Some of my favorite foods, in no particular order:
- Pizza
- Ice cream
- Donuts
- Cookies
- Cakes (and all derivatives, cupcakes, pancakes, cheesecake, etc)
- Bacon cheeseburgers
- Candy (fruity hard candy over chocolate based, but who am I to discriminate)
- Randazzo family canoli’s (and all pastry derivatives)
How many of these favorites have I had over the past month? NONE!! And it wasn’t that big a deal.
Like a lot of people, I decided that a month of strict Paleolithic nutrition was in order to detox from a prior month of no holds barred holiday indulgences. There was that initial feeling of loss, but it was quickly replaced with a much greater sense of excitement, which I’ll touch on later. The point is that this time around, I wasn’t as obsessed with my 30-day journey as I have been in the past. What’s the deal?
One big change is that I inadvertently replaced one pleasurable experience for another (keep it clean people!!). Instead of obsessing about nutrition, I’ve been brainstorming all types of 30-day journeys aside from eating and exercise. I’ve shared some of these brainstorms with close friends and the conversations that developed were nothing short of AWESOME!! Hmmmm, really great conversation taking the place of Krispy Kreme’s, I might be on to something!!
I started pondering whether or not the same pleasure sensors affected by the indulgent foods were similarly affected by thoughts (brainstorms) and interactions (conversations). There’s some interesting literature on the effect positive thoughts and actions can have on endorphin production. Exercise is a good example. Maybe I was getting the same type of “high”, without the high glycemic carbohydrates?
So rather than focusing on what I wasn’t going to eat, I re-focused on activities and goals that I wanted to ACCOMPLISH. I quickly became excited about accomplishing my first 30-day journey, so that I could move on to the next adventure!!
Instead of something (food) being taken away, I was adding experiences that no one could ever take away! AHA!!!
Now to keep things realistic, I have no intention of avoiding my favorite foods forever. Even the best paleo/primal trailblazers have their vices. I read somewhere that Mark Sisson enjoys the occasional Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia with crème de cassis (I’m an Americone Dream man myself). The lesson for me was that you can visualize, act, and create a future that is more compelling than food.
Hana Brissey has come a long way, in a short time!!! Watch out Leaderboard!!
January 27, 2012 WOD
“Helen”
Run 400m
Kettlebell swing x 21 (53lb, 36lb)
Pull up x 12
3 rounds for time
*It’s not too late to sign up for our first challenge of the new year. Come in and get your baseline time!!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh yeah, that weight is SUPER heavy
lots of room for improvement! And loving every day of it, thxs Genesis buddies!
you hit the nail on the head, Phil. There is a super book dealing with this that you may have read. It’s called – Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. The book is chock full of great stuff and needs to be devoured (it’s gluten-free, i think) from cover to cover, but here is one simple quote: “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
I understand why people do the 30-day thing but I have found that that type of challenge doesn’t work for me. Although I tend to joke and talk a lot about beer and donuts, I really eat pretty well about 80 to 85 percent of the time (mostly because my wife makes me). For me long, strict regiments usually end in nasty long benders. I think that is a hold over from weight cutting from fighting and wrestling. So these types of challenges usually end with less than positive mental imprints on me.
I find that at least trying to use moderation and balance (sometimes I struggle) is a better way for me to approach it for me. In my mind that helps develop an association to this is a lifestyle decision instead of a short term challenge that has an end date.
The 30 days is more of a timeframe for learning, experimentation, than a strict beginning and end date. What measurable difference can you see, learn, feel in that time? Where it we 30-60-90 days makes little difference?
We all have the same 24 hours in our day, but how well do we maximize that time for positive growth? I’m not talking about being a lunatic and always on the go, but deciding that when you decide to focus on something (whatever it is) do it intensely and with a purpose. Whether it be for a minute, hour, day or 30 days is up to you.
School just started again, and I am taking a sign language class. I am toying with the idea of committing an hour of my day, every day, to the online lessons. If I do this it will be my first “30-day journey”. I figure with that amount of time committed daily I could almost finish the online curriculum. I don’t know if I’m ready to commit yet, but the idea is pretty appealing.
Also, I wanted to throw this question out to the CFG community. For those who eat clean/paleo, when you do “cheat”, how often do you “cheat”? Do you go all out and binge for a day or just indulge in a pint of your favorite B&J? And, when you do step off the wagon do you find it hard to get back on?
I hate referring to indulgences as “cheats” since it denotes such a negative connotation. There’s nothing wrong with eating something outside the paleo arena, if that’s what you want. The real commitment comes from deciding that you’re going to eat a specifically healthy way most of the time.
My feeling is that if you’re making conscious choices 80-90% of the time, the remaining 10-20% isn’t that big a deal. I’ve been known to binge (so to speak), but those days are behind me.
When I’m home or working, it’s close to 100% paleo. If I’m out with friends, at a party or event, I’ll eat what they have and not be overly concerned about grains, sugar, or gluten. I find that the more relaxed and easy going you can be about paleo, the likelier people are willing to give it a look.
Denny – i can hardly be called an expert, but i have been running a fairly comprehensive paleo experiment on myself for almost 5 months. My results apply only to me, of course. The key lesson that i would pass on to you is this; the finer details of nutrition are highly personal. What works for me may be disaster for you. Seek out expert advice that is personal to you if you intend to pursue athletic preeminence (crossfit games?). Our coaches can be helpful resources since they have firsthand experience with paleo and crossfit. Maybe start with some one-on-one time with them?
In my testing, I was doing well until I experimented with a very low carb (VLC) diet. it looks like i went too low for MY genetics, age & activity level. my performance dropped off significantly. Since my proclivity is toward being too strict with myself rather than cheating, i began shunning even good carbs thinking that i needed to trigger full ketogenesis. As i continued to test, read, and research, i came across studies suggesting that it’s good to have a routinely scheduled “carb refeed.” pizza? sure. ice cream? no problemo. So, its not actually a cheat. It’s a physiological necessity to restore muscle glycogen levels that are needed to perform well in athletics. Don’t take this second paragraph as nutrition advice to you. Use it as another reason for you to seek out personal guidance. Good luck, sir.