The Story of My Life....

I have been a dietitian since 1999 and worshiped the Food Guide Pyramid up until August of last year (2013).  It was what we were taught in school and so the burden of proof was on any other way of eating.  I never had any real research to back up my love of the Food Guide Pyramid but a lot of time and money was put into that guide and it was widely accepted as true so why should I question it?

I spent the first 6 years of my practice working solely with alternative nutrition support (tubefeedings and TPN) because I felt in heart that I would never make any meaningful changes in people who ate actual food.  With nutrition support I was able to mold macronutrient ratios (Protein/Carbohydrate/Fat) around peoples needs not status quo.  I always said that it was more of an art than a science.  I used science as my starting place but it took trial and error to get to the golden spot where adults thrived and children grew.  I was really good at what I did and was recognized as the Washington State Young Dietitian of the Year in 2002.

I eventually started working with people who ate.  I chose children because adults had habits that were too ingrained and I believed that they would not make any lasting changes.  Little did I know that working with children meant working with adults and children would never change unless their parents did.  At least in this case parents had a stronger reason for change – their children. 

I hit my head against this wall for a couple years before retiring after my second child was born.  I was tired and burnt out that I wasn’t making a bigger impact.  I knew at this point that following the Food Guide Pyramid was not going to help people make significant weight changes but I didn’t have faith in fad diets either.  I was worried about our decaying food supply and how difficult it was getting for kids to get outside and play.  I was also amazed at how stress and lack of sleep was affecting our children.

I spent the next 5 years doing my own little n=1 experiment with my family.  I was challenged with a son with Autism and was thankful for my experience telling Moms not to be short-order cook because it was that mantra that kept my son eating a variety of foods when he really only wanted a select few.  Through it all, I learned that I could not go back to educating the same old way because I could not practice what I was preaching and even when I did practice it, it didn’t work. 

This last July I developed a stress fracture in my femoral head (hip) from overtraining.  I was training for a marathon and a triathlon at the time.  Races were my excuse to do something for myself.  They were my sanity and the thought of losing them was devastating.  I started researching recovering from stress fractures and why I developed mine in the first place.  At the same time, I kept hearing about Paleo.  There was a lot of overlap of information so my husband and I decided that we could do anything for 30 days and embarked on a Whole 30 (30 days of strict Paleo).  We have never looked back.  After 2 weeks we felt better than we had felt our whole married life and it was amazing to see the changes in our kids.  I am not going to tell you that it has been all roses but we meet each new challenge with enthusiasm because we are building a healthier family.

Throughout the next week, I am going to discuss why I think the Paleo lifestyle and a diet based on the Paleo template should become the new food guide.  After all, this is the diet that most people ate before the obesity epidemic.