Yesterday I went to Canton Something Chinese restaurant with my friend TH. TH and I enjoy Asian food and we have been exploring the city from that perspective. I have always enjoyed (1) eating, (2) in company. But even without company, I have enjoyed eating. The tastes, the smells, the feel on the tongue. I have called myself a foodie, and been proud of that designation. But something new has arisen, that may change all that.

I’ve been going to the gym. How my new gym rat nature came about is another story for another time, but gym attendance has everything to do with this story.

When I first started at the gym, I had no specific food plan, nor did I eat for health, solely for tastes, etc. Since my class is in the morning I barely had time to wake up, dress and drive, never mind breakfast. Since I always got logy after a meal, I thought a full stomach would detract from my workout measurably, and so it did on those days I ate breakfast. If I didn’t eat, dizziness and weakness showed up, in spades. Hmmm. Eat something, not too much, but what? A banana, no protein. Add some nuts, ok there’s fat, but still no protein. Oy.

But as it often happens, when you are on a journey, a new opportunity showed up. One of the trainers talked, a lot, about her eating plan, which she said supported her workout very well. Paleo diet. Paleolithic. Caveman food. Only eat what a caveman would have. Okay, a caveman would have meat, fish and eggs; eggs occasionally, when the birds were laying eggs. But no dairy. Hard to milk a wild buffalo. No grains, because no farms. No legumes, same reason. Foraged greens and roots were a staple though, and very rarely, wild honey. So, no processed foods, sugar, alcohol, anything sold in a box, in plastic, or cured with chemicals. I thought the diet was hoke, new age la deed ah stuff. I want my beans, my cheese, my etc. I didn’t give Paleo mental table room.

But once again, an intervention. The gym issued a challenge; one month on the Paleo diet, picture and weigh in, before and after. Prizes. I was in. One month. I lost weight, I felt great. I had energy, happiness, more strength and stamina in my workouts. Lovely.

And I immediately left on a long awaited trip to Paris. Where I existed on cheese, cheese, cheese, butter, pate and lovely, crusty bread. Café au lait. Oh, golly! And I felt my energy flagging. I wrote this off to the uncommon amounts of walking we were doing every day. Stoke on bread and cheese, walk it off. Onion soup (more bread and cheese) at lunch, walk it off. Too tired to eat dinner out, we would dine on bread and cheese, some pate, some fruit in front of the TV. Sleep it off. I really enjoyed Paris, but I came back less fit than when I left, even with all the walking.

Thanksgiving and Christmas with their annual caloric and emotional burdens capped off my return to food as before. Before Paleo.

But in January, the gym issued another challenge, Paleo for another month, picture and weigh in, prizes. Works for me. I signed on, weighed in, did a refrigerator purge, bought Paleo food and dug in. My strength, energy and happiness gradually came back. I no longer craved bread or cheese. My workouts continued to improve. Hmmm.

By the end of the month I had lost seven pounds, and was energetic most of the time. So I decided to stay on Paleo food, and live that way. I read the handout. I read the books; I read the cookbooks. I bought kale and avocados. I ate well on Paleo and continued to thrive.

The books gave leave for three, two or one “open” meals each week. Open meaning not Paleo, diner’s choice. A lot of my social life occurs in restaurants, I told you I was a foodie, so I chose to have one open meal each week. And yesterday TH and I went out for dim sum. (Perhaps if the restaurant had been stellar I would feel differently about this.) Dumplings (meat in dough), lotus leaf rice, shrimp thingie in a different dough, this, that. Dough, dough, dough and rice. Grain and a lot of fat, doused in soy sauce (beans, fermented). Quite tasty, really tasty, enjoyable and tasty. I ate it.

We went shopping after and I began to feel sluggish, tired, weighty, bloated, more tired, un-clear-headed. Not good.

The Paleo book did warn against blowing it all out on your open meal, and I confess I did blow it all out. Taking TH to his house, and again in the driveway I made two driving errors that could only be made by a person of diminished brain capacity. I said, “senior moment” at the time. TH said I looked tired. I was. This morning I believe that the diminished brain capacity was caused by the toxicity of the lunch.

Big lesson here. Open meals, a treat, are not to be treated as open house meals. Paleo diet is very good for me as a gym rat, an older person, and as someone who drives a car.

Lesson learned.

An interesting observation, old me, dim sum queen, who called herself a foodie, who was proud to be a foodie, who followed all the new menus and venues, lived to eat. I lived to eat. And eat I did. To quite a health detriment as well as a pocketbook detriment. Now I notice I choose my food first for what does my body good, and only second for taste. For sure taste is still important, very much so, but I eat what is good for me, what is needed, and then use my foodie skills to make that good food taste wonderful. I eat to live. That is a HUGE change in mentation!

I nourish me means I love me. Nice!