Hi from Boston! page

[invasiveexotics]

Hi there! I've been reading MDA for a really long time now, and finally, I've decided to transition to a primal lifestyle.

I'm 21, going to be a senior in college, 5'2" and 140 lbs. I gained some weight over the past few months because of a few factors: hormonal/BC issues, post-(half)marathon blues, increased drinking since turning 21, etc. Not having something to train for felt strange to me, so I neglected exercise, plus I've had issues with binging that have gotten worse and worse lately. I thought my old binges bad, but they were usually on "healthy" snack foods (ie, a couple bowls of granola with milk). Lately, I sometimes find myself going to the grocery store specifically to buy pop tarts or donuts or something to binge on, foods that I know are absolute shit.

I've always felt like going primal would be too difficult because so much of my eating is done communally: my friends and I like to have dinner parties/potlucks, go out to eat, etc. Additionally, it's always nice to be able to take advantage of any free food events when on a college budget. But the primal lifestyle has such appeal to me, not just for weight control reasons, but because I'd like for my immune/digestive systems to operate a lot better than they do now, plus I feel like a primal view on fitness will help me remain motivated without needing to be training for a particular thing at any given time.

Sooo my plan is to eat the non-primal stuff that I have in the house now (ie bread, oatmeal, etc) until it runs out, and then transition to primal from there. My goal as I go is to have as few people as possible figure out that I'm doing anything different. I tend to get a little preachy when I do anything interesting with my eating - I've been bad enough since reading Pollan and learning other things about nutrition in general, like the fact that fats -aren't- evil - so I'd like to see how capable I am of keeping this on the DL. Buut it also seems important to have some outlet for discussion, so this is going to be it (in addition to a blog, perhaps?).

I haven't read the PB book, but I did download the Fitness ebook, and I've been reading for long enough that I think I understand the basic concepts. Should I still think about buying the PB book/recipe book despite all the resources online? I'd love to support MDA, but I'm afraid $30 on a book is a lot for me!

[Steve1907]

Welcome to the tribe - this post http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/ will get you 80% of the way there without the book. If you are like me, though, the stuff here and on MDA will only whet your appitite for more information and you will end up buying the book.

There is a tonn of information here and there are some very informed people that post on this forum. So read, and ask questions.

Good luck!
Steve

[Bostonbully]

Hey I grew up 10 minutes from Boston. I've lived in southern NH for the past three years. Where do you go to school? Most people on here are very nice and helpful. Good luck with your primal transition.

[invasiveexotics]

Thanks for the welcome! I'm actually really excited to go primal, I may just try to give away all my non-primal foods to my roommates this Friday when I get paid (and can therefore go shopping for some primal victuals). And as for where I go to school, I'm at Tufts.

[kjd]

FYI, Meetup group in Somerville if you're interested.
http://www.meetup.com/Living-Paleo-in-Boston/

[Bostonbully]

Thanks for the link.