I am a Natural Chef with an emphasis on paleo cooking and eating for health. I attended culinary school at Bauman College, a holistic nutrition and culinary arts school. I became interested in food and wellbeing through a lifetime of food allergies, intolerances, insecurities, and frustration. When I began to experiment with my food; the types, preparation, source, nutritional quality, etc, I began to fall in love with the creative and loving process of cooking. I've been dairy-free (few exceptions over the years) since 2004 when I finally got sooooo sick from eating ice cream that I was rolling on the ground with stomach pain. I've been gluten-free since 2007 after discovering that I had an intestinal parasite from 9 months prior. I spent months going to doctors and trying to figure out why I couldn't lose weight and why my stomach hurt so much. I figured it out on my own.

I became paleo in April 2010 after a friend suggested I check out Marksdailyapple.com. That same year I decided to become a paleo chef. My digestion was reasonably under control (still figuring out the nuances), I weighed less than I had in high school. I wasn't running everyday and I got lots of sun! I follow a Primal/Paleo diet which includes meat, fish, eggs, very few nuts and seeds, all vegetables,very little fruit, and some tubers. My indulgences within Paleo are dark chocolate, occasional wine, and coffee. I will also enjoy some corn from time to time (1-2x a month) in the form of mexican food. And rice maybe 3-4x a year for sushi. If I'm being strict I omit alcohol and all natural sugars. (dates, honey, coconut sugar, and most fruits).

​Over time I've found myself putting on weight again. I think my fat intake has been much higher than when I started paleo. Also, since I'm a chef, I'm around food all day. So even if I'm paleo-compliant... I'm probably over-feeding myself in a caloric sense.

CHALLENGES:
Social situations. Going hungry or saying no to foods offered at other's houses or at a "questionable" restaurant.

ADVICE:
Don't rely too heavy on nuts or nut-based products. Also coconut and coconut based products. It's too easy to try and replace neolithic foods with paleo alternatives... but at the end of the day the meals should always be very similar. Meats, veggies, and fat.

I hesitated to share my story since before I started The Primal Blueprint (PB), I was already a fairly healthy 22-year-old, so my transformation simply cannot compare to those that have lost weight in the triple digits and literally cured diabetes. However, I decided to write out this story after some encouragement from my friends, and I do believe that my transformation is incredible in its own right: particularly, the results materialized so quickly. I'm writing this after less than 4 months of following PB. Moreover, I don't see many success stories involving my ethnic group, Asians, probably because of the importance of rice in our culture. One of the most common critiques that I hear is "look at all those skinny Asians who gobble down rice." I wanted to show that there exist substantial benefits to toning down the consumption of rice.

My story starts in my senior year of college. After four years of college, I had put on 20 pounds, reaching 160, which was slightly overweight considering my height of 5' 5". Furthermore, the acne that I assumed would disappear with time still persisted from my high school years. You can see me as a college senior. When I graduated, I decided to make my health a priority and threw myself fervently into the Conventional Wisdom (CW) approach. For 5-6 days every week, I would exercise splitting my time about 50-50 between cardio (in the form of running) and strength training (mainly pull-ups, squats, and bench press). As for diet, I ate my whole grains, lean protein, low-fat dairy, and upped my fruits and veggies. The results were slow, but over the course of about 3 months, I managed to lose 10 pounds. Suddenly, progress stopped. I stayed the course with this regimen for 2 months, and my weight remained unchanged. In addition, I doubted my ability to sustain this volume of exercise: I constantly felt tired. You can see the results of CW.

Around this time, I stumbled upon Mark's Daily Apple when looking for ways to increase my ankle mobility (I was having trouble squatting low, which I have also since remedied). I began to dig deeper into this concept of "Primal Living," and I found much of it, particularly the bits about insulin and cholesterol, aligned with what I had learned in my college Biochemistry class. Suddenly, I began to look through the lens of evolution, connected the dots, and realized that something has gone awry with how humans interact with our environment. For instance, I discovered that high-carbohydrate diets have been linked to myopia. In terms of evolution, it makes no sense that I was wearing glasses by the time I was 7, and myopia among Asians is the norm. Perhaps, we don't store fat the way Westerners do, but I sincerely doubt our carbohydrate-rich diet is harmless. Frustrated with the CW approach and being young with not much to lose, I figured that I would give PB a try. Rather than ease in to the PB, I dove all-in, dropping grains immediately. When I got the low-carb flu, I doubled down and ate more fat. I had an awful case of the flu that lasted nearly 3 weeks, which indicates that I was very insulin-resistant at the start.

After 6 weeks, I decided to check my progress, and I couldn't believe the results. I had already reached my goal weight of 140! That was my weight back in high school when I played tennis and soccer, but I found myself even leaner then than my former 18-year-old self. I've managed to stay the course, adding in things like organ meats and intermittent fasting (which for me tends to mean simply skipping breakfast), and have made even more progress as you can see. The ease of PB has surprised me the most. Fat tastes delicious, so I eat better-tasting food. I don't go hungry because I simply eat until I'm full instead of counting calories. I work out even less than before: most weeks I lift 3 days and sprint 1 day. If weather permits, on the weekend, I may run 3-4 miles, but this happens maybe only once a month in Boston during the winter. I'd say that the only difficult thing was learning how to cook, but I view it as a fun challenge and a chance to experiment. Furthermore, the 80/20 rule allows me ample chances to deviate without feeling guilty. Like many, I started PB for weight-loss reasons and have discovered other numerous benefits.

​Not only have I lost weight, but also I have gotten stronger as measured by my weight room gains, I recover faster from hard workouts, and my skin is much better as one can see. Most importantly, though, my energy levels are more stable, which has made me more productive at the office. Not being a slave to eating three square meals per day and having too much energy to sit still and watch TV has afforded me the time to do things I enjoy like reading, cooking, and mathematics. All in all, through this experience, I have become convinced that "Primal Living" is the right way to live. If my example can even inspire one person to convert, I'll feel that I have spent my time well writing this.

CHALLENGES:
Learning and taking the time to cook.

ADVICE:
Just try it for 30 days and see what happens.

My "before" picture is in June 2011 at an unknown weight. I was avoiding the scale at that time, for obvious reasons! In July we took our vacation to the lake and I was unable to get out of the water on my slalom ski, both because of my weight and because of my lack of muscle tone. Between that and the ugly feeling I had in a bathing suit, I decided something needed to be done. I don't remember how I came across Robb Wolf's book, The Paleo Solution, but it stuck a chord with me. (As a side note, I don't agree at all with the concept of evolution, but find I don't need to in order to agree with the science and with the obvious better health of hunter-gatherer societies in our world.) His science was compelling, so I started the diet (or should I say, "the new way of life") at the beginning of August.

The weight just fell off! I initially didn't do much in the way of exercise, but as I lost weight I found it easier to exercise and that I had the energy that needed to be burned. Initially I was walking and biking. I live in a climate that makes outdoor activity difficult in the winter, so the biking was temporary. Then I came across Mark Sisson's website/book after hearing him on Robb Wolf's podcast. I like what he teaches on exercise. Wolf tends to cater to those who really want to do weight lifting, and that's not me. So with Sisson's ideas on sprinting once a week, lifting heavy things once a week, doing slow aerobic the rest of the week, and playing as often as possible...well...that was right up my alley.

As a testimony to the effectiveness of the sprinting on overall aerobic capacity, I was able to do the sprints for four weeks before going to Colorado to ski in December. On the first day, I ran up three flights of stairs, two at a time, and wasn't winded! That is unheard of for me. My first run down the mountain was top-to-bottom, non-stop (even with my weight, I am an accomplished skier), and I wasn't winded nor was I feeling the burn in my thighs. Again...unheard of for me recently. Between the weight loss and the sprinting, my physical abilities at altitude were better than I can ever remember. OK...I got ahead of myself. The weight fell off quickly. The "after" picture is from early October and the total weight loss at the time was about 30 pounds. I continued to lose weight, but at a slower pace until I was down about 34 pounds by December. Then I got to spend a lot of time skiing, so my exercise level was necessarily increased considerably. That brought me down to a loss of 39 pounds. Right now I have been bouncing around at between 35 and 39 pounds of loss for about a month.

I believe it is because I have gotten a bit slack and allowed myself to eat too many sugary sweets like hard candies, etc. I have about 20 pounds to go to get back to high-school weight, so I am going to bite the bullet and let those sugars go by keeping my eye on the goal. I also had a VAP cholesterol test done. I don't have a "before" test to compare it to, but it came back as expected as "high" overall, but with good HDL, Type A LDL, and good Triglycerides.

​I've read a ton of Chris Kresser's work on cholesterol and am not worried about the numbers. He also pointed out that it really isn't a good idea to believe the numbers until you have been at a stable weight for several months. So I'll test again when I get to a stable weight. Overall, this has been the simplest way of eating I've ever encountered. I don't miss grains at all. And it will be a lifestyle. It has to be. If it is only a "diet", then as soon as I get to my goal, my old way of eating comes back right along with the weight. That can't happen. I want to be healthy as I age, able to be active as long as possible.

CHALLENGES:
​ I have a nasty sweet tooth, so staying away from things like hard candy and ice cream is especially difficult. In fact, I am at a plateau right now and suspect that this is the culprit. So I am going to work especially hard at avoiding the opportunities to consume those items.

ADVICE:
Know why you want to do this. I inundated myself with all the books about eating Paleo/Primal...everything from Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Gary Taubes, Chris Kresser, and Loren Cordain. One of my favorites was "Wheat Belly" by Dr. William Davis. All of these helped convince me that I was eating in a manner that would make me healthy for the rest of my life. With all the other potential diseases out there, why make it easier to be debilitated by the way you eat?! Set a goal, but more importantly, set a REASON. If it's only a goal, once you reach it, you will be tempted to return to your old ways. But a reason stays with you and you can make this style of eating a lifestyle.

​I spent my 20's in the 255 pound range.  At age 30-31 I lost almost 100 pounds basically through starvation and calorie restriction with no thoughts as to food quality or macro-nutrient levels.  My restricted calories were high in sugar and carbs.

I maintained that low for only a few years and then stress & life and M&M's were introduced and I gained 40 or so pounds back.  I attempted calorie restriction again with only moderate success.  I started listening to Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low Carb podcast and decided to try that (I had done "Atkins" years prior).   My weight loss picked up considerably and I started reading and listening to more podcasts, digging into the blogs.  I transitioned my way of eating to a more Primal (Paleo + HF dairy) with a focus on food quality and that's where I am today.  About 8 months ago I started exercising with kettlebells and now have added TRX suspension work and plan to start sprinting when the snow melts!  

I am not where I want to be, weight-wise, but also have some thyroid and adrenal issues to contend with and trust that if I stay the course, I may get there - or not.  I think I am at a healthy point even though my appearance is not what I would like.

CHALLENGES: 
I crave sugar and sweets (almost) all the time.  I definitely have a sweet tooth and it is a contstant battle.  I can live without bread and grains but if I could eat ice cream or candy a couple of times a week without consequence, I would (which I can't!!)

ADVICE: 
I would advise them to just try it!  This is a hard-sell.  There are so many people who have complemented me and ask me how I did it, and then immediately say, "well, I couldn't give up my ______(pasta, bread, etc).  Surprisingly, you can. I am at a point where I never crave pasta or bread...but still love sweets.  Some people naturally prefer savory foods and I think they are naturals for this way of eating!!