How to Respond When Someone You Know Does Something Awesome

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When you do something awesome like write a book, run a marathon, or sometimes just make it through the work week without screaming at someone, you want to share it with someone. And when you share it with someone, there’s really only one thing you want to hear:

“I love it, it’s perfect, you’re amazing”

Anne @ Unique Gifter said something especially meaningful over email last week. I hope she won’t mind if I quote her: “So glad to hear the positive feedback… sometimes I get all hyped up on things in my mind and others are like ‘uhh, whatever’ and then I’m sad.”

I have felt this way many, many times. Putting your time and energy (and sometimes more, like life and emotions) into something important to you, only to be met with something less than excitement. Something more like boredom or anti-climactic curiosity.

But I’ve got some great news: awesomeness is a two-way street. The people you share your awesomeness with are under no obligation to make you feel good about it, and you are under no obligation to care about their reaction. It’s okay to be awesome and it’s okay if people don’t know how to deal with it.

How quick to compliment are you?

Paleo AIP Pumpkin Muffins

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If you’ve been reading long enough, the Paleo AIP announcement was enough of a hint to know there would be a few recipes being posted. Well, here’s the first one:

Paleo AIP Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

1 can pumpkin
1/3c applesauce
2TB coconut oil
1 Banana
1/4c maple syrup
1TSP cinnamon
1/3c coconut flour, sifted
6 prunes cut in half, optional

Directions

Mix everything except the coconut flour in your awesome Kitchenaid (thanks Mom!). Then sift the coconut flour into it and gently mix by hand. Divide and place into cupcake pan, pressing one optional prune half into each muffin. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes

Notes

  • Being gluten free for so long meant I was well stocked on almond flour, so of course it was important that life throws me another curve ball and force me to find a new flour. Enter: coconut flour. From what I have read, it’s best to get the off-white stuff (the pure white stuff has been further processed). Sifting also helps give the flour volume.
  • Maple syrup means that this recipe is not 100% Paleo AIP, but if you have incorporated small amounts of natural sweetener (agave, honey, maple syrup) then this is a good addition. It could be made without the maple syrup, but I would add 1/3 water or applesauce or something to replace it. (And to defend myself, it’s 1/3 cup maple syrup divided by 12 muffins…. I’m not going to be picky about that).

Transitioning into Paleo AIP

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A Day in the Life

If you missed the first post on this topic, Paleo AIP is the Auto Immune Protocol for the Paleo diet. So while the Paleo diet means no wheat, grain, sugar, or dairy (which is traumatic enough, if you have eaten a standard american diet for most of your life), Paleo AIP goes a step further and removes nightshades (peppers [the veggie and the spices], potato, tomato, and eggplant) nuts, seeds (including chocolate and coffee) and eggs.

If it sounds awful, it kind of is. Unless you are seriously suffering some auto immune problems. Then you get kind of willing to consider this restrictive of a diet in hopes of relief and preventative care. Here’s a look at a normal day in my Paleo AIP life. It took A LOT of adjustment to get here, and I am still refining as I can:

Breakfast: Home-mixed pork sausage (to avoid the sugar and the pepper spices in the store kind) and broccoli, as well as ginger tea

Snack: Black tea with coconut milk and honey*, leftovers such as chicken and zucchini in olive oil

Lunch: Heavy garden salad (lettuce, cucumber, carrots, olives, chicken) with garlic infused olive oil

Dinner: Steak and spaghetti squash

Snack: Coconut milk shake with two strawberries, 1/2c blueberries, agave*, and coconut cream

*I had to go off chocolate, coffee, and cane sugar. I reserve the right to two or three teaspoons of honey each day, though I understand this is not strict Paleo.

The Benefits

I am shrinking. Not like, “Yay, weightloss” shrinking (though there’s that, too), I mean my hands, stomach, and feet are visibly (terrifyingly quickly) de-puffing. Who knows how long I have had immune flare-ups to these different foods that I am now allowing my body to heal from, but apparently I should have done this a long time ago. In 60 days I can try to reintroduce the Paleo AIP foods to see if I can eat them again (I really miss eggs for baking), but I will probably only get a few back. I also suspect I am allergic to tomatoes!

4 Transition Tips

  1. Let yourself be Paleo for a little while. Paleo is enough of an adjustment and it will make Paleo AIP a little easier.
  2. Wheat-flu is real. A week of hot and cold illness, fuzzy head, headaches, and complete and utter exhaustion. Then, suddenly, light breaks through. It’s been very pleasant since.
  3. Plan the crap out of everything. Overplan. Then plan again. Cook stuff and freeze stuff. Try new things.
  4. Read and find people going through the same thing: The Paleo Mom, Auto Immune Paleo, Plan to Eat, and  The Paleo View Podcast (my personal favorite).
  5. It is surprisingly, shockingly, frustratingly emotional. It is isolating and frustrating, and weekends are the worst. Plan to not hang out with people for a few weeks.

Well, there you go! Any questions?