Paleo Flu ..... AKA Withdrawals

I haven't posted in a while.

But I have been off the wagon so to speak.  Really been on a bad path the last 12 months, particularly the last 6 months.

My health has not been good, I've gained a lot of weight and have been off my paleo way of life.  I have remained gluten free, but find that that too, gives me an upset stomach.

So this week, three days ago, I have started eating again, the paleo way.

I am writing tonight, as I am trying to take my mind off things, because I am not feeling well.  I remember when I first moved onto a paleo diet years ago, I had terrible withdrawals.  I couldn't believe it.  I didn't know that there would be such a thing.

Here I am again.  I had forgotten, or not even thought of the terrible feelings that I had experienced as my body went through the detox and my liver processed all of the toxins and got rid of them.  Tonight I have started to feel strange.  Ringing in my ears, anxiety, jittery and I was getting worried.  Then I remembered...... I haven't had any grains for three days..... I bet I am going through a detox.

So as I travel this withdrawal journey and get my life and diet back on track, I will share away here, even if I'm talking to myself.

See you tomorrow.

Paleo For Three Weeks

Well I have been living the Paleo Way for three weeks now.

Like when I went gluten free I've had withdrawals, side effects I guess of removing the sugar, grains and dairy from my diet.   The first thing that happened was during week one.  My mouth filled with ulcers, it was really quite painful but settled down after a few days. Then at week 2 my psoriasis decided to flare up.  Mainly on my legs and particularly behind my knees.  It was so very painful and extremely itchy!  It was driving me crazy, waking me at night and was becoming rather unbearable.
A week on, it's almost cleared up and I'm starting to feel like the withdrawal and elimination of all of the build up of toxins is finally coming to an end.

Having this sort of reaction, these sorts of withdrawals, just cements the lifestyle even more, of what these things were doing to my body and that this is the best thing for my body.

So what benefits have I found so far.   The biggest benefit for me so far is weight loss.  I've lost 5.5kg in 3 weeks.  This is fantastic.  Now weight loss is not what living a Paleo lifestyle is all about.  It's about health and feeding your body the right nutrition.  But weight loss for me is something important to me at this point.  It's something that I need to reduce my blood pressure and reduce the risk of having another vertebral artery dissection (torn artery).

The other most significant benefit I think is the reduction in cravings, craving sugary foods, craving grain filled meals.  A meal was not a meal for me without some bread (gluten free of course but still grain), rice, pasta, something filling and starchy.  Only thing is, they were filling for about half an hour and then I'd be hungry and ready for more.  That has all stopped.  I eat a meal and I have had enough for hours.  I can often skip a meal.  I find that I am now eating when I'm hungry, rather than eating three set meals a day.  The meals I'm eating are a decent size too, no more counting calories, I eat until I'm satisfied and then again, when I'm next hungry.  I've been finding that I'm sleeping better and I'm not waking up tired like I was.

I will have some blood tests soon to check my iron levels and cholesterol and other things.  Will be interesting to see how they are.  I'm hoping that this diet will heal my gut and heal my absorption problems that I have had for years.  After about 5 years living on iron tablets (yes, little iron supplements like Spatone, were no where near strong enough to keep my iron levels up), it will be nice to be off those and finally get my iron and get my body to absorb it from food.

Time will tell.

Gluten Free - Day Five

Today was the hardest day so far.  Not really that I wasn't having gluten, that wasn't a problem, but what seems to be withdrawal.

 I went out for brunch with a friend and had a delicious omelette.  Egg white with one egg yolk, spinach, feta, mushroom and shallots.   It was absolutely delicious, mouth watering delicious.

I wasn't a big change, it's the omelette that I have all the time from this restaurant, what was the change was not having the two giant pieces of sour dough bread with butter and vegemite!

 Aside from doing a bit of laundry, I really did not do much for the rest of the day.  I have been feeling so light headed and goodness, my legs and arms are aching!  I feel like I've been for a 10 mile walk or have been doing squats and weights at the gym.  That kind of muscle sore.  But I didn't do anything the day before to cause it (other than clean the house, which I do all the time and have never felt like this).  So I'm putting it down to gluten withdrawal.

 One thing that I have noticed, is the very irritated patch of psoraisis that I have had for about 4 months and over the week after starting a gluten free lifestyle has not virtually gone!   I know where it was, I find that my psoraisis spots leave a little mark where they were, but if someone saw my stomach, they would not know were it had been.  That is just mind blowing!  This irritated, sore, itchy patch of skin that has been annoying me for months, suddenly gone!  Poof!

Gluten Withdrawal

This is something I was not expecting.  Gluten withdrawal.  I hadn't actually read anything about it when I was reading up about gluten intolerance, coeliac, thyroid nodules, aspergers and going gluten-free.

Yesterday I felt a little light-headed.  I didn't pay too much attention as it wasn't too bad.  I was hoping that it may be my blood pressure and this new gluten-free diet was having a positive effect on that and lowering it.

Late this afternoon and this evening I have basically spent on the sofa.  I am so very light-headed and it seems to be getting worse.  I am also so bloated in the stomach.  This afternoon I was looking in the mirror thinking I looked 6 months pregnant.  I'm always a little bloated but today my stomach is so rounded, a lot more than it usually is.   I was feeling a little dejected when I noticed that this afternoon to be honest.  I thought that going gluten-free was supposed to get rid of my bloatedness (is that a word?), not make it worse and being four days in I was expecting things to get better not worse.

So tonight, lying on the couch, really light-headed and tonight  I've had a bit of a headache. I decided to do a search of the internet, looking up new to gluten-free light-headed.  Well, up came the results, page after page, of people who experience "Gluten Withdrawal".   It's apparently not uncommon to feel like this and it can last from a few days to weeks!  I read that this is a good thing!  Shows that the removal is working and that my body was addicted to gluten and it's now withdrawing from its removal.    I really hope it does not last a few weeks.  It's not a pleasant feeling.  But I am so glad that I've taken myself down this path.  I am really looking forward to moving past this phase and moving into the feeling great phase!

Interestingly, my son, at this stage, has not had any withdrawal symptoms.  He's not bloated (but he wasn't before), he's not experiencing any light-headed feelings.  He is a little lethargic (so seems a bit fatigued, but this could be the teenage boy symptoms).  I will keep an eye on him and see if he does start experiencing anything.

I do hope that my withdrawal symptoms subside soon!