I woke up recently, after having dined on extremely, yummy Papa John's pizza late the night before, and the first thing I noticed was how swollen my hands were. I told my husband I felt like a microwaved marshmallow. I got to thinking about that and realized that a microwaved marshmallow was a pretty good metaphor for my diet. Your typical store bought marshmallow is extremely processed and sugary. No real food or nutrition to be found in a marshmallow.
Much like the marshmallow, my diet has often consisted of highly processed, super sugary, non-foods. When I think about it, it is amazing that I or most Americans are as healthy as we are. Where are we getting the nutrition to survive? In a typical day, I am likely to consume several servings of soft drinks, chips, candy, and grains. I am far less likely to consume any "real" foods like organic veggies and grass fed, pastured meats. The vegetables and meat that I do consume are probably covered in bad for me condiments and dripping with more non-food calories. So, I am surviving on chemicals and junk! Go me . . .
After completing a Whole 30 diet plan for 30 + days I realized that I was not nearly as swollen as before eating Paleo/Primal. Then after stuffing myself with bad for me foods, I start to puff up like a microwaved marshmallow. Now, this is not weight I am referring to. This is some sort of inflammation or swelling. My weight could remain the same, but I notice after eating "off plan" at dinner I wake up puffy and swollen the next day.
I will admit that I did not incorporate foods back into my diet one at a time after doing my Whole 30 so I don't know what causes the swelling. My inclination is grains, however, it could be grains, dairy, legumes, sugar or any combination of these items. Maybe I will try a proper reintroduction of foods in the near future to see if I can figure this out. In the meantime, I am trying to get back on the Primal/Paleo plan to help keep me from looking and feeling like the picture below!
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| Poor microwaved Peep |
I have similar problems anytime I eat non clean paleo/primal foods I swell sometimes it's just my stomach and it swells to the point I look pregnant and sometimes I get very sick nausea and vomiting so you would think that I would never want to cheat and eat bad foods but I do! I have craving's sometimes and other times I'm just so busy it seems easier to eat unhealthy! I have got to plan better so I won't be tempted to eat unhealthy!
ReplyDeleteI am right there with you! What makes us think it's worth it???? When it comes to eating Paleo/Primal the old saying rings very true for me, "failure to plan is planning to fail"!
ReplyDeleteThey do say that gluten and some dairy can both affect the same parts of the brain as some drugs. Maybe we are addicted?