Why I Eat Primal

First of all you may wonder, "Why in the world would I want to eat a high fat diet? Won't I get fat?" To put your mind at ease, read my "About The Author" page. Then I want you to do yourself a favor. Go on Hulu (or your local video library), and watch the documentary FAT HEAD. It's really entertaining (especially for a documentary. It made me giggle. Honestly you'll enjoy it).
Second of all, I believe the good Lord (or whatever warm-fuzzy-inducing deity you believe in) placed animals and plants upon this Earth to sustain us. In this day and age, we've gotten so far away from food in its natural state that it's honestly starting to make us sick. Back in the era of our grand parents and great grand parents, if they wanted bread (which I avoid), they went out to the field, harvested the wheat, brought it in, ground it up, and made bread.
These days, wheat gets planted, it gets fertilized, it gets sprayed with toxins (pesticides), harvested, brought into a factory, cross contaminated with who knows what other chemicals, and made into a bread-like substance.
Don't believe me? Check out the ingredient list on a loaf of bread the next time you go to the grocery store. High Fructose Corn Syrup, Calcium Sulfate, Mono- and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Mono- and Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Peroxide, Datem, Azodicarbonamide, Calcium Propionate... MMM, YUM! I totally want some. Don't you?

The Primal Blueprint gets back to the basics. It gets us back to eating food the way the Lord (again insert your favorite deity here) not only intended but WANTS us to. Our body functions better on whole, natural foods. It was not designed to digest CHEMICALS! It WANTS real food.

When I began losing weight in 2009, I started with a standard diet full of conventional wisdom. I implemented what I had been taught as a diabetic as well: Limit my carbs to 60 per meal, and 15 per snack. Eat 6 small meals a day (3 meals, 3 snacks). Consume heart-healthy, cholesterol lowering grains. Enjoy lean protein. Avoid fat.
I became a kashi eating (mmm, honey-nut cardboard), fat phobic, insulin resistant T1.5 diabetic. Remember that 60/15 carb rule? Think about it. That's about 225 carbs per day. Sure my cholesterol was great, but my hA1c was sky high. I took TEN insulin shots every day.
Here's how my typical day went pre-insulin pump:
8:00 AM BREAKFAST:
Wake up.
Use bathroom.
Weigh in.
Test blood sugar.
Give myself 1 shot levemir (60 units basal insulin), and do an insulin shot (novolog) to account for my insanely high fasting sugar and what I was about to eat (1 unit for every 10 carbs, based on what I ate, and 5 more for every 20 points above acceptable my sugar was). Take metformin/glucophage, too!
Eat a bowl of kashi go lean with some almond milk and sliced banana.
(291 cals, 2.7g fat, 65g carb, 15g protein)

9:00: Take morning nap while baby Grace sleeps cuz I'm still feeling sluggish

10:00 AM:
test post-breakfast sugar.
Give self shot to adjust for high blood sugar, and whatever I need for morning snack
Eat morning snack of a slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter.
(235 cals, 16.5 fat, 17g carb, 11g protein)

10:30-11:30:
GO TO GYM. Huff and puff and struggle and wish I were dead while I desperately try to wog on treadmill. Eat larabar cuz I feel like I'm gonna pass out from low blood sugar.
(220 cals, 9g fat, 33g carb, 4g protein)

12:00 LUNCH!
test raging post-workout/larabar sugar
Give self another shot (it's only noon and we're already on shot #4)
Enjoy a bowl of soup with some goldfish crackers
(380 cals, 9g fat, 68g carb, 13g protein)

12:30: SLEEP! Take 3 hour nap cuz I'm exhausted from shots, eating, and gym

3:30:
Check sugar, give self shot #5
Chow down on yogurt. Cuz yogurt is GOOD for you!
(70 cals, 0g fat, 13g carb, 4g protein)

4:00:
Take another nap cuz I can't shake the post-gym fatigue

6:00 DINNER:
Check sugar, take shot #6
Cook up some hamburger helper (a staple of our household back then), and throw in some extra veggies to make it more filling
(708 cals, 26g fat, 67g carb, 52g protein)

8:00:
Check sugar. Shot #7
Have some dessert. Cuz I want it. I deserve it. I went to the gym today. I earned extra cals!
Let's go for the no sugar added, extra creamy, double churned ice cream!
(195 cals, 9g fat, 32g carb, 6g protein)

9:00:
Check post dinner/dessert sugar. Shot #8

10:00:
check sugar before going to bed. Take shot #9 to bring blood sugar down from dessert (cuz it's still out of control). Take shot #10 (levemir-- basal). Take thyroid medication. Go to bed.

NUTRITIONAL TOTALS FOR THE AVERAGE DAY:
2,099 cals (average "healthy" diet, right? Give or take dessert most nights, and I earned 700 extra ones at the gym! Oh, and I didn't always have a larabar at the gym. Some days it was a protein bar, ahahaha), 72g fat, 295g carb (the average American consumes around 300 every day), 105g protein

Awesome, huh? I was SO grateful when I got on insulin pump, cuz I didn't have to do 10 shots a day. However, I still took just as much insulin. It was just pumped into me intravenously.
I accepted that that was the end. Even my own mother (who also has T2 diabetes) told me I would never get off my insulin pump once I went on it. My doctor said I would be on insulin the rest of my life.

So what happened? What changed? How did I go from taking ridiculous amounts of insulin to being drug free?

In August 2010, I went for a routine check up. My doctor wrote me a new Rx for my insulin pump. I filled it. Then one day, I went to take a shower. I removed my canula & pump, since it was change day anyway... I never put it back in.

I can't tell you what changed in me, except that the same change can happen in YOU. My carb consumption dropped naturally. I went from eating 200-300 carbs every day, to 150 or less. I wasn't even counting. This was a naturally changing phenomena in my diet.

When I went for my next check up, my hA1c was 5.7-- the lowest it had been since I was pregnant with Grace and had nazi-like control over it with insulin. Only now I was insulin free. Read my joyful post about it here.

So I kept chugging along through Christmas... and one day I decided I was done with metformin too. I wanted to be drug free. I was ready. Then something wonderful happened. I discovered the Primal Blueprint. I read the book. Mark Sisson gave a prime example of an average American family, and it was exactly like ours. I felt inspired that this could be the cure to diabetes. Not just mine, but to the disease itself. I dove in. I unleashed my inner carnivore. I LOVED IT! Sure, all that fat was scary at first, but I had been on a plateau for a year, and my weight started moving again. My blood sugars started improving slowly. I found that fat was my new favorite food group. My hA1c's continued to hold up at check ups. I parted ways with my beloved honey nut cardboard (kashi). I got stronger and faster at the gym. I jumped 20 lbs up in the weight room in one week! The trades were worth it. I loved the new power and health that I had.

Then I had an epiphany. (Haha, you thought just eating clean was it? No, no, my friend). My sweet little Grace had been having colds every 5 mins since she was a month old. I switched her to Primal. She helped me pack up all of her lunchables, mac n cheese, taquitos, crackers, and the like and give them to her friends. Her health improved! She's been sick once since January 2011, and it was a virus (I think viruses are a little more excusable than colds). No more projectile snot rockets or sleepless nights. She is strong, monkey-wild, and vibrant.

"But what of the husband?" You ask.
I have the world's best husband. No joke. He's so supportive! He eats mostly primal (except for the occasional sandwich and tortilla). He's benefitted from Primal eating as well. He dropped 40 lbs when I started losing weight. It's pretty awesome. I love having the whole family on the same page!

My typical day now:

7:30 AM:
Wake up
Use bathroom
Get Grace up and ready for preschool.
Try to get her to eat something, but she's too excited that she won't. We both skip breakfast.

8:30 AM:
Drop Grace off at school
Head to gym

9:00 AM:
Revel in the power I exert in the weight room
Hammer the treadmill. Pound out sprints on 8 effortlessly.

10:00 AM:
Get shopping & chores done

11:30 AM:
Pick up Grace from preschool.
Go home and we both have our first meal of the day. I test my blood sugar. It's in the 90s. I dance like Snoopy.

Grace eats some lunch meat, cheese, grapes, and carrots
I have a hunk of meat or dig into a ginormous salad (about 10 carbs for the salad, and 50g+ of protein), then take my prenatal vitamins with some fish oil, vitamind d3, and magnesium citrate.

1:30 PM:
Put Grace down for nap
Work on my novel or chillax on facebook

3:00 PM:
Grace gets up. I give her a snack if she's hungry. More fruit or veggies whichever she likes. She can get a little picky, so I'm grateful when she eats.
Some days we go for a walk or go run errands

5:00 PM:
I start getting dinner ready. Grace watches Curious George, or something educational & age-appropriate. Sometimes I ask her to help me cook, doing basic tasks like stirring and measuring

6:00 PM:
I try to help Grace clean up her toys if I have time. and get dinner on the table. Hubby comes home. We eat meat & veggies. I feel happy and full

8:00 PM:
I test my post-meal sugar. It's in the 120s or lower. I dance like snoopy again, take my thyroid medication & help hubby put Grace to bed.

10:00-11:00 PM:
We crash in bed and watch a movie or TV.


NUTRITIONAL TOTALS FOR THE AVERAGE DAY:
1785 cals, 20g carbs, 133g fat (the bulk of it saturated-- olive oil, coconut, avocados, butter, all delicious!), 135g protein

Can you see the difference? I have power, focus, drive, and great blood sugar. I don't sleep 16 hours (I sleep 8). The gym makes me feel great rather than dead. The trade offs are worth it!

I am eating whole foods as close to their natural state as I can. I feel like my life is in line with the Lord's plan, and I'm reaping the rewards of that positive karma.

TAKE THE PRIMAL LEAP! Don't wait. Do it now. You CAN do it. YOU ARE WORTH IT! You DESERVE this kind of health, vitality, and thirst for life. You family deserves it, too.

To get started, check out:
The Primal Blueprint
The Whole 30 Challenge (it will change your life!)