Dedication and gratitude

First and foremost, to my grandmother, Barbara Frank, who will be turning ninety when this book hits the shelf.

This book would not exist had you not been confused by the concept of an electronic book (eBook), and asked me, “what about a real book?” To which I replied, “I don’t know, I never thought about it.” A month or so later, I was slated to write this book. Your stories and support have been the number one motivation for me to get this project completed sooner rather than later, and now I feel so lucky that I can share my baby with you. And yes, this book will have to serve as a stand-in for a great grandchild…sorry Gram.

And to my grandfather, Bill, who passed away before ever knowing this book was in creation, for his confidence in me as a well-intentioned person and a businesswoman. His support through every phase of my life and career was unwavering. Whatever path I was on, he was confident that it was the right one for me… and if it wasn’t the right path, he was confident that I’d blaze a trail for myself to make it that way.

To my parents, who raised me with the words: “do what makes you happy.” Some may think those words will lead a child into an adult life that is hedonistic and irresponsible, but I have experienced first-hand how important that value has been in my life. After working several jobs along the way that I didn’t wake up with a burning passion to tackle, their words to “do what makes you happy” still resonate. I feel lucky to wake up every day to a life I am choosing, and I thank them for their 100% support.

To my nutrition instructors at Bauman College, Nori Hudson and Laura Knoff, for not looking at me like I had a third eye when early in my nutritional education I showed up to classes with newfound passion for a grain and legume-free lifestyle; and for being supporters and promoters of the teachings of Dr. Weston Price, so that traditional and well-raised animal foods were consistently discussed as health-promoting options in a classroom where the curriculum was clearly created with a vegetarian slant.

To Robb Wolf, for igniting my vigor and passion for sharing the profoundly powerful message of Paleo nutrition. Eight hours of listening to you explain nutritional biochemistry and how it relates to all disease was enough to grip me, pull me in, make me never eat quinoa again, and to find the fire in my own belly to share this message with others in my own way. You gave me a boost when I needed it, but never a handout or help on a silver platter—I have a lot of respect for that. Your unrelenting motivation to just plain help people continues to motivate and inspire me. You are a gift to humanity.

To Chris Kresser, for being a levelheaded and trusted resource. When prescribing an approach to follow, you always provide factual information with the appropriate dose of common-sense. I can always trust your advice, and I don’t take advice from many people.

To my trainer, Dave Engen, who was the first person to tell me that I should be eating coconut oil and not be eating gluten: I know I fought you tooth and nail on the concept of eating fat, swearing you didn’t know what it was like to have to watch what you ate. You patiently waited while I figured out for myself that you were right. I still credit you every time I talk about my “resistance-to-change period” when teaching seminars.

To my friend, John Tsafos, who taught me how to find calm in a world of chaos. Though you may not realize it now, I was a much more anxious person before we became friends.

To my teaching partner, Liz Wolfe, for allowing me to drag you into this whole nutty world of being a nutrition “rockstar” and traveling the country to spread the word about real food. You have become a dear friend to me and the respect I hold for you and your work is enormous. I searched for over a year for a teaching partner, and I feel blessed that I found you.

To my old boss, Dan Antonelli at Graphic D-Signs, Inc. in New Jersey, for teaching me the skill to turn information into a piece of graphic art that people can use over and over to make their lives healthier.

To all of my friends, old and new, who have dealt with me being completely submerged in “work-mode” for the last several years, and with whom I need to spend more quality, relaxed, and fun time—thank you for always being there when I needed you.

To readers and followers of my work to-date… wow! The outpouring of support and gratitude you all provide is what makes this job worthwhile.

To my publisher, Erich Krauss; I can’t imagine having worked with anyone else on this project. You treated my baby as if it were your own, and rallied to pull me through the immense effort it took to get it done.

Last, but certainly not least, to Bill Staley and Hayley Mason. Without the two of you, the recipes in this book would likely have been accompanied by iPhone photos tweaked with a 99-cent app. You opened your home up to me for six weeks, photographed and helped me test recipes, and supported me while I worked on the material for the rest of the book. Bill, I thank you for your tireless efforts in shooting with care and precision every recipe in this book with me, as if it were your own. Hayley, your constant reassurance that my recipes were on a good track was invaluable. And thanks to both of you for tasting every single recipe in the book—I know that was the toughest part! Your friendship has meant the world to me and this book would absolutely not be what it is without the two of you.

Introduction

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”
-Hippocrates

I grew up playing soccer, volleyball, and softball, but like most kids, I never focused on nutrition. In fact, while growing up, it never crossed my mind that I might need to change my eating habits. Whatever I liked, I ate. I was in pretty good shape, and I considered myself to be healthy and strong.

Then, during high school, I began to have disruptive bouts of digestive distress to the extent that I took Imodium A-D several times a week. I also suffered from repeated sinus infections throughout the year. The infections became so old hat that I simply demanded antibiotics when I visited the doctor. After all, I had been taught that pills were the best way to handle symptoms.

My close friends struggled with the same health issues. All of us had a range of chronic ailments like acne, pharyngitis, heartburn, headaches, dental cavities, and deteriorating vision, in addition to the sinus and digestive discomfort. It never occurred to any of us that we had the power to prevent these problems.

After eighteen years as an active youth, I became much less active in college, and my weight started to rise. My late nights with pizza and buffalo wings meant that “The Freshman 15” didn’t end after freshman year. I continued to eat like an athlete even though I had all but abandoned that aspect of my life. By the time I finished college, I had put on thirty pounds. There is a photo from my graduation dinner that shows my bloated midsection—it’s one I use as a “before” picture when I tell my story at seminars. At the time, I had no idea my body had fallen completely apart.

Like many people who gain weight during their college years, I thought, “This is just what happens when people get older.” I learned later, of course, that it’s what happens when people stop exercising and eat foods that do not support a healthy body. My symptoms may have been “common,” but what I didn’t realize until later is that common doesn’t necessarily mean “normal.”

After I had gained yet another ten pounds, a nurse practitioner brought up my weight during a routine check-up. She talked to me about food portion sizes and I suddenly realized how out of control my eating had become. Even though everyone around me ate the same way, I couldn’t deny that I didn’t feel or look good.

That winter, I joined a gym and tried to “watch what I ate,” but I had no clue what that meant. I dined out on burgers and fries (on large seedy buns, of course), and washed it all down with Coke. I did know that soda wasn’t healthy, so I sometimes substituted water instead. At home, I made dinners of pasta with red sauce and analyzed the meal in my head. “Well, that’s just some pasta and tomato,” I’d think, “so it’s healthy.” I gave myself a bit less than I served my boyfriend, and I sweated away on the cardio machines at the gym. You probably aren’t surprised to hear that my weight did not budge.

Months later, I started a new job and found myself surrounded by middle-aged women on Weight Watchers. “Okay,” I thought, “if they can do it, I can do it.” So I started the diet and stayed on it … until the end of each workday when I found myself still hungry with no points (how Weight Watchers evaluates and measures food intake) left. Still, in spite of my occasional cheating, the diet began to work.

What Weight Watchers taught me more than anything was to read food labels. Granted, I now teach people to read labels for entirely different reasons, but it was a start for me. For the first time, I paid attention to the number of calories, fat, and fiber contained in a serving. As a result, I lost my first twelve pounds from simply watching my diet and working out on the elliptical machine for thirty minutes several times a week. The initial weight loss gave me the confidence to exercise at the gym more often, and I started lifting weights again for the first time in four years.

Days turned into weeks and months, and before I knew it, I had lost thirty pounds. In many ways, I felt amazing. My body was finally getting back to a size that was more familiar to me, but the rest of my system was the same as it had always been—riddled with digestive distress, chronic sinus infections, and vision deterioration. I even had a new ailment to add to the mix: hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

What was the problem? I continued to eat close to 300 grams of carbohydrates a day, reaching for bread with olive oil if my dinner wasn’t “filling” enough. Low blood sugar attacks even caused me to nearly pass out at times. When I became shaky, sweaty, and lightheaded, a friend usually said, “Get her a granola bar!” Of course, that was the last thing I needed.

what I didn’t know about grains was hurting me

It wasn’t until several years later that I discovered the root cause of my chronic symptoms. At first, I thought it was preposterous that bread—innocent old bread—could be the source of such hefty problems. When I finally came to terms with the long list of conditions associated with gluten intolerance, it still took me a year to finally give it up. Then there was a big turning point for me.

Not long after converting to a 90% gluten-free way of eating I attended Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution Seminar. I had already studied nutrition for many years by then, but there were two big takeaways for me that day:

1. Avoid gluten like the plague, and

2. Managing blood sugar, insulin levels, and systemic inflammation are critical to health and can all be done fairly easily by removing grains and legumes from the diet.

I went home and gutted my house, cleaning it of every grain—quinoa, buckwheat, rice, millet, gluten-free oats, and more. I prepared meat and vegetables with some fat and spices, and I cooked eggs and bacon in the mornings, packing them in a glass container to take to work and eat at my desk. My coworkers were jealous as they gnawed on granola bars and downed bowls of cereal that were always well stocked in the office kitchen. When it was time for our lunch orders, mine was designed to provide me with as much protein and as many veggies as possible. When a work meeting over breakfast popped up at the last minute with only pastries and fruit as options, I took a ten-minute walk to the deli for hard-boiled eggs.

I brought foods with me to supplement my prepared lunches when I couldn’t get enough healthy fare from a restaurant or deli. That took a bit of planning, of course, but it was actually easy to make it work.

The results were dramatic. I stopped suffering from all of the chronic ailments that had plagued me for most of my life. My digestion works predictably well now, I rarely get sinus infections, and the hypoglycemia is long gone. I no longer worry that I might pass out without a snack or that I might have to run to the bathroom when it isn’t convenient. The vision deterioration I had experienced for years has halted, and I have not had a cavity in a long time. On the very rare occasion when I experience heartburn or a headache, I can quickly identify the food that caused it. At most, I get sick once or twice a year after air travel or too little rest. When that happens, I don’t have to take antibiotics, and the bug passes through my system within three to five days. While my acne took a bit longer to alleviate, supplemental vitamins A and D in a concentrated, whole-food supplement eventually did the trick.

All of the ailments that haunted me for years were resolved by changing my diet. It was a matter of:

1. Healing my “gut” (digestive system), which, in turn, healed my entire body.

2. Balancing my blood sugar levels.

After these two main issues were addressed, it was simply a matter of fine-tuning my diet to optimize my health. I suffered needlessly for many years, but my new way of life is extraordinarily liberating.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14