My Paleo-Versary

Sweet Success!  Confession:  Right after taking this pic, I got in trouble w/ a park ranger for leaning on this old, beautiful cork tree.  Law breaker & Paleo believer.

It's today!!  One full year of Paleo!  24/7/365!  I freaking did it!*   I seriously woke up with butterflies in my stomach thinking about it the last few days.  I am so proud of myself for being so darned fully committed to my health and healing for this long . . . and it is only the start!  I think I can officially say it now.  Paleo is my lifestyle.

I have a super rad GIVEAWAY to celebrate the day.  As many of my readers know I team up with Sarah Ballantyne of The Paleo Mom and Mickey Trescott of Autoimmune Paleo from time to time.  They are both very cool, very smart ladies and I have been very lucky to get to know them over the last year.  They are also both authors of beautiful AIP specific books.

The giveaway will be for copies of BOTH 

"The Paleo Approach:  Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body" by Sarah Ballantyne 

and 

"The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook" by Mickey Trescott.  

I've had the privilege of learning about tid-bits of the intense research and writing Sarah is pouring into her extremely comprehensive AIP guide and it is definitely going to be THE guide for AIers.  And Mickey sent me a preview copy of her book a few weeks ago and I seriously freaked out.  It is gorgeous and full of incredible, new AIP recipes.  (I wrote her back saying that I was happier for myself than I was for her, 'cause I could not wait to try all the recipes and add a little zest into my AIP diet again.)

Mickey will send a copy of her e-cookbook to the winner by mid-May.  Sarah will ship a signed copy of her book to the winner by the release date, which is mid-September.  Awesome!  Just when you are finished up testing out all of Mickey's recipes in "The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook," you'll get a copy of "The Paleo Approach:  Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body," and you can try out all of Sarah's recipes.     

So here's the rules:
1)  Go to my FB page here:  Alt-ternative Autoimmune.  If you haven't liked it, give 'er a like.
2)  Go to today's PALEO-VERSARY GIVEAWAY post there and leave a comment about why you like this blog.  You have between today (May 1) and Friday (May 3) to leave your comment.
3)  Check back on the FB page on Saturday (May 4) for annoucement of the winner.  He or she will be chosen at random.
4)  I'll get in touch with winner for a physical address & email address & then we'll get these indispensable AIP guides headed your way.

To everyone that has already completed a year or more, my hat is off to you.  I know first hand now, that it is a mammoth (you know, like the Paleolithic kind) undertaking.  Thank you for leading the charge and sharing your knowledge.

To those that are still working on making this their lifestyle or who are still considering it, let me say that if you are committed the returns will be more than worth the sacrifices.  This is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  The improvements to my physical health and emotional well-being have been profound.  I literally feel like I have been given the gift of my own body, all I had to do was commit to treating it like a gift.  And that is after only one year . . .

One other thing readers . . . today starts Celiac Awareness Month.  Take some time to learn about the signs and symptoms of Celiac today.


*A little note:  I went from Paleo to full on Autoimmune Protocol within about week, as I very quickly realized that I needed a stricter diet to heal, so this is basically my AIP-versary too.  Rock on AIPers!  You can do this!