Paleo Challenge

Mmmmm, Delicious!

Hey guys! Miss me? It's been a long time since I have written on this blog but I want to get back to it for a couple of reasons. First, we are doing a Paleo Challenge at CrossFit Omaha for the next 7 weeks and I want to track my progress and discuss how the diet affects me and how eating certain things make me feel. I also want to get back to writing on here because writing forces me to think more and to articulate my thoughts so that other people can understand them.

As I said, we started a 50 day Paleo Challenge at CrossFit Omaha. There are about 30 to 40 of us participating and the goal is not to lose weight or to restrict what you want to eat. The goal really is to promote healthy eating habits. The reward of developing these habits is the ability to change your body composition to what you want it to be, whether that be losing fat, adding muscle, or whatever. The challenge only required two things from the participants: pictures and food logs. Each of us was required to take a before shot of our front, side and back at the beginning and we will have to do the same after the 50 days. We are also required to submit a food log to a yahoo group each week. That's it. We can eat and drink whatever we want just as long as we document it. The goal, though, is basically to only eat food that a cave man could have eaten. This means no processed anything, no artificial sweeteners, no grains, no dairy. That may sound pretty limiting, and I thought the same, but I am learning all new things to eat already. I may not crave the spinach salads that I have for lunch and I my mouth doesn't water when I think about steamed broccoli but I am learning to like these foods. And I can feel a difference in how I feel.

The hardest part is going to be giving up alcohol and I can tell you right now that I won't be able to give it up 100%. I have a wedding to go to on Saturday and I have my 3rd annual NFL draft party on April 22nd that I will have a few during. Besides that, I am going to try my hardest to abstain from any booze at all. I may falter, but hopefully not much and then jump right back on the Paleo wagon.

As for my blog, I plan on posting my progress with the diet as well as any good food ideas I stumble across. I also want to try to document how I feel when I eat healthy and when I falter. I am hoping that my performance during CrossFit workouts gets much better. And finally, when its all said and done, I hope the pictures tell a story of a successful undertaking.

Wish me luck!!