Testimonial written by: Amy
At 5 feet 1 inch tall, I’m lucky to have been born with the ability to hide my weight well. In high school I was on the varsity gymnastics team for 2 years which required 2 weeks of hard conditioning prior to the season starting, and then 2 hours a day, 4 days a week of regular practice. I was still somehow a size 6. I chalked it up to that just being my natural state.
I quit after the second year and ballooned up to a size 12…in less than a year. I was eating nothing different and thought “wow I need to run again.” So I did. Still a size 12. I get to college and live in the dorms. As we know dorm food is SOOOOO nutritious…and I ballooned up to a size 14, though even I have to admit in pictures I didn’t look it.
I had always had a weird cycle. It never showed up until I was 15, then I had 2 cycles and didn’t see it again until I started college at 17. I had one a few more times and then just completely gone. My mom finally got weirded out enough that she sent me to see a gyno…oh the things she didn’t warn me about…and that’s when they found the cysts. I was on every type and form of birth control you can imagine, and they all made me sick even after the “you’ll feel like crap until…” period.
I was still up in weight and that’s all I would hear about from my doctor was “eat healthy, you’re too heavy”. I switched to whole grains and followed the diet he laid out for me, nothing helped. Also, every once in a while I would end up in the ER throwing up everything including water. They’d give me the usual (an anti-nausea shot and a IV) and send me on my way, until finally a doctor actually asked me questions (huh…go figure). One thing she did ask me was if there were any autoimmune issues in myself or family. I mentioned that I had PCOS and that my brother had a newly discovered gluten intolerance. He’s my half brother who’s 20 years my elder and they didn’t find his until he was in his 30’s.
She did a blood test and called me a week later and said she looked into a gluten intolerance for me at the mention of my brother. Apparently…I was more than intolerant..I was Celiac. (Of course this was when I was eating my mothers leftover thanksgiving stuffing…). She told me about a gluten free diet and to see how I felt and call my regular doc in about 2/3 weeks. I did the gluten free thing and Oh my gosh did I feel better. All that weight I couldn’t lose..gone…to a point.
I started out at the age of 19 at 5 foot 1″ and 185lbs. After going just gluten free, and the only exercise being walking on campus (which is small)… there went 20 pounds. My jeans were now a 10/12. Woohoo! No matter what I did I still maintained in the 160 range though. Then my gluten intolerant brother told me about this guy named Robb Wolf (p.s I’m pretty sure he has a man crush on you) and The Paleo Solution.
I took the book and I could not put it down for the life of me! So I thought I’d give it a shot. I started reading beyond that and couldn’t get enough of the medical articles and journals and blogs and books. Serious nerd attack. I even thought of changing my major in school to dietetics and nutrition, and may go back and get that as a masters.
I started doing Paleo and even without super exercise broke the 150lb mark! I’m getting married this upcoming may and am almost able to fit in my wedding dress. If I can get to my goal by October I may not have to! (Other than to shorten it). Side bar, my cycle came back and is almost a regular 36 days, and there are no cysts to be found. My skin is the clearest its ever been and I hardly burn anymore in the sun! Can’t get enough!
So happy to hear about your success. I’m just starting paleo after being put on an anti-candida diet by my naturopath. When I told him I wasn’t tolerating the allowed grains (brown rice, amaranth, quinoa, millet), he told me to basically do a paleo anti-candida version of the diet. It’s very limited, much more than a regular paleo diet, so I need lots of encouragement. Just an FYI note, my naturopath, in the 20 years he’s been practicing, finds that food allergies and intolerances are corrected when the patient balances their essential fatty acids.