I have been off paleo for the last two or three weeks as a result of an explicit decision to give up in order to simplify my life. It did not come as a great surprise that instead of simplifying it, I found myself in a worse slump than I had been in before and at this stage, I am gathering personal strength to get back to what I now believe even stronger, is a better way of eating, functioning and living.
By way of preparing for it, I want to explain what happened as much for myself as for those who may be reading this.
So, what's so hard about Paleo? For me, it had nothing to do with deprivation. Really, that's one thing I never experienced. It was pretty easy to give up sugar, grains & potatoes. In this sense, Paleo is the best diet in the world: your body adjusts and begins to guide you toward the better choices as long as you are focused on the right way to live and eat.
However, the right way to eat involves, as any Paleo enthusiast will tell you, creating meals out of ingredients as close as possible to their natural form. This means, no bagels, no TV dinners, no canned soups - none of the grocery store conveniences that make meal preparation a ten-minute breeze. Instead, you have to plan ahead, show in quantity, design meals and never find yourself with an empty refrigerator at meal time. True, with practice, it is possible to develop a rhythm such that actual preparation time is not onerous. Still, no one will argue that cooking paleo is a small commitment.
I am a stay-at-home mom and the hardest part of the job turned out not to be sleepless nights, potty training or tantrums. It's keeping the house, putting meals on the table and cleaning up after! Each time the complexity of my life increased, I my eating suffered. Worse yet, in the absence of good food, I did not have the energy to get organized, shop, cook and get back on top of things...
Going off paleo was thrilling the first few days as bagels & cream cheese were suddenly an available option when I was hungry. A week into it, though, my general well-being began a downward spiral. I was tired, short of breath, bad-tempered and a general sense of exhaustion of life overcame me. Now, at the end of week two, as I am looking at what I have done, the choice seems clear: get off my ass and make a god-damn meal! Today, tomorrow, for the rest of the week...
Still, I am aware of the enormity of the task. Three meals a day every day. Sure, some will be left-overs, but the discipline required is above anything I have taken on before.
That said, I am coming out of hiding and would like to tell the story of my attempt to organize my life and doing better (or worse), and telling primarily this story over the coming year.
