First Week of Paleo

Mo Goes Paleo currently sounds like the stupidest thing I have ever done.

I've completed my first week & it was a rough one. I decided to do this 30-day challenge because I wasn't feeling my best; I thought I needed a little extra something to support my already weak immune system, jumpstart my metabolism, & get me back into my healthy eating routines after a few weeks of travel. 

Here's what I went through, socially, physically & emotionally...

Socially:

I kept all of my social events - I had lunch with friends, I went to an amazing Bull's playoff game (D Rose scored a game winning buzzer beater) with my parents, I watched the Blackhawks playoff games, I went on dates, I celebrated Mother's Day with a lovely brunch out, I went out with friends - basically I kept my life as normal as possible.

Lunch with friends, meant going to Freshii (my favorite healthy fast-food restaurant) & ordering a salad with olive oil dressing & a green juice - each ingredient was Paleo!

Watching sporting events without beer was a challenge, but I did it. I thought the Bull's game would suck with all of the concession food temptations, but the United Center has great healthy food options (section 117), so I was able to get sweet potato fries & a few bottles of water. The date was more of a challenge - I'm far more cute when I have a few drinks in me, but I was still charming. He respected my Paleo challenge & it was a good conversational topic. I ordered water & a salad. The thing about ordering salads at a bar is you have to remove a lot of items to make it Paleo - no croutons, no cheese, no dressing, & a little olive oil on the side, please!

The whole point of Mother's Day is to not be an asspain to your mom, right? So I decided that I would not be a Paleo asspain for my mom - when she told me she wanted to go to Chipotle for lunch I wasn't going to object. My step-dad insisted we celebrate Mother's Day at a little bit nicer place than Chipotle, so we went to The Dawson (great restaurant!). We got a flight of bacon as an appetizer & I had a Waldorf Salad, with a vinaigrette dressing - it was delicious!

Now, here's where I failed on Mother's Day. After brunch, we went to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron (yes, my mom wanted to go to Chipotle & see the Avengers on Mother's Day - she's that cool). I did end up eating some popcorn at the movie theater. Not a lot, but I was instantly sick to my stomach.

Physically:

I had migraines or headaches all week long. I get chronic ocular migraines regularly, so I'm not sure if it was a normal migraine, or sugar detox, or Paleo was killing me, or it was allergies; but, it was painful, & I never had migraines/headaches last that long. When it was just a headache, I didn't take any painkillers; but, the migraines were too unbearable, so I did pop some Advil - that's totally Paleo, right?

I was weak all week long. My gym performance felt off, somehow I passed my Krav Maga test, but during my workouts I felt like I had to lower my weights/reps; cardio caused me to gasp for air instantly; adding resistance to my cardio intervals seemed impossible. 

There were a few times a day, everyday where my resting heart rate seemed to double. I never  measured my heart rate, so I'm not sure what it actually was - but it felt terrible. Perhaps this is a mixture of being weak & my fast heart rate, but I was faint & lightheaded about once a day.

I'm a huge fan of drinking water - I drink a gallon of water every day. This week, I had at least 2 gallons of water each day. That's a lot of water, I thought I might drown. 

I got canker sores galore! Usually I get a canker sore once every few months - I currently have seven in my mouth. Seven!
Finally, I never got a good night's sleep & I'm a girl who needs her sleep. Mornings are hard for me, mornings without much sleep seemed impossible to deal with. I even took medicine to help me sleep at night & still…bad nights. 

Emotionally: 

With almost every person you come into contact with questioning why you are doing something that is important to you, doubting you can do it for a month, thinking your crazy for doing it, telling you the health detriments of doing Paleo, of not understanding what it is like to take any measure to feel (& be) healthy - it gets to your head. Instead of self-doubt, I got extremely frustrated & agitated with people. I also felt like my connections with people were off. 

Constantly having a headache turned me into a huge bitch. I wasn't pleasant to be around. I mainly just wanted to be a in a dark, quiet room.

I never thought about food more than I did this week - I was thinking about my next 3 meals, or what food I needed to buy at the grocery store, or how much I was craving a non-Paleo food, or what I would make next, or I would be reading a Paleo cookbook. I became obsessed with food, in what I believe to be an unhealthy way. I was constantly hungry & never satisfied. I ate enough food each day, I ate enough protein, I ate well balanced meals, Lord knows I drank enough water, but I was always hungry. The whole time. It seemed like my tastebuds and belly were never satisfied with whatever I ate. 

This week totally tested myself, in ways I wasn't expecting. I normally don't eat processed foods, so all Paleo was doing was cutting out grains & dairy. I didn't think it would be that hard, but it was. It was also very expensive, I'm not sure my bank account can support these eating habits. 

I failed once by eating popcorn. I supposed you could count the Advil & unknown secret additives of restaurant food as failing, too. But it was one time, I haven't fallen off the wagon completely.

I don't feel better, in fact I feel worse. I'm not ready to blame feeling terrible on Paleo - it could be anything, maybe Mercury was in retrograde, maybe my immune system is getting worse, maybe it was normal migraines, maybe I have allergies, maybe I have the Plague, who knows; I'll give it another week & reassess how I'm feeling.

Check out my Paleo Meal Plan, One Pan Paleo Recipes, & Smoothie Recipes