Healthy Home: Protein Heavy Paleo

So I have been on a health journey for the last 10 months.  I lost all of my baby weight after having twins, but then with the trauma (I honestly think I have PTSD from that first year, with twins, a physical delay, therapies, and moving to the farm), that I gained weight.  I hit a point this year, starting January 2022, where I realized that I was out of the fog of the newborn year, I should be thriving more. 

I feel like I've tried a lot: Weight Watchers, Whole30, working out (admittedly it was inconsistent), low-fat, restrictive eating, intermittent fasting, no sugar.  The only things that got close to working was eating less calories and moving more.  But then when I broke and would give up, I would gain even more back.  

Infertility

I'm going to be honest, and this is hard to admit to many people I don't know.  My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for a year and a half.  We have kids already, so we are officially considered "secondary infertility".  Mostly due to stress and my cortisol levels, I would have estrogen dominance and some months not ovulate at all.  I tried diets, eating specific foods that were meant to help fertility, taking a prenatal, taking other supplements that were supposed to help with hormones.  So far nothing has worked.  However, I finally figured out what to do. 

Cleaning Up My Health

It all came to a head when listening to the Just Ingredients podcast.  She had on an expert talking about hormones, infertility, PCOS, and what to do to repair some of the damage.  This podcast is one I think every female listen to.  It taught me so much about how my body worked and responded to the stress I was putting on it.  

I changed many things, such as removing all foods that have glyphosate from my diet, cooking primarily in my cast iron pans, changing out all products with endocrine disrupters, and trying to move every day.  I started working out consistently in May, removing as much sugar from my diet as I could.  I still enjoyed myself over the summer break.  I lost some weight - about 10 pounds, but I still wasn't ovulating regularly. 

Animal-Based Diet

Then I desperately decided to try the animal-based diet.  Many people online talked about how it repaired their hormones, helped them lose weight, gave them back brain clarity, and eased many of the symptoms I was experiencing.  Raising pastured meat that was grass fed, grass finished, I was hopeful this might be the silver bullet.  

If you've never heard of animal-based, it's like the carnivore diet, only I was able to eat dairy products such as cheese and greek yogurts, and I could have fruits.  I started on Monday.  On Wednesday I felt like I was dying.  Driving to pick up the kids I honestly contemplated calling an ambulance.  I didn't know my blood sugar was crashing so hard and I had no sugary food to help bring it back up slightly.  So if you do decide to try this, SLOWLY wean yourself off empty carbs.  

Heavy-on-the-Protein Paleo

The good news is I lost 10 pounds and have been ovulating consistently in the two months since I started.  I have decided for lifestyle change I would instead focus on paleo.  I just can't make a dinner and lunch without veggies.  I can't go out to eat with friends without eating veggies.  As helpful as the animal-based was, in my current lifestyle I couldn't make the lasting change. 

So for the last month I have been paleo - heavy on the protein.  I eat more meat than anything else.  I have two hard-boiled eggs and a no-sugar greek yogurt for breakfast, meat heavy with small veggie side for lunch and dinner.  I have consistently ovulated, I feel like I can think and focus again, I am more present with my kids, my mental health is handling everything better.  And I can wake up in the morning ready to take on the day, instead of feeling tired and sluggish all morning.  And January to July I lost 10 pounds, in the last three months I've lost 15.  The weight isn't the most important part though, it's my improved fertility.  

Conclusion

I posted on Instagram and had a few unfollows.  Which I'm not concerned about - I'm not for everyone.  But I do want to be more upfront with my health journey.  I think owning a farm and supplying healthy food to people means that I need to be more connected to why this matters.  What can the meat I raise do to help our customers? So I want to be more intentional about sharing the health aspect behind how we raise our meat.  Hopefully you are here to support our journey, and also let me know how I can help support yours! Thanks for being here!