Follow Up From My Integrative Health Appointment + Paleo-yea!

Hi Fitness Friends!  I hope that you are doing well today!  Like I said on Friday I have been busy and wasn't able to hop on last week and post!  So here I am today hoping to catch you up on what's been going on in my life.  Last Monday I had my follow up visit at the integrative health care practice I was telling you about in my post last month.  I got the results from my blood work...the PA I met with told me I have some of the healthiest blood work results she has ever seen!  This really makes me so happy.  Being healthy and taking care of my body is so important to me and to know that my work has been paying off makes every meal I cooked and every workout I've done worth it.  I want to live a long healthy life, and it seems like I am on the right path!  However, it still didn't give me an answer as to where the belly fat came from and what was the cause.  Christina, the PA I am working with, suggested I tried eating Paleo.  She suggested The Paleo Solution, by Robb Wolf.  That afternoon I purchased and downloaded it on my Nook.

It has been just about a week since I have started eating the Paleo way and I feel amazing.  I have finally been able to lose weight, if you remember back I have been having a hard time losing even a pound or an inch (as the scale isn't the only important measure of fat loss).  So to hop on the scale 6 days later and to be down quite a few pounds was awesome, not to mention that my stomach is finally flat and I don't look and feel so bloated!  I have found something that works with my body, allows me to eat real whole food and feel amazing.  I am doing Paleo 100% for a full 30 days, then I may (depending how my body reacts) add a little bit of cheese (once a day) and a little organic creamer to my coffee (I miss it just a little).  I have been drinking green tea in place of the coffee and will most likely rotate green tea and coffee.  The best part is that my hubby has been doing this with me and he is feeling great and losing weight too.  I will keep you posted as we continue with this lifestyle change, as I will always stay on Paleo.

If you don't know much about Paleo, as I didn't before last Monday, I will give you a brief overview.  Basically the premise is taking our eating from the Standard American Diet, SAD (and yes it is), to how our ancestors ate before the industrialization of our food.  Food processing, grains and dairy have only been around for about 10,000 years which pales in comparison to how long our ancestors ate what they could hunt and gather.  Before this time the diseases that haunt our country were nearly non-existent.  Diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, auto-immune disorders and cancer are caused by foods that we are not meant to eat.  So Paleo focuses on what you can eat, lean meat, poultry and fish, all veggies with a limit on starchy veggies and squashes, fruit and nuts and seeds.  These are foods that are anti-inflammatory.  They don't torment your gut, where 70 % of your immune system is thus creating overall health and well being.  If you want more info on the can and cant's of what you can eat head over to Robb Wolf's website, there is a ton of great info.

I have been cooking a lot and I love how easy it is to create Paleo meals.  This meal is oven roasted pork with pan roasted Brussels sprouts, mandarin oranges and for "dessert" sweet potato mash with coconut oil and cinnamon. I have been trying to get creative with our meals and I love Pinterest, because there are so many great recipes and I have tried a few and love them.  I can't wait to make more! I created a Paleo Board, feel free to check it out and follow if you are thinking about trying out Paleo, which I highly recommend!

If you are eating Paleo I would love to hear from you!  Do you have any recipes you love and want to share?

 

Also last week I guest posted on Former Fitness Flunky's blog about HIIT training, titled Tell Your Fat to HIIT it.  Head over there to read the full post.  Thanks again to Alicen for having me!