Over the past several months I have had quite a few clients ask me if I have ever had a vegetarian client eat paleo and if this was even possible. The answer is yes and I thought that it would be best shared by Amanda. Enjoy and thank you Amanda for sharing your story with all of us!

 I’m Amanda.  I’m part of the River Partners crew (lots of us come to NorCal today; and we all started On Ramp together in October 2010).  Before NorCal, I was a vegetarian from 12 to 32.  Not just a vegetarian, but a vegetarian who ate great food:  I consumed mostly veggies, whole grains, and beans, and barely any refined stuff… if I ate bread it was sprouted grain.  I avoided  rice or pasta, and also most dairy.  Ok, truthfully, I *loved* to grab a bagel on the way out to a morning hike, but I knew that wasn’t good for me.  Also loved cookies, but generally avoided them.  I’d done enough fasting to see how my body reacted to refined flour.  I’d also noticed that I couldn’t really eat wheat gluten anymore – the last Harvest Loaf my mom had lovingly prepared for me during Thanksgiving 2009 made me feel off for a whole week.  There are lots of minutiae, but, long story short, I ate no meat, save for some fish… which I always sourced to be sure it was ethically harvested (my background is in salmon restoration, so this was non-negotiable for me).  In addition to my “rad” veggie diet, I also worked out a lot, as I always have – plenty of hikes, biking everywhere, and lots of Ashtanga yoga (I call it “sweaty yoga”).

When Chrissy and Natalie came into our office to tell us about the gym and encourage us to start On Ramp, they mentioned that for food, they did the “Paleo thing” very strictly. I didn’t know what that meant.  When you’ve been vegetarian for twenty years, it doesn’t really matter anyway…I wasn’t budging.  Not only was I sure I was eating more healthfully than meat eaters, I already struggled with keeping calories and nutrient ratios in check  – and fatty meats and eggs weren’t going to help that.

I started On Ramp, and loved it.  I was *so* sore, but seeing results quickly, although I hadn’t switched to a paleo diet.  Baby steps happened, though…I was starting to avoid bread and grains even more, and was eating more eggs… it was really hard to get off of grains as a vegetarian though.  I mean, the occasional meat substitute was critical, and those are always made of grains.  And legumes, for protein.  I kept a food journal and turned it in as part of my On Ramp experience.  Andy and Chrissy commented back that I needed to eat more fat.  When I mentioned that was challenging for me as a vegetarian, Chrissy paused.  And then very calmly said, “May I ask why you are a vegetarian?” Ehhhh.  I had explained it to people a million times – although I knew it was possible to eat meat ethically, it felt better to avoid it. It wasn’t hard for me to be a vegetarian – it’d been my whole adult life!  And from a resources standpoint, I was doing my part for the planet.  Meat just wasn’t for me. And, and…. And suddenly, after a couple weeks in the gym and seeing some good results, I realized I was willing to try eating a little meat.  I just felt like something was different here, and I wanted that protein, and I wanted to see if by not eating grains, sugar, and dairy, and eating meat, I could make a difference in my body. Gulp. So I bought some organic, free range, grass fed  chicken, freaked out that I was going to kill us all with salmonella and e coli by preparing it in the house, and ate it.  And….I felt great.  No digestive freak out.  No karma points instantly deducted.  Just felt great. And the next day I ate more.  I felt good, hadn’t killed everyone with food poisoning, and actually enjoyed the taste (I would’ve bet money otherwise).  Red meat was a bit strong…but then there was, of course, BACON.  Bliss!  After a while I had an arsenal of protein/meat centric meals.

Over the period of a few weeks, I fully switched to paleo, eliminating all grains, refined sugar, and adding meats and eggs.  The results were tremendous – my body didn’t just shrink, its composition shifted overall.  It was wild.  And my skin got better.  And my brain unfogged. Honestly, for the first time in my life, things were changing based on my diet! Yippeeee!   It was enough for me to commit to eating meat, and to buying meat that “had a good life” (call me a hippy, but when I’m eating the flesh of another animal and using it for energy, its quality of life matters to me) and was grass fed.  Of course that’s not always available, but I plan a lot and try to make it so almost 100% of the time.

I even did my blood work at six month intervals to ensure all those eggs and fatty meats weren’t about to kill me.  I was amazed – although my cholesterol count stayed about the same (it was fine to start with), the HDL soared and the LDL plummeted.  Plus, triglycerides went down to like 70 something from 90-something.  My heart risk ratio was something like 1.3 after six months of eggs and meat! Who knew??  I was so happy to know I wasn’t on the brink of death…which was one of my initial reasons for BEING vegetarian for so long.

Today, I am probably 85-90% paleo.  The last time I ate wheat was out of desperation during a work party in the backwoods for our Burning Man art car, last July.  It had been almost nine months since I’d had any wheat (other than accidental traces).  I ate a sandwich when I was hungry and tired, and it looked so good… and then it wasn’t that good, and then I got hives for a WEEK.  No joke.  Lesson learned:  bring more of your own food.

I still struggle with eating too much dark chocolate, the occasional hoppy beer sneaks in (imperial IPAs are my weakness), or maybe one slice of a really awesome cheese (the zit in the morning, every time, is the result)…but I don’t eat grains.  It’s just not worth how it makes me feel and fogs my brain.  This year I’m working hard to refine my diet back to how it was when I first converted (really low sugar, particularly) and continue to reshape my body and get stronger.  So far, so fun!  I’m excited to see what’s next.  Any vegetarians who want to talk about this, I’m happy to. It wasn’t the easiest decision I’ve made, but I feel sure that it was the right one for me.

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Written by Chrissy

Chrissy Gower has been involved in the CrossFit NorCal community for over five years. She graduated from CSU, Chico with a degree in Liberal Studies and then went on to earn a Masters Degree in Education as well as a teaching credential. In addition to Chrissy’s well rounded education she has also been a competitive athlete and was a member of the Chico State women’s waterski team from 1999-2000. After years of seeing and feeling the positive impact that CrossFit has had on her life Chrissy chose to make a career change to personal fitness training. Chrissy can help you to improve any element of your fitness, be it body composition, strength, flexibility or cardiovascular endurance. She is a Certified CrossFit Level 1 Trainer and a Certified CrossFit Kids Coach.

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