Real Life Changes – Lori’s Story “Small Tweaks Matter… Go Paleo”

This is a recent testimonial from one of my clients, Lori, who lives in Ohio. When Lori first came to me, she was still eating along the lines of what many consider to be Conventional Wisdom (CW) around what is healthy food: low fat and whole grains. She had already begun to make shifts towards Paleo, but was certainly experiencing some standard CW fat-phobia and ate many times per day to maintain energy. By the time we wrapped up coaching, her blood sugar regulation, food quality choices and satiety from meal-to-meal were all vastly improved. Lori's slight body composition shift is indicative of her general level of wellness before beginning (she is a very active and fit woman) and the tweaks (as she calls them) that she made that just made the slight difference that is visible in her body after just a few months. Congrats, Lori- awesome work!

I started working out in the gym in October, 2010 with a Fitness Coach, Jeff Turner, Fit2Play. He eats Paleo and I was intrigued, so I started researching Paleo nutrition online. I ran across Diane on Twitter and I really liked the amount of information she provided and her availability as a nutrition coach by phone/email.

I hired Diane to help me learn to eat Paleo and to tweak my eating habits so I could lean out more and have plenty of energy in the gym and throughout my day. She helped me get through the initial difficulty of eliminating foods from my diet such as soda, cheese, crackers, desserts and bread. Moving into a Paleo lifestyle is definitely an evolutionary process and Diane was patient and encouraging. She gave me some before and after workout snack ideas, innovative ways to cut calories (while keeping energy up with good fat) and food substitutions ideas with my homemade guacamole. She also taught me about the benefits of grass-fed beef and wild-caught fish. I never thought twice about it before. Now I look for quality over quantity.

My first aha moment was learning about the importance of keeping insulin levels steady.

Removing sugar from my diet was monumental. It became so much easier to have the willpower to reach for satisfying fruits and veggies without sugar driving my insulin levels crazy. Having good quality proteins in each meal, with a variety of satisfying nuts on hand and drinking lots of water has become a habit that is now easy to maintain. Good planning is critical as I am a busy small business owner, wife and mother.

A photo of dinner time at Lori's house now.

My second aha moment was accepting the importance of having good fat in my diet for satiety, brain function and more. I never want for anything eating Paleo foods. I am satisfied, energized and constantly finding new foods to try that make me feel really good … and happy.

We recently had seasoned, grass-fed lamb burgers from Whole Foods for dinner (delicious) with a side of greens, with three or four veggies in the mix and a splash of garlic Olive Oil and White Balsamic Vinegar.

My third aha moment was the discovery of coconut.

Coconut water, oil, butter and milk make it easy to get the good fat I need and to prepare eggs, meat and veggies more healthfully. Best of all, my prior GI tract problems have disappeared — I don’t think twice about how my body is working. It is working hard and working well. I can say that at 49, I feel better than I did at 39, maybe 29 (sorry, can’t remember that far back!)

So I continue to exercise in the gym and outdoors five-to-six days a week (lift, walk, run and move using MovNat-inspired movement — another discovery from Diane – check it out!) and I eat Paleo daily. My Paleo habit is in place about 95% of the time … with an occasional piece of birthday cake or bread at my favorite pasta restaurant — and one or two alcoholic beverages a week. I look forward to continuing this lifestyle (not a diet) permanently. I would highly recommend Diane and the Paleo nutrition lifestyle to anyone who wants to get the most out of every moment of life.

Peace to you,
Lori