Tomorrow is Carbohydrate Independence Day!

Let me explain a little more about what I mean. First of all, tomorrow is July 4th and I in no way intend to dishonor the day at all. I am an American, and I am so proud of my country and my heritage. What I do mean by Carbohydrate Independence is that I am declaring tomorrow my official start of living a Primal/Paleo lifestyle. For those of you who do not know what Primal/Paleo is, allow me to explain:

A "primal" lifestyle simply means eating and living the same way our primal ancestors lived before the advent of agriculture. I know that sounds a little crazy... and I want you to know that I do not intend to go live in a cave and scavenge for food. It simply means eliminating grains, corn, soy and a few other processed foods from my diet. Paleo living also includes no dairy. I love my milk and cheese so I am going to ease my way in by first living "primally" and gradually getting rid of dairy as well.

For the past few months (starting in March) I have been gradually testing the waters and doing my research on the Primal way of living. I have to admit I was a HUGE skeptic at first but I knew that everything I had been trying previously to loose weight and get into better shape had failed. I spent over a thousand dollars on a personal trainer who had me in the gym 5 days a week kicking my ass - It did work while I was there but my body was always sore, I was craving carbs like crazy, and I was constantly in a state of exhaustion. I also joined and rejoined Weight Watchers 4 more times over the course of 3 years. I did experience success with each attempt but as soon as life threw me a curve ball things went down hill every time. I would get frustrated and give in to weight loss pills such as Health-e-trim, and Ally but my conscience told me (after spending major money every time) that I knew better and I still have full unopened bottles of the stuff in the back of my medicine cabinet. As I did more research and digging, it soon became very clear that there is a lot of science behind this way of life, and It makes a lot of sense to me. (I will dig deeper into the basic science behind Primal living in my next post.)

Now after months of testing the water, encouragement from a few of my friends already living primally, and reading books and blogs such as Why We Get Fat and What to Do About it by Gary Taubes, The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, and marksdailyapple.com also by Mark Sisson, (these two books and the blog I HIGHLY RECOMMEND if you want to learn more about Primal/Paleo living) I am ready to fully commit to the primal way of life.

In this blog I intend to chronicle all the struggles and successes I face as I begin my primal lifestyle. I am going to be as honest as possible with each post because I want it to truly represent my journey. Feel free to post questions, comments and encouragement (I may need all the encouragement I can get) as you read.