My last post was so encouraging. I made it through 5 days on my Paleo/Primal diet lifestyle change. I had a little cheat day yesterday when we took the kids to eat at Applebee’s. We got the Appetizer Sampler, and I indulged in a quesadilla slice, a cheese stick, and chips with spinach and artichoke dip. For my entrée, I ordered steak with onions, mushrooms, and potatoes. This was the first time ever that I’ve ordered a steak at a restaurant. Before going Primal, I’d never been much of a meat eater. Actually, my friends called me a “casual vegetarian” because I never purposely meant to eat vegetarian; it just sort of happened. So you can see my dilemma now that I’m on a high protein diet. I have to increase my meat and poultry intake.

To be perfectly honest, I felt great after eating that steak. I’m not sure I ever had that much meat in one sitting, and had I not been eating Primal, I probably would have ordered something totally different.

Today was a different story all together. I woke up feeling drained, depressed, and I cried at every thought I had of eating Primal. I cringed at the thought of having another omelet for breakfast. We were almost completely out of fruits and vegetables, not to mention meat and bacon, so I didn’t have much of an arsenal to choose from. I forced down another onion and tomato omelet and got ready to go to Whole Foods for some stocking up.

Let’s just say, I left empty-handed. I couldn’t believe how much pricier it was to eat healthy. I almost started crying in the store. I couldn’t justify blowing an entire month’s food budget on enough food to last us a couple of days. No wonder the majority of Americans are flocking to Hamburger Helper. It feeds a family of four on a minimal budget. Now I know there are probably a ton of ways to still eat healthy while maintaining a proper food budget, but I haven’t found it yet. I’ve researched a lot and it’s giving me hope, but it’s still unbelievably frustrating.

So frustrating, that I had a turkey club wrap and 3 cookies for lunch. Yup, a wrap, tortilla and all. Oh and 3 sugar laden, sprinkle soaked, half-dipped-in-chocolate cookies. I stopped short of the soda. I don’t think I fell off the wagon. I think the wagon threw me off after it found out what I had for lunch.

So, it’s back to the grocery store tonight to look for fruits and veggies. I may not be able to afford all the organic stuff, but at least my family and I will have some sort of fruits and veggies in our diet. As for me, it’s back onto the wagon I go. Tomorrow’s a new day.

Sorry I’ve been incognito for the awhile. I’ve been going through a lot of personal things that I needed to get settled before I could get back to blogging. And I figured since I’m in a semi-good place right, I figured I’d give you an update. Fair warning – this is a pretty long post.

First, my health hasn’t been in the best shape. Before we left Hawaii (and before I lost my health insurance), I got my first physical in years. Unfortunately, the news wasn’t great. In a nutshell, I’m walking down the road to diabetes unless I do something to change that, which includes dietary changes and increased exercise. I had been doing ok for awhile, but being part of an Asian family in Hawaii, it’s hard to avoid rice, noodles, and a million other foods that I shouldn’t be eating (can we say the entire menu at Zippy’s? If you’re from Hawaii, you know what I’m talking about). Then we left Hawaii last July and moved to Oklahoma, and I’m not sure if it’s from the transition or the stress of the move, but I gained back any weight I had lost in Hawaii (and then some). To make matters worse, my asthma has been the worse that it’s ever been. I had to be treated in the ER last fall because of it.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I was having leftovers from our Sunday BBQ, and I felt horrible after eating it. I really wanted to just go to sleep. I had no energy, and my stomach was doing somersaults. I couldn’t move all day. I thought I had ate something bad, but the same thing happened the next day except I didn’t eat leftover BBQ so it couldn’t have been the food.

I scoured the Internet and stumbled upon a website that mentioned the Paleo Diet. Not sure how I got to it, but it mentioned the benefits including reduced digestive problems and increased energy and a slew of other health benefits. I decided to jump in wholeheartedly. I mean, I don’t have health insurance so seeing the doctor is out of the question and if the Paleo Diet can get me to a healthier point in my life, then what’s to lose?

Boy, did I underestimate the power of sugar and carbs! Day 1 was ok. I started my Paleo Diet at dinner with a huge salad along with a homemade turkey patty. Ummm, I topped it with a cheese slice. I know, I know, that’s totally not Paleo, but it was calling my name.

Day 2 started to get a little harder because I had no idea what I could eat. Breakfast consisted of 2 hardboiled eggs with a banana, and surprisingly, they gave me a lot of energy…for about an hour. After I ran some errands and took the teenager to the dentist, we ran to Taco Bell for lunch. I had the chicken fiesta taco salad. Although I though I was making a good choice, I was left feeling lethargic. I slept for 3 hours following lunch and didn’t wake up feeling at all refreshed. For dinner, I went back to a strictly Paleo meal (or at least I tried to): grape tomatoes and sliced bell peppers sautéed in olive oil served with a side salad. I ran out of turkey patties which I was craving. I didn’t have any fresh mushrooms or beets so I had to settle on the canned versions to give my salad some kick.

Thankfully, my awesome Facebook page fans steered me towards some great Paleo resources along with info about lacto-Paleo, which is a version of Paleo but allows dairy. Thank goodness! As a side note, my sister and her boyfriend have been going gluten-free, and she’s said that he’s had great digestive results, which made both of us think that he made have had to being with gluten-sensitivity. She said that gluten-free may be a better fit for me if my lacto-Paleo diet starts to feel overly restrictive.

Day 3 started with another hardboiled egg and banana, and of course by mid-morning I was famished. I had a spinach, mushroom, bell pepper omelet for lunch which tided me over for a couple of hours. The headaches were becoming unbearable as was the fatigue. I knew I wasn’t getting enough calories, but I really didn’t know what I could eat and everything I could eat, I didn’t want to eat. Vicious cycle. I had read that I could be detoxing from carbs and sugar. Whatever this is, it isn’t fun. To make matters worse, I had started the Insanity workout 2 days before starting to go Paleo. Now that I was trying to eat cleaner, I just did not have enough energy to even think about Insanity. From what I had read, hardcore exercise shouldn’t be considered until 2 weeks after starting Paleo. Hopefully, my changed eating habits will be enough right now to help me lose weight since I’m not getting in much cardio.

As for Day 4, I prepared the family our first semi-lacto-Paleo breakfast. We had bacon and a cheese, spinach, bell pepper omelet with potato hash. Not totally Paleo but I think it may be a step in the right direction. The wonderful thing is that 3 hours after breakfast, my teenager was still satisfied and made it through her dance class without feeling famished.

Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon at dinner, partially due to running out of Paleo-friendly meal ideas and partially because we had so much leftovers that I really couldn’t see it going to waste so I cheated and had some chicken enchiladas with guacamole and a side of Mexican rice. The worst part? I felt comatose afterwards like I needed a nap. I hate that feeling.

So here I am at Day 5. I haven’t been following the diet as closely as I had hoped, but I have cut back on my carb and sugar intake dramatically. I still have cravings for it. I made French toast for the family this morning, and it took ever ounce of self-control to keep from taking a bite of it. I did make another veggie hash omelet with bell peppers, onions, spinach, tomatoes, and potatoes (I know, not Paleo but I needed a starch) which the family loved. We didn’t have much meat though because I ran out of my freezer stock so I will need to go grocery shopping for some.

I still don’t know if these little changes has helped my health since I don’t have health insurance to see a doctor but I’m hoping they do. I was having some symptoms of PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), and from what I read, it is caused from insulin resistance so cutting out carbs and sugar will hopefully help relieve those symptoms.

I’m still suffering from headaches and feeling tired, but I’m hoping that somehow, it’s helping my overall health. I gave in last night and took some Tylenol because I couldn’t stand the headache. The sugar cravings are slowly subsiding (and by slowly, I mean at a snail’s pace). I have definitely increased my meat/poultry intake as well as my fruits and vegetable intake. I’ve taken to drinking a lot more water as well. I do miss having a bowl of cereal with my almond milk or an occasional slice of pizza, but I think while I’m still adapting, it’s probably best to steer clear.

So, what does this all mean for the direction of my blog? Well, I haven’t decided yet. I definitely don’t feel like force feeding everyone Paleo friendly meals. I want to stay true to why I started the blog: to share quick, tasty, family-friendly meals. Occasionally, I may share a lacto-Paleo meal but I don’t intend on turning this into a Paleo resource because I am about as clueless as the next person.

Thanks for reading!