What no one tells us about how we eat is that it’s very personal. What works for one person may not work for another, even with family members. Our bodies have different needs and sensitivities. Eating for your health means changing the way you eat, not for a month or a year, but forever. Short term diets just result in rebounds and may do more harm than good. Diet pills are a disaster, and you won’t find any empirical research that cleanses have any health benefits.

When I was diagnosed with low testosterone in 2011, I took an active interest in my health for the first time in my life. I was in my late 40s and weighed 195 lbs, the most I’ve ever weighed. After I got past the shock and denial of my illness, I decided that in addition to finding the right treatment, I needed to change my life. I needed to pay attention to how I ate and started regular exercise.

I started doing research and came to the conclusion that I should start with an elimination diet. I’ve found this is the best way to figure out if there are foods that you might have allergies or sensitivities to. And I took mine a step further, partly because I had developed leptin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. I also identified a food that would spike my blood sugar. I bought a glucose meter with a USB port and an app with a graphing function. I’d check my blood sugar before I ate and 30 minutes and 60 minutes after eating.

Eating a high-fat, high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet worked for me. I followed the leptin reset for the first 90 days of eating this way. Then I moved to a more traditional paleo diet, with no grains, and I only ate food that was less than 50 on the glycemic index. For the first year, I was 100% compliant. I lost 45 pounds over two years. I also use intermittent fasting when I hit a plateau.

Beware of anything that says paleo in stores. It’s usually just marketing. I don’t have gluten sensitivity, so what I care about when I eat something carby is the number of carbs, almost every time I’ve compared a gluten free item to a normal item, the gluten free one has more carbs. If you come across a product or website that promises quick results, run. There is nothing quick about changing the way we eat or getting results. I firmly believe in slow to come off and back on.

In 2017 I went back up to 180 lbs. I was not watching what I ate and drinking too much beer. I’m back down to 160 lbs, which is where I plan to stay.

For exercise, the one thing I’ve been able to maintain, day after day, year after year, is walking 10,000 steps a day. I’ve had personal trainers, done weight training for about six months, and tried Crossfit for a few months, but I find those things hard to maintain.

These are the things that worked for me. While you may need to follow a different path, starting with an elimination diet is a great way for most of us to get started. When I started my journey in 2011, the paleo movement had barely begun. There were no restaurants, cook books, or paleo related things being sold in stores. Now there are entire industries around paleo, including nutritionists and doctors.