I grew up in the midwest, a kid of the 90’s and naturally addicted to chicken nuggets. I basically thought everyone had McDonald’s for dinner most nights. I didn’t like foods I never tried, like anything that was from the earth and potentially good for a kid to eat. I thought I was cool because I didn’t even like water, just soda. Though I never worried about my health because I was a nine-year old with a six-pack of abs and energy for days. I lived at mother’s gymnastics and dance studio. I spent every weekend at competitions and every night working hard towards my Olympic dreams.
So, I actually never ate bon bons. My mother just teased me about it often after I quit gymnastics. Though I stuck to dancing and moved to California for school. It wasn’t until my first dance placement test that I was told I needed to lose weight and believed it. I hadn’t even considered that having a frozen coffee drink and blueberry muffin every morning would have effects on my body. So, like most young women, I started dieting.
After giving up my recent diet which included protein shakes, whole wheat turkey sandwiches, oatmeal and grilled chicken, I soon found myself sick. As a stressed college student, eating mostly processed foods, I was in a terrible condition. My entire system had shut down. It was hard to do anything, even walk without cramps or stomach pain. I was diagnosed with IBS. Though they had just pulled a pill off the market for the diagnosis, I found there were other ways to treat my symptoms. However, most of them, exercising, avoiding high fatty foods, more fiber and no alcohol, I was already doing them. So, what now?
It took me years later to really find my path and to reverse the years of damage I had done to my body. I slowly took bread out of my diet. I stopped drinking soda and began incorporating alternative milk substitutes. In 2012 I heard about the Paleo diet. After all of my research of disease, It made perfect sense to me. Eat real, organic foods. Eat foods your body is meant to digest and to use it as fuel for your body. Though It took me another year before I would attempt the diet. Once I did, everything changed for me. Within three months, I had lost a solid 15 lbs, but the real change was the clarity I received. There was a lift of brain fog, my improved eye sight and boost of natural energy. It was a truly amazing transformation. Everyone around my noticed as well.
Here we are 5 years later… and I want to share it all. Everyday I learn something new through my experiences. I’ve learned how to take common recipes and make them clean, how to order clean meals at restaurants, how to push through the myths of dieting and to find the truth in a clean lifestyle that anyone can follow. Let’s do this together. If you have a similar story, questions or comments, let me know.
LAB
the clean collaborative 