What made you decide to try out Paleo Diet?

Lose weight?
Sick of something?
Gain athletic performance?

State your real reason(s)

I started getting serious about my diet when i was working out at the gym (before my shoulder surgery - snapped tendon) and looked up diets online, found the paleodietlifestyle website and never went back! definitely the best diet a human can have

I was desperate: so fatigued and depressed that I couldn't get up for more than a few hours a day, acne that was getting worse no matter what I tried, daily migraines and stomach cramps, severe menstrual cramps along with pain at other times of my cycle... the list goes on.  On top of that, I was getting married in a month, and going back to school to work towards a second degree in three.  I couldn't remember anything for more than a few hours; how was I going to manage chemistry, biology, and physics?

I was sick, but there was "nothing" wrong with me.  My bloodwork kept coming back fine.

One of my friends, recently diagnosed with celiac disease, suggested that I check into it as a possible cause.  She'd had many of the same symptoms.  I think that I first found out about Paleo in the course of looking on acne.org to see if anyone had found connections between food sensitivities and acne.  The topic title caught my eye, and I immediately began searching. 

My first degree was in anthropology, and paleo just made sense.  The simplicity appealed to me as well - no trying to figure out ingredient labels, or shelling out the big bucks for gluten free baked goods that don't even taste that great.

I started doing this WOE the next day.  While my face wasn't totally clear for my wedding, at least it wasn't bleeding every time something brushed along my jawline.  My fatigue finally lifted about a month after starting paleo, just in time for my wedding (where I got severely gluten-ated, but that was a planned epic cheat).

By the time I was back in school, I had more energy than I'd ever had in my life, including childhood, my memory was as sharp as it was in high school, and my mood was great.  It has not always been easy to stay on this way of eating, but it's totally worth it.

My second son was having serious issues, very constipated and seems to have a lot of belly issues. He was exclusively breastfed and those aren't typical of breastfed babies. Particularly the constipation. I went searchign for what could be wrong with him and read a lot about dairy and how it can affect us. I eliminated all dairy from my diet and he got much better. He is totally fine now, no issues. As a result of my research I came across the paleo WOE and it just made total sense to me. So... I went for it. Glad I did

I was looking for something to even out my blood sugar, as I was getting bad blood sugar crashes several times a day. I was looking at low-GI diet books on the library shelf when I saw Rob Wolf's book nearby on the shelf. I brought it home, read it, and the evolutionary logic made sense to me. The foods allowed immediately appealed because I like meat, fish, fruit and veg, and I'm lactose intolerant. I'm also interested in self-reliance, and when we retire we'd like to live semi-rural and grow a lot of our own food, and on this diet you could grow, gather, hunt or catch just about everything yourself.

I did some more investigating about the nutritional profile of the diet and the health effects, and the news was all good so I decided to give it a go. It has fixed my blood sugar and so much more! I'm very glad that book was there on the shelf. 

I was curious about why people nowadays were so ill compared to our ancient ancestors. I had read a few articles about hunter-gatherers, old and new, and how they compare to us as "modern" man. After a bit more delving, I came across an article that explained what the paleolithic diet was and I instantly clicked with it The key to improving myself was to take a step back in time!

For me, it was for health reasons.

I have Multiple Sclerosis and Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was in a pretty good depression and started to do research on diet rather than wanting to start with another wave of drugs. Both my conditions are autoimmune related. I found the talk on Diet and MS by Dr. Cordain.

I did more research, read a bunch of books and papers, and determined that there was no health risk to trying the diet and everything to gain. I said I'd give it a solid six months.

I'm going into month four and I can tell you now, I'll never go back to eating the way I did before. I'm losing weight, very slowly, but I'm not trying to. Once I get past a little more crazy in my life, I'll be able to exercise more.

I've told a few of my friends that are also chronically ill that they owe it to themselves to give it one to three months to see if it makes a difference in how they feel. But most people are "oh, I could never give up bread."

Me? I'd drink bleach if it made me not hurt some days, honest to goodness. Dropping foods from my diet to feel better? VERY easy choice.  I just need to figure out good alternatives for food when I'm so tired that I will succumb to the drive through.

Wow1,  There sure are a lot of interesting reasons to try the Paloe Diet.  I had no idea there were as many food issues out there.
My Dr. suggested the diet to me several years ago.  That is when my Dr. found that I had high blood pressure and high (bad) cholesterol levels.  Typical middle age male issues.  I laughed at the diet.  What do you mean, no more bread, potatoes, beans, Cheeto's, oreos, etc.  You call that living??? 
So I started taking pills and life was good.

I went back to my Dr. for my annual checkup and found that it had been 3 years since my last.  Well this time he found that I had gained 20 lbs, now up to 265 (I am 6'3"), was borderline diabetic, had a trace of blood in my urine and also had Atrial Fibrillation, a heart condition).

This got my attention and he recommended the Paleo diet again.  This time I took it more seriously.  I have done research and followed all the 'Experts' on the different forums and have come up with a diet that is working for me.  Certainly not pure Paleo, but close enough.  Probably the main thing is a major reduction in beer.  Practically none now as opposed to way too many everyday before.

So far, since the middle of March, I have lost 35 lbs,(230 now)  and over 6" around the waste.  My Dr. has taken me off one of my meds and reducing another.

It hasn't really been that difficult.  I do still  Miss some things and am getting pretty tired of the same 2-3 veggies all the time, but I'm adjusting pretty well.

Wm