Hi Friends,
I was inspired to reach out and touch base with you today. I’ve been on a bit of a paleogirls.com sabbatical… not by choice, just that my other job (you know, the one that helps pay the bills?) is keeping me über busy these days. We’re shooting weddings, engagements, portraits, boudoir, and promoting the new Boudoir Photography Studio like mad. When I’m not shooting, I’m buried in thousands of photo files to sort, edit, post, and share with my clients, as well as designing wedding books and continuing to interview for potential 2011 weddings, and so on. So forgive me for not keeping up with our posts as of lately, but you have been on my mind.
Jake and I are still eating great, even fine tuning every day as best as we can. We no longer buy nuts or cook with olive oil. I swear, there is so much to learn about eating Paleo, and more and more info seems to be coming out all the time. Jake is reading a fantastic book right now, Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora T. Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT. So far, it seems to be a great combination of all the other loose ends of paleo that he has read. He reads me excerpts and I’m always like, oooh, I should blog that!, and then I forget. So maybe go get the book yourself and see what all the fuss is about since I’m so busy I can’t remember to take my clothes out of the dryer. Eesh.
On a diabetes front, I’m on a personal mission. Ignited by nothing else other than my desire to prove to my doctors that it CAN be done, over the next 90 days my goal is to get my AIC down to 5.0. What this means for me is absolutely no cheating. Not that I cheated to much anyway, maybe one item a week or so (typically when shooting weddings). But, I have noticed that if I eat any item non-paleo, that it lingers in my blood sugar for about 2.5 days. It’s not a one-injection quick fix like I used to think. I’ve also learned that when I eat out, even if I order Paleo-style to my fullest extent, that the chef manages to screw it up with some nasty oil or ingredient that just ruins me and my blood sugar control. So better preparation before going out or even intermittent fasting will be my solutions to those social situations.
I have a lot coming up in the near future that will surely make this goal challenging for me, such as shooting weddings (we don’t get to be too choosy with food at these), an “Evening of Boudoir Open Studio Event” at my Boudoir Studio that will offer wine & chocolates for my guests, as well as a mini-vacation to Lake Chelan. On top of that, I also am still paying close attention to my crossfit workouts, learning which ones I can achieve without raising my blood sugars. Typically, lifting heavy things slowly works out the best. The other day, after a 2k row that I thought I did slowly, my sugar bounced to 200. So, I continue learning…
Being able to attain an AIC comparable to those of my non-diabetic friends will be an oh-so-sweet reward :)
Happy Eating :) Joey
Sleep Love Eat 
Sounds like a good plan! I’m sure you can do it! Stay strong and you can avoid those temptations and they will be so worth it.
Thanks for the support!
Great blog! your photos are amazing too :)
So I started Paleo almost 2 months ago and really enjoy the healthy effects i have been feeling. I’m curious to know though, why you are no longer eating nuts? I thought that they are part of the Paleo diet? I eat quite a few nuts a day (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds…). Is this bad?
Hi Jacqueline – we noticed we were using nuts as our primary source of fat, so we stopped buying them as an effort to broaden our healthy fats. We know that too many nuts can throw off the omega-3/omega-6 balance, and they do contain some anti-nutrients as well which may not be so great. Jake knows more about this topic, so I may just have him write a post about it for everyone based on his research. Thanks for your question – and congrats on going Paleo!
You can do it, Joey! I’ll be cheering you on. Just remember you’re already doing great things for yourself so don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good (as we both know, stress raises sugars, too – grr!) I will be so curious to hear what happens! Congrats on all the great work in life and health and everything else. :)
Thanks so much Sarah! Great to hear from you!
Hey Joey!
I loved that book:)
Hi Joey,
I’ve been following your and your sister’s blog for a while and enjoy it very much! It’s great the Paleo diet helps you so much!
I’ve started eating a Paleo-style diet in July, and although I don’t have diabetes, I used to suffer from very sensitive blood sugar levels and other health problems coming from food intolerances. When starting Paleo, I immediately felt how I improved, but I also feel I have to be very strict.
“Primal Body, Primal Mind” is a very good book. I haven’t read it entirely yet, but as far as I can say already it’s one of the best books on nutrition I’ve read.
I hope your plans will work out well!
That’s great Kath! Congrats on going Paleo! Please continue to share your story as you enjoy the benefits of going Paleo :)
Hey, as a new reader, I hope you continue to post! You have a ton of great stuff to share!