By Dan Finck
Week 1 of the 30 Day Paleo Challenge is in the books! If you feel like you got hit by a truck, you’re not alone! Don’t worry, it gets better. As we stated before, sugar is a drug and it’s going to take some time for your body to kick the habit. But, once you get your body back, you’ll feel better then ever and the benefits are worth the withdrawal!
As we move through this process together, our goal is to continue to learn about good nutrition and mold our diets into a long term, sustainable resource for our bodies. Properly fueling our bodies allows our hormones to function correctly, helping our metabolism to speed up. A functional metabolism allows us to burn calories more efficiently, which in turn allows you to burn excess body fat. Lowering your body fat makes working out, day to day active, and recovery much easier. And most importantly, you are building a wall between you and diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes as they are prone to the obese. Oh ya, let’s not forget about a stronger mental focus and more durable immune system.
In order to obtain all of these benefits, our bodies need to readjust back to neutral. Paleo is a great way to do this. Not only do we cut out all sugar, but we are cutting out grains, legumes, dairy, processed foods and alcohol; all things that are foreign to the original design of the human body. As we detox through these first few weeks, your body is adjusting to the cravings and relearning to function without these speed bumps or barricades. Imagine driving your car all day long and having to slow down every 10 feet for a speed bump. What happens if we remove the bumps? Same thing happens when we remove the crap from our diet!
Hopefully I didn’t have to remind you why you’re trying Paleo, but just in case the truck not only ran over you this week, but put it in reverse and ran over you again , just know there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Here are a few tips that will help us get through Week 2 a little easier:
1) MODERATION - After reading through everyone's food logs, most of us are falling into one of the following; mostly vegetarian or mostly meatatarian. It’s either all fruit and veggies with an egg, or all meat with a side of spinach. Try and find a balance. Every meal and snack should have some protein, carbohydrate, and healthy fat in it. Here’s a good example of a daily food log:
Breakfast - 3 eggs, an orange, a few strawberries, and coconut oil.
Snack - Apple, almond butter, and turkey.
Lunch - Salad with chicken, lots of veggies (maybe even some fruit), and avocado.
Snack - Hard boiled eggs, baby carrots, and nuts
Dinner - Steak, sweet potato, broccoli, and guacamole.
2) Make sure you’re drinking half your bodyweight in water. This will help curb your hunger and allow your body to function better; dehydration slows down everything!
3) Consume the fringe stuff with caution. Even though we are allowing approved protein powder, kombucha, almond/coconut milk, and stevia, at the end of the day we are trying to kick our sugar habit. Consuming items with sugar or sweeteners is only going to slow down your progress.
4) Log your food, water, and fish oil. You need to log your water and fish oil in your food log on Beyond the Whiteboard. Make a separate post at the end of each day that has your total water and fish oil in it. If you don’t, you won’t get credit for it. Also, be as detailed as possible when logging your food; this way we can help you figure out what changes to make down the road.
5) Ask questions and read. Regularly look up blog and the resources that we recommended at the beginning of the challenge.
