Here's to You Diet Coke and Chocolate!

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Arthur Schopenhauer

This quote absolutely describes my journey into clean eating....and its been a long reluctant one.

What was wrong with living on diet coke, microwave popcorn, and hot tamales? They were getting me through the day!( This photo is of my lunch one day, lunch of champions!)

 I used to laugh my head off at anyone who talked about limiting carbs. I often have joked that I could go on an all carb diet but not a low carb diet! And don't you even mess with my sugar! This girl has dessert after lunch and dinner and her breakfast has long been healthy eggo waffles and coconut coffee creamer!

The truth is I liked eating what I wanted, when I wanted it.
 I thought it was food freedom.
 I especially liked it when I could manipulate things so that I was at my goal weight and still getting my delicious junk foods.

In my ignorant bliss I laughed and ignored all the "fads" around whole foods and paleo diets. I had no clue that a diet built on little nutrition and high in processed sugar would one day hand me a nasty little bill.

When my family and I moved to Texas in 2013, I was feeling physically and emotionally a mess. It had been a hard spring preparing for a move I did not want to make.

 I had drowned my sorrows in tons of twizzlers, reese's peanut butter cups, cokes, and fast food meals. And don't even get me started on the coffee in the morning and wine in the evening.
It was a bad set up and I was starting to see the results.

•   weight gain
• brain was so foggy
• tired and depressed
•   left side pain
•  alternating constipated and diarrhea
• abdominal pain most of the month 

By the time we moved into our new home, I was having a new more intense type of brain fog that I could best describe as dizziness or bobble head. It was such a vague symptom with such a big impact on my daily life! I drank tons of caffeine to try to get enough clarity to do my day, which involved homeschooling our 3 kids.

 This situation caused me to slowly opened my mind a tiny bit to consider a different way of eating.


Last New Year's Day, fresh off a delightful hysterectomy, I entertained the idea of going sugar free, I knew it would be good for me. I even bought this amazing book: "I quit Sugar: Your complete 8 week detox program and cookbook" by Sarah Wilson. But when I read it, I laughed and thought, that chick is crrrraazy!  So I've suffered along another year.

In September, after reading , It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways I did my first Whole 30, because I believed God asked me to.
( more on that in another post)

In the first week of October, I was told that it appears I might have celiac (click here to find out more about celiac) disease. And according to a food allergy test, I had a leaky gut and a whole host of other food sensitivities at this moment. The foods I was "allowed" to eat were shrinking fast.

Still, I had to keep taking the long way ...

•  multiple grillings of my doctors
• various blood tests
• research research research  
• some cheating and
• a very expensive nutritionist, 

 Now I'm fully convinced I need to do a no sugar, low fruit diet.
I am back to a slightly adapted Whole 30 style eating plan.

Sometimes I get really frustrated with myself.
Why didn't I just take the doctor's word for it and eat meat, veggies, and fruit with no sugar from October on?

 I'd probably feel a lot better right now.

Still, I guess its a process and one I have to be fully invested in and convinced of. If I have to make a few mistakes and learn by trial and error, so be it. I think God knows that about me. I'm so grateful for His grace and patience.

For someone as opposite to this lifestyle as I was, its bound to take baby steps.

So, if you are reading this and you have just found out that you need to take drastic lifestyle changes for your health, then know you aren't alone.
Just keep moving forward one step at a time.
 We will process through this together.
We can do this!
For my Aunt Suzie, I'm documenting my journey for you. If you have to follow me down this road, then I hope what I learn will help make your journey easier.

Here's to the dawning of a new season!
xoxo Michelle

Stay tuned:

When the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, I am embarking on the latest adventure in my journey...quitting coffee....look for my post, "I quit coffee and other hilarious things I never thought I'd say."