My Path to the Primal Lifestyle

• Ailments: I have suffered from daily headaches and periodic migraines since the 6^th grade.  I have been to Neurologists who have done many, many tests and found nothing.  Their solution is to medicate me which I am against.  I have no energy.  I struggled through staying awake in my college courses regardless of how interesting and engaging they were.  I have a hard time watching movies even in the theater because I will doze off.  I have joint pain in my legs and hips.  I would love to run.  Not marathons, but 5ks; however, I usually am in a lot of pain the next day if I do any running.  I get night cramps in my calves which sometimes leave bruises.  I have anxiety, mostly social anxiety, which triggers hot flashes that cause me to severely blush.  I have been picked on so much about it that I tend to avoid social situations.  I have digestion problems, always feeling bloated and gassy by noon.  My husband is the same in that regard.  We’re known for our bathroom sessions (hey, we got a lot of reading in …).  I can’t miss meals or I get shaky, nauseous and headaches.  I don’t sleep well. Sleeping on my back I lose feeling in my limbs, on my sides the same thing plus it feels like my chest is being crushed, and on my stomach I get a bad crick in my neck.  I almost always wake up with a bad headache which luckily reduces after a shower and breakfast.
• My husband and I had been complaining about putting on some weight for quite a while.  We’re not drinkers, so we referred to our beer bellies as WoW bellies (WoW for World of Warcraft).  We bought a basic weight bench, some dumbbells, a pull-up bar that goes in a doorway, and some resistance band door contraption.  We’d be good for a couple days to a week then slack off.  In September 2010 we signed up for a Fitness Bootcamp.  Twice a week for an hour the personal trainer would work us relentlessly.  We followed his meal plan suggestions on eating 5-6 times a day.  My husband and I both gained a pound or two after the camp which was attributed to muscle gain.  Body fat percentages remained unchanged.  We felt no different afterwards, but tried to keep up the exercising.  Of course, we slacked off.
• My husband’s dream is to build a straw-bale or similar type house.  He believes in doing things naturally being green when we can.  He’s always reading articles on the Internet about everything.  In part of his search to relieve my headaches and be healthy he stumbled across Mark’s Daily Apple.  I am pretty open-minded with my husband’s ideas, so I agreed to try the primal diet for at least 30 days.  Over the next couple of months we worked on only buying primal groceries and using up the non-primal food.  As of January 1, 2011 we went 100% with the primal diet.  We do have occasional cheats, but they are pretty spaced out.
• Since going Primal I have seen a reduction in my headaches.  My daily headaches aren’t always daily and they are less intense.  My migraines are more spaced out.  I lost 15 lbs and my husband lost 22 lbs.  Our digestion problems are practically gone.
• We are going to stay on the Primal diet and work on making it a Primal Lifestyle.  Next is working on getting more active.