May 01, 2017

Q & A with Lee Selman: Beginning Paleo

Lee Selman of Paleo Treats

Let's start at the beginning:  What brought you to eating Paleo/clean?

We had a friend move in with us in 2009 who had eaten Paleo since 2005. We thought we would give it a whirl just to make it easier on us all during dinners. 2 weeks in we felt amazing and were hooked. The three of us missed desserts.

There was nothing out there that was fresh and had no sugar or crap in it. Every package you picked up had a 6+ month shelf life on it. Hence Paleo Treats was born! 8 years later and we've never looked back.

I had a health scare in 2012 when the doctor found a tumor the size of a golf ball on my spine. It ended up being a Schwannoma which is a tumor of the myelin sheath covering peripheral nerves. I had a pretty intense surgery which needed my lung to be deflated to get to it, and I was in intensive care for a week.

Schwannomas are genetic, and they said I have 7 of them throughout my body. So, needless to say, I am pretty intense about my diet and super focused on limiting the inflammation in my body.

A huge piece of advice I can give is eat like you give a damn about your body, you don’t know what is brewing. I had NO symptoms and could have been in big trouble if the tumor went all malignant on me. Dr. Sara Gottfried says “Genetics loads the gun and the environment pulls the trigger.”

So I eat responsibly, with fresh low starch veggies and healthy meat, fish or fowl. I stay away from sugar for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or drink and all food is medicine to me. The only time I have dessert, is if I want one of our Paleo Treats at the end of the day. Lucky me. :)

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Lee Selman

Author

Lee helps run the show at Paleo Treats, juggling numbers while acting as the final chop for graphics. With an eye for beauty and a taste for chocolate she navigates the many paths that constantly beckon in the world of healthy desserts.


Too much reading...
How about dessert?

Too Much Reading...How About Dessert?

2 Comments

Nik @ PT
Nik @ PT

October 19, 2018

Hi Lisa, I can’t remember if we emailed you or not, but I figured I’d make sure and get this answered. Would love to hear your follow up on this, but I’d check out keto for sure along with Paleo. Dom D’Agostino has some excellent work on diet & lifestyle along with Chris Kresser and Robb Wolf. Cheers, Nik @ PT

Lisa
Lisa

September 18, 2017

This is so random, but I was diagnosed with a spinal schwannoma 6 weeks ago at 31 years old, and neurosurgeons do not want to operate because it will leave me with a foot drop. Someone suggested I google my diagnosis + “paleo”, and I found your site. I have never done paleo but am desperate to find some lifestyle remedies to reduce my pain and avoid surgery. Do you have any suggestions for reading material/links where I can read up on how changing my diet can help my condition?

Thank you in advance, and I hope you’re feeling good after all you’ve been through.

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