Some Hard Evidence for Skeptics

I wanted to write a quick post today as a response to some of the questions I’ve gotten lately as to how I know this diet is “working” for me. As I mentioned in my original post, I don’t participate in fad dieting and have never made a lifestyle change as drastic as this one before. The decision to change my diet came after a lot of research, contemplation, and quite frankly, a little desperation. If I hadn’t seen results so quickly, I probably would have gotten off this horse a while ago. But, I think if you’re really dedicated to doing this thing, a good 30 days of strict eating will change your life forever.

So, how do I know this is working for me? Besides feeling lots better both physically and mentally, I’ve also witnessed physical changes in my body signaling that I’m on the right track. Of the most notable change is the regulation of a monthly cycle, which used to be almost non-existent. The most amazing part of this whole process has been how quickly these changes happened. Like many people, for me it was all about getting my insulin under control and that was as simple (or difficult, depending on how you look at it!) as cutting out processed foods, grains, soy, legumes, and sugar. Once my insulin became regulated, I began to have monthly cycles and noticed the disappearance of symptoms like sugar cravings, headaches, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and ovarian pain.

Aside from the alleviation of these symptoms, I recently received the news from my doctor that my hormone levels are completely normal, for the first time in my life. I can’t explain how I felt when I received this news. Knowing that I have successfully figured out the solution to my problem – a problem that so many doctors had not been able to fix – is gratifying, to say the least.

Not only have I had great experience from going paleo, Dave has had some amazing changes as well. His report of high cholesterol last year was definitely cause for concern, and we immediately started following all the conventional wisdom in an attempt to lower it. Being the concerned wife that I am, I rushed to the library and got several books on how to lower cholesterol. We cooked with vegetables oils, ate egg whites only, cut out what little saturated fat was in our diet, replaced animal protein with tofu, and ate lots of whole grains. Since we were on this track anyway, these weren’t major changes for us. Of course, I soon discovered this was not the best way to healthy living and we made a complete 180 degree turn to a paleo lifestyle. Four months into eating a higher fat, lower carb diet, Dave had his cholesterol checked. His results showed that his bad cholesterol had gone down and his good cholesterol had gone up!

While I waffle back and forth as to how much stock I want to put into routine medical tests, I must say I’m quite ecstatic about these results. This proves a lot more than me simply saying I “feel better” or a paleo diet is “delicious and easy.” These results are so real and meaningful to us and provide tangible evidence as to how this diet actually is healthy.