Month: July 2017

If you found this blog from a web search for Paleo, Whole30, or getting fit after a long absence of fitness, then this is for you.

You’re doing the searching. You’re looking up information on getting healthy, losing weight, and maybe even getting fit. Your interest is piqued because you have recognized your declining health, increasing weight, or lack of fitness. Maybe you’re tired of feeling worn down all the time, or not being able to fit into a booth at your favorite restaurants anymore. Perhaps flying is something you hate doing because the seats are so small. It’s possible you feel embarassed when people stare at you because of your being overweight. Maybe you look at fit, trim, and thin people wishing that you could be one of them.

It’s time to get started. The time to consider, think about, and contemplate starting a diet and weight loss program has passed. The time for action is now. Start today. Your next meal, even. Yes, it’s that easy.

How can I start a healthy diet today? You can begin by ensuring that your meal is free of the following:

• Added sugar/processed sugar
• Grains
• Dairy
• Beans/soy
• Alcohol

It’s hard to find foods that don’t contain those ingredients at a fast food restaurant, but you can always find some grilled chicken, beef, or pork at nearly any restaurant, and grilled chicken is even available at some fast food restaurants. Avoid the buns (grains) and the foods fried in vegetable oil or breaded foods.

Now, starting properly takes some preparation. I recommend looking at Whole30 or the Paleo Diet websites for how to prep properly, but eating well can start immediately with little preparation.

What if I’m not ready to commit? When will you be? What will it take? How long do you think you can go in your current situation before the damage done to your organs and body are irreparable? Starting today means that you get a start on your healthier life immediately. Changing your lifestyle today means that to keep the ball rolling, you need to make some serious changes that will improve your health, reduce your weight, and increase the length of your life.

The time is now. Don’t put it off any longer. Start today, if you haven’t already. It’ll be the best action you’ve ever taken.

Alfred Hitchcock was once asked what his definition of happiness was, and his first remark was, “A clear horizon.” He goes on to say, “Nothing to worry about on your plate.” I know he’s talking about not having to worry about things in life, but it struck me.

A clear horizon.

Nothing to worry about on your plate.

It all ties into what I’m doing with my Paleo Diet.

My life before Paleo was anything but a clear horizon. It was foggy, at best, with no certainty at all. There were storm clouds on the horizon, the winds were howling with thunder and lightning and lots more destructive weather incoming. It wasn’t until I was able to break my addiction to sugar and fill my plate with things that were good for me did the horizon begin to clear.

Now, there is nothing to worry about on my plate. The food I eat is good for me and ensures that I will see many more horizons. Eating well has transformed the rest of my life, as good habits creep into every aspect of one’s existence. My horizon is clear, and there’s nothing to worry about on my plate. Whole30 and Paleo did that for me.

Clear your horizons. Make the change for yourself.

I am the PaleoMarine, but I’m also currently a National Guard soldier. I have annual training coming up soon, and I have been planning on how to get around the horrible carb-rich food they will be serving us. I will likely be unable to do any running every other day while out there, and my job is rather stationary, so it’s highly likely I would gain some weight while out in the field.

I’ve bought a bunch of RX Bars to take with me, but I probably won’t have enough for two weeks worth of calories. I’m counting on at least some meals that I can eat that are high in protein and fiber. When I can, I will eat what they serve us (if it’s not MRE’s) and supplement with RX Bars. If the meal is MRE’s or something high-carb, I’ll go all RX Bar or some other meat product I will find and take with me.

I know that if I deploy, this plan is not sustainable, and I would have to transition into a calories-in/calories-out (CICO) diet which is hard to maintain and difficult to live on. It would also make me have to be okay with eating high-carb foods which my body is not good with. Hopefully, if I do deploy, there will be healthy food options. If not, it is what it is.

It’s ironic that I worry about my diet and health while deployed more than anything else. One area that the modern US military is very backward about is nutrition. The number of overweight people in the military is alarming; so much so that I’ve heard talk of raising weight allowances in the height and weight standards. In the Army, as long as you pass your PFT, if you’re overweight, they sort of look the other way. In the Marines, if you score higher than a 275 on the PFT, weight isn’t held against you. That makes sense; most really fit people have more muscle which weighs more than fat for their size. I’m 164 lbs (today) and my body fat is around 10.5%. Someone who is my height and unfit would weigh less; I have lots of muscles.

I get it; high energy use requires lots of carbs. I know combat soldiers and Marines carb load before missions and drink high-energy drinks before/during missions. That makes sense. But in garrison? For jobs that don’t require high-intensity physical activity? There should be better options.

The military should be doing more to serve healthy food (that’s not all grain-based as it currently is). That’s why I need to take matters into my own hands on this upcoming annual training.

My kids loved the movie Galaxy Quest, and one of the quotes from that movie they would recite over and over was, “Never give up! Never surrender!” It was sort of their battle cry when playing games, running around, or doing something difficult.

When I talk to people who have tried Whole30 or Paleo and gave up, many said, “It was just too hard.” When I asked them what was hard about it, among the many answers was a common thread: “I couldn’t make it past the snack cravings”

I get it. Kicking the sugar dragon is hard. It’s very hard. But none of us are perfect. From time to time, we slip and fall. It’s up to us to dust ourselves off, get back up, and try again. To be successful at anything, you’re going to fail. What separates you from those who never succeed is getting back up and trying again.

So you did a Whole30 and didn’t make it to the end. That’s okay. Try again. You started the Paleo Diet but fell off, either in one fell swoop or gradually. That’s okay, too. Just get back up on that horse and ride it to success! There is no rule, real, imaginary, or otherwise that says you only get one chance to try to succeed at getting healthy. I failed many times before I found Whole30 and Paleo. My second Whole30 ended prematurely; and that’s even after I did one and was Paleo for over six months!

Never give up! Never surrender! Don’t let the carbs and the sugar win! Take back your health, lose that weight, and get back into shape! You can do this.

Here’s what happened to me:

• Felt guilty. The food was DELICIOUS, but immediately I felt guilty. No big deal.
• Felt hot when trying to go to sleep. My body was not used to all the sugar, and I think it was trying to burn it off by increasing my body temperature. The entire night, I was sweating profusely and uncomfortable.
• Swelled up with water weight. I weighed about 3 lbs more the next morning. I didn’t eat 3 lbs of food, so this has to be water weight. I could definitely see pudginess over my abs which are normally pretty nice in the mornings.
• More guilt. Even though I celebrated my birthday and I was okay with it, seeing the above feels like I took a step back and let myself down. Even though it’s okay to live a little, these feelings still pop up. I make them go away with logic, but the feelings persist.

Here’s what didn’t happen to me:

• I didn’t gain 150 lbs back in a night.
• I didn’t fall off the wagon and start eating bad foods.
• I didn’t lose my motivation, determination, or perseverance.
• My clothes didn’t fit tighter. Not even a belt hole tighter.

Here is what I found after a few days:

• Weight gain was temporary and gone within a few days.
• The guilt faded along with the temporary weight gain.
• Still felt amazing that I was able to eat something so horribly bad and recover after a few days.

The takeaway from this is that it IS okay to live a little every now and then. I celebrated my 50th birthday with some bread pudding, and I didn’t explode upon contact with sugar. It was a treat, and my body did have a reaction to it, but it recovered soon enough. It was also an interesting exercise in pondering what my body went through before I adopted the Paleo Diet. The excessive carb intake was hurting my body, yet I kept dumping more and more carbs into my mouth which then worked its way through my body. If just one slice of bread pudding effected me so much, I can’t imagine what all the carbs I used to eat were doing to me.

Then again, I can imagine it. I weighed over 312 lbs and was diabetic, had high LDL cholesterol levels, fatty liver disease, nerve tingling and circulation issues in my lower extremities, and declining vision. Now, all those things are reversed and/or gone completely. I never want to go back, and remembering how it felt to be so unhealthy makes me stick to my diet. Except on my birthdays. Then I will eat cake or bread pudding even if it’s not Paleo.

This is something that puzzles me. So, people do Whole30’s for many reasons. They do it to find out if they have food allergies, and if so, then to identify which food through reintroduction. Fair enough. But most people I know do it to begin eating clean, to lose weight, or ultimately to get healthy. For people in the latter groups, I wonder what value reintroduction has.

Whole30 makes you eat basic foods that are easy to digest by the majority of people and that is nutritious. Paleo is like a less-strict Whole30, and to me, seems like a logical progression of post-Whole30 eating behavior. Reintroducing grains, dairy, and even sugar just seems counter-productive to me.

I’ve been told that my motivation, discipline, and perseverance are noteworthy and uncommon. I disagree. I believe that we all have it in us to succeed at changing our relationship with food and making good decisions to become healthier. I think many people take the easy way out and don’t want to deal with some initial discomfort or have to make decisions in the face of our society’s food norms. After all, we live in the culture of the Happy Meal and the $9.99 all-you-can-eat buffet.

Do yourself a favor: skip reintroductions (unless you are just trying to identify a food allergy). Make the natural progression from Whole30 to Paleo or keto. Or just keep eating like you did on the Whole30. There are plenty of recipes out there, and if you’ve learned anything while on your Whole30, you’ve found that clean, wholesome, natural foods are better for you, your body feels better, and you likely lost some weight. There are reasons for that: the food is good for you.

Something I have to deal with now that I’ve never dealt with before is the stress I feel after I either eat something non-Paleo, or if I eat too much. My mind is playing tricks on me and makes me think I’m literally getting fat almost immediately after eating the food. I know it’s not possible, let the fear sinks in. I know that it’s not logical, and that it’s not rational, yet it happens.

I’ve had to learn to deal with these feelings because I think they can lead to a dangerous place if left unchecked. I’ve heard people say that you can’t get anorexia if you’re a man, and I’ve learned that this is completely untrue: both men and women can suffer from this condition. I know I’m not anywhere near having it, nor can I know what it’s like to have it, but I do feel that the stress I experience after eating non-Paleo foods or eating too much could be how the condition first manifests itself.

At my birthday, I ate a lot. I even had food that wasn’t Paleo. While I know from a logical standpoint that it was okay and that I will recover from it, the next day after lunch, I began to stress a little. The stress started spiraling into fear until I did a logic check and went over my progress, my food, and my exercise. Once I went through it all, the stress melted away. Something else that helped happened as well: two healthy bowel movements. 

What the scale says is but one measure of my health, and I have to remind myself often that it is not the most important one. My clothing still feel loose, my body still feels tight, and I still feel energetic. All these things tell me that I’m doing great. Just because the scale says otherwise after not having a bowel movement for three days means nothing.

Logic wins. Reminding myself of the facts helps. Not falling into despair or getting stressed about it allows me to stay on-track and to carry on. Will my weight fluctuate? Yes. Will it fluctuate even if I am doing everything perfectly? Yes. Then why worry about it if I have a little bit of a cake or some noodles?