I had a discussion with a longtime musician friend about the Paleo diet a couple of months ago, over a light lunch at a local restaurant that specializes in Pac NW/Italian fusion cuisine. Micah, grown somewhat pudgy from twenty years on a stool behind an upright bass, had recently begun working with the Blueprint book and had found that it worked well for him; between the diet and a daily walking regimen (2-3 brisk miles every morning before he went to his teaching studio) he'd lost about 15 lbs and said he felt great. He watched me order fresh pasta with cooked vegetables (carrots and zucchini only, and could they please hold the pine nuts, broccoli and tomatoes), basil and olive oil, and a little grated parmesan over it, and call it good. He wondered: where's the tossed salad? What about meat (the restaurant offered some lovely beef dishes)? He was really getting into the Paleo diet and he was in that mindset of the newly converted: "Hey it's working for me and, well, just about everyone else who's tried it, I know it would work for you, too."
I patiently explained to Micah the short list of foods that a lifetime of living with Crohn's disease had compelled me to avoid -- and both leafy greens and beef are high on the list. He wondered aloud if trying the Paleo diet could "cure" me of Crohn's disease: "you might go through several weeks or even months of, you know, 'healing crises' as your body acclimates to the new diet, but I bet it could help in the long term." Based on the diet's recommendations of lots of leafy greens and other vegetables that are extremely hard for me to digest, I replied that I wasn't willing to try any diet that would cause me great pain in the process; IMHO, intense abdominal pain after every meal should not be a required part of healing and I'd like to think we've moved beyond the days of bloodletting and un-anesthetized cranium-drilling. I thanked him for his concern and tried to reassure him that I knew my body well enough, after over 40 years with Crohn's, to know what I could eat and what would harm me if I tried. I was glad the new diet was working for him -- he looked and vibed happy -- but it could never work for me because there were simply too many foods prescribed that I couldn't eat. And that is the challenge with diet plans. They do not and cannot work for everybody equally well. Any diet plan claiming to work for everyone is a plan that really has to be examined carefully -- and then discussed frankly with your doctor before you dive on in. Beth http://bikelovejones1.blogspot.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
