Chapter 3: Villains

Chapter 3:  Villains

You know what villians are.  They are everywhere.  

On the big screen......

Disney......

And the scariest villain of all....

Back in Chapter 1, we met a guy trying to reach new food and fitness goals.  In Chapter 2, he shared his new resource for tracking food.  Now, we learn about a few villains trying to wreak havoc on our main character's fitness goals.  


The first is a shifty villain who is sneaky.  When coming home from work, The After Work Craving Villain looks a lot like this...

Those cravings are hiding in there and sometimes they change form and hide in here....

They look so happy, friendly, and satisfying.  Warding this villain off usually requires one specific defense:  staying busy.  When coming home from work and keeping a routine (i.e. get kids off bus, fix snack, unpack backpacks, talk about the day, supervise homework, unpack lunch boxes, prepare for dinner, do dishes, go to the gym, etc.) this villain is usually defeated.  Get lazy, let your guard down, and the rest is history.

Another enemy of our main character is worse than The After Work Cravings.  Most afternoons of the week our protagonist works out.  This villain is aggressive yet predictable. 

This villain is hard to defend, but with focus it can be done and done well.  The  Post Workout Villain is a demon as hunger strikes about twenty minutes after working out and our character wants to eat, eat, and eat.  However, without fail, 100% of the time victory ensues with some food planning.  This villain goes away in a quick hurry when some protein, few carbs and healthy fat are consumed within 20 minutes after a workout.  

Paleo Kits are a great defense.  They have the perfect ratio of carbs, protein, and fat.  

A sweet potato is another good weapon.  Some quality lunchmeat and a small piece of fruit provide similar results against this vicious, evil enemy.  If any one of these food choices are consumed post-workout, it becomes much easier to not eat everything in the house when returning from the gym.  It just takes some conscious planning before heading to work out.  

These are just two villains that keep life challenging for our main character.  While he does a sound job fending them off on a weekly basis, no hero-status is warranted.  Rather, there is one mambo jambo, incredible, and eternal enemy no one can avoid.  This is one you will not want to miss because the bad news just got worse.  EVERYONE I repeat....EVERYONE in the WORLD sees this next villain all the time.  It's beyond aggressive.  It's comes in threes, and it can not die.  

Stay tuned for Chapter Four to find out what it is and if our story can live on.....

Chapter 2: Keeping Track of it All

Chapter 2:  Keeping Track of it All:  A Great Tool For You 

And so it continues.....

Chapter 1 introduced us to our main, uh....only character, a 39-year old, husband, father of two, School Counselor, Health and Nutrition Coach who, like anyone, has had his ups and downs with food and fitness.  In the past year, he's found himself in a great place with his fitness and food and plans to never return to The Food Place That Shall Not Be Named.  We learned about goals, planning, and how to find new purpose when one has had a string of success.  

One of those goals involves tracking food.  Now, before you give me this......

......consider this:  We live in a society full instantaneous gratification i.e. cell phones, texting, laptops, iPads, fax machines, Twitter, Facebook, cloud services, and much more. 

 

It goes without saying that most people will find at least seventeen excuses why tracking food will not work for them.  Instead of wasting precious cyberspace listing a few, let's see what great tool our protagonist is using.

MyFitnessPal is more than a calorie counter.  But it is a smart tool that encompasses that very "give it to me now/instant gratification" mindset into something that takes time and patience:  eating well and weight loss.  This tool literally has over a million food entries in it's library making it easy to find what you are logging.  It provides graphical data on how much protein, how many carbs, and how many calories you have left to consume each day and allows you to set your own goals regarding what percentage of each need to consume.  Even more, it has a whole social networking component for support.  Remember that team our protagonist joined in Chapter One?  The one that is trying to achieve new fitness goals?  With this tracking tool, now he can see what and how his friends are eating.  The benefits to that?  You can get ideas of what to eat, when others eat certain foods, and you can offer support and encouragement by posting messages back and forth.  And one more piece of that "instand gratification-give-it-to-me-now" mindset.  You can enter your information from any computer and then continue from any phone with the free application.  It's available for any iPhone, Android, or Blackberry device.  

DISCLAIMER:  This literary piece of opinion does not receive any benefits from MyFitness Pal, rather we find it to just be a very simple, easy-to-use, intuitive, and motivating tool to aid in doing something that historically takes time, persistance, and patience.  

Speaking of patience....in Chapter 3 our main character will face a few evil villains.  Stay tuned to see if he can ward of these calorie sucking, carb loading enemies!  

Once Upon a Health and Fitness Plan

Chapter 1

Once  upon a time, there was an overweight 30 year-old who lost 68 pounds using Weight Watchers.  This teacher and soon-to-be-father-of-two ran his first half marathon and over the next few years ran three of them.  Soon enough, the pounds found him again, all but 9 of them. 

Two years, four globo-gyms, another trip to Weight Watchers, and a personal trainer later, this thirty-something said to his good friend, "I wish there was a place with a boot camp atmosphere, that was as into working out and keeping me healthy in a sustainable way."  Enter:  Crossfit.  

Now, at age 39, this "young" man is in the physical shape of his life.  He's a school counselor by day, a father, husband, and Health and Nutrition Coach as well.  At the same time, this foodie/fitness junkie recently pontificated the following:  "Now that I've changed my body, my strength, endurance, and relationship with food, what do I want to do?  What is next?  And so he came to a crossroads.  Enter:  The Crossfit Carmel Training Challenge. 

He became part of an eight person team that trains and tracks food together with three goals in mind:

1.  Compete against 4 other teams in the gym.

2.  Enter the 2012 Great Lakes Invitational.

2.  Train for The 2012 Crossfit Sectional.

So what does this entail for this almost 40-year-old father of two/husband to a wife who has gone back to work/School Counselor/Health and Nutrition Coach?  It means if he wants to lose the weight to be more competitive in the gym....if he wants to do more than five pull ups without having to drop off the bar, if he wants to run longer distances, if he wants to finally shed the last-to-go-belly fat, then he must, I repeat, he must without fail and with full focus do the following:

1.  Write out his goals on paper.

2.  Make those goals visible and read them every day.

3.  Plan his meals in advance in a reasonable time-efficient manner.

4.  Decrease weekend beer consumption.

5.  Work on shoulder and hamstring mobility every day.  EVERY.  DAY.

6.  Track food intake 

7.  Track workout information.

8.  Be mindful of food intake while still indulging from time to time.

9.  Work on things that are difficult.

10.  Be positive!

Stay tuned for

Keeping Track of it All:  A Great Tool For You

Rounding Third.......

I think I've shared that I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Home of the Reds, Bungles, Greater's Ice Cream, Larosa's Pizza, and Skyline Chili.  While Indianapolis is home, I remain connected to a few of my roots.  I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I love the Reds.  As I near the end of my 30 Day Paleo Challenge, I can hear Joe Nuxhall with his famous line saying, "This is the ol' left-hander rounding third and heading for home" as he did every.....single....game.

I remember listening to games on the radio and watching t.v. just to hear him say that.  

Well, I'm rounding third and headed for home.  I feel like I'm heading for home like this......

Man....for a jerk who messed up, he was a great player to watch.

I feel great after eating so clean for 30 days straight.  I set out to go 100% Paleo and log all the food, snacks, workouts, etc. for the entire time.  I did have one night, one meal where I was......

CAUGHT STEALING!  

Beer and cheesy potatoes with the bbq sauce on the duck.  Click here to see and scroll to Day 14. 

So I have to say.  I followed the Paleo Way as prescribed by The Whole 30 (part of The Whole 9 Website) 99%.  

The first time I did this I made several observations about my eating habits and the impact of the 30 days on my health and fitness as I was a guest blogger for Crossfit Carmel.  You can see what I had to say here.

That post was dated December 6th, but I had already completed my 30 days several weeks prior.  A couple of months later, I have the following thoughts:

1.  I just flat out feel great:  no stomach bloating.  I'm full most of the day.  No major food cravings.

2.  I have more energy, and I see it in my workouts.  To note (and not bragging here):  Just yesterday at CFC the workout was the baseline.  That is the workout you would first do if you were just joining Crossfit.  Aside from rowing, the exercises are all bodyweight stuff.  It's a "baseline" of your fitness.  

500 meter row

40 air squats (to a medicine ball)

30 sit ups

20 push ups

10 pull ups

My time a couple of months ago was 4:57.  My time yesterday:  4:09.  Huge, huge gain.  Now....I work out 4-5 days per week, and that has something to do with it, but I've also paired that with an almost impeccable diet the past 30 days.  

3.  Paleo is not hard.  Feeling like crap every day is hard.   

4.  This is a sustainable way of losing weight.  I started these 30 days weighing 246 lbs.  Today, as I'm rounding third and heading for home, I weigh 237 lbs.  A lot of that was water weight, I imagine, and remember....I work out consistently.  For some of the four weeks, as you can see in my journal notes, I did not work out as much as others. 

5.  While there are many ways to eat well and be successful, this is just one way.  I believe it's a good way to go if you can commit yourself to it....if you are ready.  Again, check out the Whole 9 if you think you may be ready.  I can't say enough good things about them as a resource!

My plan is to allow some foods back into my diet to see how I react to them.  I can see some pasta and other grains, legumes, and alcohol in infrequent, small quantities making their way back.  The trip to Chipotle, out for sushi, drinks with friends, etc......all those things that I found ways to avoid or politely say no to can have their place.  The weekly cheat meal is also a must.  Food deprivation only leads to food yo yo'ing in my opinion.  But the old me would string too many of those cheats together.  I've come too far to let that happen anymore.  

Well......rounding third and heading for home makes it sound like there is an end to this.  Quite the contrary.  The key for me now is to take this momentum and live it.  It really is a long term lifestyle.  The goal I have is to determine what foods I absolutely will stay away from because they impact me negatively while finding the others I can add back in that work for me.  

This is the almost-40 right-hander.....rounding third and headed for a lifetime of wellness.

Quick Reactions....Just the Beginning

I'm back from Chicago where I attending The Whole 9 Foundations of Nutrition Workshop at Crossfit Tri Cities.  Damn, Chicago is colder than cold!  Stay tuned for posts this week, but I wanted to share the quick and dirty of it all.  Again, I'll elaborate much more this week.

1.  I need to eat more.  Pre workout and post workout snacks are bonus meals and a must for nutrition.  Sound good to you?  Sounds like more planning to me.

2.  I eat too much meat.  Not a fault of the Paleo philosophy, rather I think I graze too much thinking, "Well....I'm doing what they say."  Bottom line is personally I need to cut back.  MUCH MUCH more on this later.

3.  Time to RAMP UP the veggies.  This is an absolute must!

4.  Almonds:  Not the best choice.  Macadamia Nuts:  BEST.  

$ Cha Ching! $ :(

5.  I finally understand the Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio. 

6.  You are what your food eats.

7.  Boy, is alcohol bad!

8.  Food should not come in nice, geometric shapes!

9.  Scientifically, I now get why a lack of grains and legumes can lead to healthier living.  

10.  An alkaline diet is the place to be.

These are MY reactions to their message.  I have my own fitness and health goals, and I'll share that.  Having said that, I'll take the next several posts to elaborate on my list.  Above it all, yesterday was enlightening, energizing, and eye opening.  What I appreciated the most was their underlying message of, "We are not saying this is the only way to go.  We just thing you can do it better."  I'm looking forward to doing it better.

My Kind of Paleo Town

DIRECTIONS:  Play video then read on...

Headed to Chicago early Saturday morning to Crossfit Tri Cities.  Nope.....no workout tomorrow.  I'm going to hear Dallas Hartwig and Melissa Urban, founders of The Whole 9 speak about nutrition. See what they will share with me here. 

I'm looking forward to soaking up all the information and to the challenge of maintaining my 30 Day Paleo Challenge  (I have ten days to go!) while traveling.  For those of you who don't know, I work in a school so packing food every day is easy for me, I must say.  However, tomorrow poses a different challenge in planning.  I've made that Costco run and will spend tonight packing the cooler.  Stay tuned for a later post on how it all went including my reaction to the day. I'm pretty excited to get some of my lingering curiosities and questions answered by two professionals in the field.    

Homemade Beef Jerky

Marinated and spiced raw meat going into the oven for the long haul. 

Stay tuned for my first attempt at homemade beef jerky.  I hope to have a full report soon.

All the credit goes to our friend Lindsey.  It's her recipe.  Click on the button below.  Her blog is slammed full of amazing recipes both Paleo and non Paleo.  

Situation 1 and Situation 2

If you've read prior posts, you know that I'm on a 30 day Paleo Challenge
structured/endorsed by The Whole 9 website, the best resource to me out there on all things related to my fitness and well being interests:  Crossfit and eating well/Paleo.  You can see my food journal for the 30 days here.  If you are new reader, the Paleo diet is not a temporary, fix-it and lose weight diet.  It's a dietary lifestyle.  I usually refer people to The Whole 9 or to Robb Wolf's site, one of the handful of experts on the topic.  The Paleo dietary lifestyle is easier to explain terms of what you can eat versus what you can't:  

No grains, legumes, sugar, processed foods, or dairy.  

The positive spin:  Eat meat, veggies, fruits, nuts, and eat food in it's natural state.  (Nothing processed.)

I've run across several people in my everyday life recently that have given the Paleo dietary lifestyle a try or they have heard about it and have made every excuse why it sounds crazy.  However, I must share two success stories that have been wonderful to watch:  

Situation 1

My colleague has complained about how she feels for several years.  She's had two children, is in her mid 30's and would find every excuse in the book as to why something like a Paleo diet would be too difficult for her.  I've mentioned it to her from time to time and she's seen me eating my meat, veggies and fruit while others indulge in their Taco Bell or pizza lunch stating, "That looks so boring to me.  I want to be excited about my lunch, my food!"  She tried Crossfit for awhile but the hustle and bustle of spouses working full time and a young family was a real disrupter to the nightly schedule of Crossfit.  Understandable.  However, she admits that working out is a chore despite it making her feel better.  Also, understandable.  Not everyone likes to work out.  I get it.  However......fast forward to the recent holiday barrage of food we are all exposed to and she recently hit her breaking point.  She was ready to start, wanted resources, and dove in.  She does not work out much, but she's in week 2, has been emailing me her daily food logs to keep accountable and states, "I can't believe how much energy I have, how good I feel, and how my cravings for certain foods changed."  She's even lost a few pounds (not that she needed to but she has her goals she wants to reach weight-wise.)  Whoalah!  I said.  All that success and she's not even really working out!  She and I have worked together long enough, my reply was, "I told you so!"  Now.....she would not mind me saying b/c she knows me but I thought.....if SHE can do it....ANYONE can!  I think she'd tell you the same.  I'm very proud of her!  It's never easy work.

Situation 2

Another colleague of mine is a PE/Health teacher and has been athletic his whole life.  He had reached a weight with which he was not comfortable and I had told him about Crossfit and trying to do something with the kids at school related to it.  Long story short, he gave Crossfit a try and loved it and he incorporates it into his own workouts now.  Along the way he asked me about Paleo stuff and came to a recent workshop at Crossfit Carmel to learn more about it.  He's been 90% Paleo for three weeks now, has lost 25 lbs. since he started just watching his what he eats, and just said to me today, "It's so nice to lose an X off my shirt size!"  Instead of talking football with each other, the first thing he often will say to me when he sees me filling up my coffee in the a.m. is about his latest squash dish or how he spiced a dish differently the night before and how we should exchange recipes.  I hear people telling him how good he looks and ask how he had done it and it's so great to watch.  I'm super proud of him too.  The great thing is he has made it work for him and while he is not 100% Paleo 24/7, he's pretty darn close and has had tremendous results.  

I've run across a few other people recently who have asked about the "diet" I am on, and when I tell them that it's not a diet rather a "cleanse" for 30 days to detoxify my body and then work certain things back in they continue to say things like......

"That sounds so restrictive and not fun at all."

"Oh, I couldn't live without my this or my that."

"I could never do that."

But these same people complain about their weight and how they feel.  What I'm trying to say is this...........

When I get into something that I believe in and that works for me I go full steam ahead often with blinders on.  I get so enthusiastic about it that I want everyone around me to know about it so they can feel successful too.  However, I know full and well not everyone is wired the same.  I love Crossfit.  Many people despise working out at all.  But......Situation 1 and 2 are MAJOR, MAJOR success stories so far simply because both have said.....

"This is doable."  

"It's all about perspective and choices."

"This just takes planning."

MAJOR POINT I'D LIKE TO MAKE:  Paleo is not for everyone, and it's not the only thing out there.  It's works for me, and it can yield some TREMENDOUS change and success in your health.  

That being said, it's been great to watch two people succeed and feel better about their food, their weight, their overall health, and their lives.  There is an energy about the both of them and quite honestly it's just fun and energizing for me to watch.  Change can be hard.  Eating can be emotional, but if met head on and taken one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time, then before you know it.....you are on the way to feeling better and improving your life.  It's hard to listen to others make excuses and complain when I explain the ins and outs of eating Paleo.  I guess because it's just become how I eat.  I don't see it as restrictive, annoying, and painful.  I see it as how I fuel my body so I perform better in the gym, on my run, and it just makes me feel better in general.  

I'm looking forward to learning more about things as I'm going to be attending The Whole 9's Foundations to Nutrition Workshop on January 9th at Crossfit Tri-Cities in St. Charles, Illinois (in Western Chicago...about a three hour drive).  I can't wait to get more info. so I can take my nutrition to another level.  It's going to be an information packed day and I can't wait to share what I learn here when I return.  

I Found a New Drug!!!

Remember this video?  I once saw them in concert.

I love pizza.  No......wait.......I can devour pizza.......no wait.......if pizza is around, I now need to leave the room.  In fact, the only connection I have to any kind of recovering addict is that I imagine them needing to get out of dodge when they are in the presence of whatever it is they are addicted to.  Ask the folks with whom I work.  Schools order pizza all the time for kids.  In the past, I could never.....ever have just one slice.  I just could not control how many slices I ate.  Have I mentioned I love pizza?!!?  On a Paleo diet, sausage and cashews (not together, of course) are the same for me.  I'm working on not eating cashews for this entire week.  Not easy.  But back to the pizza......

My favorite:  New York Style:  The thin crust and savory sauce.  

I don't need all that doughy Chicago style crust.  I don't hate it.  Don't get me wrong.  I just prefer taking a trip back memory lane to my aunt's house in Brooklyn and now Staten Island.  Nothing beats actually going into a real pizzeria and taking in that waft of Italian air baking in those huge ovens.  

So what's all this have to do with a blog about being healthy?

Well tonight, I took a stab at my first Paleo pizza and I found my new drug, Huey Lewis fans!!!  I took the recipe from one of my favorite Paleo blogs

This gal is the real deal.  She's a certified Crossfit coach and a mother of three!  Go to her "About" page and get the link to her before/after pics. of her.  She has truly transformed her body the healthy way.  

I took her Paleo pizza recipe and followed it exactly.  I was concerned that the crust was not as hard as her recipe makes it sound, but it ended up working out.  Here's the link to her recipe if you are interested as I can not take any of the credit.  

My discovery:  The almond meal is not the same as floury dough.  No real earth shattering breakthrough there, huh?  But.....it was good.  In fact, if I would have doubled the amount of rosemary I put in, I think it would have been really good.  And.....next time I won't cook it as long.  But......this MOST DEFINITELY fills the void left by choosing to omit such foods from my diet to attain the fitness goals for which I am striving.  This meal confirmed for me that living a Paleo lifestyle is more than attainable with real food.  It just takes some extra time and patience.  On a side note, tonight is my wife's night to work, so I'm Mr. Mom for the few hours that she is gone.  When I put the Paleo pizza on the table, my seven and five year old both said.....

"What is that?!?!"

"That does not look like pizza, dad!"

"I don't like this crust."

"Yeah, dad.  You need to work on the crust for next time."

Tough crowd.....However.........both kids ate both of their slices!!!  

So it can be done.

Here's a few shots of the b/f and after......

Crust on pan raw.  Pretty thin.  I was worried it was going to be too thin.

Crust after baking for 20 minutes.  I was wrong.  It turned out to be just the right thickness.

Finished product:  Sausage, black olives, onions, and spinach!!!

I found a new drug!!!!

P.S.:  On day 10 of my 30 Day Paleo Challenge.  Read my journal here.  

Staying Busy, Planning, and Some Great Blogs

Well, it's the weekend and I'm coming up on the end of one week down with my 30 Day Paleo Challenge. You can see my Day 7 Food Journal here.  Starting last Saturday was a good thing for me seeing as though I put two weekend days in already.  The weekends.  They are always the most challenging for me.  Less structure.  More temptations.  I usually try to go to Crossfit on Friday nights as it forces me to continue eating well so I don't barf it up after.  I also won't blow my workout by eating poorly after it.  So I have the Friday night thing down.  Tomorrow...............

Need I say anything more?!  It's the playoffs!!!! So an 8 p.m. game poses some looming temptations.  But when my wife told me we were returning a babysitting favor for our friends.....wholah!  Problem solved.  I take the kids home to bed.  I plop in front of my t.v. and have the best seat in the house. And my neighbors know better than to tempt me this month.  You see, I think I learn a lot about myself as an eater when I partake in a 30 day challenge like the Whole 30 advocates.  I guess it's the same no matter what kind of "diet" you are on, but I don't like the word "diet" because, to me, it implies that it is temporary.  The one thing I really like about the Whole 9 site (they have created the Whole 30) is that they advocate for your eating being a lifestyle, a habit and not something you do for a period of time.  Although, when I am done with my 30 days, I treat myself to something like pizza or wings or beer.  But.....I only do that for one meal and not in too much excess.  At least I try.  The key is to get back on the wagon in the way that works for you the next meal or day and to live like that.........permanently.

By the way.  I feel great.  I feel energized.  My hand soreness has disappeared.  I'm sleeping really well and I wasn't when I was not eating a clean diet.  I need to plan my meals better, so I hope to do some of that this weekend.  I'm going to try a friend's homemade beef jerky recipe.  Our friend Lindsey shared it on her blog, which by the way......If you want OUTSTANDING food ideas.....check her blog out and check it daily.  She is a wealth of info. and she just started introducing Paleo into her family's life.  Her recipes are for all foods, but you can also find Paleo stuff there.  Click on the link below.  Her blog is titled "Enjoying Healthy Foods"

Another friend of mine just started blogging.  She and her husband both are Crossfit buddies of mine and Jen is sharing her experiences with being a full time mother, an avid Crossfitter, and an advocate of Paleo eating.  She is sharing great food ideas too at.......

Paleomomrx.com

I'd love to hear how your working out, nutrition plans are going and what challenges you.  Feel free to comment or drop me an email at cspinhealthy@gmail.com