The Paleo Solution

I'm currently sitting inside a room at the Renaissance Hotel in the Skydome (yes it's the Skydome!) about to embark on 3 days of Fitness Manager bootcamp along with 17 other new FM's from across the country. I'm looking forward to the learning experience and working on my personal development in order to be a better teacher and leader to those I affect directly.

It's now been one week of my Paleo challenge against my friend Patrick and I can honestly say, this time I think it is going to stick as a lifestyle.

Let me elaborate.

I've tried a couple times to go "Paleo" in the past. I read a bit of Loren Cordain's "The Paleo Diet for Athletes", but it was too technical. I went solid for the month of February and fell right off halfway through March. Come to think of it, it was right around the time I accepted the FM position. Hmm...stress leading to poor eating habits? I may be on to something!

It was Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution" which really got me interested in it. Robb writes in an easy manner. I don't want to say "layman's terms" because there is a lot of technical stuff in there that can be quite hard to understand. After reading Robb's book, I read Art De Vany's "The New Evolution Diet" and everything began to click.

To be honest, I don't even see it as a competition anymore. And I don't mean that from the "I don't care about winning or losing" perspective. Simply, the purpose of the competition was to be able to have a reason to stick to the diet. I was using excuses, saying that it was too hard to not eat grains when it is everywhere around us. So, we made a competition with an end point and a reward at the end. And I stayed true, until Friday night when I decided to experiment and had some nachos.

Needless to say, my stomach felt like crap, I got a headache, and the experiment was done. It's obvious that I have reset my system, and putting "food" that isn't healthy in me just doesn't make sense anymore.

It would be ludicrous to presume I will never have another grain again. However, as Agatsu CEO Shawn Mozen once told me during a kettlebell cert in Toronto, "Just think about what you are putting into your mouth, and what it is doing for you." Putting "food" that we know is crap into our body is serving some sort of emotional function. The trick is to rewire your brain into getting that same end without turning to food. Some people chew gum. Some chug water. Some exercise.

My trick: 1 shot of tequilla, mixed with soda water in a tall and 3 limes. Stir, and enjoy.

AmeriCanuck Paleo Challenge: Do or Do Not...

For those of you who don't know, my dear friend Patrick and I decided last week to partake in a little nutritional challenge between April 3rd and May 8th. I've really been on a Paleo kick lately, but find my commitment to it wanes from time to time. Turns out, grains really are an addiction!

Why are they so hard to give up? Well let's be honest: we've grown up thinking that these were good for us, that we needed "carbs" in order to function and so on and so forth. Old habits are hard to break, as are previous mindsets. Recent studies by Paleo gurus Art De Vany (http://arthurdevany.pro.subhub.com/), Robb Wolf (http://www.robbwolf.com) and Loren Cordain (http://www.thepaleodiet.com), have shown otherwise.

In a nutshell (pardon the pun), the Paleo diet means no grains, no dairy, no legumes or sugar. It means plenty of lean meats, quality vegetables and fruits, and healthy fats as well as some nuts. (A simple google search will answer the rest of your questions). Protein, carbs, fat. Simple right? Sure. How long have you gone without break, rice, and pasta? Not as easy as you think. The more I educate myself however, the more I realize that this is really doing nothing for me. Why would we put garbage "food" into our bodies? You wouldn't fuel a Ferrari with diesel would you??? (Hint: No. You wouldn't.)

Back to the challenge.

My friend wants to shed some pounds. I'd like to work on my discipline and if it means some aesthetic qualities show up at the end (ie. abs), I'm not going to complain about it. We've set goals for ourselves, taken pictures on day 1 and taken measurements. We've told our friends and family on a Facebook group what we are doing so that we can hold ourselves accountable.

It's been two days and I feel great. Did hot yoga on day 1, and had a great workout in the evening today. What's driving me is not necessarily the end goal, but the process and the commitment to eating right, and fueling this Ferrari with some high octane fuel. It also helps that my buddy down south is doing the same. And if in turn, it makes you think about some of the stuff you are actually putting into your body, and makes you really THINK about it, then hopefully it will help you along your path too. This is why I do what I do (blog name! They do this in movies all the time!)

To finish, I read a tweet today from @_robin_sharma today: "The translation of "I'll try" is "I'm not committed."

I think a little green dude in Star Wars said something similar once.