After a year's worth of doctor visits, a thousand dollars down the drain, and unnecessary and invasive testing, I was feeling worse than ever, in such pain and discomfort that I could not bring myself to exercise or sleep, which further worsened the problem. Doctors of all sorts advised me to eat plenty of fiber, naming whole grain breads and beans as the best sources. Now I can only laugh about it.
I didn't know at the time, but I'm highly sensitive to the gluten in whole grain breads and the lectins in certain plants like tomatoes and beans.
I had all but given up hope when I heard John Durant of Hunter-gatherer.com pitch the paleo diet on the Colbert Report. He compared us to animals in the zoo and explained how they thrive on their natural diet. Humans are animals too, he argued, and should therefore eat their natural diet. I was sold immediately and did some follow up research to get the details before starting. It made perfect evolutionary sense.
So I chose the strictest form of the paleo diet: no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no nightshades, no alcohol, low lectins, no processed food. In two days, I was a new man. The pain and discomfort was gone for the first time since I could remember. I woke with renewed vitality, yearning to get outside and play.
I see the discovery of this philosophy as nothing short of personal salvation, and I owe much to the many voices who have developed the philosophy into what it is now. My determination to advance the boundaries of the paleolithic philosophy are rooted in my own story of misguided science and the wrongs of conventional wisdom. I only hope that I can help others find true health and happiness the natural way.
