Paleo Challenge Recap

Well folks, if you can do the math, it has not in fact been 30 days since I started the Paleo Challenge, but I've already failed so I might as well jump ahead to the recap.

If you remember correctly, this challenge allowed me to eat nothing. Just meat, vegetables, fruit, eggs, and nuts. That's it.

I'm here to say that is near impossible for me for 30 days. Maybe I just don't have any willpower, but a life without cheese, bread, popcorn or anything that actually tastes good is not one I want to live.

But I'll give you the run-down on my thoughts of the challenge (in completely random order):

1. My stomach honestly does feel better (which was the whole point in the first place). I haven't had beer or pasta since I started the challenge and I can tell a difference. I did have to cheat and eat bread - it's incredibly hard to eat quick, semi-healthy lunches while eliminating sandwiches completely. My coworkers and I had lunch at Panera one day and I had a sandwich and salad. Oh well.
2. I hated how my coworkers had to narrow down lunch options because of my diet. The only way I even had a chance of surviving the challenge was to tell my coworkers what I could and couldn't eat. So every day when it came time to decide where we were eating lunch, they were constantly saying, "Oh, how about this place?" "Oh yeah, you can't eat there." And my poor coworker is several months pregnant and super sick, so the fact that she was worried about what I could eat instead of what she could stomach, really bothered me.
3. I actually like drinking my coffee black! This is shocking to me, as I always put a splash of cream and sugar in my coffee every morning. But once I got used to drinking it black, I don't even think about it now.
4. Having such a restrictive diet is completely impossible to maintain long-term. Especially since this was voluntary on my part. I wasn't getting a single ounce of calcium from anything I was eating, which I know isn't a good thing.
5. I missed my old breakfast of a whole grain waffle topped with peanut butter and bananas. It's one of my favorites and immediately went back into the rotation after I gave up on the challenge.
6. Almond butter is absolutely not a substitute for peanut butter. That is all I have to say about that.
7. Eating is one of my favorite activites of all time (go ahead and judge me) and this challenge made me hate meal time. Since I couldn't eat anything I actually wanted, I dreaded having to decide what to order in restaurants at lunch and for dinner during the weekends. It made me cranky. Some nights I just skipped dinner all together because nothing sounded appetizing. I also stopped trying new recipes completely because every recipe I want to try doesn't fit the "paleo" rules.
8. I'm glad I did this challenge (at least for 15 days), so I know I should probably limit the amount of grains in my diet and I don't think dairy is the culprit.
9. I do still plan on at least considering the things I order when I'm eating out so I can avoid the tummy aches later!

So while I may have totally failed at the challenge, I'm perfectly content with a dinner of chips and salsa.

So worth it.

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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