30 Day Paleo Challenge

I have something exciting terrifying exciting news to share!

I've decided to do the 30 Day Paleo Challenge. Eek!

I actually kind of hate any kind of "diet," but busy season has not been kind to me (I've gained 6-8ish pounds since last fall). Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing this challenge specifically to lose weight, because honestly, I just feel like crap. This is meant to be a lifestyle experiment instead of a diet. My stomach hurts all the time and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the amount of processed grains I eat (i.e. english muffin for breakfast, triscuits/popcorn/cheerios as a snack, sandwiches on wheat bread for lunch, rice/pasta for dinner, etc.)

I in no way believe I have a gluten allergy, but I'm curious to see how I feel if I cut these things out of my diet. Another contributing factor is alcohol. And while I don't drink heavily every night of the week, I can definitely tell after a night out that every meal I eat afterwards just makes me feel "off." I can not tell you how many times I've looked over at Ryan and said, "my tummy hurts" (<-- yes, sometimes I act like a child). I think I can directly link it to the food poisoning I got back in July. My stomach hasn't really been right since, and I can't say I've done anything to make it better.

So April 1st is going to be the kickstart of this challenge! It's the end of busy season! I'll actually have free time again! I can leave my computer at work and not think about it until the next morning! I can leave the office before the sun sets and get a workout in! Oh happy day!

While I'm not extremely well-versed on the whole "paleo" thing, and I don't even really like the term, I can definitely work with this graphic of what to eat/what not to eat:

via

I can already tell you what will be the most challenging: breakfast. I eat some kind of grain every morning, usually along with peanut butter. Both of these are not allowed! Sad. So I'm going to have to get creative when it comes to breakfast, and figure out how to make a smoothie that doesn't involve at least a little splash of milk. I also eat a banana almost every day as a midmorning snack, which isn't allowed either.

Giving up sweets will be no problem at all, seeing as I don't really eat them anyway. I'm going to have a hard time giving up cream and sugar in my coffee (fat free half-n-half and 1 packet of Splenda), so I may end up just giving up coffee altogether.

However, seeing as I'll be out of town for work for an entire week in April, I'm going to try my best to stick to the diet, but I'm kind of at the mercy of restaurants and hotel breakfast buffets. Woof. It's not like I have the option of whipping up a healthy dinner for myself in my hotel room.  I'm not going to be super picky in trying to specify what kind of oil my food is cooked in at a restaurant, and if all else fails, I'll just order a salad sans cheese and no dressing!

Wish me luck guys - I can't wait to chronicle the adventures!

Has anyone tried something similar to this? A cleanse of sorts? I know wholeheartedly that cutting out some of the crap in my diet is going to make a 100% difference. I'm excited!

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