Been a while, hasn't it? Things have been a little off balance lately and I surely haven't had time or energy to post. I am going to do my best to make sure that I am posting as frequently as I can. Which, hopefully, means every day.
So, I've decided to finally fully take on Paleo by kicking it off with the Whole30 program. It's a program of 30 straight days of paleolithic nutrition. No grains, no dairy, no legumes, no refined sugars. Lots of meat and veggies, some fruit and nuts, no alcohol (yes, I said it), and a pretty high fat intake (good fats and essential fats. so obviously no trans fats). The basic idea? Eat like a caveman. Consume food in the way such as "our paleolithic ancestors did." I put that in quotes and meant to...
Some side notes:
- Many of my fellow friends who haven't spoken with me in a while may be surprised that I may be taking on such an endeavor due to the ideas behind the diet. Ideas such as cavemen, evolution, etc. Especially knowing that I don't believe in the theory of evolution.
- Many of you may think I'm a crazy person for not believing in the theory of evolution and be wondering why a silly creationist would be taking on a diet based on a Dawinian theory.
- The honest truth is that I still do believe in God and creation and I also believe this diet works. It sure has been showing results since I started dabbling in it with my 5-14 day sprints on it. Believe what you will about God (or about me), but for me, I know it is said that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and I have definitely started to take part in taking care of that temple so that it is clean. So, I will still eat the Bread of Life.
Now that you know a little about my personal life and beliefs, I am going to get back on subject to avoid being controversial. This Big WODea isn't about controversy and ticking people off. It's about my life in the world of Crossfit and what I am doing within all of it (and posting evil WODs for the crazy people to try out).
Now, halfway through day five, I can definitely say that it has been a shift in the lifestyle. Growing up in a household dominated by rice was one thing to overcome. We have a rice cooker and a rice dispenser filled with ten to twenty-five pounds of rice at any given time. On top of rice, we were also big on bread, milk, and we definitely loved sugar. Mom loves sugar, and you know kids... Child see, child do.
Needless to say, I grew up to be a fat kid. Not morbidly obese by any means, but definitely significantly fat. My mother sat around yelling at me about how I needed to workout and eat better as she nibbled away at way too many fruits, cookies, ice cream sandwiches, candy bars, buttered up breads... you get the picture (Now she says I train too hard and need to eat more like a normal person). With all this, I already knew that getting in shape at home was going to be nothing short of difficult (although, so far I have lost sixty pounds).
Looking into Paleolithic nutrition, I didn't really know where to start. I read part of the book The Paleo Solution (and am still reading it) and a good amount of online articles. From there, I started cutting out grains and legumes. Soon after I cut out dairy. I ate as much as I could during meals because I work at a coffee shop and there is nothing but crap food there. Everything has grains (pastries) or way too much sodium in it. Also, every drink is milk based. I started to bring almond milk to work for some lattes, but realized later that there was sweetener in it. Later I moved to the unsweetened kind, but have become concerned with a few ingredients that are a bit difficult to pronounce. It was all crazy challenge of figuring out right and wrong and my head was spinning. It wasn't really that it was hard to figure out, it was (and is still) more or less about figuring out how to adapt to it. Things like grains were staples in my diet and were the reasons that I became full (more like stuffed).
So far, in five days (along with my other short endeavors) I've learned a lot about myself and food:
- I sure love me some sweets! My fruit intake is the thing I am most careful with, due to the fact that I want to use fruits for replacing candy. Making sure I am having the Whole30 recommended fruit portions is a top priority.
- Grains are addicting... very addicting. I really love carbs... way too much. I would often find myself standing in front of the pastry case trying to convince myself that having a cheese danish or an apple fritter was okay. Often times, I was a pretty good seller on the point. Next thing I knew, danish/fritter in the oven and on the way into my stomach.
- Trying new vegetables is always scary.
- I love to cook.
- Unfortunately, I hate cleaning up.
- Going out is quite a difficult task at times. Sometimes, so difficult, I just say forget all about it.
- As someone who doesn't drink all that much, getting rid of alcohol for a month is proving to make going out to have fun hard and awkward. "Yea, I'll have two hoegardens, a fox and barrel, and a water for myself." "Can I get another refill on my water?... and another?"
Health has become important enough for me to change the way I live in the way of a complete 180 degree turn. I want to feel better, live better, and be better (Not to mention have a tight looking butt and a set of abs to make the ladies jumps for joy). Athleticism has also paved the way for all these changes. I want to be bigger, faster, and stronger. I want to be an athlete, something I had always wanted to be, but was never able to reach for. My mother would not let my brother wrestle or let me play football. I took Crossfit as my chance to reach for such a goal. Getting into the games may seem unrealistic and disgustingly lofty, but I like to dream (and why not? at least I am becoming better), at least I may be able to compete in smaller scale events.
I've seen quite a bit so far in this Whole5. Let's raise a glass of coconut milk to a Whole25 more...
AND A WODea!
WODea 2/20/2011
"The Enduro-con"
For time:
20 Burpees
Run 800m
50 Double Unders
30 Box Jumps 24"/20"
Row 500m
50 Box Jumps 24"/20"
30 Double Unders
Run 800m
50 Double Unders
30 Box Jumps 24"/20"
Row 500m
50 Box Jumps 24"20"
30 Double Unders
Run 800m
20 Burpees
Post thoughts, times, and videos (including run ins with pukie) to comments.
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