My Diet-Wellness Journey
As a recent graduate of Mark Sission’s Primal Health Coach certification program, I’m excited to teach and inspire others about the Primal lifestyle. But it’s been a loooooong journey to get to this point. As a 40-something woman, I’ve tried a lot of diets over nearly 30 years. And quite a few exercise programs, too. I’ve gained and lost 20 pounds multiple times. I was pretty good at losing weight once I put my mind to it – but the changes never stuck, old habits creeped back in and the weight came back.
In 2006, I was feeling heavy, lethargic and desperate to lose weight once again. The South Beach Diet had been all the rage for a couple of years and I decided to try it. I lost 30 pounds, and this was the first time in occurred to me that a lower carb diet might be better for my body. I wasn’t so good at the maintenance phase, however – a piece of whole wheat bread on occasion became a regular part of my diet, I restarted my love affair with chocolate ice cream, and the pounds gradually returned with several years of bouncing around on the scale.
In 2012 I began to have gastrointestinal health issues – I lost about 20 pounds, but not in a good way. After many months of doctor’s visits and tests I was diagnosed with a form of colitis. In looking on the Internet for guidance how to heal myself, I found www.marksdailyapple.com, Mark Sisson’s website describing the Primal lifestyle. I devoured the information on his site and read his book, The Primal Blueprint. As a scientist, the technical explanations of how our bodies weren’t adapted to newer (on the evolutionary scale) foods like hybridized dwarf wheat made a lot of sense to me. I started gradually improving my diet, and I do mean gradually, over the next couple of years but with multiple stops and starts depending what was happening in life.
In late 2014, I took the next step and consulted a naturopath for additional help. Testing showed that I had an intolerance for wheat and oats-knowing that what you’re eating is actually harming your health is a big wake-up call. I started reading books on the dangers of wheat to our health – Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD, and Grain Brain, by David Perlmutter, MD. Armed with this additional information, it became clear that my beloved bread could no longer fit in my diet. I got serious about the Primal lifestyle – no wheat, no processed foods, minimal sugar, etc. In my household we now eat meats, eggs, fish, and plenty of vegetables! It took some time, but eventually my body became fat adapted and the weight began dropping off. No feelings of deprivation, just a sense that what I was eating is good for my body.
The results? I’ve lost 35 pounds and feel amazing. My colitis is under control-eating whole foods that nourish my body has made a huge difference. I’m more active, exercising in a manner that is energizing rather than depleting. After so many years of trying diets, this is a lifestyle that I can maintain forever.
This rather long story is why I became a certified health coach-to save others the years of trial and error that I have experienced! Everyone’s health needs and what works for them are different-I’m a big believer in experimenting and only keeping what works in one’s health routine.
To your good health!
Heather
About me: Heather owns a business that manufactures and sells cleaning products. In her spare time, she operates The Primal Health Coach, a health and wellness coaching business. She can be found online at www.theprimalhealthcoach.com, on Facebook at @theprimalhealthcoach, and on Twitter at @PrimalcoachHthr.
