The One Food You Just Can’t Give Up May Be What’s Messing You Up the Most

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coffee.jpgWe got a comment on the blog today that went something like this:

I’ve been Paleo for a year now, but I haven’t lost weight and I still feel extremely fatigued. My doctor says it must be all the meat I’m eating and that I should stop Paleo. I do everything right, so I don’t get why I’m not feeling or looking any better. The only thing I haven’t done is stop drinking my 2 cups of coffee every day. What am I doing wrong??

I don’t know… Maybe drinking “your” 2 cups of coffee every day?

I’m sorry to be glib, but that’s how I felt when I saw that comment. Maybe it’s the coffee causing her issues and maybe it’s not, but a lot of us – deep down – actually KNOW what’s causing our own symptoms; we’re just not willing to admit it to ourselves. So instead, we write cryptic messages to random bloggers online to see if they can see through our own bullsh#t for us.

 

I think this person somehow knows intuitively that coffee is the root of her symptoms.

That it’s making her body resistant to losing weight and giving her the dragon syndrome (as in, How are you today? Ohhh, ahm a draggin’…). Why else would she have brought it up? She didn’t say, “I still eat nuts, though.” Or “I definitely feel more fatigued when I eat coconut milk.” Her parting thoughts were about coffee.

I’m not immune to this self blindness.

I’ve done it many times before. I was the biggest dairy whore on the planet 5 years ago. I ate it every day, in all kinds of forms, and I adored it. And during my dairy eating days I had yeast infections most of the time for 3 years straight. I knew somewhere inside of me that it was crushing my immune system and clearing the way for candida growth, but I swore up and down, “Dairy is FINE for me – I don’t get any symptoms from it!”

And then someone who could see more clearly than I could told me I was full of it. And she was right. I am absolutely not ok with dairy, and removing it from my diet solved my problem.

So I implore you to do the following if you’re having some sort of symptom, whether it be weight gain, fatigue, skin problems, breast milk insufficiency, whatever. Even if you’re not Paleo. Whatever way you eat, if you have any symptom whatsoever, ask yourself, “What is the one food/drink I love more than any other?”

“What would I be devastated over if I had to give it up?”

Then give that thing up.

Just for 2 weeks. You can do it, and I promise you that it won’t feel as bad as you anticipate it’ll feel. We’re very adaptable – we humans – and we forget things and people and events more quickly than we expect to. That’s why we continue to binge drink after the worst hangover of our lives, or give birth to more than one child.

“Your” coffee or bagel or oatmeal – or dairy – will find its way into your food graveyard and you will forget it over time. You may even end up reveling in your newfound freedom from it if it means you get to lose that weight or have more energy. Sometimes our best friend can be the thing that most negatively affects your life, however fun that person may be. Same with food.

Oftentimes the thing you crave and love the most is actually doing you the most harm.