I call myself "Autsajder", which is the Polish way of spelling "outsider". I chose it because I really feel that way. I seemed to always be on the fringes, minority of a minority in a minority... Almost forced to not trust status quo, but try and find truth by myself. This blog documents my journey into evolutionary eating, paleolithic heritage, anthropology, genetics... I try to understand what makes us homo sapiens, how we got to where we are, and what is the most optimal way of living. My other blog: I, the social Autsajder, is an outlet for my social musings - on media, culture, history, sexism, racism, fatism... a lot of various -isms! :)
For a long time I took pride in not being interested in nutrition, pushing away food-obsessed culture. I tried to be a vegetarian for ethical reasons - I feel like it's a natural part of being a teenager. After five years I went back to eating meat. I didn't diet, I was eating whatever I wanted. I felt like a rebel when eating ice cream or big chunk of meat and admitting to not know much about "proteins" and "carbohydrates".
Even though I didn't care much, I kind of knew the main stream ideas... eat low-fat, not too much, veggies are good, meat not so much. I started to look more careful on labels choosing low calorie products, even though I wasn't really dieting, it was more of "just in case". I was craving carbs like crazy, and I was often ravenously hungry. I thought it was just my metabolism... I often had colds, headaches and was absolutely exhausted most of the time. My asthma got worse, and about two years ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
I was coming back home exhausted, with no energy to cook proper meals. I was told to exercise, but I had no strength for that. I had often muscle pains, with periods of pain that was making putting on underwear a torture.
When I finally forced myself to exercise my joints were screaming in pain, especially knees. My doctor told me to basically "suck it up", that it was the fibromyalgia, and I couldn't do anything, but keep on exercising and eating more veggies. I was miserable, struggling with severe anxiety and light depression.
Then I discovered Gary Taubes "Good Calories Bad Calories" and there was no way back. I started to read all I could on low-carb eating, from Atkins, through Eades and Zone to finally various versions of Paleo. Discovering the evolutionary background made much more sense to me than all the science behind it. I love anthropology and evolution, am interested in indigenous ethnology and read a lot on ancient cultures. It was right up my alley! I am not very much of a science geek, I try to understand the basics. I love the psychological and sociological sides of the lifestyle.
So where am I now? I am completely gluten-free for about two months, I stopped eating processed foods, sugars and frankenoils a few months earlier.
I cook by myself because I when I come back from work I still have energy to do it. I often do my workout then, clean around the house or do other things. Because now I can. I exercise with no joint pain whatsoever, and I hardly have the chronic muscle pains. I still have painful tender points, and I do get tired after long walks (I have no car), but I am alive! In addition to it, my blood work got better - my triglycerides went down, my HDL went up, and I have no more deficiency in D3 and micro elements.
I love the way my arms look, with bigger, stronger muscles. I can do much more push ups and chin ups than I could earlier on. I am really proud of myself and my progress, and am not going back ever!
