Halfway There.....

Well these guys dominated the 80's and today......it's hard to discount that Jon Bon is still relavent.  I was not a real fan of Bon Jovi back then, however when I am able to consciously hear the music during a Crossfit WOD, this one always gives an extra kick to my motivation.  Come on......It's Bon F*%CING JOVI.  

Well......I'm just about halfway there.  30 days of strict Paleo.....cleansing all the crap from my body and eating as clean as possible for 30 days on my way to feeling better every day and hopefully performing better when I work out.  


Here is my food log for the 30 days to date.

I've done this before and it was somewhat challenging to start, however now it just feels like the way I eat.  Like a lifestyle.  Have there been sacrifices?  I guess.  I have come to not wanting eggs every morning, but I know how to make them, it takes little to no thinking for me, but my morning tastes are changing.  I crave sweet things in the a.m., and let ME TELL YOU.....if my wife is reading, she has probably fainted or fallen over in her seat, and if you are reading and you know my wife you are either laughing out loud or you have fainted because you know it takes an act like this to make her react like that.  Point being....I never, EVER....NEVER used to want fruit or anything sweet in the morning.  NEVER in my almost thirty-nine years on this planet have I wanted anything other than eggs, sausage, bread, oatmeal, or any other traditional breakfast food in the morning.  If fruit was ever served, I deflect it like this.....

GET THAT FRUIT OUT OF HERE!

BUT NOT ANYMORE!!!!

My tastes have changed.  It's not that big of a deal.  I feel clean.  My digestion in the morning is better.  I don't have big periods of hunger where I roam the kitchen for things to eat when I am really not hungry. I don't feel like I'm on a diet, rather it feels like this is the way I'm supposed to eat.  I feel stronger when I work out.  Perhaps it's because I'm don't feel sluggish and have the energy.  I don't think eating this way makes me stronger.  I think eating this way 24/7 provides energy unlike the way I ate before, thus I have more fuel stored away to perform better at the gym.  

I'm halfway there.  I've given thought to foods I may creep back in and see how I feel.  

I know the occasional spirit is in order

I know I'll add cheese here and there (raw cheese)


Those are the ones that glaringly stick out.  But the point is to add things back in and see how that feels, not to just start in and eat the excluded foods in mass quantity.  That's what a diet prescribes.  This is a dietary lifestyle.  

Stay tuned for my first trip out to eat.  Tonight we are joining friends to one of the best hidden gems in this state.  Bonges can only be described by seeing their website.  It's the kind of place you must have a drink, so stay tuned to see how I do.  Quite frankly.....I'm not sure.    What I know is DUCK is on the menu I can't wait.  

This duck deserves to be eaten!

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.  

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:

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

The Burpees I'm Looking For

These are not the burpees I'm looking for.....

And these are not the burpess I'm looking for........

or these.........

THESE 

ARE

THE 

BURPEES 

I'M

LOOKING 

FOR.......

That is the hardest thing in the world and he did it in 3:23!!!!!  Well, I share this with you today because my only exercise today was TWO, yes that's right, TWO.....WHOLE.....BURPEES.  In fact, I did them in my work clothes in my office after I forgot that I did not do them.  "Craig, why in the world did you do that?!?!!???" you may be asking.  Despite today being a rest/recovery day from working out, I'm taking part in a 100 Day Burpee Challenge at Crossfit Carmel where I work out.  

The burpee is one of the hardest movements for me.  I'm 6'2" and I'm hovering around 241-242 lbs.  I certainly can't drop to the ground and maintain a good pace efficiently.  If I get to it, I'll video tape and show you my version of the burpee ensuring that my chest gets to the ground.  I'd love to advance to the point like this guy in the video, but he is truly bionic to be able to keep going at that pace.  If you are not accustomed to Crossfit and you work out at any level, the burpee is a great full body movement that requires absolutely no equipment at you can see.  Give it a try.  You might surprise yourself.  The first time I ever did burpees, I just about pukied!  

Oh, and click here to see my Day Six Paleo Food Journal

Sometimes Ya Gotta Say..........

........what the F*&K!

Remember this scene from Risky Business?!?!

This came to mind today after my workout.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've had a setback with a knee injury and stayed away from any exercise aside from some sit ups and pushups for about 10 days.  I returned to Crossfit this past Monday and went last night as well.  Today, squatting was part of the Workout of the Day.  So I decided to do my own workout at home.  I chose a Hero WOD, Annie, which I've posted about before.  Annie is

50-40-30-20-10 reps of double unders and sit ups.  

My previous times have been.....

My time today:  12:41

My time back in July:  12: 51

My time from back in November:  11:25

My first reaction was disappointment.  However, I struggled to think if I should take a day off and workout tomorrow given the fact that I was just feeling sluggish today and a bit sore from two straight heavy workouts after almost 10 days away from working out.  My thought to myself was......

What the F_ _ K!

For some reason, this great 80's classic movie came to mind.  But the clip says it all for me today.....who cares.  I got a workout in.  I burned some calories, and I'm done for the day.  It's not always about the time.  It's not always about the speed.  It can just be about getting a good workout....often a misconception about Crossfit.  Naysayer's scoff it for it being too many reps, too consumed with time, etc.  I'm proud to say that is just not true at Crossfit Carmel.  In fact, just Monday, our coach Scott stated specifically, "This is a workout you want to consider scrapping time and focusing on form and being safe."  


"What the F_ _ K brings freedom!"

By the way, here's my Day 5 Paleo Food Journal for the day.