Katie goes Paleo: A little background

The past couple years of my life have been filled with blessings and hardships. In the summer of 2008, I finished graduate school, married the love of my life, became a step-mother, started a new job, moved to a new home, buried my father, and gained 40 pounds (on top of the 100 or so I already needed to lose). In 2009, I began to lose my vision, was diagnosed with Pseudotumor Cerebri and Chiari I Malformation, lost 30 pounds, quit smoking after 11 years, took lots of medications, celebrated one year of marriage and professional employment, supported my husband as he became a little fitness celebrity, visited my neurologist a lot, and had part of my skull removed.

So far, in 2010, I've had multiple ovarian cysts, endured chronic pain of unknown origin, began trying to get pregnant, faced the fact that I will not live forever, and decided that whatever years I have left should be good ones. After a little lecture from my new primary physician, I set out to reverse my medical problems with sustainable weight loss and physical fitness. My jumpstart: sign up for a 5K run and start eating Paleo.

Women of my size don't run races. We don't run. Period. It's really hard and it hurts. So what better motivation to get into shape and drop some pounds than signing up for race 9 weeks out. I will be running my first 5K at the end of July, and I'm currently in my second week of training, using the Couch to 5K program. I'm a competitor by nature. I can do this. I will do this.

As my husband will tell you (all about it, for hours if you let him!), exercise is only a small part of the process. Diet is key, and I picked a crazy one. Well, crazy by modern standards, but it makes a whole lot of sense to me. I started following The Paleo Diet, which eliminates dairy, sugar, salt, and grains from your diet and encourages consumption of lean meats, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The premise is that the latter are the foods that would have been available to the "cavemen" during the Paleolithic period, before the advent of agriculture, and are foods that our bodies are genetically designed to process. (Thank you, Loren Cordain! I hope I get to meet you someday.)

The first few days were very difficult. I even went through sugar withdrawals, I'm sure of it. But 10 days in I feel great, and I've lost over 8 pounds. I scour the internet for Paleo recipe ideas and read labels like there will be a quiz afterwards. I have a sense of determination that carries me through weak moments in the presence of chips and salsa and gives me energy to run. I know I cannot be defeated.