Paleo Diet Part Two

When I was first told there was a possibility I could move out of my previous two bedroom residence to a smaller unit, basically what they call a bedsit, from a shit area to a much better area I was so excited, I was over the moon in fact, I did have to think about the fact that being a smaller place it will open a new set of challenges, though I have been trying to become more of a minimalist anyway, part of the reason is because my life has changed so much since living with Multiple Sclerosis.

Then I got the news that I didn't get the new place, I was honestly shattered, it was like some one plunged there fist into my chest then ripped out my heart, I was so pissed off and I knew if I wasn't careful the next problem I'd be dealing with would be depression. I decided to instead of being upset it was far better to take my mind off things, I had been reading about the Paleo diet before all this happened and thought what better time to turn my anger into something positive than now, so I did some more research and started to buy the types of food that fit the Paleo way and set myself a definitive date to start the new way to eat.

The possibility of moving was gone for now, I did and still do have other irons in the fire, but for now I was stuck in hell and it was better to take my mind off it rather than dwell on it. So that's what I did, to cut a long story shorter, in the first two months I lost ten kilograms (about 22 pounds for imperial heathens), by the end of that two months I was feeling better, slightly more energy, less fatigue and overall happier, I was also eating a lot less in general, often forcing myself to eat, rather than feeling hungry and pigging out on food, usually not so great food at that. I did feel much, much better though, I knew I was on the right path as far as food consumption goes.

Was it difficult to give up the sugar and the processed foods, absolutely, it isn't easy, it takes will power  and determination, especially for a single male who dislikes cooking and despises doing dishes, the Paleo diet requires you to do both of these, often, you can't eat out of tv dinner type food groups any more lol. Having said that I certainly wasn't as bad as some people are with their eating habits, but still the meals I did prepare occasionally were at least always somewhat healthy I always knew the importance of eating my greens and vegetables, although I now realise that many of the standard common veggies we eat aren't necessarily that great.

Anyway let's get back to the residence story, about three months after I heard that I wouldn't be moving into a new place, my MS society social worker sends me an email that they hadn't found a suitable person to fill the vacancy, well no one wanted to move into the place, they were trying to give it to someone who was homeless and disabled and in my case I wasn't homeless, economics forced them to reconsider who they would accept so they could fill the tenancy and get an income from the rent, woo hoo, I got the go ahead, so now I needed to move as quick as possible, when you have MS not much is quick lol and usually not easy either, but through the kindness of others and a few loans of money later I was all moved in, granted I'm still sorting a few boxes and still throwing things out that I have no use for, but I'm slowly getting there, this place I live in now will never be a place for a hoarder of crap and I am quite happy about that.

They say one of the most stressful times in anyone's life is moving house, I absolutely agree, the new area has heaps of shops, cake shops, two seven elevens less that two minutes away by car etc. Whilst moving I just couldn't cook, the fridge was empty and cooking utensils were spread between two places, so it was near impossible to eat the Paleo way, I fell into some old habits while I settled in to the new place, I was still eating Paleo when I cooked food because I wanted to not go right off the rails but I was also eating a fair bit of crap as well, my main demon is milk, particularly sugar filled iced coffees, but also general snack food crap as well, I always knew I had to get back on the Paleo way though, so today I am doing just that. I have been cutting down on the crap food for about a week before today to make it a bit easier, I have been having the coffee and sugar withdrawal headaches although it hasn't been as bad this time so that's been a blessing and is making it a bit easier indeed.

I still have some issues in the unit eg. bench space and space in general, but I am determined to overcome these with some careful thought and planning, I have an inspection next week so I will be discussing these issues with the property manager and see what can be done, I have very little bench space, I need to get this fixed somehow.

I got weighed today as part of my drug trial visit, I am at 120.1 kilograms, so I have added about 4 kilograms since my Paleo path was disrupted, I am determined to get to 100 kilograms in the next four months, but hopefully I can get to that weight by the end of the year, I really want to wear well fitting jeans again :)

Wish me luck!