My Next Challenge

For those of you unaware, Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple started a 21-day primal challenge. It started on the 16th, and I found out about it on the 19th. So, though I'm starting a bit late for the challenge, I'm going to do it for the next 21 days, starting tomorrow, September 23 (ending October 13). See the infographic and learn more at Mark’s Daily Apple.

Here's a summary of what this challenge entails, copied directly from Mark's Daily Apple:

• Eat real food.
• Avoid sugar, grains, unhealthy fats, beans/legumes.
• Align your carb intake with your weight goals and activity levels.
• Move frequently at a slow pace: Get between 2-5 hours per week of moderate aerobic exercise.
• Lift heavy things: Conduct 1-3 brief, intense sessions of full-body functional movements.
• Sprint: Go “all out” once a week.
• Get 8 hours of sleep every night.
• Get 15 minutes of direct sun exposure each day.
• Play! Find time to let go, disconnect, unwind and have fun each day.

Mark's Daily Apple is posting tips daily and is hosting various contests for awesome prizes, so go check it out.

What this challenge means for me is that I'm going to continue with Paleo as per usual, but I'm really going to try to get eight hours of sleep each night. It's hard to do, when there's so many things just a click away to keep us entertained into the late hours of the night. I was discussing my schedule with one of my co-workers on Friday and realized that when I take into account working (10), commuting (1.5-2.5), working out (1.5), eating (1.5), cooking (0.5-1.5), getting ready for work/bed (1.5), I don't have enough time for 8 hours of sleep. I'm left with 5.5-7.5 hours for sleep depending on how long it takes me to cook my meals and how long my commute takes (it's longer when I drive to crew practice). So, something had to give, and I'm not sure what it will be. Maybe I'll only be able to cook on certain days, or I'll have to revert back to only cooking on Sundays. And when will I fit in chores? Or trips to the grocery store? Yeah, I'm not sure. But I'll figure it out starting tomorrow.

An easy change that I'm going to make is to go outside during lunch every day. I take 30 minute lunch breaks, so I can spend half of that outside in the sun - that's manageable. And I'm going to try to go outside and play at least once during the weekend. I'll probably grab my soccer ball and head to the nearby park. At the very least, I'll get the chance to try to improve my soccer skills again.

What I'm going to have to work on is my carb intake. With the amount of fruit that I've been downing lately, I've definitely been going over the recommended grams of carbs per my physical activity level and weight-loss goals. So that'll be an adjustment. I'll continue using PaleoTrack.com to keep better tabs on that.

Anyways, wish me luck! And on that note, I need to hit the sheets now to get 8 hours of sleep before tomorrow morning's alarm. Good night!

Whole 30 - Day 5

So there's a concept to be avoided in the Whole 30 called "Sex With Your Pants On" (SWYPO). This term refers to paleo-ifying junk food, such as pizza, pancakes, etc. So even though I can make a paleo pizza with all paleo-friendly and even Whole 30-friendly ingredients, I shouldn't. By substituting ingredients, I'm just giving myself a way of continuing my cravings for non-paleo foods, because just like SWYPO, it's just not as good; you always end up wanting the real thing. Am I right? I'm right.

Anyways, I find this concept somewhat difficult to understand. I mean, what is really considered SWYPO? Is my zucchini pasta with meatballs considered SWYPO? I mean, it's veggies and meat with some almond meal mixed in. Where does that line get drawn? Because technically, I'm taking a traditional non-Paleo meal of spaghetti and meatballs and making zucchini and meatballs. Does that count as SWYPO? I vote no. I'm choosing to believe that SWYPO refers to junk foods that contain significantly more grains, such as cakes and brownies, and Paleo-ified versions of things like ice cream or pizza.

Buffalo Meatballs

1 lb ground buffalo
3 Tbls almond meal
1 1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Use your hands; they work best.

2. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for an hour or so.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F.
4. Separate into heaping tablespoon-sized pieces. Shape into spheres.

5. Spread on an oiled baking pan.
6. Bake for roughly 20 minutes, until there's no pink in the middle.

Serve with ribbons of zucchini and pasta sauce. YUMMMM!

I ate mine with a side of heirloom tomato salad... And boy was it good.

I was starving by the time I finished crew practice last night (and my stomach was grumbling while I was rowing), but this is so filling that I had to make myself keep eating. I've been using PaleoTrack to check my protein, fat, carbs, omega 6:omega 3, and potassium:sodium intake, and yesterday's grand total of food came out to be 1053 calories, including this dinner. Factor in a moderately intense crew practice for an hour and half, where I burned around 600 calories, and that would mean my calorie balance for the day is 500-600. You may think that's awesome if you're trying to lose weight, but it could also trigger your body into thinking it's in starvation mode. So I sat and at all of my zucchini and meatballs, and 3 tomato slices, because I just couldn't force myself to eat more at 10 at night. Oh well. It was yummy, so I suffered through.

In exciting news, I got the "Optimal Primal" designation yesterday.

My fish oil supplements and flax seeds (0.3:1 omega-6:omega-3) on my lunch salad helped significantly in bumping up the omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids ratio. It's believed that our paleo ancestors had a 1:1 ratio of omega 6:omega 3, though the PaleoTrack website says to aim for a 2.3:1 ratio, whereas most people today have a 10:1 or 20:1 ratio. Also, the potassium to sodium ratio should be at least 5:1, while most of today's society gets about a 1:1. The zucchini, tomato sauce, and freshly sliced heirloom tomatoes helped with the potassium to sodium ratio. I've basically decided that you can't add salt to your food at all to try to meet this last ratio. It's rather difficult to achieve, but fruits are a good source of this. Kind of makes me wonder how to get my potassium when doing a 21DSD.

Also, I've noticed that foods that have a good fatty acids ratio, tend to do poorly on the potassium:sodium front, or vice versa. For example, an avocado has a 69.3:1 potassium to sodium ratio, but also has 15.2:1 omega-6 to omega-3. Sad. At least flaxseeds have a decent ratio for both, even though the 27.1:1 potassium:sodium isn't a lot of potassium when compared to the sodium intake.