Welcome to Wheat City Paleo!
I guess I should introduce myself...
Hi my name is Jason and I was addicted to fast food and unhealthy eating.
Simple beginning, you bet. Simple story not so much.
For many years I worked in a local bar here in the Wheat City, 7 of the longest years of my life, my city is a town of 50,000 (maybe closer to 65k now) but back then NOTHING but bars and 7-11 were open past 10 PM. my shifts would start at about that time, so on the way to work I'd grab take out chicken, a burger or 2 or anything else that was handy and take it to work with me. This was fine dining as far as I was concerned since I couldn't cook worth a damn at 19 years of age...at home it was Ramen, or Pizza Pops, or some other processed food....
I was caught in this trap for many many years and eventually other things caught up with me, I became (more) overweight, in a co-dependant relationship with someone that enabled and encouraged unhealthy things, and eventually I spiraled into depression and alcohol abuse.
Fast Forward to 24.
My journey to a healthier me gets a very very real wake up call...one night I finally hit absolute bottom, my self esteem and image in the gutter with no feeling of self worth, I tried to take my own life in the most selfish (to me) way possible... I drank and drove. I Ran my truck into a Hydro pole doing about 65 km/h on a cold and icy night in December.
Needless to say I handled my more...serious mental health issues first which took a long time, therapy and a good swift kick in the ass from the wonderful people in the judicial system. In the preceding years I tried my hand at college, Met the love of my life and her three wonderful children, and got my shit together and started living a life.
So there I was about a month ago (now 32) sitting in the Doc's office awaiting the results from my first full physical ever. I thought I was doing pretty good, I had quit drinking, quit smoking, and started eating 3 meals a day. I was following healthier eating than I had in a long time, and that's not saying much.
The Verdict ? 5'9, 235 Lbs, 33.1 BMI Pre-diabetic, and high Cholesterol.
Needless to say one of my greatest and worst assets is the fact that I can be stubborn as hell, especially when I get mad...I was rip roaring pissed at myself...so I immediately came home and thought long and hard about where I wanted to be....the Doc gave me until November just before my 33rd birthday to see what I can do with myself. So I did what I usually do, I jumped on the trusty interwebs and prepared to use my Google-fu.
I don't remember what led me to it, but I came across Mark Sissons site Marks Daily Apple. Did some reading and I was hooked... paleo/primal living made perfect sense to me, it wasn't just a "do this and profit" website, it was a community that explained, and built on principle! I could do this !
My Girl Friend D has been immensely supportive and decided to join me on this journey and although she has issues with certain red meats we are going to modify her primal experience to focus on non-red meats and fish...
In the past 3 weeks I have lost about 11 lbs and am down to 224.6lbs as of two days ago...We start at the Gym next week as it falls on a pay week.
my biggest stumbling block at the moment is the city that we live in, there is one store for grass fed beef and Bison, however my attempts to find free range chicken and pork have not gone well, so I have resorted to using Maple Leaf Naturals products, as well as the nitrate free naturals bacon.
So here we go...I'm ready to completely flip my lifestyle and embrace primal...yeah it was originally for health, but now it's for a brand new me.
P.S: as a Disclaimer I can have a bit of a mouth, so in advance I apologize for the occasional Cussing and probably warped sense of humor.
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