It's been 6 or 7 weeks since I started eating/living the primal way, and I have totally bought into it and feel as though I have become more knowledgeable about it. Then I have a weekend like this one. What I realize is that this weekend didn't test my knowledge or my ability to follow this diet, it just tested my resolve. My resolve failed. One of the things that I have liked most about this "diet" is that it isn't a diet as much as it is a lifestyle, which meant that things like willpower, "can't have this, can't have that" don't really apply. What I realized is that as true as that may be, it can still be a challenge to live this way in today's world. I had an awful day Friday, which made me want nothing more than a big sandwich and a beer, and that's exactly what I had. I took food out of what it is, which is fuel, and turned it into medicine, medicine that's not even for my body, just for my brain. Paleo or not, turning food into an emotional crutch is a slippery, slippery slope indeed. The worst part about it is that it's insidious. I ate a sandwich and a beer Friday, I had a tortilla Saturday, I had pizza today. Most people would say, so what, but it's not even so much that I had them, as that I was able to justify them each time, and each time my justification had something to do with it being "ok" or "deserving" it. Again, food is no longer fuel, it's medicine.
The good news, tonight my resolve is strong. I don't feel like I've failed, I feel like I've learned. I have a lunch full of paleo foods packed for tomorrow and I probably won't really miss a beat, but I will approach the coming week a little more cautiously. One thing I have to look forward to, trying to figure out how to have a paleo friendly bachelor party weekend. Stay tuned for that one :)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Something I never thought I would want.
Most people who know me would tell you I'm not a fan of hunting. To be honest, I'm, more often than not, not a big fan of hunters either. I know too many hunters that stand take pictures standing over beautiful, lifeless animals, smiling because they just shot a living creature for sport. "Man I killed a huge ______" this weekend. Congratulations, you're a killer. This has been my standard thought process when it comes to hunting.
My thinking has been challenged a bit lately through the paleo diet as well as a couple interesting things I've seen on television. A few months ago a show came on the travel channel called "The Wild Within" and then a show came on last night called "iCaveman." I watched them both out of curiosity and of course to see what perspectives they could offer me on the kind of lifestyle I'm trying to live. Both shows were, eh, ok, with their good and bad points. I'm not going to waste the time summarizing them completely, but a little background is probably necessary. In the Wild Within, the host is a modern man, living in Brooklyn, who is a life long hunter and outdoors man. He contends that we have lost our connection to our environment and our food, and for this reason he only eats meat which he himself kills and brings home to his family. This usually happens on vastly expensive hunting expeditions in far off ridiculously beautiful places, but I found it interesting. In iCaveman, 10 people set out to survive for 10 days in Colorado with nothing more than the resources available to Paleolithic man. The main pursuit of this show was to test if modern life actually gives us the mental and physical tools to survive like our ancestors did. The short answer was no, not really.
So, to the hunting. What both of these shows did that really challenged my perspective and made me think was the fact that on both of these shows, when they killed an animal, it was nothing like what I've seen from "typical" hunting shows my whole life. When they killed an animal, there was no "oh good shot, what a beautiful kill, oh man..." type reactions. In both cases, the kills were emotional, gut wrenching, even painful. There was a sense that what they did was actually what they did, they took a life to sustain their own. They weren't exhilarated by a new trophy; they were humbled and deeply moved by what they had done. Both shows also always had the hunters stalking and killing the animals, not setting up killing stations where animals had been trained to congregate and be ambushed. There were tears, heavy hearts, and healthy respect for the lives of the beautiful animals that they killed.
Seeing these things made me think a lot about the food I eat. I love meat, I've always loved meat, and I always will, but I realized that on a day in day out basis, I place very little connection between the meat I eat, and a living, breathing animal. I've always looked at hunters as cruel, cruel people, and some of them frankly are, but I think there is nothing as cruel as eating meat and not acknowledging what it is. Again, I don't think eating meat is wrong, I think it's wrong to eat meat and have no sense of what it means to eat meat. The truth is that in our modern food culture we don't see livestock, chickens, fish, and even some game as animals; they are a product, no different from a jar of peanut butter on the shelf. I used to take this perspective and form some sort of ill advised, self righteous position over hunting, and somehow made it less cruel, when in reality, it was crueler.
So do I want to be a big hunter now, I can't honestly say, but I can say that I feel a deep need to re-connect the bond between my food and what it really is. I don't know when this will happen, but I feel it's very important. I would still place trophy hunters, the guys who get some sort of thrill out of killing animals, a 12 on a 1-10 scale of worst scumbags around, but I believe that those who hunt to feed their families probably gain a healthier perspective than people like me have right now.
****This list of "responsible hunting" from huntright.org contains a lot of what I think is necessary for proper hunting. http://www.huntright.org/where-we-stand/responsible-hunting
My thinking has been challenged a bit lately through the paleo diet as well as a couple interesting things I've seen on television. A few months ago a show came on the travel channel called "The Wild Within" and then a show came on last night called "iCaveman." I watched them both out of curiosity and of course to see what perspectives they could offer me on the kind of lifestyle I'm trying to live. Both shows were, eh, ok, with their good and bad points. I'm not going to waste the time summarizing them completely, but a little background is probably necessary. In the Wild Within, the host is a modern man, living in Brooklyn, who is a life long hunter and outdoors man. He contends that we have lost our connection to our environment and our food, and for this reason he only eats meat which he himself kills and brings home to his family. This usually happens on vastly expensive hunting expeditions in far off ridiculously beautiful places, but I found it interesting. In iCaveman, 10 people set out to survive for 10 days in Colorado with nothing more than the resources available to Paleolithic man. The main pursuit of this show was to test if modern life actually gives us the mental and physical tools to survive like our ancestors did. The short answer was no, not really.
So, to the hunting. What both of these shows did that really challenged my perspective and made me think was the fact that on both of these shows, when they killed an animal, it was nothing like what I've seen from "typical" hunting shows my whole life. When they killed an animal, there was no "oh good shot, what a beautiful kill, oh man..." type reactions. In both cases, the kills were emotional, gut wrenching, even painful. There was a sense that what they did was actually what they did, they took a life to sustain their own. They weren't exhilarated by a new trophy; they were humbled and deeply moved by what they had done. Both shows also always had the hunters stalking and killing the animals, not setting up killing stations where animals had been trained to congregate and be ambushed. There were tears, heavy hearts, and healthy respect for the lives of the beautiful animals that they killed.
Seeing these things made me think a lot about the food I eat. I love meat, I've always loved meat, and I always will, but I realized that on a day in day out basis, I place very little connection between the meat I eat, and a living, breathing animal. I've always looked at hunters as cruel, cruel people, and some of them frankly are, but I think there is nothing as cruel as eating meat and not acknowledging what it is. Again, I don't think eating meat is wrong, I think it's wrong to eat meat and have no sense of what it means to eat meat. The truth is that in our modern food culture we don't see livestock, chickens, fish, and even some game as animals; they are a product, no different from a jar of peanut butter on the shelf. I used to take this perspective and form some sort of ill advised, self righteous position over hunting, and somehow made it less cruel, when in reality, it was crueler.
So do I want to be a big hunter now, I can't honestly say, but I can say that I feel a deep need to re-connect the bond between my food and what it really is. I don't know when this will happen, but I feel it's very important. I would still place trophy hunters, the guys who get some sort of thrill out of killing animals, a 12 on a 1-10 scale of worst scumbags around, but I believe that those who hunt to feed their families probably gain a healthier perspective than people like me have right now.
****This list of "responsible hunting" from huntright.org contains a lot of what I think is necessary for proper hunting. http://www.huntright.org/where-we-stand/responsible-hunting
Thursday, September 29, 2011
What a week
What a truly amazing week in life. For starters, we finally got the results from our 30 day paleo challenge, which started this whole adventure in the first place. I was so fortunate to actually win the male challenge which took in to account body composition change and food logging. So for some numbers. In 30 days, I dropped from 192 lbs to 184. Both of these weights were taken at the end of the day and quite off from what I consistently got at home. On my scale I went from 190-179, that's weighing in the buff and in the morning though. Even more importantly, my overall body fat went from 24.4% to 16%! I couldn't believe the amount of change there. I dropped two and a half inches around my waist which translates into almost 2 pant sizes. Im posting pictures below from week one to the final weigh in. I don't really know how much different they look to other people, but I see a huge difference when I look at myself in the mirror. I'm pretty much done with the scale, it's going to lose its importance to me with the amount of muscle I'll be gaining so who knows what the number will end up being. I couldn't be happier with the results, and I'm even happier with how I feel. I'm going into serious marathon training this week and I predict I'm going to have to up my carbohydrates, but I still plan to take them totally from natural sources like fruits and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes and winter squashes. It's still definitely a work in progress but I'm nothing but excited about what's coming up.
Day 1 of the Paleo Diet
After 37 days on the Paleo Diet
I had a really cool breakthrough on my 12 mile long run this weekend too. I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do about nutrition during long runs and have bounced back and forth between bananas and Lara Bars, but the bananas often give me heart burn if I eat them during exercise and the Lara Bars work awesomely on long bike rides, but I hadn't really tried them on long runs. Well getting ready on Saturday morning I was faced with the reality that I hadn't planned anything and I also remembered that the week before I had started crashing because I had nothing to eat on a long run. I started rummaging around to find anything that wasn't Gu and finally settled on a container of organic flame raisins. Looking at the numbers, a quarter cup of raisins had almost the same calories as a Gu (Raisins 120, Gu 100) and actually more carbs (32 raisins, 28 Gu). My only concern was, frankly, the fiber. I knew that the possibility of a bathroom break was a real one, but I decided to go with it anyway. 12 miles was going to be my longest run by a couple of miles since the Ironman in May and man was this a good one. It didn't hurt that it was 59 degrees and stayed in the low 60's the whole time, but I felt awesome. I started out at around a 9:00-9:10 pace, remembering also that the week previously I had gone out a lot faster than this to stay with some people, and I know better than that. It was a glorious run, and each mile split got quicker and quicker, such that I ended my 12 mile run with an average of an 8:50 pace, with the last two miles being sub 8:10. The raisins did great, but I did have to take a potty break. I can't say for certain if the raisins were the reason for this or not, but either way, I didn't care, I felt tremendous. So, long story short, I'll be using the raisins again.
Day 1 of the Paleo Diet
After 37 days on the Paleo Diet
I had a really cool breakthrough on my 12 mile long run this weekend too. I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do about nutrition during long runs and have bounced back and forth between bananas and Lara Bars, but the bananas often give me heart burn if I eat them during exercise and the Lara Bars work awesomely on long bike rides, but I hadn't really tried them on long runs. Well getting ready on Saturday morning I was faced with the reality that I hadn't planned anything and I also remembered that the week before I had started crashing because I had nothing to eat on a long run. I started rummaging around to find anything that wasn't Gu and finally settled on a container of organic flame raisins. Looking at the numbers, a quarter cup of raisins had almost the same calories as a Gu (Raisins 120, Gu 100) and actually more carbs (32 raisins, 28 Gu). My only concern was, frankly, the fiber. I knew that the possibility of a bathroom break was a real one, but I decided to go with it anyway. 12 miles was going to be my longest run by a couple of miles since the Ironman in May and man was this a good one. It didn't hurt that it was 59 degrees and stayed in the low 60's the whole time, but I felt awesome. I started out at around a 9:00-9:10 pace, remembering also that the week previously I had gone out a lot faster than this to stay with some people, and I know better than that. It was a glorious run, and each mile split got quicker and quicker, such that I ended my 12 mile run with an average of an 8:50 pace, with the last two miles being sub 8:10. The raisins did great, but I did have to take a potty break. I can't say for certain if the raisins were the reason for this or not, but either way, I didn't care, I felt tremendous. So, long story short, I'll be using the raisins again.
Monday, September 26, 2011
No more confirmation needed
Yesterday officially marked the end of my 30 day "Paleo Challenge" through my crossfit gym. The "winner" get's announced tomorrow or the next day, but I already know I won. I don't know if I'll be named the winner of the challenge, but I definitely won something from this challenge. I have no doubt in my mind that this is how I will eat from this point forward. I'm going to wait until the results are out to give all of my final numbers and post some pictures, but what I will say is that the results were tremendous for me. I dropped significant body fat, dropped around 10 pounds, and feel like a million dollars. More than anything my mind is so clear on why this is good for me. It's clear to me not because of all the scientific reasons or because of what I've read, although all of that plays in. I know it's good because in just 30 days eating this way has transformed almost every part of my life. I don't even care if that sounds over-dramatic. I can't exactly explain the feeling of knowing that all of the food I eat is, as close as is possible living in a modern world, what my body was designed to eat. Naturally one of my big concerns was how it would affect me in my athletic pursuits and I have to say the results were great. I do see that in the future I am going to have to do a better job of planning for increased calories and carbohydrates when I have longer workouts, but paleo or no paleo, you have to plan to fuel during endurance sports.
If I had any doubts that I would continue this way of eating, I erased them yesterday, by not eating this way. As the challenge wound to a close, it felt "appropriate" to celebrate by going out to eat Tex-Mex. I set rules for myself before we went, no chips, no rice, and just try to be sensible. I think I did that, only had one chip, ate no rice, and didn't get the cheesiest most tortilla heavy thing on the menu, but I did take a hit on the churros and ice cream. Afterward and then today, I just don't feel like myself. It was one meal, and I don't feel any real guilt, just resolve. I don't need that anymore. Celebrating with food seems silly. Food is just fuel so that we CAN celebrate our lives, it doesn't need to be the celebration. That doesn't mean a treat now and again is bad, and I definitely know that I'll have them from time to time, but honestly, I don't need it. Bread, pasta, grains, sugar; I don't need those things to feel celebratory. I could go on and on and on about how we, as a culture, turn food into a drug more than an energy source, but that's another day.
To wrap up, I can't wait to see where this diet evolves from here. (yeah, that pun was very much intended) I look very forward to seeing how much more seamlessly I can integrate this way of eating into my life and the long term benefits it will have.
If I had any doubts that I would continue this way of eating, I erased them yesterday, by not eating this way. As the challenge wound to a close, it felt "appropriate" to celebrate by going out to eat Tex-Mex. I set rules for myself before we went, no chips, no rice, and just try to be sensible. I think I did that, only had one chip, ate no rice, and didn't get the cheesiest most tortilla heavy thing on the menu, but I did take a hit on the churros and ice cream. Afterward and then today, I just don't feel like myself. It was one meal, and I don't feel any real guilt, just resolve. I don't need that anymore. Celebrating with food seems silly. Food is just fuel so that we CAN celebrate our lives, it doesn't need to be the celebration. That doesn't mean a treat now and again is bad, and I definitely know that I'll have them from time to time, but honestly, I don't need it. Bread, pasta, grains, sugar; I don't need those things to feel celebratory. I could go on and on and on about how we, as a culture, turn food into a drug more than an energy source, but that's another day.
To wrap up, I can't wait to see where this diet evolves from here. (yeah, that pun was very much intended) I look very forward to seeing how much more seamlessly I can integrate this way of eating into my life and the long term benefits it will have.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
A bit of a hard day
I've been lucky since starting this particular phase of my journey, almost a month ago, to not have had many rough days. At the beginning of the paleo diet I had some sugar withdrawals to get past, not to bad. I've had to defend myself a few times, nothing too hard there. Today, I faced a challenge that I frankly didn't expect, and it's all on me.
Since my first crossfit workout a week ago, I've had trouble with my left knee hurting. All through foundations it was fine, it wasn't until I started squatting with heavy weight that my knee started hurting. I figured that my form could use some focus, and that more than likely I had some weaknesses to address. I wasn't overly concerned about it and my knee did feel better during the next workout, and I was able to run on it without pain for 8 miles on Saturday. Today my knee felt completely fine, even going down stairs (the consistent trigger of discomfort all week) so I felt very hopeful going into today's WOD (workout of the day). Not 2 minutes into the workout my knee was hurting from one of the movements. All of this just leads to what made the day hard. Over the last two years of becoming an athlete, I've had tweaks and injuries and the first thing you know is to slow it down, modify what you are doing, and above all don't just keep pushing through something that really "hurts." For some reason as I was performing my "man makers" tonight, I ignored all the things I knew about not getting myself hurt. I could have shallowed the squat, modified by not squatting with weight, but what I shouldn't have done is exactly what I did. I just kept going, but my form started to degrade, I started to short reps and I became very defeated, very quickly.
The other thing I did that triathlon, running, and endurance sports in general have taught me so well not to do is focus on something other than my own effort. I let where other people were in the workout, what time was on the clock, and what I "should" be able to do impact my workout more than actually doing what would have been best for me. I was more focused on being able to put a "good time" up on the board than I was on getting a quality workout done. It's a bitter pill to swallow after you feel like you've learned how to focus. In a way I'm glad this happened on day 3 of crossfit, and I guess I should be glad I realized it at all.
On the board at the box we have a section of white board where we are supposed to write our monthly goal. I didn't make one for September just because we were over halfway through the month. My "rest of September" goal? Don't focus on the clock, stop looking at where other people are, and do a workout RX (as prescribed) no matter what the clock says.
Since my first crossfit workout a week ago, I've had trouble with my left knee hurting. All through foundations it was fine, it wasn't until I started squatting with heavy weight that my knee started hurting. I figured that my form could use some focus, and that more than likely I had some weaknesses to address. I wasn't overly concerned about it and my knee did feel better during the next workout, and I was able to run on it without pain for 8 miles on Saturday. Today my knee felt completely fine, even going down stairs (the consistent trigger of discomfort all week) so I felt very hopeful going into today's WOD (workout of the day). Not 2 minutes into the workout my knee was hurting from one of the movements. All of this just leads to what made the day hard. Over the last two years of becoming an athlete, I've had tweaks and injuries and the first thing you know is to slow it down, modify what you are doing, and above all don't just keep pushing through something that really "hurts." For some reason as I was performing my "man makers" tonight, I ignored all the things I knew about not getting myself hurt. I could have shallowed the squat, modified by not squatting with weight, but what I shouldn't have done is exactly what I did. I just kept going, but my form started to degrade, I started to short reps and I became very defeated, very quickly.
The other thing I did that triathlon, running, and endurance sports in general have taught me so well not to do is focus on something other than my own effort. I let where other people were in the workout, what time was on the clock, and what I "should" be able to do impact my workout more than actually doing what would have been best for me. I was more focused on being able to put a "good time" up on the board than I was on getting a quality workout done. It's a bitter pill to swallow after you feel like you've learned how to focus. In a way I'm glad this happened on day 3 of crossfit, and I guess I should be glad I realized it at all.
On the board at the box we have a section of white board where we are supposed to write our monthly goal. I didn't make one for September just because we were over halfway through the month. My "rest of September" goal? Don't focus on the clock, stop looking at where other people are, and do a workout RX (as prescribed) no matter what the clock says.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Three Weeks In
I've been eating the paleo way for 21 days and I'm really starting to see a difference in my body. 3 weeks is a relatively short period of time and so far I have lost 11 pounds and my clothes are really starting to fit differently. I'm not really losing weight anymore and I'm not going to be surprised if I actually start gaining because I started doing Crossfit last week and am hoping to start adding some muscle. With the paleo diet plan in full force, I do feel like I'm definitely losing body fat now and not just water. I'm having to make sure I keep my calories up so that I'm burning my body fat and not any muscle. I feel absolutely great, and even I can see change in these pictures.
Gamechanger: The little bitty muffin
Yes. I ate a muffin. No, I haven't "cheated" once on my paleo diet since beginning it 21 days ago. Part of me just wanted to blog about the incredible paleo friendly banana/apple muffins (made with almond flour) that my lovely fiancé made, and then I realized that these muffins meant something huge. I've been trying to live for the past 21 days according to the Paleo/primal diet lifestyle, and have found it to be intensely rewarding. As I've blogged about before, I've caught some flack about it, and usually land on the defensive. The "did caveman eat that..." comments always get to me, but if I'm honest, I never had a good response. Well these little bitty muffins not only gave me a response, but much more importantly they made me see this lifestyle differently. The word "lifestyle" gets overused almost as much as the word "diet," but that's really what this is. No, I’m fairly certain a caveman never ate a muffin made from almond flour, but I bet he damn sure wishes he could have. I'm not a caveman, I’m not even trying to be a caveman, I'm trying to eat according to what, evolutionally speaking, our body's are designed to eat. That's what I realized; finding NEW, INNOVATIVE, UNIQUE ways to eat a really old way is what I'm all about. Trying to eat just "like a caveman" is not only difficult, but it doesn't capture the idea behind what I'm after. That would simply just be another fad diet, a change in behavior to resemble something other than what I really am. Instead, I'm trying really hard to become something that I really am.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The Animal I have become...
No, it's not just a subpar song lyric. As I'm reading and trying to understand more about why I would want to eat and live this way, I ran across something last night that really clicked with me. I can't tell you how much I get asked about why I would bother, or what sense does that make, or more often, just, snickers or head shakes when I tell people about the paleo diet. What I read last night was one of Robb Wolf's explanations and it makes perfect sense to me. If we look at the total scope of human existence, whatever we believe that number to be, we've been eating as a result of established agriculture for about 5 minutes. For the millennia before the Mesopotamians decided to revolutionize the world by planting and harvesting grain, we lived as hunters and gatherers. This fact isn't under much dispute, but it's easy to ask, who cares? It's also easy to look at this and say, "Yeah, progress, we were making progress into civilization and more sophisticated ways of life!" That may be so. Trust me, I love the internet, my iPod, the internal combustion engine, and TV as much as anyone, but in regards to the way we eat, I think we are missing something pretty key here, and that is WHAT we really are.
We are animals. We are smart animals, we are the smartest animals, we are animals that God gave abilities to that no other animal has, but we are still animals. Our ability to reason and feel doesn't change our biological processes, or at least, I don't think it should. I'm not a scientist, and I'm sure there is an animal out there somewhere that enjoys a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, but if I think about it, almost all animal, and certainly all mammals', diets consist of fruit, meat, vegetable, nuts and seeds. This is also what our Paleolithic ancestors ate. Now the next immediate comment I get is, "Well what was the average life expectancy of a caveman?" When I say comment and then type a question, it's not a grammatical error in this case, because no one really wants to know, they are saying it because they already know that Paleolithic man had a shorter life span than modern man. What they don't know, or at least don't say, is that paleo man had to live outdoors, be chased by tigers, hunt, run, and be in danger in ways we don't face in the modern world. Again, progress. What I find more important than any of this is would be the research that shows things like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer were virtually nonexistent until we started eating grains.
So do I hate progress, heck no. I carry almond butter in little plastic pouches, pre measured and ready to eat. Caveman didn't have that. I can buy grass fed, hormone free beef steaks at the grocery store, I don't have to chase down and kill a mean cow. (Yes, cows used to be mean) I get to eat every fruit under the sun when a caveman might have only been able to get what was in the few square miles where he lived. Progress is awesome, but it should be to take what is already good and make it better, not replace what was good with what was easier, cheaper, and more available. I'll save how governments decided to mandate "progress" for another time, maybe some time when I understand what I'm talking about. (Don't hold your breath.)
We are animals. We are smart animals, we are the smartest animals, we are animals that God gave abilities to that no other animal has, but we are still animals. Our ability to reason and feel doesn't change our biological processes, or at least, I don't think it should. I'm not a scientist, and I'm sure there is an animal out there somewhere that enjoys a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, but if I think about it, almost all animal, and certainly all mammals', diets consist of fruit, meat, vegetable, nuts and seeds. This is also what our Paleolithic ancestors ate. Now the next immediate comment I get is, "Well what was the average life expectancy of a caveman?" When I say comment and then type a question, it's not a grammatical error in this case, because no one really wants to know, they are saying it because they already know that Paleolithic man had a shorter life span than modern man. What they don't know, or at least don't say, is that paleo man had to live outdoors, be chased by tigers, hunt, run, and be in danger in ways we don't face in the modern world. Again, progress. What I find more important than any of this is would be the research that shows things like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer were virtually nonexistent until we started eating grains.
So do I hate progress, heck no. I carry almond butter in little plastic pouches, pre measured and ready to eat. Caveman didn't have that. I can buy grass fed, hormone free beef steaks at the grocery store, I don't have to chase down and kill a mean cow. (Yes, cows used to be mean) I get to eat every fruit under the sun when a caveman might have only been able to get what was in the few square miles where he lived. Progress is awesome, but it should be to take what is already good and make it better, not replace what was good with what was easier, cheaper, and more available. I'll save how governments decided to mandate "progress" for another time, maybe some time when I understand what I'm talking about. (Don't hold your breath.)
Monday, September 5, 2011
Yeah, You're right, being on the paleo diet sucks...
What you see above is the toil and suffering we are going through in depriving ourselves of grains, dairy, and refined sugars. I can't even type with a straight face. I'll admit, we don't eat this way every meal, this was kind of a treat to get so much different grilled meat along with some salad and guacamole, but the point is, it's not depriving ourselves of anything.
I've been quite surprised over the last two weeks by the reaction of the people we tell about the way we are eating. I'm not surprised by people who are skeptical of it because it is a very different way of eating from the standard American diet, but what does surprise me is that the skepticism is almost always accompanied by condescension and even outright criticism. I'll start by saying, I'm not pushing this diet on anyone. I do tend to talk about it if people ask questions, and I've been quite open about how good I've felt on it, but I by no means have been going around, looking at other peoples' plates and shaking my finger. I would love for everyone I know to feel the same benefits I am, but not only do I not feel it my place to push anyone into anything, I don't feel I yet understand all the aspects of the paleo diet enough to "pitch" it to anyone effectively. I say all of this because I feel if I were on a soapbox all the time, or passing judgement on peoples dinner plates, I should expect some criticism of what I'm doing, but I feel like I'm careful not to be judgmental. That's why it strikes me as strange when people consistently try to nail me on the finer points of "well would a caveman cook it that way?" or "you really going to eat that with a metal fork?" or (my favorite) "I don't think a caveman would approve of you warming that up in the microwave." People for some reason don't want me to eat this way, or if I'm going to, they at least don't want me to enjoy it. I think as a culture we have established an environment where eating healthy or changing eating habits has to be painful or sacrificial. They are looking at me like I've lost something, like my mind, and all I feel like is that I've finally found something, and I think it's the right thing.
The most fitting comparison I can make came from teaching my junior English class last week. We were talking about how monumental the change in philosophy was from the renaissance to the enlightenment when the world started to realize that it wasn't sinful to explore the natural universe that God created. Discoveries like, the earth's orbit and rotation, ocean waves, the solar system etc. are all things we now don't even think twice about because they are so universally accepted as truth. Who knows how we will feel about the way we eat a couple hundred years from now. Maybe another example of why we should look back to move forward.
My First Paleo Powered Race
Yesterday I competed in a sprint triathlon in Freeport, Texas. I did this same race last year when I would have considered myself in the best shape I've been in athletically. I love this race and have been looking forward to it all year, partly because it's just a really fun, local, small race, and partly because it's the first race I ever placed in. Last year I got second in my age group, so I was hoping for big things again this year. This was all before the whole paleo thing entered the picture, so a couple of weeks ago I started to wonder how this was going to affect my performance. In the early days of eating paleo, a couple of my workouts went, well, less than perfectly, so I was anxious as to what it would do (or not dot) for me.
I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I have fairly little to report as far as feeling anything different than normal. It's definitely a good thing that I didn't feel that I had any less energy than I normally would at a race of this distance. It was a very windy day and so the bike portion zapped a lot of the energy that I would normally take with me to the run, but again, this didn't in any way feel due to a lack of anything to do with my diet. On the positive side after the event was over I felt like I recovered perhaps a little faster than normal. Relatively speaking, a sprint is a short race that doesn't require a ton of recovery, but it is an intense event that does leave your body depleted and in need of some care. Yesterday, however, I took down a lot of water and some fruit after the race, then went and had an omelet with my friends, and I felt pretty much normal for the rest of the day. I took about a 15 minute power nap and sat on the couch watching a movie for a couple hours, but today I have zero soreness or fatigue. I usually would have left over soreness and a lot of fluid retention the day after a race of any distance. Today I'm actually down a little in weight, and feel totally hydrated and fueled.
My conclusion? I love this for competition. I didn't see a huge up swing in energy during the race, but there was definitely no down swing, and if I can recover faster and hop right back into the game, then that's a huge bonus. After getting over my initial sugar withdrawals the first couple of days, I continue to be so pleased with how eating this way makes me feel.
I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I have fairly little to report as far as feeling anything different than normal. It's definitely a good thing that I didn't feel that I had any less energy than I normally would at a race of this distance. It was a very windy day and so the bike portion zapped a lot of the energy that I would normally take with me to the run, but again, this didn't in any way feel due to a lack of anything to do with my diet. On the positive side after the event was over I felt like I recovered perhaps a little faster than normal. Relatively speaking, a sprint is a short race that doesn't require a ton of recovery, but it is an intense event that does leave your body depleted and in need of some care. Yesterday, however, I took down a lot of water and some fruit after the race, then went and had an omelet with my friends, and I felt pretty much normal for the rest of the day. I took about a 15 minute power nap and sat on the couch watching a movie for a couple hours, but today I have zero soreness or fatigue. I usually would have left over soreness and a lot of fluid retention the day after a race of any distance. Today I'm actually down a little in weight, and feel totally hydrated and fueled.
My conclusion? I love this for competition. I didn't see a huge up swing in energy during the race, but there was definitely no down swing, and if I can recover faster and hop right back into the game, then that's a huge bonus. After getting over my initial sugar withdrawals the first couple of days, I continue to be so pleased with how eating this way makes me feel.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
One Week Down
So today is Day 8 of eating on the Paleo diet and I am so incredibly pleased. I could go on and on about different things that I like about it, but I'm sure I'll get to all of them individually at some point. For now I'm going to say that what I love the most about it is the way I feel. There were a rough couple of days at the beginning, as we were told there would be, but after my body got used to not being inundated with sugar, I started to feel great, and now I feel even better. My body has stopped feeling those huge up and down swings from when I'm hungry to when I eat. When I get hungry, I eat, and when I eat, I gradually gain energy, but I don't have this instant, "ahhhhh" sensation that now that I ate I'm ok. I've also made great strides in the mental aspects of eating that I've talked about before.
I'm also really pleased with the results. From a numbers standpoint I've lost about 5.5 pounds this week, going from 190 to 184.4. I know some of this wait is water and inflammation, but I feel like I look better. Whether or not I do, I'm not sure, nor do I really care. I'm putting week 2 pictures up more to see if there is a progression, like I hop there will be.
I'm also really pleased with the results. From a numbers standpoint I've lost about 5.5 pounds this week, going from 190 to 184.4. I know some of this wait is water and inflammation, but I feel like I look better. Whether or not I do, I'm not sure, nor do I really care. I'm putting week 2 pictures up more to see if there is a progression, like I hop there will be.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Realizations
On to day 5 of eating Paleo and a few things have become very clear while some things have remained fuzzy, or gotten fuzzier.
There's no doubt that over the past 5 days I have eaten better. The question is, have I "felt" better. That's a harder question to answer. I truly believe that eating this way is the best way for our bodies. I'm continuing to read and discover the reasons why this lifestyle is the healthiest there is, the problem is, I don't find myself able to translate what I'm reading on the page to other people. When they ask me why or want me to explain it, I feel like I do a really poor job explaining it. I've been rather surprised that while a lot of people are curious and inquisitive, some people have been down right condescending about the diet. I've gotten everything from laughs to almost overtly negative remarks. It's totally possible that those remarks are more about, "Here goes will on something else again," than they are on the diet itself, but it's been surprising none the less.
It's also clear that I have already lost weight. Significant weight, 6 pounds to be exact. Now that sounds crazy, unhealthy even, but I of all people know that getting rid of inflammation, water retention, etc is most likely the cause of this. I went on a short "paleo cleanse" right after I finished Ironman Texas because of how awful I felt from consuming so many energy gels, gatorade, etc during the training and race, and then the smorgasbord I took part in for like 3 days after, and I lost 11 pounds in 48 hours. Again, inflammation, water retention, not body fat.
The last thing that is clear to me is that I need to eat a little more. I'm still finding out what ration of fat, protein, and carbs works best for me. For the last 4 days I have been running on about 50% fat, 30% protein, and 20% carbs. I know this is where people who don't understand this diet hit the ceiling. People who have been familiar with what American nutritional standards have told us would say that is WAAAY too much fat and that I am headed for heart disease and all kinds of other things. As I'm learning, fat doesn't make you fat. Sugar and it's effects on your body when it encounters fat, makes you fat. All that being said, I can't fully explain it yet, I'm just trying it. Robb Wolf can explain it completely, and it's not pseudo science and fluff, he knows what he's talking about. What I will say is that I do think my ratios need adjusting. I'm still doing endurance sports and training hard. So I'm going to start aiming for a 40%f, 30%p, 30%c ratio. Adding in things like sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and extra fruit will give me a little more energy for the longer workouts.
So what's still fuzzy is how I feel. On one hand I feel great. I already feel like 5 days in my body looks better, somehow slimmer. It may be mental, but I don't really care if it is from the looks department. One of the things I'm after is a better sense of self from this lifestyle, and for this one small part of it, it's on the right track. On the other hand I feel like crap. Im sweaty, jittery, sick feeling, and I think it's because I'm, well, getting sick. I just started back to school in the last 2 weeks and hitting my immune system with 700 teenage boys worth of germs wouldn't be good regardless of how I'm eating. I will admit that this has been a shock to my system and may have made it easier for me to get sick, but certainly don't think it's WHY I got sick. So I'm fuzzy on how I feel because I'm not sure if I'm feeling weird from the diet or because I'm getting sick. I guess I'll find out in the next couple of days.
There's no doubt that over the past 5 days I have eaten better. The question is, have I "felt" better. That's a harder question to answer. I truly believe that eating this way is the best way for our bodies. I'm continuing to read and discover the reasons why this lifestyle is the healthiest there is, the problem is, I don't find myself able to translate what I'm reading on the page to other people. When they ask me why or want me to explain it, I feel like I do a really poor job explaining it. I've been rather surprised that while a lot of people are curious and inquisitive, some people have been down right condescending about the diet. I've gotten everything from laughs to almost overtly negative remarks. It's totally possible that those remarks are more about, "Here goes will on something else again," than they are on the diet itself, but it's been surprising none the less.
It's also clear that I have already lost weight. Significant weight, 6 pounds to be exact. Now that sounds crazy, unhealthy even, but I of all people know that getting rid of inflammation, water retention, etc is most likely the cause of this. I went on a short "paleo cleanse" right after I finished Ironman Texas because of how awful I felt from consuming so many energy gels, gatorade, etc during the training and race, and then the smorgasbord I took part in for like 3 days after, and I lost 11 pounds in 48 hours. Again, inflammation, water retention, not body fat.
The last thing that is clear to me is that I need to eat a little more. I'm still finding out what ration of fat, protein, and carbs works best for me. For the last 4 days I have been running on about 50% fat, 30% protein, and 20% carbs. I know this is where people who don't understand this diet hit the ceiling. People who have been familiar with what American nutritional standards have told us would say that is WAAAY too much fat and that I am headed for heart disease and all kinds of other things. As I'm learning, fat doesn't make you fat. Sugar and it's effects on your body when it encounters fat, makes you fat. All that being said, I can't fully explain it yet, I'm just trying it. Robb Wolf can explain it completely, and it's not pseudo science and fluff, he knows what he's talking about. What I will say is that I do think my ratios need adjusting. I'm still doing endurance sports and training hard. So I'm going to start aiming for a 40%f, 30%p, 30%c ratio. Adding in things like sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and extra fruit will give me a little more energy for the longer workouts.
So what's still fuzzy is how I feel. On one hand I feel great. I already feel like 5 days in my body looks better, somehow slimmer. It may be mental, but I don't really care if it is from the looks department. One of the things I'm after is a better sense of self from this lifestyle, and for this one small part of it, it's on the right track. On the other hand I feel like crap. Im sweaty, jittery, sick feeling, and I think it's because I'm, well, getting sick. I just started back to school in the last 2 weeks and hitting my immune system with 700 teenage boys worth of germs wouldn't be good regardless of how I'm eating. I will admit that this has been a shock to my system and may have made it easier for me to get sick, but certainly don't think it's WHY I got sick. So I'm fuzzy on how I feel because I'm not sure if I'm feeling weird from the diet or because I'm getting sick. I guess I'll find out in the next couple of days.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
This is hard...
My Crossfit coach, Theo, while giving his introduction to the Paleo challenge we are doing said something to the effect of "People always come whining to me, 'This is hard!!!' Diabetes is hard, fighting cancer is hard, not putting cream in your F'ing coffee isn't hard." It's not hard to see why I really like this guy. I have gone through some sugar withdrawals today and felt kind of crappy as my body gets used to the way I'm eating. I thought more than once today...this is hard. Every time I did though, the thought was instantly replaced by how sad I think it is that the American standard diet is so reliant on processed sugar. Compound that with the fact that I'm an "athlete" and therefore feel some sense of entitlement to put extra, well, anything in my body, and I am starting to see that my nutrition ideas have gotten pretty messed up. Coming from 300 pounds, it was easy for the number on the scale to be the biggest, if not the only, measuring stick I used to track my "health." At first, it needed to be, I needed to get pounds off me and I needed to keep them off. I did that, and the effects were fantastic. I was running, swimming, and biking and I was making great strides in my personal fitness. I got to a comfortable weight and stayed there, have stayed there for 2 years. As proud of this as I am, I think it's also the reason I have arrived at the place I am today. As long as the scale was roughly where I needed it to be, I sort of treated my nutrition like a playground, and it's now that I'm realizing that I feel a greater sense of responsibility to treat my body, as well as my place in this world, with a little more responsibility. So what does it matter if I do or don't eat this way, or live this way, or hold certain opinions of the way our American nutritional system has developed? Ultimately not much, but it's that sort of insidious thinking that has gotten us where we are. My eating may not change the world, but if I'm lucky, it just may change mine.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A Pang?
I told myself that here in the beginning that I would blog about it whenever I had difficulty or struggles with eating this way. Well it's day 2, and I don't know that what I'm having here is as much a struggle as it is a realization. I used to have serious issues with food and it's emotional qualities. I was depressed, I ate, I was bored, I ate, I was happy, I ate. Most anyone can tell you that regardless of whether it's beer, a crack rock, or a nacho, people look for emotional relief in things that aren't necessarily the best for them. I've come along way from my crack nacho days, but I think today for some reason is reminding me of how true it is that those feelings don't ever completely go away. I've been up since 5 working at a cross country meet, it's hot, I'm tired, and nothing sounds better than to toss down 1,000 calories of something friedcheesysalty and nap for the next couple of hours, but honestly, I'm not hungry. I ate a great breakfast and a light but very sensible lunch, and I don't NEED any more fuel to do the laundry and sit on the couch. My mind wants something, because it has gotten used to being satiated by food. It's something I worked really hard to get through, and it stings a little bit to see them still hanging around. At the same time, the good news comes from the same place. I've been here before. I know enough to know what this REALLY is. Something that excites me very much about this way of eating is that it is treating food as fuel, and that's it. I'm fueling my body to work, whatever that work may be, not looking to fulfill my emotional pangs.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Beginning Stats...
To begin our 30 day challenge, we weighed in and took all of our body measurements, including body fat. Here's what I'm starting with:
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 192.5
Body Fat %: 24.4
Chest: 41.25"
Waist: 36.5
Arms: 12.5 :(
Legs: 22
Hips 38.5
What I'm looking for is at least a 10% drop in body fat, with hopes of one day being being at or below 10% bf. I really could care less what the scale says anymore, but I wouldn't hate it if I lost a few lbs. Swallowing my pride, here are my before photos:
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 192.5
Body Fat %: 24.4
Chest: 41.25"
Waist: 36.5
Arms: 12.5 :(
Legs: 22
Hips 38.5
What I'm looking for is at least a 10% drop in body fat, with hopes of one day being being at or below 10% bf. I really could care less what the scale says anymore, but I wouldn't hate it if I lost a few lbs. Swallowing my pride, here are my before photos:
Looking down the river...
Im reading a book by Robb Wolf who uses an analogy of standing in a river and facing downstream as if the water is flowing from behind you. It has something to do with having to look to the past before we can turn and face the future. I don't really understand it...yet, but I will say that as I live day in day out I cant help but feel that looking backwards makes a lot of sense in thinking about how we treat food, our eating habits, and even the way we stay active. Robb has TONS of scientific, anthropological, real world, and theoretical research to back his claims. I have none of that. All I have are my two eyes, and I see the world around me changing. Getting fatter, people being more sedentary, and all of us getting our food more from factories than farms. I don't pretend to know what to do about this on a large scale, but I do know that feeling this way is too much for me to just ignore.
So what am I going to do? I'm going to try and look backwards, while also living in today. As many may already know, Im already passionate about fitness, especially running and triathlon. I will always swim, bike, and run but honestly a lot of the carb heavy, processed products we use in triathlon I think have contributed to my overall feeling of flab. I've come a LONG way in my health and in my body, but I'm ready to get over this plateau and take my health and fitness to a new level.
Practically, I am going on a 30 day paleo challenge with my new Crossfit gym. I've eaten this way before and I love it. As I said I am also starting Crossfit. I don't know if I will love it or not, but I want to love it. I want to transform myself, inside and out. I'm planning some things I've never done before. I will keep this blog, as well as adding video blogging. I'll share recipes, things I like, things I don't. I want to share it with the world, and I hope it's mildly interesting.
So what am I going to do? I'm going to try and look backwards, while also living in today. As many may already know, Im already passionate about fitness, especially running and triathlon. I will always swim, bike, and run but honestly a lot of the carb heavy, processed products we use in triathlon I think have contributed to my overall feeling of flab. I've come a LONG way in my health and in my body, but I'm ready to get over this plateau and take my health and fitness to a new level.
Practically, I am going on a 30 day paleo challenge with my new Crossfit gym. I've eaten this way before and I love it. As I said I am also starting Crossfit. I don't know if I will love it or not, but I want to love it. I want to transform myself, inside and out. I'm planning some things I've never done before. I will keep this blog, as well as adding video blogging. I'll share recipes, things I like, things I don't. I want to share it with the world, and I hope it's mildly interesting.
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