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Vegan to Paleo


Lacey Fulton

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My husband and I, along w/our 29 year old handicapped daughter finished up our Whole30 this last week. I never usually do the forums.. but I have been amazed at one change in particular that has come about from eating this way.

First, I was vegan and I was keeping my fat to 10% of my caloires... yikes! I read "Wheat Belly" which led me to read Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution" which led me to read Gary Taubes, "Why We Get Fat"... and my husband could be a poster child for the low-fat, whole grain diet! He's just gained weight and struggled to lose it, only to gain it back. I am opend minded enough to get a clue, so I asked him if he wanted to do this and of course he said 'Yes!" He'd get way more meat to eat in a week than I usually fix him in a month!! So we went all in and started.

Once I decide on a course, I am pretty discipined about it, so we stuck really close to what the Whole 30 called for and didn't cheat. I love to cook and try new things, so it was right up my alley!

He lost 8 lbs and I gained 1. I figured I'd gain a ton though because of the big switch to eating whole fat coconut milk and butter and cooking w/coconut oil, etc... PLUS adding the meats. I feel stronger when I run, and can go out and run 10-12-14 miles on a cup of coffee w/Ghee blended in! It's great! When you burn fat for fuel you really do have more staying power. I also do not feel exhausted all day afterward. I love it!

We are going to continue on as we are and probably won't re-introduce much. We will maybe have a weekly Paleo treat. Like last night, we had a glass of wine and a very small peice of dark choclate. Now we are back on track...

What I really wanted to share was about our daughter. She is severely handicapped and is like a baby in a lot of ways. She has seizures and we have to feed her and change her, etc... When she was two we tried the Ketogenic Diet and she had to eat the MTC oil. It was really hard and had some nasty side effects and we couldn't keep it going after several months so she came off of it. I found it interesting to read about the ketones in Gary Taubes book and to know what he was talking about because of our experience w/that diet. I am not sure I'd go so far as to say we are seeing less seizures after this Whole30, but there might be something to it and I am keeping my eye on it. Also, over the years we have fought to keep her bowels moving. For all the fiber and grains I fed her she still required an enema fairly regularly. This is no fun for anyone, let me tell you!

I know this is probably TMI and I am sorry about that but I have to tell you . . .. Her bowels were also putrid and if she did go you knew it and our trash can always stunk. It was horrible and embarassing and I always worried about how my house smelled, you know? I never wanted people to walk in and think they were in one of those institutions that smell like urine and other bodily functions.

Well, I did not give her an enema all month because she is beginning to go on her own regularly and her bm's do not stink! Seriously! It's amazing and I don't get it, but she can have a bm while I am sitting next to her and I can't tell. Our trash can outside doesn't stink anymore.

This is a HUGE deal for us and worth staying on this course just for this reason!

We soldier on and expect the hubs to lose some more weight. I'd like to maintain and maybe lose 5 pounds. I love how strong I feel running and have my first 1/2 marathon this coming weekend since going Paleo.

Thanks for reading... and Thanks for the Whole30 program!

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What an amazing story. I can empathise with the switch from being a vegan. I was a raw food vegan for a couple of years and kept trying to persuade myself it was doing me good but never really felt it. I'm on day 35 (yes I decided to keep going a bit longer) and already I'm so sure this is how I want to continue eating. Great news about your daughter. I really hope this continues to make life easier for you all.

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Thanks everyone... Kristeen I too kept thinking I was on the right track w/a mostly raw, vegan diet, but I was getting so weak. It would take all day to recover from a long run and then I had an injury to my hip flexor and it took 8 weeks to heal from that... that is when I started doubting that I was doing right by my body and I started reading the books. I liked what Dallas and Melissa said in their book about 'if you are vegetarian because you think it's more healthy we have presented you with some good science and we just ask that you try it for 30 days." I could get on board w/that!! I remember the next day I was standing in front of the bacon I had cooked for my husband and I thought, "Why not?" and took a bite... Oh, it was soooo good! My friends were like, "Whaaat????? Who are you and what did you do with Lacey?" ;-)

I'm so glad we made the change... and took our daughter w/us!!

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Coming from a veg background I thought this would be really difficult for me and it's great. I still haven't done red meat because the first time I go for it I want it to be really good (so I am open to suggestions) but I've been doing eggs, chicken and fish with great results. I always had stomach and energy issues as a vegetarian and now I'm fine. I'm also curious how this may affect my hypothyroidism.

Great to hear others are getting similar results!

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