I’ve just been prowling over my blog posts
from 2011. I was in Italy then with Mama. Those pages are graffiti’d with photographs
of pasta and pizza and gelato; everything that celebrates carbohydrates in
their finest. And now… well now I’m whistling a different tune.
Food is still the running melody of my
life, the sound I hear every day in my head. But now those days are spent somewhere
with a little less sugar and a little less grain. A teeny tiny store in St
Heliers called Wilder and Hunt, to be
precise.
I know, I didn’t see it coming either. I
don’t hate carbs, I promise. I also don’t hate sugar. But I have found myself
here; developing recipes, occasionally cooking for the store, writing articles
for media, and producing nutritional based research for our website. Our
customers often follow a Paleolithic lifestyle, meaning they eat food that
cavemen would have consumed. Think plants, meat, and nuts. And then don’t think
about diary, refined sugar, legumes, and grains. We also cater to those who
find themselves (unfortunately) with allergies. We literally don’t keep any
grain on the premises.
And I have found out something about
myself; I love this food.
I could say that I follow a ‘Paleo’ regime Sunday
through Thursday, and then I have a normal diet from Friday to Saturday, but I
would be lying.
What has been more convenient than our
convenience health store, is that I learnt something last year which has helped
me pursue this lifestyle with a little more vigour. My blood gets sticky when I
eat sugar, and therefore also any type of carbohydrate that instantly turns to
sugar in my body. This is because I have a mild resistance to insulin. Instead
of insulin helping my body metabolise carbohydrates as it’s supposed to, my
body resists insulin, ensuring that the glucose from carbohydrates is not absorbed
into my cells, leaving my blood filled with sticky glucose. Crazy.
After following this regime for some time
now (discounting the weekends) I am sleeping better, I am functioning better, and
I am much less internally inflamed. And so what I’m saying is, this change has
been good for me.
But the most exciting discovery has been that this lifestyle does not exclude chocolate or cake or slice. We can make all those foods without refined sugar and grain. So from now on I may post a few recipes and some stories about this melody that doesn’t go away, regardless of its ingredients.
