Why Primal?

Lately, I've had some peers come up to me to ask me about my weight loss.  "What are you doing?" and "How did you do it?" are the common questions that I've gotten, and it makes me giggle to think that I unlocked some kind of magic formula to a healthier lifestyle.  In some ways, my eating habits and exercise routine have been pretty magical and intuitive, but I'd never describe the road as inherently easy.

I digress.  Anyway, I normally give a brief overview of what I've taken away from a Primal diet.  This is perhaps the easiest way for me to comprehend Primal eating, courtesy of Mark's Daily Apple:

I, however, am not that disciplined of a person, so I have adapted these principles as best I can.  I do my best to eat protein, healthy fats, lots of vegetables, fruit, but I do eat dairy (usually in the form of Greek yogurt and cheese with some half and half and sometimes milk).  I'm hardly the perfect example of Primal eating -- I do eat the occasional rice, soy and sweet potatoes and I have gluten in moments of weakness.  I'm a sucker for a decadent brownie or a good piece of cake, although for reasons I'll discuss later, my body is happier to avoid it.  And perhaps my biggest downfall of all is sugar (often in the form of honey).  But, my Primal lifestyle is a work in progress, and I'm figuring out what my body can and cannot handle.

After I explain the basics of a Primal diet to the inquiring party, I'm inevitably asked, "how could you give up gluten??  Why did you go Primal?"

That's a great question.  And it's a question that I don't have a single answer to, but I'll do my best.

First, I'm pretty sure I have an obsessive personality.  For awhile, I tried writing down everything I ate, whether that was in a food diary or online.  For me, it was disastrous.   Every single forkful I put in my mouth, I scrutinized and repeatedly beat myself up if I felt I was eating too much.  In the end, I rarely ended up losing weight, and I'm sure I wasn't getting enough nutrients/calories, etc.,. I needed.

After I got married and had gained back weight, I was putting in lots of hours at the gym, and trying to eat healthy (which included grains), and I wasn't losing any weight.  I was now in a vicious cycle, and I knew I needed a change.  I was at a breaking point of frustration.

When I started reading more about a Primal/Paleo lifestyle, it seemed liberating.  No counting calories/grams of fat/weighing food!  As long as I followed the main principles of Primal, I wouldn't need to have such a destructive system of recording my diet, and I stopped sabotaging myself, both mentally and physically.

For me, eating Primal is about eating clean.  It makes sense that I shouldn't put processed food and other junk in my body.   Eating fruits and veggies and meat makes sense to me.  Eating foods that are chock-full of hormones just doesn't seem right in my eyes.  If "you are what I eat," I'd rather be broccoli and chicken than McDonald's and high fructose corn syrup.  And historically, it does make sense to me that our bodies weren't meant to process grains.  Evolution is a long, long process.  And if we were, why are gluten-free diets and menu options becoming a mainstream part of our culture?  Maybe gluten-free is the current fad, but between celiac disease and other gluten allergies, there has to be some validity to leading a wheat free life.  (I know, I know, the same argument can be made for lactose intolerance.  But we can discuss that later).

I'm sure many people feel healthy with gluten in their diet, and in some ways, I am a little envious.  But at the same time, when I avoid gluten, my environmental allergies subside, and I don't have any GI or stomach problems that I typically have when I do eat grains.  I feel healthier.  And that's important to me.

And I think what finally made sense to me is that eating Primal is a lifestyle choice.  When I tried the Special K/Lean Cuisine/Fat Flush Plan diets, I found that it was all about dropping weight, and then reintroducing foods and calories.  But the moment I brought "normal" foods back into my diet, I gained weight.  For me, it isn't realistic to "diet."  Primal really allowed me to make a change holistically, for the better, and I do view it as my lifestyle.

I'd love to hear from you! Have you tried going "Primal" or another kind of diet/lifestyle change?  What foods make you feel healthy? What foods do you avoid (or try to?)