Well, it’s been around 8 months since I last posted, and I’m glad to be back! I’m sorry to all that I just kind of disappeared, but I hope this post explains what’s been going on, and I hope to be back to regular blogging now.

My wife and I have two beautiful children, now ages 4 and 7, and last summer we adopted a teenage family member from my wife’s side of the family. This child had been through a great deal in her young life including losing both her parents at a very early age, and being the victim of various types of abuse I’d rather not write about. To say that a teenager in the house changed things would be an understatement!

My life suddenly became very full, and any extra time I had was quickly eaten up by activities and working on moving our new child in the right direction. I won’t get into much, but I can tell you all it has been a very long year filled with highs and lows. My priority in life is leading my home in a Godly fashion, and given the new presence in the home, my roles quickly changed and required a lot more hands on approach. What did this do to “paleo”? It essentially put it on the back burner! Although I was able to maintain a primarily primal lifestyle, there were definitely more episodes of “stress eating” than I am used to having! It’s hard, if not impossible to try to teach someone all the lessons they need to live a good life in a matter of months, but none-the-less you try. In the end after approximately 9 months in our home, our adopted child decided to move back home out of state with her grandmother. It was hard to see her go, but I do believe God is in control and will guide her. It was a major period of growth for me personally, for my wife, and for our marriage.

As complex a situation as that was, it was only part of the story of the “PaleolithicMD’s” near demise. I’m not certain how many of my readers share my deep faith, but I am not afraid to say that my relationship with Jesus Christ takes priority in my life. I am a very blessed individual, and I try daily to give thanks to the one who blesses me through appropriate actions, attitudes, and commitment based on his teachings. One of the 10 Commandments states “Thou Shall Have No Idols Before Me.” So, what does Paleo have to do with that?

To put it plainly, Paleo became and idol. The PaleolithicMD became and idol! I started to prioritize my cooking plan, blog posts, twitter chatter, FB likes, Paleo networking, etc above my daily time studying scripture, as well as much needed time with my kids. I struggled with it for several months, and my loving wife called me out on it as gently as she could! Like many battles with pride, I did my best to ignore it. So what happened? The episode above happened! My home changed, my priorities were forced to change, and Paleo was essentially removed from my life for almost a year. I knew what I needed to do, I ignored what I should do, and God took care of it for me…

So why write about this? Well, first because I’ve been gone; second, because I’m human, and third, because it is a testimony to how you should not ignore where your heart leads you after deliberate prayer. I love my job, and one of the more important things to me is that I am always honest with my patients. Whether it’s me telling them the biopsy shows cancer and they are not going to live very long, or that the reason their test wasn’t done is because I simply forgot to order it, honesty is vital to a good relationship with my patients. Although you all are not patients, you do come here looking for some Paleo advice with a good dose of medical knowledge. I am who I am! I’m not perfect by any means… I’m human, I really like being human, and I want all of you to identify with me as fellow struggler in this thing we call life.

So where do I go from here? Well, my home has gone back to normal in the last few months, and slowly but surely my passion for the Paleo Lifestyle has been brewing up. More specifically, my passion for helping others through the blog has been rekindled. That said, I can’t make the same mistakes twice. So, I’m going in with some ground rules this time that I intend to keep!

1. I plan on having only one major blog post per week, likely on Tuesdays. Before I was putting way to much pressure on myself to blog every day or two (because of coarse the best way to gain followers and subscribers is to publish, publish, publish!). I want to enjoy this blog, have time to put together my posts, and not have the blog be a burden or distraction to my life.
2. I still plan on posting Twitter and Instagram posts frequently, so stay tuned to both those feeds for frequent pics of dinner at our house, and anything else I think may be the least bit entertaining of funny.
3. I hope to develop more recipes in the coming months and emphasize what really got me into Paleo in the first place…cooking food!

So there it is, a long winded explanation of my absence. If you understand where I’m coming from…thanks. If you don’t, sorry, but it is what it is!

One last thing, while you are here, check out my newest venture called The Genesis Experience. In a nutshell, it’s a two month Paleo/CrossFit program I’ve put together with two good friends of mine designed to “shock” people’s systems. Away with the SAD diet and gym visits to watch TV on the stationary bike, and in with Paleo education and eating combined with tri-weekly CrossFit workouts. Results have been awesome!

Thanks for listening, and I look forward to interacting with ya’ll on into the future.

Ernie Garcia