than that, you can eat whatever your heart desires. My parents have been doing it since the second of the year and I have been doing it since I got back last Tuesday.

I first heard about this crazy diet (although the powers that be tout it as a “lifestyle”) last April and filed it away as a good thing to do that was probably way too hard for me to figure out.

Last semester I read (part of) the book The Primal Diet. After that, I couldn’t eat grains without thinking about what the terrible levels of insulin were doing to my body. I avoided grains as much as I could and would go for a week or two without eating any and then I would have to eat fast food or something.

I sent the book to my mom and she read it. And then she read more about the Paleo Diet and the 30 Day Challenge. They pretty much are the same kind thing except the Primal Diet allows you to eat dairy. And each have different nuances and things they emphasize. We are mostly doing the 30 Day Challenge. You follow the rules strictly for 30 days and then start adding in food to see what makes you feel crappy and what your body processes well.

Here’s a quick summary of what happens to you when you stop eating grains, processed foods and everything else: you feel terrible. You start detoxing. Two days in I had a massive headache, stomachache and was incredibly tired. My parents felt the same and one night, my dad came downstairs and was shaking really badly.

Then you start feeling pretty great. I haven’t really been doing it long enough to flaunt how incredible I feel, but my I haven’t had any acid reflux since Tuesday, and I haven’t taken any medicine, which is a huge deal for me. My stomach has basically been acidic for most of my life but got way worse the summer before I started college. My stomach also feels flatter like there’s less fat there. Not that I am saying I was fat at all but it seems like there's less.

So that gets me started thinking (read: complaining): “I feel pretty good. I had chili and my stomach isn’t on fire. This is awesome… and now I want a coke. And a giant pretzel. And a glazed doughnut. And nachos. Crap. There’s no way I can do this.”

Then my mom chimes in, “Oh I want buttery popcorn.”  So then, I also want popcorn. And we just stare at each other sadly and distract ourselves with the TV or a book.

Really, most all of my family’s success in this endeavor belongs to my mom. She has been cooking up a storm every day for lunch and dinner. It has to be exhausting. She is almost constantly grocery shopping, washing and cutting fruits and veggies, looking up recipes, cooking and cleaning. 

We have eaten a mix of weird/new things and old things made in new ways. We’ve had butternut squash (not a fan) cauliflower mixed in a food processor so it becomes almost like mashed potatoes, chili without beans, stuffed egg plant (I surprised myself by not hating that), chicken in several different ways and sooo many fruits and veggies.

Here’s a small sample of the weirdness that has crossed my plate:

Guess which one of these food tastes like celery? 

It looks like green beans, steak and mashed potatoes right??????
Haha nope

Did you guess the white stuff? You’re right! It’s actually ground up celery root. I was not a fan. For whatever weird reason, celery gives me a headache.

So here’s to hoping my family can continue on our 2013 healthy eating kick.