A Test Of Mindfulness (The Paleo Diet)
Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 11:47 am
In September 2010, I snapped out of my misery of being diagnosed with MS, and I undertook a series of lifestyle changes that were designed to keep me more healthy. These lifestyle change were essentially: diet, exercise and meditation. Well the meditation is what first introduced me to the concept of mindfulness which ultimately brought me here. I still strongly see the need for exercise, but this is harder than you might imagine with legs that don't work properly, fatigue issues and two tiny children. The diet, well the diet fell by the wayside........
The recommended diet was essentially vegaquarian i.e vegan with the addition of fish. I am a fairly accomplished cook, so this diet wasn't so bad at first, but I still missed the foods that I used to eat, especially meat. In fact, I managed to last 18 months in total. My meditation practice was developing slowly but surely and it was getting easier and easier to let go of thoughts. Except one. I would be regularly bombarded with the following thought: "Eat what you want, life is too short. Happiness is more important than healthiness" In the end, I figured that this thought ought to be listened to because its voice was so strong and so insistent. I listened to the voice and went back to eating what I always had done. In most ways, I was a lot happier: I had gone from desperately trying to get there and I was paying attention to here - this is one of the key tenets of mindfulness.
During the time that I was on this diet, I was doing lots of reading, convinced that there was a way that I could "beat" MS. One thing that I read about was The paleo diet - the theory of this diet really got me from the start. Essentially we ought to eat what the cavemen ate, because the hardware (our bodies) hasn't really changed much since that time. It seemed to make perfect sense to me. Anyway, I've been talking to a friend that I met on a forum when I was following the old diet who has changed his diet to the paleo diet. I was telling him about the wonders of mindfulness, he was telling me about the wonders of the paleo diet, then the obvious answer hit us. I am going paleo for (at least) 60 days, he is meditating daily for (at least) 60 days, and we'll see where we both end up at the end of it.
This is going to be a fascinating experience for two reasons. Firstly, I look forward to meditating about my diet and whether this actually is the right thing for me or not. I am in a much calmer and more peaceful place than I was back then; I am much better prepared to arrive at a decision that is right for me. Secondly, I will be really interested to see the effect that regular meditation has on Marcus. He has dabbled with it before, but I'm hoping that regular, committed practice will have the same effect on him as it did me.
I will be documenting the journey in this thread, feel free to join in the discussion (or a similar lifestyle change). I am going to ask Marcus if he wants to join in the discussion too. I hope so.
This is day 1.
The recommended diet was essentially vegaquarian i.e vegan with the addition of fish. I am a fairly accomplished cook, so this diet wasn't so bad at first, but I still missed the foods that I used to eat, especially meat. In fact, I managed to last 18 months in total. My meditation practice was developing slowly but surely and it was getting easier and easier to let go of thoughts. Except one. I would be regularly bombarded with the following thought: "Eat what you want, life is too short. Happiness is more important than healthiness" In the end, I figured that this thought ought to be listened to because its voice was so strong and so insistent. I listened to the voice and went back to eating what I always had done. In most ways, I was a lot happier: I had gone from desperately trying to get there and I was paying attention to here - this is one of the key tenets of mindfulness.
During the time that I was on this diet, I was doing lots of reading, convinced that there was a way that I could "beat" MS. One thing that I read about was The paleo diet - the theory of this diet really got me from the start. Essentially we ought to eat what the cavemen ate, because the hardware (our bodies) hasn't really changed much since that time. It seemed to make perfect sense to me. Anyway, I've been talking to a friend that I met on a forum when I was following the old diet who has changed his diet to the paleo diet. I was telling him about the wonders of mindfulness, he was telling me about the wonders of the paleo diet, then the obvious answer hit us. I am going paleo for (at least) 60 days, he is meditating daily for (at least) 60 days, and we'll see where we both end up at the end of it.
This is going to be a fascinating experience for two reasons. Firstly, I look forward to meditating about my diet and whether this actually is the right thing for me or not. I am in a much calmer and more peaceful place than I was back then; I am much better prepared to arrive at a decision that is right for me. Secondly, I will be really interested to see the effect that regular meditation has on Marcus. He has dabbled with it before, but I'm hoping that regular, committed practice will have the same effect on him as it did me.
I will be documenting the journey in this thread, feel free to join in the discussion (or a similar lifestyle change). I am going to ask Marcus if he wants to join in the discussion too. I hope so.
This is day 1.