Somebody else can't want it for you.

There are a lot of awesome people in the CFSA group taking on the nutrition program introduction, also known as the reason I will be updating this blog daily for the next 8 weeks.  We all have our reasons for taking this on.  I've done a Whole30 before (Oct-Nov last year), but CFSA's version is both longer and more strict.  I think that's a good thing though, because while yes, I am doing the program because I know it gives me awesome energy, there is another overarching health reason for me: I want to get off my blood sugar medication.

I was diagnosed with PCOS and insulin resistance when I was 18 (after gaining around 70 pounds in less than a year.  Think something might be wrong, doc?).  For those of you who aren't familiar, polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal condition that is becoming more prevalent in America and is suspectedly genetic.  When I was diagnosed, a lot of things fell in to place and made sense.  So you'd think it would be easy to treat, right?  Wrong.

Me, pre-prom 2007, circa 137 pounds.

Throughout my college career, I rode the careening train known as metformin.  Engrossed by the company I owned at the time, my studies, and later my developing career, I kept swallowing the somewhat unpleasant white pills.  Metformin is frequently prescribed for those with type 2 diabetes as well as insulin resistance, and the short story is that it makes your cells more sensitive to insulin.  However, not really knowing much about how it worked or how to eat around it, it kind of kicked my ass.  Every meal made me tired.  Breakfast especially, and carb-heavy especially.  A pasta meal or toast could knock me in to a headache and deep sleep. I was keeping a crap sleep schedule on top of it, and though I did work out, it was mainly cardio.  Later I would dabble in powerlifting.

Paleo was the first thing that really "clicked" with my body.  I've always struggled with my weight, though as evidenced above there were times when I had it under control.  For me, losing weight isn't a pure measure of vanity.  It's a means of treating a condition without medication, of living a healthy life.  Because my weight and my insulin resistance feed each other in a vicious cycle, I need to disrupt and change them both.  I used my Whole30 as an opportunity to get off the anxiety medication I was on, and coupled with a religious exercise schedule and some positive self-think, I'm thrilled to be off it and doing well.  I was also able to take my metformin dosage down by 1/3 and eliminate my migraines.

On this nutrition challenge, resensitizing my cells to insulin and sugar (don't try and tell my family "natural sugar" in fruit is still sugar to my body.... *headdesk*) will hopefully get me off the medication entirely.  Once I've cut down by another 1/3, I plan to start substituting cassia bark tabs (cinnamon) for the final 1/3.  Ultimately I plan to get off the cinnamon, but I figure it is a much healthier place to be than the drugs.

I also plan to nerd out a little and read some of the academic stuff Whole9 references.

CFSA Team Black, last Saturday

I have faith that this will work... Because it has.  Because I want it to, and because I need it to.  I've proved to myself that I'm done making excuses and I'm up to optimizing my performance and my health.  Yeah, it sucks sometimes to not be able to eat some delicious pineapple or a glass of wine.  But it's not forever.  And when I'm in the swing of it, it feels AWESOME.  And I owe it to me -- because if I won't fight for me, who will?  I want to help people positively change their lives -- but I have to change mine first.

Feel free to stick around for the ride.

xx Becka