My body, also, wasn’t in the right place to receive
it. I didn’t do it the right way. I kept it fairly lean and
low‑fat, which, I think, is a pretty big misunderstanding
and that’s why I got sick, sicker.
When I came full circle, and began to heal the body
in other ways, and finally came to understand the
Primal way of eating and living, I was like, “Oh, this
makes so much more sense.” The transformation was
immediate and remarkable. It did what years of other
therapies and methods could not do. I was a complete
convert fr om that point on.
G: Would you say it was the additional fat in the Primal
philosophy that made the difference?
Yes, it was the inclusion of healthy fats, which I
already knew what healthy fats were. We never ate
trans-fats in my home. We never ate plastic fats. We
didn’t use canola oil. None of that stuff.
I guess that eating moderate fat wasn’t enough for
me, a person who happens to be very carb intolerant.
It runs in my family. Some people can get away with
more. I cannot. I know that now. What I would have
to do is wean myself completely off dependency from
sugar, which is really hard and not a short process, as
you know.
G: Yes, wait, you can’t do it in 30 days? A 21‑day detox?
I know, it’s funny. I had a long conversation last night
with someone about that.
It’s like, look, how old are you? At that time when
I first tried to do it, I was probably 28. Now, I’m 32.
You spend three decades of your life with your
body adapted to burning carbohydrate first, as its
preferential source. You can’t expect it, in even two
months, really, to completely shift.
What I did was a little controversial because I have a
thyroid disease. I, working with my physician, went on
the HCG protocol, which, some people say it’s horrible.
Some people say it’s great. I don’t care what anyone
says. I know it worked very well for me. It got me to a
place where I was able to adopt a more Ketogenic style
diet and a Primal diet. My body accepted it.
I truly believe that had I not done that first, where
I completely forced the body into understanding how
to use fat as a source of fuel, which is essentially
what HCG does. It resets the thalamus, which is what
I needed to do. I don’t think I would have been as
successful as easily because it was like when I went
to Primal after HCG, it was literally like a light switch.
It was unbelievable.
G: That’s a great story. It’s not uncommon. I’ve heard
it, again and again, last night, I was discussing this at a
Permacultural conference. People who had tried Paleo,
and gone the wrong direction, and didn’t understand it.
I got a bazillion questions. It’s because it’s confusing,
right now with some saying legumes and dairy is ok on a
regular basis, which doesn’t work for most people at all.
Anytime the market reaches a point of saturation,
you have larger quantity, which means we have
dilution of quality. You know that too, with your old
job. You’re going to have a lot of crap. You’re going
to have a lot of great stuff. For a lot of people, it’s
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really hard to parse it out. Even for experts, it’s hard
to parse it out.
I didn’t believe in the Paleo/Primal thing because
there was a lot of things about it that really annoyed
me and still do in the sense that people put a
lot of misinformation out there. I was secretly,
unconsciously, in a place of resistance about it.
If you try, and go, and adopt a new lifestyle when
you’re in a place of conscious or unconscious
resistance, your body is going to resist it. That is a
given fact. I think that it was, really no two ways about
it, it wasn’t going to resonant with me when I was not
in resonance with the concept. When I became open
to the concept, I’ll tell you, I was terrified to eat that
much fat. Terrified.
Gary: I have found through my experience when working
with clients, when it comes to increasing fat consumption,
that is not an uncommon feeling. That is why I always
say get the right information from the right people and the
message becomes very clear and easy to understand.
Especially as a woman. That’s the last thing I
wanted. I’m like, “God, what if all this pain I went
through on HCG and all this fat I just lost, comes
back?” Given my job, obviously, I’m on camera. It’s
important to me. I was very fearful but it worked.
What I always tell people is, “It comes with
experience on being able to separate the junk from
the good as far as information.” I tell people, “The
only reason I can find answers on certain topics in my
genre is because I know what I’m looking for.”
If you don’t know what you’re looking for on a topic
like this (Paleo/Primal) it gets really confusing, really
quickly. You end up on 10 different sites, with 10
different people telling you 10 different things, with 10
different backgrounds. Then you’re like, “Well, which
direction do I go?”
Then you’ve got all the message boards, which
are good and bad. I’ve been pointed to some great
information from them. They’ve made me think about
a lot of things but sometimes, more times than not,
there’s a lot of garbage to wade through that can
become very anxiety inducing and confusing.
I think you really just have to listen to your body.
Also, make sure that you’re well informed. You seek
the right advice from knowledgeable people. That’s
the way to do it.
G: You’re still pretty athletic. I’m always asking people
who are athletic, what difference did you see in the
performance once you made that conversion over to a
more Primal lifestyle.
The most noticeable change was this profound
increase in energy. It was just like, “Oh my God, I’ve
been living without this my whole life? What was I
thinking?” Even when I thought that I had energy, I
always had energy problems. I always was in pain that chronic, low‑grade inflammation.
In the most profound remarkable way, it was so
exciting. I actually overdid it, as some people probably
do because I’m like, “I have all this energy. I’m going
to work out like a maniac.” Then I created all sorts of
sleep cycle problems, but you have to reign that in.
July 2014 eNewsletter 7