Simple explanations and reasons about why I am Primally Inspired

 Be Primally Inspired when you EAT, MOVE, and LIVE! I chose to leave out the lengthy scientific reasoning behind the Primal nutrition plans and made this as easy to understand as I could. If you would like more detailed explanations of anything or have further questions, please contact me and I would be happy to explain or answer any of your questions the best I can.

 EAT PRIMAL

Being primally inspired when you eat means that you choose to eat foods the way our bodies our genetically designed to eat, prior to any modern day agriculture. Eat foods that can be grown, hunted, gathered and grow your own or support your local producers. Eating this way provides the most nutrient dense foods that are so good for fueling and healing your body. Stay away from foods that are just empty calories that do so much harm to your body like grains containing gluten, sugar, refined and processed foods.

Focus on eating meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and a lot of good fats like olive and coconut oil and avocados.

When you eat this way, you remove all processed food from your diet, including all grains and whole grains, especially grains containing gluten, artificial sweeteners, and starchy foods like beans. There is no need to count calories or count your daily food intakes. Eat the right things, eat when you are hungry and eat until you are full.

The food that has been provided to us from the earth is there to make us healthy and to live the most vibrant lives, so let’s get back to basics and eat real food to fuel our bodies!

 My story to eating Primal is a little different than most. Unlike a lot of others, who have dramatic before and after photos, I do not. My before and after photos from the outside look very much the same. I am a nationally ranked athlete who has always been very fit with muscular definition. While my outside appearances look the same, my inside photos would probably tell a different story and the way I feel before to the way I feel now is drastically different.

 I chose to remove grains from my diet as a challenge to myself a few years ago and had such amazing results. I have never gone back to how I used to eat and I want to share my success with others. I ate extremely healthy in the eyes of most Americans. I chose all organic foods, stayed away from artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, etc. and consumed about 50% whole grains because I was an athlete and needed my carbs. I thought I was eating great and doing everything the “right way” until my athletic trainer told me about the harmful effects of grains. I thought he was crazy. Whole grains are healthy or at least that’s what is blasted on every other TV commercial and in all the fitness magazines. I would even travel to the Amish wheat farms and buy freshly ground whole grain flour in bulk so I could make “healthy” breads and pizza crusts. My trainer must have lost his rocker. Besides I needed all the grains I could get to fuel my athletic performance, right? I soon learned that I was wrong, wrong, wrong! I am the type of person who needs to research everything myself before I believe and commit to something, so I used the next 6 months to research everything I could get my hands on about nutrition, grains, gluten, etc. There it was, right in front of my face: Grains containing gluten are harmful to our bodies. I felt so lied to by everything I saw on TV, everything I read in fitness and health magazines, and even by my own doctors. After doing all the research, I challenged myself to take gluten and grains out of my diet and see if the research I did was right. I was eating well in every other aspect, so converting to eating Primal was not as difficult for me. I already ate plenty of vegetables, fruit, meat, and seafood and stayed away from artificial sweeteners and highly processed foods. But when I took the gluten, grains, and sugar out of my diet, I was amazed at what happened.

 Ever since I was a child, I always had to eat every 2 hours or my blood sugar would drop drastically. When I didn’t get food, I would become irritable, get a massive headache, and feel like I was going to pass out. I would eat some food and feel better until two hours later when it would happen again. I always thought I was made this way. I never realized that it was a problem and my blood sugar was all over the place, causing all these symptoms and so much other harm to my body. When I cut the grains and gluten out of my diet, my blood sugar stabilized and has been stable since. I can now go a full day without eating and be completely fine. I don’t get headaches, I never feel like I’m going to pass out and I don’t have the blood sugar mood swings anymore! This has been life-changing for me.

Additionally, I had some intermittent GI issues that I never realized were a problem until I removed gluten and haven’t had one single issue since. I also had occasional muscle aches and pains from the years of being an athlete. I just thought that I was getting older and these aches were the price I had to pay from all the years of training and injuring myself. Now guess what? No more aches and pains! This is amazing to me. All the grains containing harmful gluten were causing inflammation in my body. By removing those grains, I removed the inflammation.

One of the biggest success stories from my family comes from my husband, Zach. Since I’ve known Zach, he’s had sinus troubles. He would get anywhere from 5-7 sinus infections a year and would constantly be congested. It was becoming a real problem and I felt so bad for him. We didn’t know what to do. The doctors just kept putting him on antibiotics and didn’t give us any other options.

Zach took a little longer with getting on the Primal nutrition bandwagon. He ate great when he was at home because I was cooking the food and buying the groceries. But when he would go out with his buddies a couple times a month, they’d order pizza and beers and he would eat it. His congestion was getting a little better, but after the pizza and beer nights we would both notice that it was a lot worse. Finally he became fed up with of all the sinus troubles, saw the difference after eating pizza and beer, and decided to go strictly Primal to see if it would work. It took a good 4-6 months, but his congestion is gone and he has not had a single sinus infection in the past 2 years that he removed gluten. It was gluten all this time that was causing his sinus infections and congestion! Interestingly enough, Zach and I have not had one single cold or flu since we committed to giving up grains and eating Primal. By eating Primal, we give our bodies the proper nutrition to heal and fight infections and we stay away from the foods that actually cause inflammation and disease.

MOVE PRIMAL

Being primally inspired when you move means that you don’t need a fancy gym or expensive membership to get great results. Variety, having fun, and getting proper rest are the keys to success!

My primally inspired fitness routines require minimal equipment and don’t take a lot of time. I lift heavy and engage in quick, bursts of intense exercise just 2 to 3 times a week. The other days, I slow down, rest, and enjoy life like going on a hike with my dog, doing a gentle yoga session out on the piers overlooking the water, going on a nice, easy bike ride or kayaking with some friends or even playing a game of kickball with my nieces and nephews.

It’s all about variety, challenging your muscles and body, and allowing plenty of time for rest and recovery.

LIVE PRIMAL

Living primally in a nutshell means living simply. We make this life so much harder than it needs to be. It seems like the more advanced we get in science or technology, the more complicated everything becomes.

Be kind to others and the earth, be grateful for the things you have, ask a lot of questions, never stop learning, savor precious moments, make time for others, enjoy the little things in life, never stop having fun, slow down, laugh a lot, and give thanks always. It’s that simple.

 While I do enjoy modern conveniences, I also realize the host of problems and complications many of these conveniences have given us. I am not a hippie or Amish, but I do try to apply the simple and slower lifestyle to my modern life.

The more simple I can make my life, the happier I am.

I truly do not care about wealth or status and I certainly don’t think that anyone who has these things is better or more successful than anyone else. What matters to me and what makes me happy is having fun with the people who mean the most to me and making a difference and inspiring others in this life.

Always primally inspired,

Kelly