Questioning Paleo

[lizg]

Hello! I am having an identity crisis of sorts and would love to discuss with anyone who has gone through the same. I've been 85%-90% paleo for 3+ years. I've been on AIP for about four months. I'm really getting burnt out on the whole thing - my entire family has become slaves to the diet. We spend so much time cooking from scratch, along with the related planning, shopping, and cleaning. We are quite efficient with our time in terms of cooking ahead and batch cooking, sl cooker, instant pot, all of it - but there is no way around the massive time commitment. I have two small children (4 and 1), my husband and I both work full time and I'm also in school part time. As a family we have almost no time for fun and relaxing activities because 2/3 of our weekend plus most of each weeknight evening is dedicated to food prep. We can't eat out or get takeout ever (unless I'm not participating). If this was the sacrifice required but I was experiencing vibrant health I think I'd feel differently. But my health is the same or even worse than when I was a vegetarian years ago. I started AIP to try to heal persistent acne that flared about a year ago and it has steadily gotten worse. My energy is very low and I have frequent headaches and attacks of low blood sugar, in addition to poor mood (mild depression and anxiety, general malaise). I am tempted to throw in the towel on Paleo. BUT - I feel like I have learned too much from Sarah and others about nutrition over the last several years to eat any other way. Every time I consider another dietary strategy I get anxious about what that would mean for my health. Every time I've tried to test a non-AIP food I've had a questionable reaction. Plus it's pretty impossible to judge an elimination reaction with no improvement in symptoms- because you never know what's a "normal" breakout or headache. So I feel trapped. Something has got to give and I'm trying to figure out what that should be. My current diet and lifestyle are unsustainable and making me miserable. So... I would love to hear from anyone with a similar story that would like to share their journey. I'm not particularly interested in "paleo harder" advice or tips about cooking strategies (unless they're revolutionary or game-changing). Because trust me, I've already tried it. Thanks in advance!