I saw a quote from Whole9Life say the other day that was so powerful it should be a common tattoo.
It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Giving up heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”. YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.
The lesson to be learned here is personal accountability. No one else can force you to do anything you do or do not want to do. If you know what Paleo is, you’re more educated than most on what true health and nutrition is. If you choose to ignore it and eat other items, don’t complain about a lack of support, information, access to the right food – own it. No one will begrudge you saying, “I know Paleo is best, but I would rather have non-Paleo food items and suffer the consequences.” After all, it’s your body – we here in the US (on most days) do after all, have the right to choose what to do with our own bodies.
So, let me be clear here – if you are overweight, unhealthy, suffering from personal ailments that are caused by being overweight and unhealthy – it’s you who can fix it. It’s you who can save yourself. You just have to find the will to want to change your life and then do it. Make a promise to yourself and find the self-respect to stick with it.
I know most of you are saying in your head right now 1) Yea! or 2) but, my thyroid and metabolism don’t function properly; I have PCOS; they bring bagels to work on Friday! Guess what? YOU can help those things. No, not everything can be cured, but even cancer can be seriously improved by Paleo – so tell yourself you deserve health and just do it.
And, if you do stick with it… here’s some sample data from my recent physical.
To explain, I’ve had an unknown white blood cell count issue since I was a child. For as long as I’ve been an adult and had blood tests drawn, doctors always ask me “do you have an infection right now?” upon seeing the results. I would always roll my eyes and say, “No! I’ve always had high white blood cell count. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” And so, they didn’t. Was I a medical professional to know that such a symptom could’ve detected severe inflammation, gluten intolerance/Celiac disease, or insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia? No, all I knew was I was too young to have cancer and as a morbidly obese woman I hated doctors because I was always being poked at, with the assumption that I was broken and needed a pill.
So, I went on going on. Until last year when I was told my white blood cell count was so high that I needed to see a specialist because it had the same profile of someone with a severe infectious disease (gang green, cancer, HIV). I freaked out, did some research online and like most of us do, when I got the negative assessment I just hoped it’d magically go away (although my doctor had records for years and years of a steady increase).
I honestly completely forgot about the issue when I had my physical a few weeks ago. So consumed by how my cholesterol results may come back, it was all I talked to the doc about. But then he called me with the results, “everything’s normal, I’ll send you the paperwork in the mail.” What do you mean everything’s normal? Can you give me the values of what it was in 2010 and what it is now? What did you test? What’s included in everything?! And here’s where we get the INCREDIBLE NEWS.
| 2009 | 2011 | |
| Sodium | 146 | 139 |
| Glucose | 91 | 86 |
| Cholesterol | ||
| HDL | 39 | 37 |
| LDL | 105 | 86 |
| TOTAL | 163 | 134 |
| Thyroid | 1.000 | 2.000 |
| White Blood Cell Count | 19.1 | 10.4 |
Poof, my white blood cell count MAGICALLY* is now within the normal range. And uh, my cholesterol? Not a concern. It’s Ah-maze-ing (we don’t eat butter but do eat a lot of coconut and animal fat). And my sodium, glucose and thyroid appreciate the diet too. Also my doctor updated my chart to reflect the following:
- No longer on depression medication.
- No longer on seasonal allergy medication.
- No longer on birth control (was managing hormones).
- Oh, and No longer morbidly obese because I LOST 126lbs in 13 months!
Please understand Paleo can change your life. Things you don’t even realize could be affected may heal with proper nutrition and lifestyle changes. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it’s powerful stuff and I feel like I need to stand on my soapbox and scream for a few minutes to share my passion.
*note, all magical references in this post reference the healing powers of a Paleo lifestyle – implement accordingly
