Wednesdays are my off days, even when I move to 4 days a week they will still be my mid week day of rest. This rest was much needed as I was sore all day in my shoulders (yes I understand the irony of being sore the day after posting about how I wasn't sore, but overhead squats will do that to you) and needed to recharge for what promises to be a grueling workout thursday.
So while I can't promise I will maintain this one post a day stint I'm on, I'm going to try and use my off days to post about other fitness related topics I've been researching. Once again if anyone accidentally stumbles upon this and has no clue who I am, let me repeat: I AM NOT A DOCTOR, I AM NOT A TRAINER, I AM NOT A NUTRITIONIST, always consult a physician before beginning an exercise program (basically im saying DON'T SUE ME!). I'm just an average person, not fat, not skinny, not particularly strong trying to get in shape and giving my own opinions on whats working in my life. Basically I'm my own guinea pig, and that can be a good thing for you. If you happen to be a doctor, (or in my readership case, a med school student) and believe im doing something stupid and killing myself, you have my permission to let me know.
I'm a firm believer of the 80/20 theory. In business, it generally means 20% of the customers use 80% of the resources (i.e. cell phone data useage), or in the world terms roughly 80% of the worlds wealth is held by the worlds top 20% (That may be a USA only statistic). How I'm applying this to fitness, is getting in shape is 20% exercise and 80% diet (once again I have no research to back this up, though I think I've read this before). My crossfit coaches preach proper diets to us constantly, as a good workout can be ruined by margs later that night, or a big heaping plate of lasagna, etc, etc. As I mentioned in the first post, I wasn't going to give a half effort to getting into shape, not while I see my roommate get ever so close to achieving his goal of dunking a basketball. Some of my friends have super metabolism, and can seemingly eat anything they want and stay incredibly lean, or even what I deem one of the best problems ever and have trouble "putting on weight". I assure you I am not one of those people. I feel like if I even look at a bowl of ice cream I put on 5lbs on the spot, so I have to be much more diligent about my diet than others. I'm going to try and post about different dietary aspects that I study throughout this experiment.
For about the past month I've made some changes to my diet which include the following:
1. Eat as paleo as possible - It would be difficult to explain it all and keep this post a readable length, there are plenty of places to research it on the internet. It's also the diet that the crossfit coaches have been recommending.
2. No more sodas - If anyone knows me, they know I could put away A LOT of diet soda. I was regularly drinking 50-64oz of that deliciousness per day, and racking up quite the monthly bill (when you factor getting a soda everytime I went out to eat, one from the vending machine per work day, I estimate I was spending $60 to $70 a month on soda alone). Now I only drink water, the occasional glass of almond milk or coconut milk, fresh squeezed orange juice (got to watch a lot of juices, you might think you're being healthy by drinking juice but most are LOADED with sugar). The only soda I drink is when its mixed with whiskey. This change had the most immediate noticeable impact when I was playing with an indoor soccer team, just two weeks of no soda and I could run much longer and harder in games than usual without changing anything else up about my diet. Plus that savings is helping to pay for my crossfit membership.
3. No More Gluten - This one was tough at first, because gluten is in EVERYTHING. The more and more I've been reading about gluten the more I want to stay away from it. The bonus to staying away from gluten is, it really helps me stay away from sugar at the same time, as most desserts and "sweets" contain gluten, now if the wonderful bakers from Juleens ever create a gluten free cakeball I am in some serious trouble. Basically I dont eat breads / flour based items any more, though I'm still a sucker for saturday / sunday brunch french toast (no I dont have it every weekend by any means, but in my version of Heaven french toast is definitely involved). In the book I'm reading "Everyday Paleo", the author says "its okay to cheat every once in a while, just not with gluten". The hardest part for me is saying NO to chips and salsa at mexican restaurants and hoping nobody orders queso. I know what you're saying to yourself, "No way could I give up carbs!", and I will say you're not (you get carbs through fruit), or "I would miss breads too much", and to that I say, "go two weeks without them and you won't even miss them". That sounds easy, but its true, I don't crave breads or simple carbs anymore (unless its chips and queso).
4. No more dairy - This started before paleo when I was reading books like "The Omnivores Delimma". You can call me a tree hugging hippy (fyi: I work for an oil company), but I'm very much leery of the food pyramid thats been shoved down our throats by the FDA. Farmer Lobbyists and other Pro Farmers group pay lots of money to make sure that thing tells us to eat the foods the benefit the farmers wallets the most (i.e. potatoes, corn), and not whats actually nutritious. Milk is one of those things that isn't necessarily as good for us as it seems, and coincidentally is a cash cow for farmers. Anyway I only buy almond milk and coconut milk as substitutes and actually really like it. The hardest thing for me to give up on a regular basis was cheese, and it's still one of my favorite ways to cheat.
5. No fast food - This seems like a no brainer. Its almost impossible to get any nutrients out of fast food, even the salads are terrible for you. It makes me sick when I drive home and see the double drive through at mcdonalds 15 cars deep at 5 in the afternoon. Just watch "Super Size Me" (available on netflix streaming).
6. Limit alcohol consumption - I know this is the least fun of the bunch. Its admittedly tough to go out with friends during the week and stick to water (especially now that I know of a place with $2.50 wells, but I digress), and sometimes I slip up and get a drink. The weekends I'm a little bit looser and will allow myself a couple of drinks. The problem with alcohol, besides being loaded with calories (or gluten if we're talking about beer), is that I end up getting really hungry and will crush any sort of food put in front of me (usually food that doesn't conform to my previous rules). The best part between cutting out non water drinks (mostly), is that I almost save the amount of my crossfit membership each month, it pays for itself!
Am I 100% perfect? Absolutely not. Just like christianity, perfection might be a goal but isn't attainable. I'm just trying everyday to follow this dietary set of rules, which I'm always tweaking. If I fall off the wagon, I just take it in stride and get back on it rather than wallow in guilt (it's like that freedom in Christ through grace concept). The important thing to think about when trying to eat healthy is to tackle each meal each day as small choices to a larger picture. Yes it gets overwhelming to think "Oh my no gluten for a month!", whereas I can sit at lunch and not eat the bread or eat my fajitas without the tortillas (or cheese, or sour cream). If you have any questions about what I'm doing please feel free to ask me as I love talking about this (it helps me stay motivated as well).
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