My story & why you should journey with me

Why should you read my blog?  That's a great question!  I ask that every time I look at someone else's recipes!  I'm a home taught, midwestern cook, though I live in California now.  I love the organic and local veggies I can get year-round in California.  I'm actually about to head to a farmer's market in Oakland.  Yes...I'm a little "granola" or maybe a lot.  I'm a bit of a germaphobe though too so I'll never be too granola (I'm addicted to my hand sanitizer).

I've always been overweight.  I look at pictures from high school and stand out as a fat kid.  Honestly, I can't even blame it on my parents.  I was lucky enough to have a stay-at-home mom who always had a meal on the table and it wasn't usually hot dogs and mac n' cheese.  It might be lasagna or some other casserole, but I didn't even know you could buy frozen lasagna until I went to someone else's house.  My mom loved to bake and so do I.  Wow, did I ever have a sweet tooth.  Cookies, Ice Cream, you name it.  

Thankfully in high school I was never bullied, something for which I am forever grateful.  However, I did struggle with low self-esteem and self-consciousness because of my size.  I'm 5'3" and my license at 16 said 215 lbs.  I don't know what I weighed when I graduated, but I just continued to gain weight.  Below is a picture of me from my high school senior photos.  

March 2000

Throughout college my weight went up and down due to friends who dragged me to the gym so when I went to graduate school at the age of 24, I weighed 291 pounds.  That's a lot of weight for such a small frame and I felt it!  

In 2004, I decided to have gastric bypass surgery.  I was super determined and lost 20 lbs. prior to surgery so I could have laparoscopy instead of them cutting open my abdomen from chest to belly button.  Post surgery, I was initially hugely successful.  I got down to 199 lbs. from December '04 to June '06, but that's where the success stopped.  I graduated grad school, lost my support network, and moved across the country to a job I ended up hating.   

October 2006

Since that time (2006), my weight has been a rollercoaster.  I’m incredibly active, but my downfall is food.  How do I get on course?  How can I be healthier?

Fast-forward to 2012 and I realized gluten didn’t agree with me.  No, I don’t have celiac’s as I asked my doctor to test me.  However, I get constantly lethargic, cranky and have chronic headaches with gluten.  I changed my diet and lost some weight, but I still wasn’t feeling good.  This led me to try Paleo.  A friend of mine knew my health and wellness struggles (trouble sleeping, lack of energy) and my weight loss struggles and recommended I try Paleo.  I’m so glad she did!

The weight is slow to come off, but the scale is slowly going down.  My value is not in the number, but in how I feel.  For the first time in my life, I have energy without caffeine.  I gave it up a few months ago because I don’t need it anymore.  I am sleeping better and I rarely get headaches.  Additionally, my skin has gotten extremely clear.  My girlfriend has seen changes in her weight, overall feeling of health, as well as her complexion. 

Girlfriend & I hiking with friends September 2014 (2 weeks into eating paleo)

I’m starting this blog now because I feel like I am beginning to make recipes that are my own instead of relying solely on cookbooks.  I also love cooking and want to share my experience with others.  I hope you’ll follow along with me and join me in the journey that has been and will continue to be…a lifelong challenge.