#supportyourpeers : Meet Pencils and Pancakes

July 2, 2014

Hi friends! Meet a fellow blogger, Andrea of Pencils and Pancakes.

Andrea and I first met in middle school, and both share a passion for food and living a healthy lifestyle. Andrea is now an English teacher in Western New York, living a whole food paleo “diet” while taking on a journey of homesteading. See below for Andrea’s guest post:

farm

 

Hey there Whatlolalikes readers! I’m Andrea. Lauren and I go way back to high school before

either of us were concerned much with healthy eating (at least I can speak for myself)

….and I’m super excited to be guest posting on her blog today. I am inspired by her

creative recipes and ahhh-mazing food photography skills (that I lack). Lauren asked

me to write about my Paleo lifestyle and how it changed my life…and I was shocked

because normally when I start talking about Paleo nobody wants to hear it. “Life without

cereal?!?! Noooooooooooo…..”

 

It’s called the Paleo diet but I can’t even begin to tell you that the word diet doesn’t

scratch the surface. Eating this way is about choosing whole, nutrient dense food such as

meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. Things that your grandparents would recognize

as food. For me, it’s not about what I CAN’T eat, it’s about trying new things and finding

ways to eat amazing whole foods that make me feel great.

 

Let me back up a bit….I will admit I came to the Paleo diet for the wrong reasons. I

was trying to eat as clean as possible for my wedding last year and back then it was all

about weight. I didn’t want to gain weight because I wanted to fit in my dress. But that

soon became tiresome. Sure, I lost a lot of weight but I was killing myself with exercise

and low calorie foods and I was miserable. My husband bought me Practical Paleo by

Diane Sanfillipo for my birthday and I continued to read and learn about a whole food

lifestyle. The more I learned, the more it became about quality of food and not quantity.

About finding local, fresh produce and animals that were treated respectfully- not about

just finding food with the lowest amount of calories. Ever since then I have dropped my

calorie counting and chronic cardio ways and focused on eating whole foods and just

listening to my body. What’s amazed me in the past year that I have been eating this

way is how great I feel. I have struggled with anxiety and sometimes depression (for

seemingly no reason…because my life is pretty great!) for my whole life. Eating this way

has significantly alleviated most of my anxiety symptoms. I also find I have way more

energy and can go longer in between meals without constantly thinking about the next

time I can have some 200 calorie snack. Calorie counting is LONG gone. All I worry

about is getting the best food possible- which works out for someone who loves to cook.

Recently, my husband and I have taken it even further and started raising our own

animals for meat….talk about local food. After learning so much about where my food

comes from I decided to take matters into my own hands.

 

Paleo to me is so much more than people make it out to be. I don’t even like to use the

word anymore because people perceive it to be just a fad diet. It’s not like I never splurge

on beer or ice cream every now and then- I believe indulging is also part of a healthy

lifestyle. For me it’s more about being conscious about the things you put in your body

most of the time. When you feel great from eating whole food it’s pretty easy to quiet the

naysayers!

 

Follow my whole food and homesteading journey on my blog at PencilsandPancakes.

 

Andrea’s contact information:

 

For recent updates, visit Andrea’s Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

Be Kind,

Lola

 

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