I am embarking on a Whole30 tomorrow.  This is “a nutritional reset” – a no-cheating, no-excuses paleo diet (no grains, no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol) that I will adhere to for the next 30 days. I am blogging it to keep myself honest.

I have been eating a Primal/paleo diet successfully now for about a year and a half.  It’s less a restrictive diet-diet than simply a way to eat. The past six months, as part of a wean-down off the drug Prilosec (more below), I have been dairy free, peanut and almond-free, soy-free and egg-free. I describe myself as a “vegan who eats meat” (no offense to vegans but that is literally the spectrum of my diet).  My diet has led the way to better health and I am grateful (and a better person) for it.

So, if I’m already eating super clean, why do a Whole 30?  Five reasons:

1. I want to heal my stomach (and be super-healthy) for good. As of last month, I am finally drug-free for the first time in three years! My stomach has been wrecked for about four. My body was addicted to Prilosec, an over-the-counter proton pump inhibitor (PPI) used to treat acid reflux. I want to stay off Prilosec and any other drugs forever.

I have Celiac disease. I believe I triggered it through massive stress. I had a crumbling marriage, a dying father, a stressful job and nighttime study in an MBA program – all at the same time.

When I was diagnosed with Celiac in 2009, my doctor put me on a double dose of Prilosec to calm the severe inflammation in my stomach and esophagus. My acid reflux was so bad that it had also singed my vocal chords; I frequently lost my voice. As a spokesman for the local electric company I had even done media interviews in a near-whisper. Not good. I had to be on the drug or risk worse damage. So, I surrendered.

If you know me, you know I don’t like the concept of “forever meds”. I believe you are not supposed to be on drugs forever for minor ailments. Drugs treat symptoms, not root causes. In most cases, I have found the root cause of most minor ailments is the food you put into your mouth.

A year later, when I had my checkup with the GI doc, I asked about whether I should still take Prilosec, he said, “You can take it forever, no problem!”

Well, one of the reasons you can take Prilosec forever is because you can never get off it! It has a wicked rebound that inflames the stomach and keeps it “addicted”.  Every time I tried to lay-off I was in so much pain that I had to pop a couple.

I was willing to take Prilosec, because I needed to stabilize my stomach. I had been in pain for more than a year. I had severe adrenal fatigue — my immune system was shot. Even a vegetarian diet and regular visits to the gym weren’t helping. When I was diagnosed with Celiac, it was a relief. I had found the root cause, now I could cure myself. The problem was, I didn’t really know how.

Most gluten-free foods, simply replaced the grain-filled, grab-and-go-type foods I ate before: GF sandwich bread, GF muffins, GF cookies, GF pasta, GF pizza! Corn tortillas for flour? No problem!  And after several months, I did feel a lot better. And why not? After wasting away from 150 to 130 lbs. from being a non-nutrient-absorbing, in stomach-drug-denial vegetarian, I was splurging on food like never before! But it wasn’t necessarily nutritious. I still had a persistent wheeze and from time-to-time some stabbing stomach pain. My adrenal numbers stayed very low (waking cortisol almost zero). I vowed to get rid of these symptoms for good. When I felt myself reaching for a third Prilosec pill instead of the two prescribed, I knew I had to quit.

I was particularly worried about what Prilosec was doing to my normal stomach function. After all, the word “inhibitor” is in the name of the drug. I have since learned that hyperacidity (that “fire in the belly” in ads) is pretty much a marketing invention — you really can’t have too much stomach acid. What you can have are reactions to stress or food that cause indigestion and inflammation.

With the help of a naturopath (Dr. Ann Lovick of Integrative Health in Scottsdale), I began to rebuild my immune system and strength. When it came time for the Prilosec wean-down I enlisted the help of nutritionist Karen Graham.  Karen had me take an E-95 food sensitivity blood test, which revealed that in addition to wheat gluten, I was sensitive to eggs (off the charts!), dairy, nuts and soy. “Great!” I told myself, “Now I can’t eat anything!”

But the results were important. And once I eliminated these things from my diet, my stomach was happy. After ten weeks of lower and lower doses of Prilosec, I was off.  And have been since August. My diet made it easy.  At 145 lbs. and in the best shape of my life, I wondered what else my diet could help.

I found Whole9Life from a link blog at Mark’s Daily Apple and quickly picked up “It Starts with Food” – the book by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig that outlines the scientific and practical reasons for a healthy diet and for a Whole 30. I knew while reading that these people and I were on the same wavelength and that the Whole 30 was the ticket to help reset my stomach function. Especially because….

2. I need to stop “cheating”. I am very 80/20 about primal/paleo eating, which is as it should be. Everyone Primal says to relax and not to beat yourself up over going off the wagon. And I don’t. After the Prilosec wean-down, I kept it extremely clean for a few weeks. Then I decided to experiment. Eventually, I’ve been told, you can work some foods back in. So… what would an egg do? What about a gluten-free brownie with ice cream? Or a bag of chips containing sunflower seed oil?

Did these have any effect? Yes, but…. I’d eat these things, wait an hour, nod, convince myself it wasn’t that bad in my gut and that they would be okay once in awhile. But really, under the surface, I didn’t feel right afterward. Eventually, eating them became more frequent. Add in a work trip to New York where I was jet-lagged and struggling to eat my “everything-free” diet and a subsequent vacation with my boys to Disneyland (hot fudge sundae on Main Street anyone?) and I got way off track from my normal clean diet and workout regimens.

Having the regimen of the Whole 30 should re-order my world.

3. Every day, food can save you instead of destroy you. While what I eat and do is still healthier than 95% of the population, when I eat unhealthy, I feel unhealthy. My body has become sensitive (in a good way) to unhealthy things. In fact, after I had a dessert at lunch, I was incredibly sluggish during my evening workout – body and mind. I am insulin sensitive. Once you get on a roll with bad foods, your body gets used to it – and the damage is silent. That is insulin resistance. I don’t want to be like that – or to get sick — ever!

Pre-Celiac, I had debilitating allergies. I took allergy pills like Zyrtec and Allegra only to be immobile on the couch with a mountain of tissue. They treated allergy symptoms. Post-Celiac, I noticed that 10 minutes after I had a glass of milk of piece of cheese, I would have what I call a “sneezure” – a dozen sneezes in a row followed by the onslaught of major allergy symptoms: runny nose, red, watery eye; asthma/wheezing and sometimes sinus migraines. With a gluten-free diet limiting dairy, I’ve had zero seasonal allergy symptoms, even during a couple of the “worst” allergy seasons in history.  My asthma is gone. I tossed my inhalers. Were my allergies caused by my reaction to kids and dogs rolling around in Bermuda grass? No, it was my gut getting bombarded by dairy! Point being: when you prescribe yourself good (non-irritant) food, your immune system, less debilitated, is strong enough to handle the little things it should.

My Dad, a previously healthy man by the standards of conventional wisdom, died of lung cancer last year; he never smoked or drank, was thin and ate healthy. I sometimes wonder if the accumulation of what he ate – things that may have silently inflamed him — caused or accelerated the cancer. It’s impossible to say, but that won’t be me if I have the power to prevent it now.

If you want good health, you have to take the reins.

4. I want to improve my cooking creativity. I am challenged in the kitchen — less by skill than inspiration. Once I master a dish, I keep improving it. The problem has been too few dishes. Also, I have needed to cook for myself – for my food allergies. As a single Dad, I also have to cook for my kids. Like any 6 and 9 year olds, healthy food isn’t their first option. I’d like to cook more things we all can enjoy.  Whole 30 has some great options. (I tested out some cashew beef and veggies the other night and they loved it!)  I look forward to finding a rotation of 6-10 meals we can enjoy and have fun with.

5. I’d like to bridge back to vegetarianism. I have been eating meat because I had to. After my Celiac diagnosis I dropped 15 pounds due to inflammation and my lack of cooking skills. Healthy I am about 145. I was a stick at 130 lbs. I had to eat lean meats and fish to keep my weight up.

As I have built muscle mass through weight training, I have continued to eat meat because it is an easy way to get large amounts of protein. Now that I’m healthy, have good muscle tone and proper nutrition, I’d like to use the Whole 30 to get to a mode of even cleaner and lighter eating, where I can eventually replace meat entirely.

Well, that’s it! Thanks for reading this far. And wish me luck!