Pale-oy vey.

Welp, it’s been nine days of following the Paleo diet.

 

Wondering how it’s going?

 

 

Following the actual diet is going fine. But honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the diet itself. Everyday essentially looks the same – some type of eggs with veggies for breakfast. Meat and veggie for lunch. Meat, potato and veggie for supper. Fruit and nuts for a snack. Go to sleep. Wake up and repeat.

Quite frankly, I feel like I need to detox after following this particular eating style. I just feel heavy and greasy from all the meat and eggs I’ve been eating.  I want to stuff my face with veggies and water and sit in a sauna for hours and sweat out all the nastiness.  And after nine days, I don’t feel any different. No difference in energy level. No difference in sleep quality. No change in cravings. But…something I have noticed?

 

I MISS DAIRY!

 

I never noticed how much dairy I ate until I started following paleo. And honestly, I don’t even eat large quantities of it! But it’s the small amounts here and there that add up – the creamer in my coffee, plain greek yogurt in my morning smoothie, string cheese for my snack and cheese on my tacos.  Dairy just adds something to food that can’t be replaced, no matter how hard you try to turn an almond into milk.

BUT….an interesting observation? My sinus headaches have significantly decreased since eliminating dairy.

Maybe I’ve been getting more sleep (unlikely), or maybe I’ve been less stressed (even more unlikely). Call it coincidence since the weather is warming up (actually, this usually makes sinus headaches worse). Trust me, I’ve heard all the possible explanations from people who have read one nutrition article or experienced a headache or two and now consider themselves experts. (Side note, this is an average day for a dietitian – people feeling intimated or insecure (gasp!) by what WE know about nutrition and feeling the need to spew at us what THEY know about nutrition). Anyway, I digress….

All I’m saying is this…

I’ve been dairy free for almost ten days and my sinus headaches seem to be better. Am I saying that dairy is the cause of my headaches? I don’t know. All I do know is that my sinus headaches can be debilitating, so being without them has been glorious! Does that mean I’ll give up dairy for good?

 

 

I’m from Wisconsin! Of course not! But I am interested to see what the next couple weeks brings.

In case you’re wondering (or looking for ideas), this is what the last few days have looked like:

• Breakfast: egg muffins (peppers and onions with eggs, baked in muffin tins). Sometimes with venison breakfast sausage
• Lunch: salad with lots of veggies and grilled chicken or venison
• Dinner: tonight we had Bang Bang Shrimp over zucchini noodles with salad. Last night we had venison burgers with roasted potatoes, Brussel sprouts and onions, and I sautéed green beans

 

Until next time…

…eat food, not food products!