"Education should help man become the best he is capable of becoming, to become actually what he deeply is potentially." --Abraham Maslow in Religion, Values, and Peak Experiences.
The physical benefits of Paleo are well-lauded on this blog. There’s no question that Paleo is the reason my family enjoys better health and it’s worth every two-hour vegetable chopping session, despite my occasional murmuring.
But the real reason I live a Paleo lifestyle and feel it is crucial for my children lies in Maslow’s statement: to become actually what I deeply am potentially.
In the throes of PCOS and infertility (me), autism and therapy (my son), and the possibility of Crohn’s/ulcerative colitis (my baby), my physical trials blinded me. They were all-consuming. Constant survival mode. To imagine my greatest potential or any future at all was futile, because frankly, I didn’t know if I would reach tomorrow. The days were long, the nights were filled with crying babies and a crying mother, and every day was a new day…of just getting by.
With PCOS, the apex of my potential was Not Getting Sicker. Not exactly the childhood dreams of becoming the first woman president. But I couldn’t aspire to anything else; I was drowning in insulin resistance and weight retention and autoimmunity. Someone who is trapped underwater can only hope for air; anything more is irrelevant, and I needed air.
Paleo allowed me to emerge from the murky depths, eventually treading water, and finally leaving the sea of despair altogether. The cataracts obscuring my visions have been removed. I can look at the world with fresh eyes for the first time, seeing the opportunities for what they really are.
I have greater hope because I am no longer destined to a life of female cancers. My son can spend Wednesdays at playgroup instead of occupational/speech therapy. My daughter is still recovering and I can envision a life for her that is not defined solely by bowel distress.
There were more moments of happiness than sadness in my life prior to Paleo; that is my nature. But becoming more than a woman with PCOS wasn’t part of my joy.
Now that PCOS is behind me, there is a clarity about who I am that was never there before. I had glimpses of it my entire life, but I can finally embrace it and actually be who I deeply am inside. My children can, too. And that’s the real reason I eat Paleo.
Vibrant Sexy Strong 
What a GREAT post! I am still in the murky water… But your story has given me a great deal of hope! Thank you!
Mariah, thanks for commenting! I’ve been wondering about you and how you’re doing. So glad this could provide hope.
So beautifully expressed! I have had times in my life with my own trials where I have felt exactly what you have expressed here. The constant survival mode and every day being a new day of just getting by. With the need for air in an airless world. I have been at that point in my life. And although I haven’t ventured into the paleo world yet, I have made other changes that have brought me to a better place. A place of vision for my life and for the ability to become actually what I deeply am potentially. Thank you for sharing your journey, and allowing me to see that I am not alone in this world.
Emily, I can feel your passion for this and that you are discovering an Emily that is so much more than you thought before (if you could even think!). Thank you for sharing. I hesitated to post this since it’s a lot more mystical than a typical Paleo post, but finally decided that IS my reason for doing Paleo now so I’d rather be authentic and genuine than put up another “My family gets healthy” post that would be accurate, but wouldn’t have as much heart. I’m glad we can mutually share with one another that we’re not alone.
PCOS is essentially just the process of ovaries turning into testicles 25 to 50 years too late. Check the anatomy of both, you’ll see that the PCOS ovary is an intermediate – not to mention the elevated testosterone levels, etc etc…
It’s just a logical physiological response to a culture and lifestyle never seen before in Human history. I’m glad to see you are managing the transition well.
John, I feel like what you are sharing is very interesting, but I’m not quite sure what you mean. Would you care to expound?