Saturday, January 12th changed my life. I met the amazing
Melissa and Dallas Hartwig. I am starstruck blown away and in awe of them. They are amazingly intelligent, sharp, witty, funny, and genuine.And they are stunningly gorgeous. Truly, the whole package. I want to be Melissa when I grow up :)
I learned so much from them, and felt like they made sense of things that I inherently knew but didn't know how to verbalize.Where do I begin???
The day was hosted by
Team CrossFit Academy in Monrovia, CA. What a wonderful facility! If I ever have the capacity to do something at the intensity of crossfit again, I would highly recommend them. The owner,
Eric, was a gracious host and both staff and members were so wonderfully helpful and awesome.
Then came Dallas and Melissa. Even though I had read the workshop packet and the first few chapters of
It Starts with Food, I really didn't know what to expect. My BFF
Cecilia attended the workshop the week before and was excited, but I didn't want to sip the koolaid too early.
They started off with talking about the scientific research, clinical experience and scientific experience that back their recommendations. I was pleased to see that they were apparently well versed in science, but I wasn't fully convinced. Then they started talking about their four good food standards and started getting into the real science, and I was sold. Kool-aid down the hatch. I'm a convert.
In my day-job, I spend a lot of time with doctors and understand a good bit of basic science. So when they started talking my language, I knew that not only were they in the know, they were legit. Not only did they understand and were able to translate the basic science, but they also understood and took into account the extreme importance of the psychological aspects of food. I was particularly impressed that they took time to focus on autoimmune diseases and the role food plays in the way it affects our (autoimmune disease living people) lives.
I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to
Pre-Made Paleo and
Chef Rich who made a fabulous lunch and convinced me that paleo eating does not have to be at all boring. I can't begin to tell you how good the food was...and highly recommend that you check out their delivery service.
I have a good ten pages of hand-written notes, and I don't want to give a book report or make it easy for you to not read the book. So I will say this.
- I learned that sometimes hormones are stronger than willpower.
- I learned that it's important to have standards for your food.
- I learned that I'm not the only one with a sugar addiction.
- I confirmed that the Standard American Diet (SAD) is ridiculously stupid.
- I was disappointed to see that such a huge topic is not addressed in the regular medical community when it is the one thing we can change.
- I learned why previous efforts have been only moderately successful.
- I realized that some of the things that I learned on my journey so far were on point - grains are bad for me personally - and there is still so much I have to learn through self experimentation. A great example was finding out that eggs may not be great for someone with autoimmune diseases. It makes so much sense considering how I felt yesterday after eating eggs for breakfast.
Most importantly, I learned that I am passionately committed to making this my new lifestyle.
I'll admit, I'm scared. I am worried that I'll fail. I'm worried that I'll give up and not meet my goals. The Whole30 is not easy...but then again, living with lupus, working full time, grad school, marriage, navigating health insurance, and life is not easy.
But whether it takes me 30 days to get through it, or 90, I will do it. I will make this LIFESTYLE CHANGE. I am worth it. My life, my friends and family are worth it. If I can conquer this, I can conquer anything.
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