A College Student’s Success Following The Paleo Diet

Dr. Cordain,

I spoke with you earlier this week about submitting a few of my blog posts to see if I could help your website. I have a few listed below. I may warn though that these posts are personal and speaking of my journey. I also provide many photos of Paleo meals. I focus on eating a Paleo diet while in college, which can be time demanding and on a budget. I can always be more scientific but please let me know what you think. I really appreciate this opportunity and thank you so much!

Here is the link to my food section http://moglie500.tumblr.com/tagged/etfood

Sincerely,

Emily

Blog Post 1:

I want to talk more about my journey. I almost feel like I’ve never fully explained it and it’s an important part to understand who I am. In the last three year I’ve changed more than I could have ever imagined. I would’ve never guessed that fitness and health would be the the driving force behind it.
Starting three years ago I was an entering freshman: uneasy, lacking self confidence and scared of the future. Back then I ate to soothe the stresses of my life, so as college became harder, my eating habits became more estranged. In that period of time I felt out of control, binging late into the night and loathing every part of myself.
So in a vain attempt to save my thinness I started to diet. I lacked a basic understanding of nutrition and started calorie counting. Only consuming the things that were low cal, never worrying about exactly what it was. The perfectionist inside overpowered my life, causing me to count every calorie including vitamins and gum. This lifestyle consumed every part of me and limited the amount of joy I had. It developed into obsessing over my figure and grew to the beginning stages of an eating disorder. If I felt that I “blew it” on my calories, I would binge in sorrow. The diet that was supposed to shed me of my excess “freshman fifteen” weight caused it to double, leaving me unsatisfied and hating my own body.
Then I tried various exercise routines; running hours at a time (which I hated every moment), bootcamp, spinning, and kickboxing classes. I never found anything that would keep my interest and motivation. Then I ran into CrossFit.
I know this is seemingly a ubiquitous saying but it has dramatically changed my life. In Crossfit I slowly learned that it doesn’t matter the shape of our bodies but what they can achieve. Skinniness doesn’t equate to being better than others and comparing yourself will only damage your own progress. So I slowly developed the mentality to push myself, harder than ever and in a determined fashion.
In Crossfit I was introduced to a Paleolithic diet. Convinced it was just a fad I avoided it for the first few months. But when the Paleo challenge rolled around my box, I decided to fully try. In those 7 weeks I became a believer. Not only did I feel better than ever but my training improved three folds. My small ailments that continually ragged on me started to disappear. As a scientific student I was curious, so I dove into the research and was astounded with the benefits of removing grains, dairy, sugar, and processed food. I don’t think I’ll ever to be able to look at food the same.
You see in this short time I learned about myself and what I can accomplish. In no ways am I an elite athlete or leaned out to perfection- but NONE of that matters anyway. I am here to improve my abilities in life; whether it be pushing past my self doubts or solving issues with food.