“This guilt-free way of living helped me make this an easy plan for my life!”

Here’s a story of a lovely lady who was bringing up 2 very lovely boys and then one left for college!  As I look back over the past 2 yrs, I realize life changes can bring on good, bad, or both.  In my case, I feel that this change plus reaching the “midlife” age had put me in a funk.  I was trying to appear happy, but inwardly I was struggling.  What better way to feel happy than to eat?  I’d sit on the computer and down a bag of chips in no time!  No exercise whatsoever, because I didn’t feel like it.

I went from an out of shape 5’4″ 140 lb. woman to 162 lb. woman ready to buy her size 14 pants because the 2 sizes I’d already climbed to were too tight!  I would try to diet by cutting back, but couldn’t budge more than a lb. or 2 off.  Fortunately for me in Feb. 2010 I experienced a very strange sore throat that caused ALL of my food to taste bitter.  This lasted for 2 wks. in which time I took off 8 lbs. by truly not being able to hardly eat.  I was loving this weight loss and decided then and there it was time to get serious!  A coworker and I decided to ask a friend at church if she’d take us on and help us get fit.  Her name is Gerilyn R. Burnett and she has been a blessing in my life!  I won’t tell you that it was an easy start but her 2-4 x a week workouts and introduction to the Paleo way of living began to change me.  Even though her workouts were fairly short (yet intense), I was so out of shape that I even had headaches in the beginning that would stop my workouts.  She always took care of me and kept encouraging me.  She would check my food journals and point out how I could possibly improve.  I feel the MOST IMPORTANT thing that she taught me was 80/20.  That is eating on track 80% of the time and ability to cheat 20% of the time.  This guilt-free way of living helped me make this an easy plan for my life.  Some weeks I am 100% on track and some weeks I am 60/40, but I always know when I fail that I can pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back on track.  It’s taken me 1 yr. as of April 1st to lose 23 more lbs., but I know my body has changed in shape so the number of lbs are only a guide.  I am smaller than I have been in years even at 130.5 lbs.  I am now comfortably in a size 8. (I was a 6 when I got married at 118 lbs) I have never gained more than a lb. or two over this entire year, but it always comes back off easily. I am not proud of this, but I even took a couple of months off with my exercise routine over the holidays and never gained any back.  I would like to lose another 5-10 lbs…when I am ready. It will mean becoming 100% on Paleo and adding a workout or two per week. (I currently work out with Gerilyn 2x a week) This honestly has been the best and easiest change in my life with happy results.  I feel better than I’ve felt in years!  It’s gotta be a choice and I choose healthy!  Much love and thanks go out to my fitness coach, Gerilyn Burnett.

– Pamela Yarbro

“I wish I’d known about gluten 40 years ago!”

My intestinal woes began over 40 years ago.  At age 15, after a breakup with a boyfriend, I started experiencing stomach/intestinal pain.  My mother took me to a doctor who suggested:  1) I feel my emotion in my gut, and 2) I have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
Yes, I do feel emotion in my gut.  When I am nervous or excited or stressed, my intestines get tight and uncomfortable.   But something more was going on.  Bloating, gas, slight pain – a general irritated feeling in my intestines – became part of my life.  For many years I assumed that I had to live with this uncomfortable feeling because ‘that was just the way I was.’
About nine months ago, my husband and I started educating ourselves on the Paleo way of eating.  We made some changes in our diet such as eliminating grains, legumes, flour from wheat (gluten), and sugar.  We started consuming more lean meats, fish, and eggs.  We started using bacon grease regularly in our cooking.  Processed foods became a thing of the past.  Leafy green vegetables became more prominent in our diet along with less fruit and nuts.  Grass-fed beef became one of our favorite foods and we found it tastier than the meat we used to buy.
There has been a change in my intestines.
I experience much less bloating, gas, and general uncomfortable feeling.  My intestines feel calm and much less irritated.  Could it be the change in our diet?  It has to be the reason because our diet is the only thing that has changed over the past several months.
I wish I had known about gluten 40 years ago.  Many people are gluten-intolerant and I have learned that I am one of them.  With the elimination of wheat flour, my unpleasant symptoms have decreased considerably.  As long as I follow the Paleo way of eating, I experience little of the intestinal discomfort I have known for so long.  On the rare occasion that I do eat something made from flour, I experience the familiar unpleasant symptoms for several days.
That piece of delicious-looking German chocolate cake just isn’t worth the intestinal irritation it will evoke!
I want to continue this healthy path my husband and I are on.  We desire optimum health for our years on this earth.  We want a life of few doctor visits and medications.  We want to honor God with our bodies by taking care of them.  Eating closer to the earth is our mantra.  Following the Paleo diet is our answer.

– Pat Fuller