Testimonial written by: Paul
Finally!! A way of eating that requires minimal conscious effort not to over eat and relies on consuming the types of food that actually satiate, not “fill you up”.
I have struggled for many years to get a handle on my appetite with an ever-worsening skinny-fat body composition. The latest attempt with a largely vegetarian diet fared no better. Surprisingly, with this “holy grail” of diets failing, I did not throw in the towel. I wondered why it hadn’t been the solution despite all of the wonderful claims I had read. So I simply Googled something like “problems with vegetarianism”. That was it, the world of the paleo lifestyle was opened up to me in a matter of a few clicks. After some reading this REALLY made sense, especially when it explained how the nutritional arguments for vegetarianism ignored the issues of bioavailability and the troublesome little defense mechanisms in grains and legumes.
What did still surprise me though, were its claims to help with many autoimmune diseases. This immediately caught my attention as I had suffered with psoriasis for 10 years. Alongside the many affected areas around my body I had some large, red, flaking sore examples on both sides of my face, neck and forehead. These were permanent features and the source of a lot of embarrassment. I just wanted to make myself invisible.
So as far as I could see I had a lot to gain and little to lose. I mean, I was hardly going to drop dead at 31 eating steak, fish, veg and fruit right? So on 08th Jan 2013 I went all in, cold turkey (just not quite pasture fed at this stage). With some pretty heavy snacking on nuts I managed to push away my carb cravings in the first week and my faith in the system was rewarded. After that it just got easier and more enjoyable. I’d always quite enjoyed cooking but I loved how this had become even easier. Any vegetables with ant fatty meat or fish resulted in a perfect plate of food every time. The weight loss was dramatic and felt like an “unearned” spin off of eating this amazing food, “surely fat loss has got to be harder than this” I thought. Apparently not!
Now I’m 18 months in and have never looked back. It has without doubt been a life-changing shift. I have experienced lots of the common improvements in digestion, satiety, extended periods without hunger, mood, and no acid reflux. What a liberating feeling it is to be calm and not feeling hungry all day. Here are a few more results:
Week 1: All patches of psoriasis became flatter and less red with reduced flaking and itching. I was almost in disbelief at results like this so quickly with DIET ALONE!
Basically by about the nine-month mark, half of the areas affected had healed by approx 80% with some patches completely gone. The other half so far has healed by about 50%.
After a stall in skin healing beginning at about the 1 year mark (I only recognized/admitted it was a definite stall after about 5 months) I have recently adopted the autoimmune protocol and experienced further improvements. I think the continued consumption of nuts, eggs, nightshades and maybe even dark chocolate could only take me so far. I hope that in the not to distant future I can report back as one of the stories of complete healing following a modern paleo diet.
Body Composition:
Height 6″3″
Weight 230lb down to 175lb
Body fat 27% down to 13%
A huge thanks to Robb for making this information so accessible and funny whilst maintaining honesty that it’s unlikely that you can be particularly healthy eating cookies and pizza, even in moderation. I would Also like to thank everyone involved in maintaining this site. It is an absolutely fantastic resource. If you are considering trying this lifestyle I only hope that this serves as a little extra encouragement for you to give it a try. I know I certainly enjoyed reading these things on my lunch break especially in the early days.
The very best of health to you
Congrats Paul! There’s so many fad diets out there, I feel like some sort of infomercial when I’m advocating the Paleo diet. Glad you gave it a go and have experienced great results!
Well done Paul. I have two relatives who battle psoriasis, and both choose to believe that nutrition and a changed diet has nothing to offer their condition. Very frustrating to watch, especially since they have seen me greatly improve my autoimmune disease by changing my diet. They’d rather stick to the comfort foods that gives them a quick “feel good” sensation, rather than putting in some true work, and change things from the inside out.
I had a similar response. Not only did I lose a lot of body fat and feel like I have a very different relationship to food, my psoriasis is about 80% improved. I have had an almost an identical experience. I choose not to forego some foods permanently, but I can track slight flareups directly to changes in food. If I eat a lot of eggs for awhile, a patch or two comes back. When I cut back or cut them out, I get better. 80% is good enough for me.
Congrats Paul. It seems you reduced quite well and yeah great work by Robb too for making these kind of things easily available. Kudos Guys.