Hello, everyone! Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been very busy and dealing with personal and family life. Some things are just not meant to be shared on the internet and I have no problem taking a hiatus offline from time to time. My goal for this blog is to connect with real people in a more sincere, personal way, and in order to do that I need to be at my best, mentally.

As some of you know, I have taken a break from Facebook and recently ended a couple friendships with some long-time “friends.” Not only that, but my daughter required some critical medical attention and is still undergoing these appointments and surgeries out of province. I rather not get into this, but in case anyone is wondering how I am doing, there is a complicated answer to that question.

Now that I am back with my husband in our small town aka “city” dwelling, life is slowly returning to normal again. My regimen has become more strict though, due to the frustrations I had living off of a SAD diet (Standard American Diet) with the in-laws during the last few months. Luckily, the 3-month pregnant appearance that took over my body was the only bloating, which I managed to lose through a strict eating plan. I unintentionally stumbled upon the paleo lifestyle while I was looking for a solution to my toothache and “cure” to weak tooth enamel. My years of abuse to my teeth due to a strong sugar addiction and conventional toothpaste that was doing more harm than good, is slapping me in the face now (quite hard, as a matter of fact). Honestly, I am terrified of the dentist and had a very bad experience last time I was there getting a cavity filled. In the meantime, I am researching approaches to this problem, which were pointing to a paleo lifestyle.

I know that I won’t be able to maintain this lifestyle long-term but I am hoping that some life changes stick with me this time around. There are some benefits to the paleo diet which I agree with 100%, except for the low carbohydrate reasoning here:

1. It is highly focused on eating a lot of vegetables, which is vital to good health.
2. It eliminates dairy products and instead, is heavily based on animal fats and ketosis metabolism (aka low carb diet). The only reason I am consuming animal fats now is that I was very deficient in certain vitamins and minerals. I also supplement now with vitamin A, D and K, calcium, and magnesium. 
3. It avoids processed foods. I am a huge advocate for this one. I used to be a slave to processed food and MCD’s Jr. Chickens, but ever since I eliminated processed food, the candy had to go and so did all of those Dollarama sketchy chocolate bar and cookie purchases. 

There are also some reasons where I don’t agree with paleo, so this isn’t exactly the breakthrough solution I was hoping for. It’s certainly not sustainable long-term, living on a high-fat, low-carb diet. We do not need high amounts of animal fat to live and I don’t have access to “grass-fed meat” and “butter oil.” Our bodies need carbohydrates too, so really, the trick is whole foods here. DUH. By eliminating white sugar and white flour, packaged crackers, and cookies, candy, ice-cream, cereal, microwave-meals etc., my options became limited. I am currently researching the Mediterranean lifestyle and planning on incorporating these home-cooked meals as well. The vegan lifestyle isn’t for me due to the high sugar consumption and the fact that I already have weak teeth that need extra love right now. I don’t think an 80-10-10 diet is going to help with my problem, sadly. I want to believe in 80-10-10 but first, I need to work on getting my vitamins and minerals up to normal levels. It’s pretty evident that the majority of people living in the western world aren’t healthy, and are likely eating a SAD diet full of processed garbage food. I am not participating in that lifestyle anymore nor am I a human dumpster. Goodbye, sugar cravings! Hopefully, for good this time! 

“Happiness is not out there, it’s in you.” -unknown