Just one year ago I found myself in excruciating pain for three nights in a row.  I felt as though I was going to die.  (don't ask me how I know what dying feels like)  Anyway, I ended up being driven to the emergency room.  My family and I are expats living in Japan.  I do speak Japanese but my wife doesn't.  She dropped me off at the door and I assured her that I would be fine and I would text message her when I found out what was wrong.  She reluctantly left me.  I walked in to be greeted by two old Japanese men.  They were speaking in the local dialect.  I am not sure how but, I spoke to them and told them that my stomach was hurting terribly.
A few hours later with no "real pain Rx" I was told I had a gall stone and was released.  They told me to come back during regular business hours to speak with a specialist.  I walked home (yes, I tried to call and text my loving wife but she was exhausted and didn't hear my call or messages).  I returned to the hospital to speak with a specialist and was told that I should have surgery to remove the stone.  BUT… they could not perform the surgery for another month and a half. (socialized medicine)  I was SHOCKED to say the least and decided to get a second opinion.  Well to make this long story short, our English student/friend who is a doctor removed my gall stone and gall bladder.  This began my new life style journey.  I tried juicing…. went well.  Eating limited snacks….. and ultimately my loving wife of 14 years found the Paleo way of eating.  We did a "whole30" together at the hardest time of the year, November…. HELLO can you say Thanksgiving?!  We did it anyway and felt AWESOME!  We ended on the last weekend in November. BTW living WHOLE in Japan is not as easy as one might think.  Ingredients that are needed are few and far between.  The influence of Western society has made it's way into every Japanese home.  Convenience is the norm here and it is showing on the lives and bodies of the Japanese people as well.  If they continue on the path it won't be long until this country rich in heritage and history will have a people looking just like the "big westerners".  Anyway back to what we had decided to do.   We then started to introduce a few things back into our diet.  Did not feel good when doing this so we decided to LIVE WHOLE… We asked my sister in law to join us.  Well…. after many excuses and restarts and fails we have decided to LIVE WHOLE.  I would never have called myself a "foodie" but I am now.  The flavorful and delicious recipes that we have found and created ourselves has been amazing.  We want to share what we have learned and experienced.  We will share our successes and our failures.  We are NOT perfect.  We would love your feedback, especially after you have tried what we have.  Come join us in LIVE WHOLE… it's not a diet it is a lifestyle.
Z and A