This series will consist of healthy tips, recipes, and random things I've learned along my paleo journey. To learn more about the paleo lifestyle, click here. This is not necessarily paleo specific, just overall health. I'm not a doctor (yet!) so do not take any advice I give as medical advice. If you have anything you want to hear about, let me know in the comments or email me at iffyinklings@gmail.com.
When I first went gluten free about four years ago, I was terrified. Sure, I had cooked before, but being a 17 year old who lived off Jack in the Box egg rolls and McDonald's chicken nuggets, I didn't want to cook. Why would I waste a couple hours making my own egg rolls when I could pay a few dollars and have them in the time it took to go through the drive-thru?
Sadly, I couldn't do that anymore. Gluten was literally killing me, preventing my body from absorbing any nutrients. I no longer had the option to eat McDonald's nuggets when I wanted to, and I have to say it's an absolute blessing that I had a wakeup call in the form of celiac disease.
A lot of people who I've talked to about CD always say, 'I wish I had something like that that actually made me eat healthy.' In the beginning I would always think, 'I would never wish this on my worst enemy!' But now? I realize how many doors it's opened and how much my mind and body has changed because of it.
However. To those people who say they wish they had something like CD, I want to say, 'Why doesn't the fact that you are pre-diabetic make you want to eat healthier? Or the 20 extra pounds on your body? Or the fact that you can't walk up a flight of stairs without panting? Or the stomachache you get after a meal?'
I made the choice to be gluten free. It's not like knowing that I had celiac disease all of the sudden flipped a switch in my mind to make me cook for myself and eat healthy. I could have continued eating gluten and stayed sick, but I didn't because I knew it wasn't good for my body. Instead, I took the time to figure out what it took to make healthy, delicious (and sometimes horrible) meals. That's why I've also switched to the paleo lifestyle. I'm healthier. It's a choice I made. So for those of you that want to be healthy but aren't? You need to choose to be healthy.
This brings me to my first tip:
Will you commit to healthy eating?
First of all... Jack in the Box has egg rolls?! I only remember them as being a burger place with tacos everyone loved and I thought were disgusting!
ReplyDeleteBut any ways, I love this new series! I most definitely commit!
And actually, further proving that it's always a choice, most people I know with CD continued to eat it at first and were just in denial/not ready to give up comfort foods, even when they felt bad... or they'd go without during the week and then gorge on the weekends, etc., before they finally decided to do the right thing for their bodies and feel better all the time!
Yes, they had egg rolls! They were actually pretty bad, but the outsides were so good and crispy!
DeleteI'm glad you enjoy this! I'm super excited for it, I already have a couple posts done.
I can't imagine doing that, especially with how awful I felt! I get that it's hard to give things up though.
That's so funny! I've never heard of a fast food place carrying egg rolls!
DeleteYay, I am excited for the whole series! You always have such great tips so I'm sure everybody will love it!
I'm so excited to read more in this series! I try my best to eat healthy but of course there are those days where Cinnamon Toast Crunch is just begging me to eat it for breakfast, hehe!
ReplyDeleteYay, I'm so happy you're excited! I understand that there are days like that, I have them to! I definitely give into temptations sometimes, but since I'm good most of the time, I don't worry about it!
DeleteI'm looking forward to reading more!!! :D
ReplyDeleteWoohoo!
DeleteI've heard a lot about eating gluten free, but I'm not too educated on it...is gluten something that you're allergic to, or is it not good for everyone?
ReplyDeleteI'm a vegetarian and I always try to be healthy in general, but it's still something I'm working towards ! I'm looking forward to your advice on paleo lifestyle.
I'm not allergic to it, but my body can't process it. (And gluten is wheat, rye, barley and most oats, in case you don't know.) Some people have allergies to it, and have typical allergic reactions like hives, etc, but most people are either intolerant to it, or have celiac disease like me. When I eat gluten, I have almost immediate intestinal reactions, like diarrhea, bloating, and a stomachache. When I have gluten, it can take my body a week or two to recover from it and feel normal again!
DeleteEveryone I know who has tried a gluten free diet just because they wanted to (and weren't intolerant or have CD) has ALWAYS felt better. I have never met someone who couldn't tell a difference. One of the theories is that grains were introduced to our diets such a short time ago, about 10,000 years. Granted, that seems like a long time but it's really not when you think about how long we've been around! It's estimated that it's about 330 generations, and evolution doesn't happen that quickly; our bodies have not yet evolved to grains/gluten.
I love the idea of healthy inkling posts! I'd like to know any tips or tricks you've learned to ease the transition process into paleo eating. <3
ReplyDeleteHi Steff. I'm still trying to wrap my head around why people get tattoos...but that's a different discussion entirely. As for eating healthy, however, I certainly do understand and appreciate the reasoning behind it. Great post! Myself, after being lead to believe for the past twenty years that my skin always feels like it's on fire because of an adverse reaction to certain foods (particularly shellfish), the allergist I met with (after an eight-month wait) last month now says I have no food allergies at all. This leaves me back at square one and I've now decided to eliminate everything...and then slowly add one thing at a time back into my diet to try to get to the bottom of this once and for all. The information you impart in your blog is very helpful and enlightening for me. Thanks! "Farmer Doug" @ Ladybug's Mew in Yellow Point (on Vancouver Island), B.C. Canada
ReplyDeleteTo each his own about tattoos, right? =)
DeleteThat's so unfortunate to find out stuff like that! It would be frustrating. I think it's a great idea how you're going about figuring it out, though. I've done an elimination diet like that and learned so much about what is good and bad for my body! I hope you figure out good things by doing it.
Awesome! I went paleo too and I'm never looking back. I feel healthier than ever.
ReplyDeleteYa, I don't see myself ever going back either!!
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