12 days ago I started a 6 week Paleo challenge with my crossfit gym (Crossfit Merrifield).. 30 Day Challenge what not better than to blog about it! Seems to be what all the cool people do these days anyway.. Ill record how I'm feeling, new recipes I try as well as work outs... oh and I guess results too! This way I can look back and see what works and what just sucks.
Week 1: NO SUGAR! <-- HATE IT! This means not even fruit!
Paleo = No refined sugar, no processed foods, no grains, limited starches, no gluten and no dairy. I am already a lactard so cutting out dairy was no biggie for me. However keeping your sugar intake low and carb intake low means really monitoring the fruits, nuts and vegetables you are consuming.... oy!
I stress to anyone attempting to start the Paleo diet to GO GROCERY SHOPPING BEFORE YOU START!! Sunday evening I hit up Moms Organic Market which is conveniently right across from my apartment building (They are VERY Paleo friendly). I stocked up on 104723409 vegetables, olive oil, balsamic, almond milk, omega 3 enriched eggs, cashews, almonds, a hunk of ham for some soup,organic ground turkey, applegate chicken sausage as well as a couple applegate lunch meats. Make sure to prepare a few things the day before. I made a huge salad to take from throughout the week with dark leafy greens, peppers, cherry tomatoes and sprinkled some sliced almonds on top when I was ready to eat.
Day 1 :Monday DUN DUN DUNNNN.... I started my morning with two eggs over easy, a piece of applegate ham and some green tea. Breakfast was delicious considering I usually don't cook a whole breakfast in the mornings, however I was craving my usual cup of coffee. Feeling a bit sluggish I kept it together and snacked on some cashews and almonds (Really good if you roast them with curry powder). For lunch I had salad with 3 slices of applegate chicken and made homemade dressing. This consisted of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and some Italian seasoning. Believe it or not lunch was pretty good! I also wasn't freaking out afterwards which is odd for me since I usually eat like a little monster. I did however want something sweet.... really really bad! BUT RESISTED!! I snacked on some baby carrots and sliced pepper in the evening and hit the gym for a spin class. By this time I was pretty tired and ready to eat! I opted to make butternut squash soup with cubed ham my first night which was awesome, yet terrible at the same time. The soup came out great except it took FREAKING FOREVER to make! It's a good thing it lasted me a few days!
Day 2: Woke up feeling pretty fatigued... more eggs/ham and off to work! Snacked on nuts and then had salad and leftover soup for lunch :) yum! Almost fell asleep in a meeting so again really missed the coffee and really wanted something sweet! Tuesday evenings I teach boxing so I ate some carrots on the way there and somehow taught a great class. I remember thinking "How am I going to get through this!?" since normally I down a turbo tea and ROCK IT! Pretty sure I raced home and had more soup for dinner... I know.... but it was easy!
Day 3: The worst! Woke up with a heavy head feeling like I never went to sleep! 2 eggs/ham down and off to a big meeting.... Oh no... falling asleep again... in front of my whole company... as they all eat their muffins, pound cake and drink their coffee!!!! So I snacked on some nuts to stay away and had some tea. Our meeting came with lunch so while everyone enjoyed their sandwiches, chips, pasta, fruit salad, brownies, cookies and soda! I emptied a veggie sandwich out on to my plate, a turkey sandwich out on my plate and dug to the bottom of the spinach salad covered in candied nuts and fruit to get some dry leaves.... mmmmmm substance. Had more nuts and carrots for snack and then headed to some crossfit! I really had to push myself still feeling pretty tired... but I made it! For dinner I made a spaghetti squash/ground bison casserole... not too shabby!
Day 4: Feeling a bit back to normal! Didn't wake up tired like the day before and actually feeling refreshed. Knowing I had a morning meeting I left the house without my usual breakfast. I had some scrambled eggs with bacon at my meeting and washed it down with some green tea. We were having health tests and blood drawn at work for our health insurance and what a wake up call this was! I had my blood taken and the nurse could barely believe her eyes. The first words out of her mouth were "what in the WORLD have you been doing because I need to do it too!". I told her I have been on a paleo diet and hadn't had any sugar, carbs,dairy or processed foods in 4 days. With having 3 strips of bacon 30 minutes before this my cholesterol was at 181, HDL CHOL 84, TRIG 50, GLUCOSE 66 and NON-HDL 97. Not only did I feel great but now I was feeling accomplished and invincible! I have been a pretty healthy person for years but to see results like this after 4 days of strict eating is amazing! People don't realize how important clean/healthy eating really is and only focus on the differences they are seeing on the outside. So feeling wild and wonderful I continued my day and had some almonds to snack and a salad which chicken for lunch. After work I headed to Bikram Yoga and sweat out some extra toxins... man did this feel great! Leftover spaghetti squash for dinner and called it a night!
Day 5: I CAN DO THIS! Still on my power trip I am feeling back to my old self except this time... rejuvenated! Two eggs and a piece of ham down I'm off to work! Co-workers comment on my glowing skin and shiny hair... this only makes me feel more invincible! Of course some coffee would be nice but not craving it for once! Snacked on some cashews mid morning and had some grilled chicken with broccoli and a mashed cauliflower pattie. Hit the gym after work for some cardio and head home for some more cookin!
First paleo weekend....
I kept as busy as I could with crossfit, cooking and running errands. I went back to Moms Organic Market a couple times and pretty much bought the whole store. Still feeling great I had convinced myself that I will start eating this way forever so I needed to buy ALL NEW STUFF..... a bit extreme... I know. Over the weekend I made some more chicken dishes and gave some paleo brownies a shot. I added some crazyness too them (protein, coconut..coconut oil) and they didn't come out the best, will be trying these again though. I also made my first paleo pancake which put a smile on my face for days... ahhhhh finally something similar to a carb! Sunday I hit the gym for an awesome workout and put a pork loin in the crock pot. BOOYAH! Came out awesome! Mid day the boyfriend wanted to grab a bite out so we went to Jimmy John's. I had a turkey BLT in a lettuce cup and added some avocado when I got home... success!
AND DONE! Week one accomplished!
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