Stopping the 30 Day Paleo Challenge

I have technically been on my 30 day Paleo challenge for quite some time now but I have failed. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be and it turns out I wasn't prepared.

I will try again soon but next time I will be more prepared. I'm going to throw out all my non-Paleo foods in my fridge and pantry. Well, almost everything. I'm not making him go Paleo so a few boxes of crackers and cookies will have to remain.

I usually have excellent will-power but I've been stressed for the past few months. I've been looking for a good job (finally got one by the way!) and it's extremely difficult not to give in and eat your son's left over mac and cheese. When you're really hungry, you tend to eat whatever is most immediately available. Unfortunately, most Paleo foods take preparation. Unless you got a whole fridge full of pemmican, it's a lot more convenient to pour yourself some cereal than it is to prepare steak and salad.

Just the way it is.

Part of me just wants to pretend it never happened and continue on with my challenge but I'm not going to do that. I want to do this the right way next time.

Next time I will post pictures everyday and give a breakdown of what I ate that day. It will be interesting to see the incremental changes day-by-day. On the Paleo diet, you really do notice things in just a matter of days.

Not sure when I will start but it may not be for a few weeks. I have a trip to Germany next week and it's probably not a good idea to start before the trip. Too much good beer around!

Day 4 - 30 Day Paleo Challenge

Can't believe on I'm day 4 already!

I really need to start upping my "strict Paleo food" intake here. I have been eating what most people would consider an Atkins diet instead of Paleo. I tend to do this because for one; Paleo is pretty expensive and two; Paleo foods aren't as widely available as plain old low carb foods. This isn't a terrible thing. Processed meats aren't exactly ideal but bacon is way better than Krispy Kreme doughnuts any day.

Today, I'm going to go a little more strict on myself. No copious amounts of cheese or processed meats and a little more fruit and veggie.

I feel a lot better now than I did a few weeks ago. My clothes feel a lot looser and I haven't noticed any decreases in my strength. I want to keep my muscle mass as I lean out. Low carb without cutting calories too much works great for this.

I also sleep a lot better when I'm on Paleo. I'm not sure why but I do tend to have vivid dreams when eating low carb. I think this may have something to do with the increased growth hormone levels in my body.

Day 3 - 30 Day Paleo Challenge

It's 7am on day 3 of my 30 day Paleo challenge. Last night I went to a party at my good friends place and there was non-Paleo food galore. My friend's mom kept pushing food on me and my friend kept offering me a beer. In the context of the situation, I think I did pretty good. But I still let go a little bit.

I had two beers and a couple of small pieces of some chocolate dessert. It's a shame that my 30 day Paleo challenge is on a rocky start but I guess I'll just have to keep on keeping on as if nothing happened. I should have had just one beer so to not appear rude, and I shouldn't have had any of that dessert because nobody was pushing that on me. It just looked good! Also, even small amounts of alcohol sabotage my ability to control what food I eat.

I did my best to hide the fact that all I took from the smorgasbord of food (man that pasta looked good!) was Italian sausage and salad without the omega-6 filled industrial oil they call dressing.

All in all I don't think I did too bad. I don't go to parties like this often so this was merely an inconvenient time for me. (Come on, day 2 of my 30-day Paleo challenge?!)

Day 2 - 30 Day Paleo Challenge

I'm going to update my progress in my 30 day adventure here to help keep me on target. When I write down my commitments I feel more obligated to keep them.

The first day went well. I do have to admit though that some of the foods I'm eating aren't Paleo per se but more low carb. Most factions of Paleo do not allow much dairy but I did eat quite a bit of cheese yesterday. Perhaps a bit too much. Dairy isn't very fattening for me so I'm not too worried but it can stall my weight loss if I eat too much. It was my first day yesterday so I'll forgive myself and just carry on with my plan. I'll cut down on the dairy.

Despite that minor setback, I didn't divulge in any other heavily processed industrial food. It's extremely difficult to do Paleo in its purest form and keep on a budget. I am purchasing what would be considered low quality meats in the Paleo community but until I get a very large freezer and access to a family farm that will let me buy grass-fed meat in bulk, I will have to settle for the grain-fed stuff. Hey, even super market meat is better than Ritz Crackers and Cheerios. I'm not trying to be perfect here. Living in the real world does make you compromise.

Paleo can be quite expensive but to remedy this I'm going to up my egg intake. I'll shoot for 10 eggs a day. This will keep my full on Paleo without breaking the bank. I can buy eggs at Costco's in bulk and keep them in the fridge in my basement.

I also have to up my vegetable intake. I do enjoy eating vegetables but I rarely buy them. It always seems that they go bad in the fridge before I get a chance to eat them. Also, most of the time I don't feel like preparing them. I suppose I could eat them raw, but its nearly impossible to eat a lot of raw vegetables. After two raw carrots and a little bit of broccoli, you just want to eat a couple of steaks.

30 Day Paleo Challenge

Like most human beings, I have faults. In this case, my fault is that I fail to take my own advice.

You see, I'm almost at my heaviest weight that I've ever been. Most wouldn't call me fat, but there's definitely some soft spots. Human beings are not meant to look this way. The average modern man is not much to look at because he has abused his body with industrial food for years and hasn't moved the way nature intended him to do since childhood. Man should look flabby and content, he should be lean and hungry.

Sometimes, I reach a tipping point. And at that point I muster up every ounce of will power I can to make a change. Right now, I don't look like a man should. That has to change.

I'm going to go on a 30 Day Paleo Challenge and eliminate all modern foods from my life. From now until the 10^th of November, not one cheeseburger or beer will be consumed by me.

I need this bad.

So, here are my rules:

1.  Paleo foods only (with limited dairy) 

That's it.

I will eat whenever I feel like it though I will not be afraid of skipping a meal and going hungry for a few hours. Like Homer, I've eaten the lotus-flower for too long and have been anesthetized. Hyper-palatable modern foods have the sinister trait of making you lose your desire and passion for life. Think about how you feel after a couple of beers and 20 chicken wings. Your belly is full and your content. But something is a little off. There is something artificial to the feeling. Really what is happening is the food is numbing you to the pain of life. Unfortunately, life is characterized by pain and sadness. You need to learn to deal with this without resorting to dulling the pain with food.

That's what I've been doing and it's going to stop.

OK. Sorry but I think I'm being a tad too heavy here. Let's lighten up a bit.

For the past few weeks I haven't been exercising or watching my diet too closely. I think stress has gotten the best of me and it's hard to not let go when things in your life get ugly.

But things have gotten much better lately so there's no excuse for me now. If I don't get my act together, it's no one's fault but my own. 

Thoughts on Raw Food

I never tried a 100% raw food diet before. At some points in my diet I may eat about 30% of calories from raw stuff but not very often.

There are some pretty extraordinary claims about the magic of raw food diets to prevent disease or even cure. I’m pretty skeptical about these claims but still there may be a grain of truth in all this.

Even though I’m a always cook your food kind of guy I’m down for experiments on myself every now and again. I’m not going to go on a 100 % raw food diet but I am going to try and get more of my calories from raw fruits and vegetables, and maybe eggs depending on the quality of them. From some studies I read, only about 1 in every 30,000 eggs is contaminated with salmonella so I’m not too worried. Plus, I’m not infirmed or a young child so salmonella probably wouldn’t kill me anyway.

Cooking food has a long history in the human timeline. There is evidence that humans have been cooking since pre-history. Some scientists make the claim that this, along with the consumption of meat, is what allowed us to get enough calories to support this big brain of ours. It’s a plausible theory. Cooking does make the proteins in meat more digestible and it breaks down the cellulose that encases much of the nutrients in vegetables. Our stomachs don’t deal with cellulose well so cooking makes more calories available in that carrot or piece of celery. Another benefit of cooking is that it kills any harmful bacteria that may inhabit food.

The reasons to cook food make sense but I can’t help but wonder what is lost when we cook. There must be some nutrients that are lost because they can’t stand the high temperature of cooking. If you look at anecdotal reports of people achieving great health after switching to a raw food diet you can’t help but wonder if there is some truth to their claims.

I’m not going to go crazy here. I won’t eat raw meat or anything like that but I’m going to see if there are any noticeable effects from eating more raw foods. These n=1 experiments aren’t very scientific, I know, but they do tell me something about how my body responds to food. I may fool myself sometimes but I do discover things by experimenting with my self.

Thoughts on Fat Loss

I've tried everything under the sun for fat loss. You name it, I've done it. I tried:

Paleo Diet
Low Carb -High Fat
Low Fat - High Carb
A near Fruitarian Diet (about 50% of diet composed of fruit)
Warrior Diet (fast during day, feast at night)
Bodybuilding style diet (small but frequent meal spread thru the day)
Fasting (fasted for periods between 16 hours and 48 hours)

Surprisingly, all of them worked to some extent. However, the best by far is the Paleo diet. The Paleo diet is the only diet that got me really thin (sure it was 5 years ago. But still...). I never got to the point where I could see my abs but I was pretty close.

Some people think that a moderate approach is the best for fat loss. There's a general consensus that it's best not to go too crazy when embarking on a fat loss diet. Sure, eat healthy but have a doughnut once in a while.

This is the worst possible advice you can give someone who is serious about fat loss.

I remember a Dan John article a few years ago (read it. This guy knows what he's talking about) where he explained that moderate is never good when it comes to body compisition goals. Extreme is where it's at. If you want to lose fat - and I'm not talking 5 lbs. I'm talking more like a spare tire around the waste - and get as lean as possible, you have to attack it with everything you got.

Rationalization plays a big part of failed diets. We human-beings are amazing bullshitters. We could convince ourselves that pretty much anything we stuff in our gullets is "not that bad". To be succesful, you have to draw some lines and never ever cross those lines. Act like the rules that you made were sent down from Mount Sinai, etched in stone tablets and carried by Charleton Heston himself. If you say to yourself that you will have no more than 20 carbs a day. Don't go a single carb over 20. Sure, going a few carbs the arbitrarily set 20 carbs is not going to sabotage your efforts but if you blur the lines, when push comes to shove, and your brain is telling you that you need carbs, a few carbs will turn into 100 carbs. Your brain is the best bullshitter you know.

Right now, I've been slacking in the diet department. I go a little too fat a few months ago when my primary goal was muscle building. I was making excellent progrees so I wasn't too concerned about the fat gain. But eventually, as I stopped going to the gym as frequently and didn't bust my ass nearly enough, I got to the point where I was fat enough to be winded by a few flights of stairs. I really let my conditioning let go.

Oh well, lesson learned - Eating an entire box of Velveeta mac and cheese is never a good idea.

During the day I go fairly low carb. I might have a few pieces of fruit but I mostly eat meat. Then, at night time I'll let go a bit and eat some carbs, usually in the form of cookies (terrible, I know). This works as a maintenance diet for me but I'm really not losing any fat. The only time I actually went down a few notches on my belt is when I went 100% Paleo. I took a break from it because life was getting stressful and I felt like I was going to lose my mind if I didn't get any damn carbs in my stomach.


 

Beer is Good.... and Stuff

 Be forewarned this post has nothing to do with health and fitness. Just my love of beer.

I'm somewhat of a beer connoisseur. Have been since about 5 years ago. I was pretty snobbish about it at first as I scoffed at my Coors Lite drinking compatriots but I have since come to appreciate the light taste (and low price) of the typical pale American lager especially on a hot summer day. But those that haven't really ventured outside Bud Lite and Rolling Rock are really missing out on some great tasting beer. 

Sierra Nevada is a brewery I believe most people should pay more attention to. It is the second largest craft beer brewery in America, behind the Boston Beer Brewery which also makes some fine beer (Sam Adam's Winter Lager, anyone?). Though Sam Adams is pretty kick-ass, I think Sierra Nevada beats them out by a long shot. For me, it's the type of hops Sierra Nevada uses. Hops is the bitter component in beer that gives beer a flowery aroma and also acts as a preserver. If you try Sierra Nevada's Torpedo you really get a hoppy blast in the face and you'll now what I'm talking about. The type in the Torpedo is called cascade hops and has a very unique floral taste. 


Besides drinking beer I also like to make it myself. I've only made it twice before and will make it again as soon as I have the time and money. It's a very fun process and I think everyone who really loves beer should do it at least once. You learn a lot and you get rewarded with a 5 gallon batch that's as fun to drink as it is to make (OK it's way more fun to drink than to make). 


My friend Pete and I are going to give mead making a shot. Mead is a fermented honey beverage that is as good and sweet as it sounds. I've had two brands before. I think one was called Viking's Blood that was pretty good. Personally, I can't wait to make it myself. Things are always better when you make it yourself.

Simplifying Things

Long time no write.

It's easy to get caught up in the latest trend in the diet world. Fad diets come and go but the key to eating healthy is very simple:

Stop eating industrial foods. Aka, foods that never existed before the industrial revolution. If you want to complicate things just a little bit than  all you really have to do is avoid consuming these three things:

1) Gluten grains (may be tolerated by some)
2) Too much omega-6 fatty acids
3) Sugar (fruit is OK)

So that  nobody accuses me of stealing ideas, this is basically what Kurt Harris of Archevore fame espouses. I am merely making an attempt to spread his opinions because they are good.

People want to find an exotic cure for what ails them. Obese? Eat this herb from deep in the Amazon jungle that is proven to rev-up your metabolism! Gastro intestinal distress? Drink some magnesium citrate to "reset your digestive system and clear out toxins!" (If you ever do this, please clear your schedule).

The truth is that most of the time there is no cure. Not one that involves adding solutions to your problems. A better approach is to find out what is hurting you and eliminate it. You're not fat because you don't eat enough healthy foods. You're fat because eat crap (probably disguised as healthy). You're not sick because you haven't found a cure. You're sick because your not letting your body heal on its own.


To put it as simply as possible: eat real food. As Michael Pollan would say, if your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, don't eat it! If it comes in a box or a bag, it's probably not good. If it doesn't rot after leaving it out for a few days, it's probably bad. There are exceptions, of course, but sometimes you need to step back a bit to see your problem.

Muscle Update

I've gained quite a bit of muscle in the past few months and my strength has gone up as well. When I started I could only bench press in the ball park of 160 pounds but now I can push up 245 fairly easy. I could probably do about 255 at this point.

There was also a bit of fat gain as was on the "see food" diet. Basically, if it was within arms reach, I ate it. My starting weight was in the 180's but now I'm up in the 220 range. Mostly fat, yes, but I am stronger.

Back in college I made the mistake of losing weight too quickly after muscle gain. I wanted to show off that muscle but I lost most of it in the process of dieting. Starvation diets will leave you with no muscle to speak of.

I'm not making that mistake again. Muscle gain is a very slow process so I made a commitment and I told myself I won't stop making gains until I'm 30. That gives me 5 years so I think I'll be pretty damn big and strong If I continue the way I've been going.

For any younger guys new to the iron game. Don't be afraid of not being able to see your ab muscles. Most people are not naturally lean and will have to take on some fat gain for any appreciable muscle gain. That's just the way it is. Just make sure you eat a lot and lift heavy. Always try to add more weight to the bar. NOT REPS. If you want to be big add some of those 45 pound plates to the bar. And forget those 2.5 pounders. Those are useless unless you're trying to determine your max.

Eating Healthy With Kids

I'm at the bank on my lunch break so this will be a quick one.

As a parent you want the best for your kids. You want them to be as healthy as can be. With all of the news about childhood diabetes and obesity you can't help but get concerned for the well being of your child. You don't want them to have to get insulin injections for the rest of their lives and suffer the bullying overweight children tend to get at school. With the overflow of conflicting information out there it gets immensely confusing. You really have no idea what you should do because every diet expert contradicts one another.

It doesn't have to be very confusing. You don't need to put your child on any sort of diet. It can actually be very harmful if your not careful. Kids need certain nutrients at their young age and depriving them of things they need should be criminal if it weren't for the massive ignorance in the general population about what is healthy.

I have a six month old boy myself so I can't speak with complete authority on the matter of what to feed your older child but I do have memories of how my parents fed me. In retrospect I remember the things they did right and all the things they did wrong. Now I can use these experiences to help my own child eat right.

There are just a handful of things you need to remember to keep you and your kid fit and healthy.

1) This is really a no-brainer but let her go outside for god's sake. Don't be overprotective and let your kid venture out into the world a little bit. remember when you were a kid and you spent hours in the woods just building a dilapidated fort with your friends? Don't deprive your kid of experience out in nature and let them wander out of suburbia and into the woods.

Also, go outside yourself. Your body and mind will thank you.

2) Differentiate between fake food and real food. Fake food comes from a box. Real food comes from the wild or from the farm. Apples, eggs, bacon, chicken, broccoli and potatoes are real. Cheerios, cookies, margarine and fruit snacks are fake.

I'm not going to say completely eliminate all process foods forever. Nothing will make your kid resent more than keeping him from having an ice cream cone once in a while. But the kid has to realize that it's foods that come from a box, a bag, or a restaurant that will make him fat and unhealthy.

3) Have him learn by example. Eat healthy yourself! You think your kids going to let you eat Eggo Waffles with out wanting some himself? Kids will follow your example. Make the right choices. Go for scrambled eggs in the morning.

I'm scrapped for time so that will have to do.In a nutshell, use common sense and don't trust any authority unless it makes sense to you.

Paleo Is Dead

Not really.

But paleo as Loren Cordain and Art Devany envisioned it 5 years ago is. Finally, I can eat some potatoes without guilt!

Low-carb paleo was really putting a strain on my brain. It seems like glucose is now my friend for life. It does seem kind of silly in retrospect now. Long-term low-carb isn't pretty.

I haven't ditched paleo completely but I'm going in a more bodybuilder direction. I want muscle mass, and lots of it. I think I will have to set aside my goal of being below 10% bodyfat for the time being so I can focus on the excruciatingly slow process of muscle building. I know enough about building muscle where I'm confident I can turn some heads walking down the street in a few years.

I have already made some progress in the past few months. I am noticeably bigger (fat gain contributed to this) and I am much stronger. I could barely bench 150 a couple months ago and now I'm at 235 and climbing. By next year 315 seems very doable.

Anyway, my body comp goals aside, I don't think I will ever try a low carb diet more more than 3 weeks at a time. My body can't handle it.