Paleo Journey: Olivia Honeycutt

It’s finally time for us to announce the winner from out latest Paleo Journey contest with Chomps! Before we do that, we must thank everyone who participated. We received an overwhelming amount of responses and we enjoyed reading each and every submission. That being said, a special thanks goes to Olivia Honeycutt, as her story is the one that stole the spotlight this time around.

After spending many hours reading through what we received, I came to the realization that we needed to share a “light” story that perhaps a greater portion of our followers could relate to. By no means is it our intention to discredit those who have encountered a more dramatic journey, but sometimes it’s just nice to hear that it doesn’t always have to take a situation of being faced with death, or severe illness to force one to make a lifestyle switch. This is how we felt after reading Olivia’s story (especially when compared to the other submissions). Olivia certainly faced her fair share of health issues (malnutrition and depressive moods), but in reading her story you realize that she could have easily decided to not make any lifestyle changes. It takes a very determined and strong-willed person to make such a drastic change to their lifestyle when life as it was could have been a lot worse. But Olivia had the ability to realize that although life was “ok,” it could be so much better. This in itself is so inspiring to me, the ability to not settle and and continue along the easy path, but to face the challenge and come out happier on the other end. Before we divulge and give away all the details of Olivia’s story, read it for yourself:

It’s been quite a journey this paleo lifestyle. It has also been a long one. And quite a transformation!
For over 30 years my diet consisted mostly of cheese, bread, potatoes, and the occasional iceberg lettuce salad. My friends even made fun of me because I refused to eat vegetables. Needless to say just a few years ago I was in pretty rough shape.

For a very long time I had been experiencing symptoms of malnutrition. But I had no idea! When you’re always sick or always in pain, feeling bad is just how you feel. I was struggling in my daily living even just to get housework done and thought “I’m just depressed.”

When I finally saw a alternative practitioner, he recommended I start following a gluten free, dairy free diet. Well, me being who I am, I did more research, began attending nutrition classes, found a nutritionist in Austin, and eventually decided to go paleo.

When I changed how I was eating, everything changed! My pain reduced to the point that I really notice when it IS there. My digestion improved and my mood lifted tremendously. It wasn’t the only thing that got me here, I also use whole food based supplements to help replenish my body after years of self-neglect, but I couldn’t be here without changing at the very root of my problem… lifestyle!

What has been the most challenging part of this journey has been learning how to cook. Like many of my generation I was raised on boxed, canned, prepackaged, restaurant and delivered meals. I even worked in the food service industry for quite some time, and taking advantage of many-a free slice of pizza. So… I could cook a few things really well. Pizza dough pockets and grilled cheese sandwiches were my speciality. I just never learned how to cook real food. Then I went paleo and discovered that going paleo isn’t just a diet change, it’s a whole lifestyle revamp!

It’s taken some time to get my feet underneath me in the kitchen. And while I am still learning my way around vegetables it’s a total life saver to have ready to eat snacks at my fingertips. Nuts are my go-to but sometimes you just need a little more, so i always try to have meat sticks on hand as well.

It’s been a wild ride with more than a few mishaps along the way. But, I’ve learned so much in the last few years I am now helping others make the same transition to healthy living. I am a graduate intern at AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine and a nutrition consultant/patient advocate at Paramount Wellness in Austin Texas. I frequently guide people toward paleo type dietary changes and encourage them always to start cooking for themselves. I hope to someday share my story with many more people and that it may inspire in them the spark of change to find their own healthiest lifestyle.

Sincerely and with pleasure,
Olivia Honeycutt

Many thanks to Olivia for taking the time to share her story. If you are interested in sharing your story, we would be honoured to hear it! Send it along to us via e-mail.