The Future and Helping Others

I think I'm still in denial about graduating a few weeks ago, which is why I haven't yet addressed the issue of what I'm going to do with this blog now that I'm no longer at Penn.  Perhaps I'll change my name to a symbol and simply become The Blogger Formerly Known as Paleo at Penn.  Or perhaps this will become Paleo at Penn: The Post-Grad Years.  I'm open to suggestions!  But until I figure that out, the name stays.

Now that I'm no longer in school, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.  I know one thing, though: I want to help people.  Whether it's working at a non-profit, teaching or tutoring, doing something in the legal industry, or writing, I want to make a difference.  I want to communicate with people, or write for them, or inspire them, or help them in any way that I can.  I want to both learn from and teach others; I want to save the world; I want to impact someone's life.  I love blogging and sharing my experiences because every time someone reads a post and gets inspired, then my life feels so much more fulfilling.  I loved working with kids these past few years because there was so much to teach them, and their excitement about learning new things made me really happy.  I love performing because someone else feels good after listening to/watching my song/piece/role/etc.  I just feeling like I did something-- no matter how big or small-- to help someone else.

I've become really idealistic over the last few years thanks to the ancestral health movement.  We all want so badly to change the world, and we're all trying, one blog post or article at a time.  If you read any success story, it's usually something to the effect of, "I was unhealthy, and then I found [blog/book/website] and my entire life changed for the better."  How awesome is it knowing that someone may have changed their life because of something you said or wrote?  And that's why I love this movement-- we're all seeking to not only better ourselves, but also better the lives of our friends, families, colleagues, and peers as well.

In the movie Pay It Forward, the young main character (played by Haley Joel Osment) says that he's going to help save the world by helping three people, and those three people are each going to help three people, and so on and so on.  He created a massive network of people helping each other, and that's how I feel in this community-- I am so inspired by others to keep helping other people.  Most of my friends still think I'm crazy for voluntarily giving up gluten, but I'm also glad that they send their friends looking to be healthier my way, knowing that I might have good advice for them.  That's the beauty of networking, and that's the beauty of sharing information.

I really don't know what the future holds for me.  My life could go in so many directions right now, which is both terrifying and really exciting.  But one thing is certain: my passion for health won't go away.  This lifestyle changed my life for the better, and it's one of the things I'm most proud of during my college experience.  It's not even just the weight loss, though-- it's the whole mindset.  (Though the weight loss was a great accomplishment-- here's a comparison of my prom senior year of high school and my formal senior year of college.)

So what now?  Well, right now, I'm home in New York and applying to jobs and internships and hoping that someone will take a chance on me.  I'm also hoping that when I do find a job, I'll somehow make a difference there-- in addition to my job's duties, I hope to spread the word about ancestral health (but in a non-preachy way, of course) and inspire others to not only take their health into their own hands, but to also learn more about any number of subjects.  This movement taught me so much about evolution, biology, anthropology, and sociology-- I now think nothing of reading books or articles about those (and many other) subjects.  It also taught me about alternative living, different ways of thinking, and how strong a community can be.  I received a phenomenal educational at Penn, but I also received a phenomenal education (of a different kind) from the ancestral health community.

Always be a student, always ask questions, and always keep learning.

Quote of the Day:
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."  -Nelson Mandela

Three Things for Three Years

Today marks the three-year anniversay of "the first day of the rest of my life."  It was on this day in 2010 that I decided to take control of my health and really change my life-- at the time, I didn't know how long my newest diet would last, but this one felt different than all of my other attempts.  It quickly became a lifestyle, and here I am in 2013, blogging about it and being able to say that I haven't had bread or pizza or cereal in three years!  So this post will be dedicated to the three biggest things I've learned since February 1, 2010.

1.  It's not always easy, but it's worth it.
I first started my journey about a year before the Paleo/ancestral community really took off; I didn't even know what Paleo was at the time, and I just thought I was eating low-carb real food.  That first semester was hard-- I felt pretty isolated from everyone because food is such a huge deal here, and I had to constantly decline going for pizza or cupcakes or fro-yo.  I wrestled with control issues for such a long time, because I knew (and still know) that I'm a sugar addict, and that one slip-up would completely unravel me.  I know I was way too strict with myself, but I couldn't give in to the "Oh, it's okay, you can just take a bite" thing; giving in to that was what had tripped me up so many times in my life, and I wanted this to be different.  Was saying no difficult?  Absolutely.  Was declining desserts with my friends difficult?  Absolutely, especially since I didn't even want to be around the temptation at all (whereas now, I can go along and just order a coffee or something and be fine with it).  Was trying to find food that I could actually eat difficult?  Absolutely.  But I stuck with it, and it became much easier-- now, it's just second nature.
Despite the social and mental difficulties, it was completely worth it, and not just for the weight loss.  I became passionate about health and nutrition, and I educated myself by reading countless books and papers.  Instead of just knowing how many carbs are in every food on the planet, I learned about chemicals and nutrients and what gluten and sugar do to your body and mind.  Knowledge is power.  I also boosted my immune system, and now I rarely ever get sick, whereas most of my life up until 2010 was spent battling colds.  I became a member of the ancestral community, and I am still so blessed to have met so many people through both the internet and in real life-- everyone is so supportive and wonderful, and I've learned so much from all of them.  I expanded my palate and am now much more willing to try new foods; and unlike when I was a kid and teenager, I love vegetables.  Finally, as I mentioned in my last entry, finding this lifestyle changed my outlook on everything.
So while the initial journey was hard, this was the best thing to ever happen to me.  If you're new to this and finding it difficult, I promise that it gets easier, and you're going to feel amazing!

2.  "Re-examine all you have been told." -Walt Whitman
I knew from my first attempt at Atkins back in 2004 that low-fat and whole grains weren't the key to health, but I didn't really know (or care) about the science at the time.  Fast-forward six years, and my curious collegiate self yearned for real explanations, so I picked up books like Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and Weston Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, and I learned about GMOs and factory farming and the evils of sugar.  By February 2011, I discovered the Paleo movement and devoured the existing books by Loren Cordain, Art DeVany, Gary Taubes, Mark Sisson, Frank Forencich, and Robb Wolf, and these books-- and the online community that exploded shortly after on Facebook-- educated me more on how wrong the government is about food, the issues with the FDA and USDA, CAFOs, the cholesterol/fat myths, and general evolutionary biology and anthropology.  I realized that so many things in conventional wisdom were completely wrong, and that I can't just listen to what the government and health textbooks tell me.  I watched food documentaries (Food, Inc. and Food Matters, for example) and read academic papers, and spent countless hours furthering my knowledge of health and nutrition.  I realized everything that's wrong with this country's current stance on food, and I decided I wanted to try and change things and educate people.
So please: read and question and read some more and question some more.  Don't believe everything that people tell you, and go out and find your own answers.  In the words of Jack LaLanne, "We don't know all the answers.  If we knew all the answers we'd be bored, wouldn't we?  We keep looking, searching, trying to get more knowledge."

3.  You're not alone.
People who follow this lifestyle are usually seen as radical and crazy.  "What do you mean you don't eat whole grains?  Where do you get your fiber?"  "How do you get your calcium if you don't drink milk?"  "I don't know how you live without bread-- you're insane!"  "Wow, you eat a lot of fat.  You're going to have a heart attack."  I've heard it all, as I'm sure you have as well.  We get attacked for not following government recommendations, we're seen as crazy because we choose not to eat gluten and sugar and processed foods, we're radicals because we eat a lot of fat and animal protein, we're wrong because we dare question the bogus studies about fat and heart disease.  For many of us, we're the only person who eats like this in a swarm of SAD-followers, and that can be really isolating and difficult, especially when many people we know challenge our way of eating or try to peer-pressure us into eating unhealthy foods.  Temptation is everywhere, and it is really hard to get away from it.  But you're not alone-- even if you don't know anyone else in real life who follows this lifestyle, there are countless blogs, forums, Facebook groups, meet-ups, and conferences for people like us.  Paleo might not be mainstream yet, but don't ever think you're alone-- this community is so welcoming and always willing to help, so please don't give up on this lifestyle because you think no one else understands.  I hope that one day we'll be more accepted by society, but until then, find one of these groups, meet other people (even if it's just through e-mail or blog comments!), and realize that there will always be a support group and community for you.        

Quote of the Day:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."  -Margaret Mead

How Changing Food Changed Everything

I apologize for my massive blogging hiatus.  Last semester was incredibly busy-- between some really tough classes, a bunch of extracurriculars, and a writing job, I felt like I didn't even have time to breathe!  But I'm back, and I hope to blog more regularly now.  (I recently did a guest blog over at Your Health First-- check it out!)  This is going to be a bit of a personal post, but my journey was most definitely inspired by the ancestral health community.

Up until about six months ago, my plan for after graduation was to go to law school.  From the time I was about twelve until I was about twenty (i.e. right around the time I started this blog and really got into the health community), all I cared about for my future was making money-- I wanted to be a lawyer to the stars, I wanted a swanky NYC apartment, and I wanted to be rich.  Then at some point after I really became passionate about health, I changed my mind.  I didn't care about money anymore; instead, I decided I wanted to represent farmers and fight Monsanto, or work for the ACLU, or get into food politics, or do child advocacy.  I wanted to help people and make a difference!  I saw what this community was doing for people-- everyone was (and still is!) so supportive and helpful, and I got into this "I want to save the world" mentality... which I still have.

When I left for Scotland, I still had plans for law school.  But studying abroad was a life-changing experience for me-- everything got put into perspective, and I realized that I didn't want to deal with three more years of school.  I'm still extremely interested in law (one of my favorite classes this semester is History of American Law: 1877- Present), but right now, law school isn't for me.  Maybe it will be in the future, and maybe one day I will represent farmers or work for the ACLU, but at the moment, I'm looking at a lot of other options.

Once I decided against law school, I realized it was really the first time in my life that I didn't have a plan.  From the time I was a little kid, my plan was to work my butt off and go to an Ivy League school.  Then my plan from middle school until last year was to work my butt off and get into a top law school and then work for a major law firm.  It was kind of liberating, not having a plan anymore-- I have a million interests, and it was really exciting to not know where my future was going to go for the first time ever.  So this past summer was spent really reevaluating my life, and I realized that I love kids (I actually really loved working at a summer camp again, and I don't regret not going for some fancy internship instead), I love health (especially after attending AHS12 and finally meeting everyone!), I love writing and music and theatre.  Do I have any idea what I'm going to do with my life?  Not in the least bit... but I've been applying to education, writing, legal, and non-profit jobs.  I'm happy with anything as long as it makes a difference in someone's life.

If I hadn't gotten into this real food movement, I don't know if any of these changes would've happened.  I wouldn't know anything about food politics or health, and I wouldn't know how awesome it feels to watch a community support each other like this one does.  I truly think my changed eating habits changed everything-- I became less stressed out and less cynical, and more into helping people and trying to save the world.  I stopped hanging out with toxic people, my personality type changed from INTJ to ISTJ (and my Hogwarts house changed from Slytherin to Ravenclaw), and I just felt-- and still feel-- so much better and happier.  It was a massive change, and it was exactly what I needed.

My senior quote in my high school yearbook was from Fame:  "How bright our spirits go shooting out into space depends on how much we contributed to the earthly brilliance of this world.  And I mean to be a major contributor."  I believe in this quote so much more now than I did four years ago, and I truly want to contribute amazing things to this world, regardless of which industry I end up working in.

As I approach three years of this lifestyle in just a few days, I want to thank everyone who has gotten me to this point.  It's still scary that I don't know what I'm doing with my life yet, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Quote of the Day:
"But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.  So she was turned to a pillar of salt.  So it goes.  People aren't supposed to look back.  I'm certainly not going to do it anymore."  -Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five