I will be putting this blog on hold for a few weeks for now. I have been complaining of bloating and GI distress accompanied by severe fatigue, trouble concentrating and brain fog, which hasn’t improved on the Paleo diet. Now I understand why, it was all due to a parasite infection: blastocystis hominis. Unfortunately, my gastroenterologist is away at a conference in Europe this week so I have to wait yet another week to know what the next steps are. I can’t stress enough how badly I want to get rid of this nasty friend I probably brought back as a nice souvenir from South America.
Therefore, I will be keeping all of my energy to recover. I will continue eating Paleo because I believe that 1) avoiding gut irritants is crucial with all the GI damages that can be caused by parasites, 2) keeping my carbs low can probably help minimize my symptoms by avoiding feeding the parasite and 3) eating Paleo simply is the healthiest way to eat. Now I understand that my intense sugar and carb cravings were probably caused by the parasite…
Whenever my health gets sorted out, I plan on doing a new 30-day challenge because I am confident that my overall health and energy levels will greatly benefit! And the best of all is that I have convinced my boyfriend, who have been eating Paleo-ish (no grains nor legumes but lots of dairy + sugar), to do the challenge with me. I think it will be interesting to see the progression, especially that we have different goals. My goals are to improve my gut health and lean out, while his goals are to get rid of GERD (which he has been dealing with for over 10 years… and he’s only 27!) and gain muscle mass. I’ll be tracking both of our meals and progress, hopefully within a few weeks.
Because we get better with practice, I feel like my next attempt will be successful as I will built on what I have learned with my first challenge. My goals are to eat 3 meals a day and avoid snacking. I believe that I felt the need to snack because 1) I had very bad cravings, probably from the parasite and 2) I wasn’t eating enough protein. I plan on increasing my protein from 3-4 oz per meal to 5-6 oz. My boyfriend will be in the 8 oz. range. I can’t wait to get started again, but first thing first: let’s kill that bug!
‘Till then, take care and I hope you have started your own Paleo challenge! 😉
a dietitian gone paleo 