Success isn't just making oodles of money, or being incredibly happy, or having everything you want. Part of success is also molding yourself into the perfect 'you' - the you that the Fate Computer* designed you to be. With that in my, my significant other and I decided to go on the Paleo Diet.
In short, this is the 'Caveman Diet'. Paleo - or Paleolithic - is specifically about eating the foods we have evolved to eat. Around 10,000 years ago, agriculture did not exist. Without agriculture, neither did a number of our modern food staples - such as breads, sugars, grains, legumes and so forth. Our species survived on a diet primarily of fatty meats, fruits and vegetables. There was no going down to Cave-Mart and picking up a juicy steak along with some Cave-Texas Toast and a Cave-Coke to wash it down. No.... if you wanted to eat, you had to kill. In a way, we are cursed with our intelligence, in that we are capable of looking beyond our food and thinking further about what it is and where it came from. True, all animals are capable of varying levels of advanced through, feelings and caring - but they lack the parts of intelligence that would otherwise cause them to think twice about killing their food.
(Added After Initial Post) As scientists have proven and the majority of us have accepted as fact, we exist today thanks to evolution and survival of the fittest. While agriculture has brought us numerous nutrients, helped feed people around the world and overall has been an incredible boon for our species, and the species we help, in this world - we have not had the true opportunity to evolve our bodies to a point that we can properly process the resulting foods. At least not completely - we can to a point. However our bodies process them in a way that shows we are in a crossroads of being able to properly sustain ourselves on them, and needing the foods we originally evolved to eat.
So here we are, 10,000 years later, fat sick and dying because of the foods we rely on, because we sit around and do nothing all day, and in general... failing. Failing is not success. Hell, they don't even rhyme. Me? Yea, I'm fat, sick, always tired and generally not really happy with myself. So it was time for a change.
I've tried lots of diets in the past. They never worked. They never worked because they were diets. They are meant to give you a sudden change in your eating habits that will cause you a temporary loss of weight. Problem is, most of them require you to find sustenance in the very foods we are not designed to eat - grains, legumes, breads, etc. etc. etc.
So, after lots of research, we pulled out the caveman-clubs and went primal with the Paleo Diet. Each meal consists of a large portion of meat, an even larger portion of vegetables, and a decent amount of natural animal fats. Everything is as organic as possible, and the word 'Growth Hormone' shall not dare ever grace our lips. (Although, we avoid growth hormones like the plague and always have, so there's nothing new to us in finding high-quality meats).
I have been off and on following the diet more or less for the past two and a half weeks, give or take. At first it was a slow transition, as we ate through the non-paleo food present in the house. We were not about to waste the money on the food we spent. As we ate through that however, we started switching over to a much more primal diet, and the most amazing thing happened.... WE STARTED LOSING WEIGHT! And on top of that, the energy levels improved by multiples.
So now, I have been very and primarily paleo for the past week. My energy levels are at new highs - I'm usually too filled with energy to get to sleep in the evenings, and I often wake up with 6 - 7 hours of sleep. And when I'm awake, I am AWAKE.
However, Thursday and Friday was rather interesting. Thursday we went out for a rather non-primal dinner. That night I felt really sick. The next night we went to a friend's house, who had no idea of our diet, and had cooked us dinner, and I would rather forgo my eating lifestyle for a night rather than make a friend feel bad, so I ate very non-primal. After that meal I felt tired, sluggish, and went to bed quite early compared to normal.
I am still, in a way, through the trial and error phase, and am learning how I always learn best - trial by fire, and learning by doing. All week I have felt fantastic and lost weight. Then the past 2 days I have felt sick, tired, and actually regained some of the weight I lost. This morning, however, I woke with lots of energy and have been buzzing around the apartment since I rose - cleaning the kitchen, living room, doing laundry, doing dishes and making breakfast - a very paleo eggs and zucchini. The past 2 days have taught me that yes, there is wiggle-room in a paleo lifestyle - and honestly, since we are not cavemen, trying to eat 100% like a caveman is not even fully practical. But eating 95% like a caveman? That is not only doable - it's extraordinarily healthy.
Success in life, success in mind, and now acquiring success in diet. Once this paleo lifestyle is a bit firmer in place, I think fitness will be next.
* If you get this reference - good for you! You get a cookie... no, wait... BACON!
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