Diving IIN!!!

Today's the day.  Day one and 364 to go.  After a few years of thinking, "I'd like to do some work on the side that incorporates my counseling work with people, but I want to do something I am passionate about away from things related to working in a school."  Long story short, I found The Institute for Integrative Nutrition.  I'll have a certification as a Holistic Health Coach, and I hope to help folks bridge the gap between their working out and their eating, something that is so hard, but with focus, encouragement, and me as your health coach it is doable.  

If you are interested in all the content I will study, click here.  Or....leave me a comment.....or send me an email if you have any questions at cspinhealthy@gmail.com

You can also drop me a line and I'd love to conduct a free Health History with you.  We'll sit down or chat on the phone or Skype about you and all things related to you and your fitness, health, and diet. 

What do you wish you could pick up and do that you are passionate about?  Leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear.  

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.

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.  

Silly Bandz, Swatches, and Mullets

These are some of the fads in my home of late.....

These did not last long....thank goodness

If I find one more of these on the floor, I'm going to floss my kids' teeth with it!!

OK.....So I like these too!  

Of course these are some of the fads I remember.....

Had one!  Was the soccer cut though!

Who didn't do this?!?!?!!

Like Crocs for your wrist in the 80's!

However..........

NOT

A

 FAD

As you may know, I'm on my second go 'round with The Whole 30's Thirty Day Paleo Challenge.  The first time around I learned tons about myself, and this time I'm hoping to not only learn more about me, but I want to flush all that holiday eating out of my system and really try to impact my fitness more than before.  

Yesterday, at Crossfit Carmel, one of our members and nutritionist, Jennifer Jones (read all about her Paleo experience here, because what she says just may surprise you) provided a workshop on the ins and outs of the Paleo Diet.  What was great about Jen's approach is that she did not say the following:

"You must do this."

"This is the answer to everything."

"This is the way you should eat."

Rather, Jen spelled out the facts.  She presented the science and nutritional background involved, and explained the benefits and rationelle behind it all.

WHAT I LEARNED

I've read Robb Wolf's book The Paleo Solution.  I've scoured blog after website. However I needed to hear again the benefits of this dietary lifestyle in my body.  What resonated with me is the following:

1.  Glucose:  This is most abundant in grains.  It's absorbed by the liver, but our livers can only take so much.  So when the liver is "full" it spits glucose to other parts of our bodies as fat often to our muscles.  

2.  Gluten:  Often called grain protein.  Found in wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice, millet and sorghum.  These contain lectins, hard to digest proteins leading to inflammation.  Dairy and legumes can stimulate the same issues as gluten and lectins.

I realize I am not detailing the E=MC squared explanation.  You can read up on that info.  What I want to share is that this workshop hit it home for me......

*My hands don't ache at night like they used to. 

*My digestion issues are better.  (ok...I'll say it....I don't have as much gas and I'm not running to the bathroom in the a.m. like I used to.)

That's enough for me to believe that this works......FOR ME.  Oh......so what about the Silly Bandz effect?  Is this another fad?  My answer:  

It's not a fad at all because.....

Fad diets are restrictive.  Hell, all diets are restrictive for that matter.  But, fad diets promote weight loss, but they do not tell you how to maintain your weight loss once you have deprived yourself of everything.  What I like about Paleo is not that it restricts me from bread, sugars, etc.  Rather, it gives it to you up front:

1.  Do this for 30 days to flush it all out and here are a slew of resources to assist you i.e. recipes, email support, etc. 

2.  Decide what you want to add back IN MODERATION to see how your body reacts to it.  If negatively, cut that food out.  If not, add it in IN MODERATION.

3.  If you can not go cold turkey now for 30 days, start slowly.  That is, start cutting things IN MODERATION and lead up to a 30 day challenge.  

HERE IS THE BOTTOM LINE

There are all the excuses in the world to make.  However, for me...once I found Crossfit and saw what it does for my body, I KNEW that once I paired sound dietary lifestyle with it, the sky is the limit.  I love what the Whole 9 says.  "This is not hard.  Kicking a herion addiction is hard.  Beating cancer is hard.  This is about choices that impact your health and fitness."  Paraphrased of course, but it was all I needed to make try this out and see how it works for me.  It works for me.

Thank you Jen Jones, nutritionist and Crossfitter.  

Thank you Robb Wolf

Thank you Crossfit Carmel

Thank you Whole 9 

Oh......and thank you 1980's for keeping all of the following:

Sodastream

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to get a soda maker, something I spotted a few months ago in a magazine and come to find out my sister had one in her kitchen.  This one is simple and easy to use.  We really do not keep any pop/soda in the house, and even Diet Coke has lost its luster for me.  Too fizzy and just doesn't do it for me anymore.  However, over the summer, I found that naturally flavored soda/seltzer water was a good substitute and was a good break from water, water, water.  

With this gadget you are not only being environmentally friendly, but there is no high fructose corn syrup and no aspartame.   You can add flavors to it tastes like soda/pop.  There is sugar in the regular flavors and Splenda in the diet flavors.  However I prefer the My Water flavors (lemon-lime, orange, berry, and mint).  Or, I'll just add a lemon, a lime, an orange, etc. to just plain soda water.  (It's cheaper that way!)  Click on the banner above to check it out.