Paleo/30 day anti-inflammatory diet

So...I'm writing here so I don't annoy everyone on Facebook  (and don't sound like a groupie for the so-called "Paleo" diet, which feels like it's gained a sort of self-righteous "look at me, I'm awesome" glow around it).    And because it feels like a big deal to be making big changes.   Also, warning:  I talk about lady things (like menstruation) in this post, and if that freaks you out...sorry?

This is the end of my first week eating no: sugar, grain, dairy, legumes, canola/soy oils.  


Why did I do this? 

Um, because my friends were...?   No, but seriously, folks...my friends did it which   strangely coincided  with my eyebrow-waxing professional telling me that I might have ovarian cysts.   Yes, that's how screwed up our health care system is in regards to women's reproductive health:   I had to get help from a hair-stylist to help put together the fact that post-30 acne plus frequent visits for eyebrow and chin-waxing = hormone issues.    And apparently, once I got confirmation that my hormones were out of whack, it turned out the "treatment" options all involve replacing your body's own hormones with chemical ones, which makes the symptoms disappear but does not deal with the underlying problems.

That made me mad, and made me want to look for alternatives.   And the more I looked, the more I found that the "alternatives" involved changing food and diet.   Specifically, cutting out dairy is supposed to have a huge impact on female hormone imbalances.    I remember my vegan friend in college saying that her menstrual cramps pretty much disappeared when she turned vegan.   (And, apparently, women in East Asia have a pretty low incidence of menstrual cramps - and their diet includes very little dairy).   And then my (female) friends did this 30-day cleanse: no grains/dairy/legumes/soy/canola/sugar for over a month.    And they reported results so fast and un-subtle it kind of pushed me into a decision: after only about 6 weeks of dietary change, they reported acne clearing up, fewer cramps, (and the kicker!) effortless weight loss. 

Don't get me wrong:  I love dairy (and sugar, and bread!)   I usually eat yogurt daily, have milk in my coffee, and eat plenty of cheese (and ice cream).   But for years I've also had terrible emotional PMS, fairly bad acne, weeks of breast tenderness and this past year, killer cramps - all signs of unbalanced reproductive hormones.   (and of course, annoying weight gain!)

Raised in traditional Western medicine, I always thought - what the hell could food have to do with any of this?   We make a pretty clear demarcation line between "food" and diet issues - ie, being overweight, which requires a diet (ie eating less food), and "medical" issues - that require pills, tests and shots.   I pretty much scoffed at friends in college who cut out sugar to stop ear infections, or things like that.   It seemed kind of like magical thinking.

 So it's still kind of blowing my mind how direct the connection is between food and health.   It's not magical, or "woo" or vague at all - it's a clear and direct (and to my skeptical mind, scientific): it seems like what we put into our bodies directly affects our health.   Our insulin, stress, sleepy, wakey, hungry, full and reproductive hormones respond to each other, and they in turn respond to the amount of sugar and other hormones there are in our bodies.   If your sugar/digestion is out of whack, then everything else will be, too - including your immune system.  The science was outlined in the book promoting this cleanse (which is called "The Whole 30"), but also corresponds with what I learned working as a research assistant in the childhood obesity research wing of Children's Hospital: when people are overweight, there is often a cascade of symptoms that accompany it that goes beyond just fat and cholesterol and involve hormonal imbalances throughout the endocrine system and systemic inflamation.   (P.S. - Doctors still are scratching their heads about what causes all of this...really!  So in making big dietary changes we could be on the forefront of science!  For more science check  out this fairly well-cited article:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_syndrome#Definitions_and_diagnosis)

So, I read the book It Starts With Food and started this cleanse.  The idea is cut out everything that is commonly a systemic irritant, kind of re-boot your system, hormonally, and then add stuff back in to see if some things are tolerated better than others.    It promises such amazing, magical things I can't believe that, if it all works, we've ever been doing anything else.    By regulating your hormones it is supposed to help you with everything, from waking up with energy to not being hungry between meals to minor aches and pains to depression to reproductive issues, and of course, my nemesis, acne.     At first, I was very scared to start:  how could I do it?   What would I eat?   Wouldn't I miss everything?  

Although there have been challenges (and its only the first week!), none of the things that scared me seem scary any longer.   I decided to do it because I was ready to start taking care of myself and what I put in my body.    I hate feeling hungry all the time, and having all these little, uncomfortable health issues all the time that add up to feeling grumpy and sluggish - and then affect my relationships, my mood and outlook.

After one week (and one acupuncture visit focused on reproductive health) I'm:

• No longer hungry between meals
• Seeing really clear skin (although this might also be a topical medication I was taking finally kicking in)
• Much less back pain when I wake up in the morning
• generally feeling kind of limber
• waking up without an alarm, without feeling sluggish or foggy
• much more even period, with less painful cramps.

So, that's really good.   I'm cooking all the time, so that feels like an adjustment (ie slight pain in the ass), but as long as I'm eating home-made food (and avoiding off-cleanse snacks at home), it doesn't actually feel like a huge, drastic change.  (I did hit up a friend's halloween party last night and have some booze, so  that's making today a little less fun.   We'll see what that does to my progress.)   And even if it is hard to not eat delicious cupcakes or pizza, to no longer be constantly worried about hitting a sugar-low during the day and feeling completely awful is  totally worth it.   So far.   (I may be mourning pasta if it turns out that's a problem food!)