I have found myself reflecting a lot this New Year on just how much my life has changed since last year. Personally, 2012 was a year of personal growth; I left a job that I was no longer happy at after five years with the company, I started this blog, I changed how I worked out and fell in love with lifting (heavy) weights, and I travelled and fell in love with new cities. It was also a year of learning some rather harsh lessons. I learned how to budget and balance money-a wakeup call I really did not like! Early in 2012 I ended a friendship after our “friends with benefits” idea backfired-it did not turn out like the movie! It was a very hard lesson to learn and I lost a great friend over it but I would not take it back for one second! I also said goodbye to my ex who had been a constant in my life despite the fact that we had broken up over a year ago. It took what seemed like forever to finally remove him from my life and realize that while we are both great people we are NOT great together. I also learned that dating within the workplace is never a good idea!
The last great change that I made in 2012 was my transition from vegan to paleo follower and full-fledged carnivore. I realized how funny it was to see my vegan cookbooks sitting alongside my meat ones on the shelf. To understand the transition and the moral dilemma one faces when making that change I think that you really have to try being a vegan or vegetarian for awhile and then go back to meat. I was raised a vegetarian and went vegan for awhile but after being diagnosed with Celiac Disease it was really, really hard to get all the nutrients that I needed. I felt lethargic all the time and my skin was terrible! I was also extremely grumpy and bloated. I was NOT a fun person to be around!
I had read Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet earlier in the year and she touts that being vegan will save the world. Who doesn’t want to be a superhero?! Inevitably her voice rang out in my head anytime I thought about eating meat. However, what I have come to realize now is that if I know where my food is coming from (my butcher only carries meat from within 100 miles) and I know how it was raised and how it was killed then my ecological footprint still remains small…so I am still a superhero…just not one that is nutritionally deficient and grumpy!
That first bite of steak-heavenly-happened when I was hungover and craving iron. I walked up the street to my local butcher, purchased a steak and cooked it myself with some eggs. While I was sick afterwards but I was determined to introduce meat to my body. Within a week I felt a million times better! I no longer had to nap during the day, my skin cleared up, and I was happier. I started reading up on the Paleo template and decided that I should start to follow it, after all I had already cut out most grains and processed foods because of my Celiac Disease.
How my body reacted to the change was amazing! I lost some weight but more importantly my energy levels skyrocketed. The only downfall was eating meat in front of Mum (a lifelong vegetarian) at Christmas breakfast. I noshed on bacon and I swear I saw her cringe!
With a year full of changes behind me I also made quite a few resolutions. I wrote them out, framed them and hung it up so that I can see them. The main theme that resonates from all of them is “live this year for me”. Too often I try to please others or worry on who will be the next person in my life (I am a lifelong romantic…it’s horrible) instead this year I am going to ignore all of the noise and concentrate on me. That’s the plan. I hope that I can stick to it.
bits of bre 