Paleo Marine

Sometimes, I feel like I’m a preacher. I feel like I’m on a mission to save people. Not their souls, but to perhaps try to get them to understand the role nutrition plays in their daily lives, and how much impact it has on their overall health and wellbeing.

Fortunately for me, I have this blog which allows me to speak out on topics that come to mind, or to discuss things I saw, heard, or otherwise came in contact with. It’s a place where I can clear my mind and get things off my chest, so to speak. Other times, I also post topics that people have asked me directly as I figure if someone asked me, perhaps others are thinking the same question.

I don’t offer my advice unsolicited. I used to do that when I first started losing weight because I felt a duty to say something. Now, however, unless the topic comes up naturally, I keep my mouth shut.

With all that said, however, when I am asked, I feel like I go into sermon mode. I have a certain script I go by, and I try to go through as much info in as non-threatening a way as possible and I try to cover as much information as I can in a way that is easy to understand and remember. It’s my anti-sugar sermon, and perhaps one day, I’ll write it down.

For now, I’ll just keep spreading the word here on the blog, or when people ask.

So, I’m on a business trip of sorts, undergoing training in the National guard. It’s not your typical business trip: instead of a hotel, I live in a barracks (which is a lot like college dorms, truth be told) and I eat at a dining facility, also known as a DFAC. This means that there is always something going on to do, someplace to go, and food choices that are rather limited.

I’ve been learning to work within the constraints of my current situation in regards to nutrition. My primary concern is to ensure that I eat right and fuel my body with the best quality food as possible. Unfortunately, DFAC food is likely not the healthiest, as there are always more carb-heavy choices available than meats and good vegetables. However, I’ve been able to mitigate any negative impact this high-carb environment might have on me.

It would be easy to just say, “The heck with it!” and eat anything they serve. I could even try to do so in moderation. But we all know how moderation diets work (hint: they don’t). Even with their healthier choices (like bacon), I’m pretty sure it’s cured with sugar. That leaves steamed veggies at lunch and dinner, or salads. As you might know from reading my blog, I am not a salad-only kind of guy, even if that’s the only clear healthy choice available.

So, I compromise. I eat the least-bad food (in this morning’s case, the bacon) and skip the hash browns and waffles. The eggs are the best option, but they only give one ice cream scoop-sized serving (they literally will not give a second scoop, even if they see that it is all you are eating) which makes me augment my bacon and eggs with a medium-small apple. It fills me up, and while I’m sure the sugar count is higher than I’d like, it’s actually a pretty healthy breakfast.

Lunches are easy to stick to healthy-ish options, as there’s typically always some sort of meat I can eat and at least one steamed veggie as well as the side salads. It’s dinners that have been challenging, but not because of what the DFAC serves. It’s because I’ve been going out for dinners with other soldiers.

In these cases, the dinners are where my willpower is tested the most. I’ve already posted about eating Ton Katsu (Japanese panko-breaded pork cutlet) and last night, I had chicken wings (healthy) with some ranch (Keto-healthy/Paleo no-no), and some waffle fries (Paleo-ok/Keto no-go). The net result? I should be just fine. But I need to start limiting my exposure to foods that are not as good for me.

Staying with the healthiest options is my first priority, and what motivates me. Trying to drop some more weight while I’m here motivates me. Being around all these young people motivates me. But, like anyone else, the pull of yummy foods that aren’t so healthy is strong, and it’s a fight I have to undertake daily.

Something I thought about as I had to walk from the barracks to the DFAC to the classroom and then back to the barracks and back to the classroom again this morning was the fact that three years ago, even the mere thought of that much walking would have been daunting to me. Actually walking it would have worn me out. This morning, however, the only annoyance in the act itself was that it took up so much of my time. I would have preferred to run, but I didn’t want to be sweaty in class all day.

My life is radically different than it was three years ago. Not only am I healthier, weigh less, or more fit. I am also now a soldier in the National Guard, I live a much more active life, and I am able to undertake just about anything I can think of, or any adventure my wife cooks up for us. These are all things that were impossible for me to even consider three years ago.

What got me here? Eating right. No, I didn’t run every day, I didn’t starve myself, I didn’t take any pills, powders, patches, products, or have any medical procedures done to alter my body. I just ate healthy foods made from whole ingredients and avoided anything with added sugar, all grains, dairy, legumes, and soy.

People think it’s hard to give those things up. Sure, it wasn’t easy, but once I got my mind into it, it became easy. It became normal. What once may have sounded crazy or weird became normal and then something even stranger happened: I grew to not only accept my new lifestyle, but to actually enjoy it. I love the foods my wife makes for us, and I enjoy finding new foods all the time, whether they are foods she makes for us at home, or healthy foods we’re able to find out and about on our adventures.

Life is completely different now, but it’s healthier, fuller, and filled with more freedom and adventures. I did have to give up some things I loved like pizza, pasta, and bread (don’t even get me started on bread pudding!), but I gained so much more. I can now walk anywhere, for any distance, and not dread the mere thought of it.

As anyone who has read my blog for any amount of time knows, I run because I am in the National Guard, and I need to keep my fitness level high. I also have learned to enjoy it, and I like pushing myself from time to time to see if I can improve on my pace, distance run, or even to just see if I can enjoy a nice, easy run even more than before. Sounds silly, I know, but I am doing my best to keep convincing myself that running is fun. Since we do better at things we find fun, I keep trying to make running fun.

I am currently assigned out of state at a school for the National Guard, and I’m enjoying the weather by running as much as I can every other day. Why not every day? Because, as Clint Eastwood said, “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” As an older guy, I try to take it easy by having a rest day between runs. I find that this helps keep the injury rate down and allows me to enjoy running more since I’m running without pain.

I’ve run here twice now in the past three days. Today’s run was actually the longest yet, and the longest I’ve run in a few weeks due to some injuries I sustained a month ago (non-running related). It felt really good to be able to push it a little, to feel the wind rushing against me, and to push myself running up hills and to allow gravity to pull me down as I ran down those hills. Being at a higher altitude than usual upped the difficulty some, but I’m okay with that. I look forward to getting back home and being able to perform all that much better due to the denser air.

Some soldiers here asked me if I run to keep my weight in check. I told them, “Not at all; I eat right to keep my weight down. I run to keep fit.” I then ended up giving a class on the difference between nutrition and exercise and their roles in our weight and fitness. Fortunately, I think some of them got it.

I will keep running at least every other day for the rest of the time I’m here. I’m hoping to make some serious progress in my running pace and increase the distances some.

Yesterday, after finishing up at class, 9 of us decided to get together and go visit some local towns and museums. We had a great time, and we saw lots of neat things, but when it came time to eat, I suggested something without really thinking it through. Worse, everyone thought it was a great idea. What did I utter that got me into trouble? Sushi.

We went to a local restaurant that had really great prices for their food, but for me, the difficulty was in finding something that I could eat that wasn’t filled with carbs and wasn’t just expensive, small slices of fish. I failed. However, I decided to make the best of it, and I ate what I considered to be the least “bad” food? Ton Katsu. This is a breaded (with panko) pork served with rice. There was also miso soup and some salad, both of which I ate. I ate the pork (which was delicious!) but left the rice.

All in all, I made the best of the situation and got through it without troubling my dinner mates. It really was a nice time, and we had some ridiculously funny conversations.

DFAC is the acronym for Dining Facility in the Army. It’s pronounced, “De-fac,” and some even add a “T” to the end and pronounce it “De-fact.” It’s supposed to be a play on the word, “Defect.” Personally, I’ve always found food at chow halls (what Marines call a DFAC) to be decent, at worst, so I never gave much crap to our cooks. They make our food, and that food fuels us to carry out our missions. However, there have been a few exceptions to that rule: the field.

I’ve had some really bad food in the field. Last year’s AT, for example, was probably the worst food experience of my life in the military. It was also my first experience back in the military after a 20 year break, and I thought that military food had taken a general dump in that time. Fortunately, a new officer took over and really shook things up, and by the time we had our live fire exercises earlier this spring, the food was not only edible, but actually good. It was a 180 degree difference from last year’s AT food. That’s not to say it was all Paleo-friendly (it was not). But, it was good (when I did eat it; when there was pasta or other non-Paleo foods, I ate what I brought: Epic Bars and RXBars with some nuts).

My first experience with the DFAC here at the school I’m going to has been pretty positive. The eggs were not over-cooked, the bacon was crispy, and the coffee wasn’t scalding hot like the surface of the sun. That’s about it for the food choices, however. They did offer me waffles and potatoes, but I declined them. I’m trying to go keto while I’m here, and those two just don’t fit into that diet.

There were lots of fruits available: bananas, apples, and oranges. Also, there were lots of cereals and juices as well (neither of which I partook in).

I am still wondering what lunch and dinner will hold for me. If the military does anything well, it’s high-carb meals. It’s because they’re inexpensive, filling, and inexpensive. Yes, I said inexpensive twice because, well, that’s what the military is after: the most bang for the buck, and you can’t argue that high-carb meals fill the bill in that regard. It’s not the healthiest, but the military hasn’t caught on to what’s healthiest yet (and likely won’t anytime soon because it’s expensive).

So, breakfast was a win. I’m only slightly hungry after eating it (ha!), but that’s because I had too many carbs yesterday due to airplane and airport food. Starting today, I have options: if the food has too many carbs in the DFAC, I’ll either eat an Epic Bar to hold me over and eat elsewhere later, or just eat elsewhere (I’m guessing I won’t have time to eat off-post at lunch, but I will have options at dinner time).

I’m going to be away from home for some training for the National Guard, and the first thing I did (literally, right after I checked in and got my barracks room) was go over to the exchange shopette (think like a 7-11 or a convenience store) and buy some Epic bars. They didn’t have any RXBars, but I was fine with the Epic Bars. They are lower carb, and since I’m trying to go Keto while I’m at training, it helps with that.

Which brings me to the next topic: a stint of Keto. I brought some exogenous ketones with me to take orally (as pills) and I will augment my diet with them for the first 3-5 days until I feel myself getting into ketosis. I want to kick start losing the weight I picked up in Ireland and Scotland and haven’t been able to shake. I know, it’s mostly my fault. Drinking alcohol and having too many non-Paleo meals (and even when they are Paleo, I typically eat too much) contributed a lot to my not dropping as many pounds as I wanted to, but going Keto should help with that. While eating Keto, I can have a lot more protein and veggies and if I keep my fat intake moderate, my body will be forced to use the fat from my body as energy and thus, I should be able to drop those pesky 10 lbs in the next 21 days.

Will I be perfect? Likely not. Will I do my best? Absolutely.

I know what I’m capable, I know what my body is capable of, and I know what it takes to get it done. I just need to stick with it, set my mind to it, and then, it’ll be easy.

Happy birthday to me! I’m spending my birthday traveling to Pennsylvania for training in the National Guard. As I write this, I’m sitting in the USO in Charlotte, NC, which is a very nice facility. I was happy to see that it’s stocked with not only donuts, but lots of fruit and other healthy choices. I’m having some coffee, and in a bit, I may have an apple before I go out to eat lunch prior to my afternoon flight.

Today, I turn 51, and I can’t stop thinking about where I was 5, 10, or even 20 years ago in regards to my health. I’m in better shape, healthier, lighter, and much more fit than I was at any of those other points in my life. It’s crazy when I realize just how large of an impact the food choices I made affected my life. I owe my good health today to the food I eat, in large part due to the support and love from my wife, Sherry. Aside from her cooking, she’s always been there to motivate me when I needed it, and always there to remind me to be good when I need to (and also to remind me to live a little when I’m tempted to miss out on an experience in my efforts to be “good.”).

My most sincere wish on my birthday is that people who read this blog are inspired to change their diets, to take on a healthier way of eating, and to hopefully motivate people to persevere and to stick with eating right. It’s not always easy, but it is always worth it.

I hope that all of my readers have a great Fourth of July holiday! I hope that you are able to spend it with people who are special to you, and if you can’t, then at least you are able to make the best of it as possible.

I will be spending the day with family and hopefully some friends if the weather cooperates. I’ll also be doing my best to eat right and not drink anything because I have a weigh-in with the National Guard on Friday morning, and I’m already on the line between go and no-go (which means I’m at the upper weight limit for my height).

Enjoy the day, be safe, and celebrate the birth of our nation with food, drink, and if it’s legal where you live (and you’re so inclined), fireworks.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just eat anything you wanted to without consequence? Sure it would, but for the vast majority of us, we can’t do this without paying the piper, so to speak. For many years, I ate without giving a second thought to what effect that food intake would have on my body, and I certainly paid the price. I had gained enough weight to leave me morbidly obese and facing numerous health issues to include diabetes. Fortunately, I was able to turn that around through diet.

When I did my first Whole30, I found it to be restrictive, but I felt it was necessary, and that the sacrifices I was making were going to enable to me get healthy, perhaps lose some weight, and maybe even live a little longer. That first Whole30 ended by exceeding my expectations, and when my wife and I adopted the Paleo Diet, we went into it hoping for more improvements in our health and more weight loss. Once again, we were met with success, and it made carrying on through Paleo that much easier.

As time went on, we eventually reached a weight that our bodies were comfortable with and we went into maintenance mode. We found ourselves eating off-plan every now and then, but something crazy happened: the Paleo Diet became just the way we ate, and once our minds made the switch, we were once again back to eating anything we wanted. The trick was that everything we wanted was made with whole, Paleo-approved ingredients.

Another thing that helped was that Sherry found many recipes that were not only good but in many cases exceeded the non-Paleo recipes of the same dish. This made it feel like we weren’t sacrificing in the quality or flavor of our food, and in face, the satiety of the foods was increased so it felt better to eat (and not get cravings quickly afterward).

People often lament having to give up favorite foods, or being unable to eat what they want anymore without thinking about it. With a minor change in what is considered normal and part of the choices available, the Paleo Diet becomes just the way you eat, and then every meal is pleasant and something to look forward to. I know mine are.