But the question now is, HOW DID I GET HERE??? There are many people who put me in this position. First off, my very good, long time friend, Anne Peterson. She said, "YOU MUST BLOG!!!!" I nearly fainted. Secondly, the love of my life, Mike Rockert. He said, "DO IT!!!!" Thirdly, my sister, Carol Zacharias, and good friend, Kirstin Reeder, who are the real reasons I'm here. If it wasn't for them I would have just chucked it all out the window and remained sick and unhealthy. I'm eternally grateful to them for pushing me when I thought it was impossible.
In December 2013, I had knee surgery to repair and replace cartilage in my knee. They performed what is called a micro-fracture by drilling holes into the tibia and releasing a blood patch. When that blood patch heals it becomes scar tissue which feigns cartilage. It will never be the cartilage I was born with, but it put a total knee replacement further into my future. My other knee will have to be done at some point. Post surgery I was non-weight-bearing for almost 6 weeks. This meant a lot of sitting around, being bored out of my mind and EATING. I ate everything. Christmas cookies, leftover Halloween candy, chips, popcorn, junk, junk, junk. And I gained 15 lbs. doing so. As I was getting ready to go back to work, I realized I was not going to even fit into my work clothes!! What had I done?!?!
Ok, truth time. I'd been putting on pounds for over a year. Eating out way too much. Eating a lot of late night snacks. Self-medicating with pop, coffee (sugared and creamed) and chocolate. It was a really bad cycle. My family was suffering too. We spent more time eating out than in, and the house was full of junk. Some changes needed to be made. Even before surgery, I had talked to a couple of friends and said, "after the new year, after surgery, we're going to make some changes".
Some goals I had for our family:
- Get out of the drive-thru.
- Get rid of the processed junk.
- Get rid of the sugar.
- Get on a healthier path.
- Lose excess weight.
I met with a friend to talk to her about her program, how she was losing weight and getting healthy. She introduced me to Advocare. I asked Mike if he would be willing to do Advocare's 24 Day Challenge with me. It would get us on track, lose some weight, etc. He said he was willing to even though it meant some hard choices for him, he'd have to give up pop for 24 days. No junk food, no drive-thru lunches, etc. These were mainstays in his life. But he agreed and we were off and running!
At the end of the 24 days we had seen moderate success. Mike, much more than myself. Guys lose weight easily. Let's face it. They think about losing weight and lose 5 lbs! Men. Sheesh. Neither of us were super happy with our results and we'd expected more. My biggest complaint: I felt like CRAP!!!! I was tired all the time. I was bitchy and treating my family horribly. My 15yo said, "Mom, you're crabby...eat something!!!" I wasn't hungry, I just felt horrible and let it be reflected onto everyone else. When I notice that I'm being a bitch, I must be really being a bitch! Typically, I can brush that off as whomever deserved whatever tirade they got, well not this time. I was bad, and I felt worse. I thought I was supposed to feel better? I thought I was supposed to have energy? I felt like I'd traveled back in time to some of my worst days. This was NOT what I wanted for me or my family. I needed to change gears and quickly. I couldn't live like this.
I immediately started venting to Kirstin. She said, "Dawn, you are a walking autoimmune disease, you need to eat a Paleo diet, PRONTO". Ok, maybe not those exact words, but pretty darn close. Now, you have no idea what those words meant to me. I was flipping out!! No bread??? I love bread...give me bread!! No pasta??? I gotta have my pasta!!! No corn??? What, are you nuts?? It's the only "vegetable" I eat!! Cereal is a staple in our house. You've fallen right out of your tree, sorry, no can do.
Then I sent my sister a text...You'd have thought I succeeded at finding world peace. The excitement she had over me even PONDERING the idea of Paleo. Oh man, HOW DID I GET HERE???
Slow, deep breaths. You need to think. You need some thinking food. Yes. Go get some ice cream and think about this. That is exactly what I did. I went to Oberweiss and ordered a scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream and sat and ate it. This was my treat for making it 24 days, no drive-thru, no pop, no candy, no junk. Hmmm....ok now I could think....come on, Dawn, think, you've been eating very differently for the past 24 days. How many times had I had grains during those 24 days? Four, maybe 5, meals? So 24 days, 3 meals a day plus about 2 snacks...that's like 120 "meals". And only HOW many times did I eat grains?? Oh shoot, I can do this!! I'm almost there!! Sold!!!! I immediately drove to see Mike and tell him we were on a new path. We were going to begin a Paleolithic Lifestyle.
I'm positive he was clueless as to what that meant. He was convinced his 24 days was done, he could drink pop and hit McDonald's and all would be well! Sorry honey...for better or worse, sickness and health...oh wait, we haven't said those words. Oh well he loves me anyway. Even though I don't let him eat bread anymore.
The very next day I began our whole kitchen make-over (which I will describe in more detail later), and our new lifestyle was underway!
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