There are levels to this stuff. Before I get into it though, this post got longer and deeper than I intended when I first started typing it. If you hate deep shit, only read the first 5 or 6 paragraphs. It’s all important, and depending on who you are, you’ll potentially take what you need from this whether you stop at 6 or read to the end. K, let’s go.

Level 1, eating smarter, cleaner, mindfully, sustainably, whatever you want to call it. It might look different for different people because remember paleYOU. What works for me may not work for you and what works right now may not work in 6 months.

Level 2 is eating for specific conditions. For me, that’s an autoimmune challenge called Celiac in which I cannot process gluten, and am intolerant to casein and soy. Through trial and error, I’ve also learned that my body doesn’t jive with most legumes and functions best on a high fat/low carb routine. You can visit my about me on paleochef.com for the background on being in pain most of my life.

Level 3 is modifying what you eat (and other life choices) as a result of routine testing. This is where it gets fun and really customized. I get blood work done about once a quarter. I think every six months is legit, but due to some irregularities, I do them more often.

In Level 3 for me (I make my clients do a lot of this too), I test all my basics (glucose, cholesterol, iron, etc),  + full pituitary panel (all the hormones), + neurotransmitters, + gut biome (poop testing), and earlier today, as you may have seen in stories, I got a follow up brain MRI*. Also, I did a gene panel a couple years ago which you only need to do once.

Based on those results, I tweak my food, supplements, and prescriptions to tend to what needs tending. Yes, prescriptions, because while I believe that food is thy medicine, sometimes your body needs help.

This may seem like I’m “extra” and if so, I’ll own it. If I only ever stayed in Level 1, I would have been eating what I thought was healthy, “a whole grain diet” according to our broken food pyramid.

And if I only ever stayed in Level 2, ignoring symptoms with my mood, weight, and energy levels, I would not have discovered having the MTHFR mutation or the hormone hiccups that led to an MRI where I found that I have a buddy living on my pituitary gland, which I’ve named Herbert. (pituitary adenoma)

That’s why there’s an * next to the follow up MRI thing, that’s not routine but rather, monitoring Herbert while I make more adjustments to my diet/lifestyle to ensure he stays the same or goes away.

I waited a while to share this with you guys because it’s not as serious as it sounds and I wanted to deal with it in private. I’ve learned a lot and made a lot more changes to my lifestyle, and earlier today was my first follow up from those changes.

During the MRI, I let my mind wander freely. As a fixer, I don’t know if I really allowed myself to flow-out how I feel about Herbert. Again, it’s not as serious as it sounds, but it still is abnormal (while common, according to doctors).

This last year, as with most of my years, was heavy: my ex bf passed away, this diagnosis (which was a relief TBH bc I was starting to feel crazy w/o answers), heart break, family emergencies, a PTSD episode, and the wonderful pressure of building a self funded CPG business by myself + paleo chef stuff.

As the MRI hummed and scanned, I let myself cry a little. Not specifically about Herbert, but because I’ve been accused of being energetically heavy this year, as if a human shouldn’t feel anything but unicorns and sparkles, and unfortunately I let that accusation make me feel broken and as if I were failing.

It’s so easy to diminish struggle because we ‘can handle it’ or because ‘someone has it worse’, etc. I call it triaging trauma, which is something I loathe, and would never do to someone else, but of course, like an asshole, was doing to myself.

And so, I cried during my MRI because I was proud of myself, finally.

Without feeling my heaviness, I would not have built my strength. Without my negativity, I would not be such an optimist.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to go beyond the levels of diet/lifestyle, but I did so I should post this before I change my mind. I don’t have updates from my MRI to give you. I’m NOT a doctor or nutritionist, so please take anything I say I’m doing for my health with a grain of salt.

Takeaways: There are levels to how deep you can go into your diet/lifestyle. Don’t ignore symptoms. Embrace life, all of it. Take care of you. Take breaks when you need them. And be damn proud at how far you’ve come.

Thank you for reading.  I’m posting this 30,000 above planet earth. Hope y’all down there are heading into your weekend feeling solid. And if not, I’m sending you love and strength from the deepest parts of my heart. Trust your gut. xoM #eatplaycrush