Happy 38th birthday to me! My gift to myself: 30 days of the RepairVite / Whole30 / Paleo diet

Me and my lil sis at the Biggest
Loser 5K in Killington, VT 7/28/13

I'm inspired today. Here I sit, very early in the morning of my 38th birthday (well, still the wee hours after the night before, really). For the past few months, I've been Googling the hell out of the interweb in search of information about my obsession du jour. I always seem to end up combing through blogs, and am always amazed that someone has written about EXACTLY what I'm looking for. So, I hope I can do the same for someone else. Everyone else has a blog, why shouldn't I?!

My most recent research obsessions have been hormonal imbalances and whole food-based diets. I swear that the Mirena IUD made my body go haywire after about a year. Frightening hair loss (like post-partum), brain fog, lack of energy, inability to lose weight despite consistent exercise and watching calories - I was a mess for the first couple months of this year. Sure enough, I found a bunch of bloggers going through the same thing who screamed "just get it out!". But after having the Mirena removed, I wasn't seeing many changes in all of these symptoms. I knew something else must be going on, even though my OB GYN said my thyroid test looked normal despite these all being symptoms of hypothyroidism. Not to mention that plateauing for 4 months while busting my ass to eat right and exercise was really pissing me off (especially while watching hubby drop weight like crazy while he did the same thing - aargh!).

A fellow TRXer at my YMCA mentioned a chiropractor who practices functional medicine with a particular focus on thyroid issues, so I figured what the heck, I'll check him out. After running a battery of blood and neurological tests (those were interesting) and reviewing my history, he determined that I do, indeed, have a sluggish thyroid due to low active T3. He also suspected inflammation in my gut resulting in a reduced ability to absorb nutrients, causing B12 and iron deficiencies, and cholesterol that's so low that it's almost TOO low. The primary suspect: GLUTEN (and I couldn't agree more after reading Wheat Belly - yikes!). I'm currently waiting on the results from a Cyrex Array 4 – Gluten-Associated Cross-Reactive Foods and Foods Sensitivity test to see what allergens are bugging me (in addition to tree nuts, which is an allergy I've known about my whole life).

In the meantime, I'm starting the RepairVite program to heal my suspected leaky gut on Monday. It's a diet along the lines of the Whole30 and Paleo diets, only even more restrictive to remove all known inflammatory foods from my diet, and also regulate my blood sugars so my insulin isn't spiking all the time. Time to cut out all the refined crap and focus on whole foods instead. So no sugar, grains, soy, dairy, nightshades, legumes, high-glycemic fruits, fast food, or misc ingredients I can't pronounce. Lots of quality meat, veggies, and fruit. And lots of coconut, which will be something new for me. Thankfully, hubby is doing it with me so we can cook for two (well, we'll try cooking for four, but I don't know how willing the kids will be to get on board!).

This morning, hubby and I put together a meal plan for the week, and spent hours shopping at our local farmer's market (local grass-fed beef and organic produce), Whole Foods (more organic produce and healthy meats), and then Stop & Shop (more staples). We spent a LOT of money. Way more than I expected. Wow. Granted, we had just returned from vacations for the better part of the last 2 weeks, so the kitchen was pretty empty. But still. Have to find some bargains on this stuff.

This afternoon, I did some prep work. Cut 2 lbs of grass fed, antibiotic & hormone-free sirloin into strips and dropped them into a beef jerky marinade that was mostly coconut aminos (healthy substitute for soy sauce). Then trimmed and marinated some antibiotic & hormone-free chicken that we'll cook up for salads. And then whipped up some salad dressing since most commercial dressings have crappy oils. Ready to do some cooking tomorrow.

So, I have one more day before embarking on a new, healthier approach to eating, which I hope will do wonders for me, and get me on the path to my FITTEST BY FORTY! It's been a couple weeks of binging (well, binging is a harsh word - treating my self?) on the many foods that will be taboo for the next 30 days, if not longer. Frankly, I'm starting to feel pretty disgusting, and ready to move onto the next healthy chapter! 2013 has been one of my healthiest years yet (I started jogging 5Ks for crying out loud! Just ran the Electric Run earlier tonight!), but I want to step it up to the next level. I have 2 years to go before hitting the big 4-0. My thirties have been a whirlwind. Having 2 kids will do that. Now that they're getting a little more independent, it's time to focus on my own health, with the ultimate goal of raising healthy kids who don't have to deal with obesity their while life like I have. I'm going to try to keep this blog updated with my 30-day diet adventure and ensuing success story (there, I said it will be successful, so now if has to be, right?!)!