My Grain Brain

I tried to follow the Paleo diet. I really did. Man it was tough. I don’t know if it was where I was in my life at the time, or what, but I couldn’t hang with it. The lack of cheese, dairy and fruit was killing me. So, I went off of the diet. And then apparently, I decided that I would just eat whatever I wanted! Well, that is not 100% true, I really tried to keep some balance in my diet by making sure I have more vegetables than grains, and good quality protein at each meal, but the sugar seemed to take hold of me. That, and the struggle I was having with thyroid medication.  As a result, I weigh more than I ever have and have NO energy and didn’t really want to do much. I went to the doctor to talk about it, and crazy enough, someone had recorded my weight wrong somewhere along the way, and she didn’t believe that I weigh more now than ever before.  AND, she took me off of my thyroid medication. I was feeling like I was in a downward tailspin.

In October, I attended a conference where there was an incredible speaker. This man is a motivational speaker and his message was incredible, but the part that hit home with me was not his intended message. He made an off-handed remark about taking care of yourself so that you have the strength and energy to be in business for yourself. He mentioned the book The Grain Brain by Dr Perlmutter. And apparently, I took that little nugget and ran with it. When I got home from the conference, I went out and bought the book. I read it cover to cover in one afternoon. And then I had to convince my husband! Luckily he is pretty easy going and agreed to give it a try!

The Shopping

The first task was to make a shopping list. Oh my! Most of the things we needed to start eating were things that I had never cooked with, didn’t know where to find and wasn’t even sure my local store would carry some of it! Well, we didn’t get it all in the first trip, and we did spend a pretty penny trying to stock our pantry with the correct items! Yes! There was an initial investment!

The Cooking

Did I mention that this is a whole lifestyle change? Well, it certainly is. The thing that strikes me most about this eating style is that is it designed to feed your brain. Literally. Dr Perlmutter is a board certified neurologist and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. He knows his stuff. And I was certainly looking for more mental clarity and energy! Preplanning is very important in this eating style. The book, The Grain Brain, lays out two weeks of meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks! AND DESSERT.  My favorite part is that I can eat some dairy and some fruit. WOW! So the most basic way I can describe this is that you lose the sugar and the carbs! You add in healthy fats to feed your brain. You follow the meal plan and at the end of two weeks you will feel amazing! My husband and I both lost 10 pounds. In two weeks! 🙂

Continuing It

We also purchased The Grain Brain Cookbook. After the initial two weeks, we added in some of the meals from the cookbook to replace our less favored recipes from the first two weeks.  I have to tell you that there are very few meals that we did not totally enjoy. We were both so amazed at the flavors and the amount of food we are able to eat that it wasn’t real hard to keep this eating style going. Well, until Thanksgiving showed up. Argh. How can you

turn down homemade rolls and pumpkin pie?? So, we ate them. Some. Not a lot. But, man did we pay for it. We were happy to get back to this meal plan after Thanksgiving.  I really did feel sluggish and tired after the Thanksgiving food (well, who doesn’t after a wonderful meal like that). It took me two full days for my mind and my energy to come back to my pre-Turkey Day splurge. The smoothie to the right helped a ton (which, by the way, is one of the breakfast menu items and it is so delicious)!

Benefits

The Grain Brain has a list of supplements that you should be taking, and with all the good food you are eating, digestion is no longer a problem (for me).  I don’t have huge high and low blood-sugar swings like I used to – I used to literally shake in the morning if I didn’t eat something before I took a shower and got ready for work. The energy level is amazingly high for me. I used to have no energy to do anything after work, and on the weekends I couldn’t start doing anything until after my third cup of coffee. No Joke. It was horrible. That is all but gone!! The food is fresh and has such amazing flavor.

The weight loss feels amazing, my bloating is reduced and my energy is high! What’s not to love? I could go on and on about this diet change, but for now, I will stop and check in a few weeks down the road. Subscribe to see how it goes later!! Leave me comments about how your journey for feeling great is going!