Paleo? SCD? What?

As I mentioned in my last post, a lot has changed since I started this blog. A diet overhaul has been one of the things keeping me busy. Since I went off gluten my health has started to slowly improve, but since starting a "Paleo-like" diet I have a crazy amount of energy, my moods are elevated, and the brain fog is lifting.

I am going to be honest, and say that I am hesitant to tell people I am choosing the Paleo lifestyle. There are a lot of myths surrounding it, and also a lot of things I don't agree with as a Bible believing Christian (like evolution). However, after studying the foods on the Paleo diet, and seeing what it is that modern people consider food, I thought some changes needed to be made.

There is another approach called the "Specific Carbohydrate Diet." This diet's goal is to heal the digestive system from issues like ulcerative colitis, IBS, chronic constipation, and so on. The two diets are very similar, with one major difference I have found so far being that SCD allows some beans and legumes.

What the Paleo and SCD diet are:

A true lifestyle (not a synonym for diet) that focuses on eating plenty of protein (meat, fish, eggs), plenty of vegetables, fruit and nuts. Some include raw dairy into their lifestyle. As a family we consume raw dairy products. Many people who have grain sensitivities are finding this not only an easy alternative, but are reversing some of their allergies/sensitivities.

What the Paleo and SCD diet are not:

This is not a get-thin-quick-protein-only scheme, though many lose weight, but rather attempting to eat for optimum health. Carbohydrates from fruit and vegetables are absolutely allowed and encouraged.

So much has changed in our agricultural standards, and with the demand to mass produce it is understandable. The American diet is now filled with highly refined grains, shelf-stable food sources, and an endless amount of fillers. When I went off gluten I was shocked to see how many things have gluten in them! As a modern society, we have strayed away from eating whole foods that nourish our bodies.

Links have been included throughout this post, and I just wanted to share why many of the recipes I post here will now look a lot different. I will also continue to write more on this topic as I read and study. We are working hard on staying on our tight budget, and I hope to continue to encourage all of you towards a healthy lifestyle while not paying a lot of money to do so.